Jessica Lee .ca

A Day At Lake Minnewanka & Lake Louise

We spent the day at Lake Minnewanka and Lake Louise.  The weather was nice - about 25C/77F.  The traffic on Hwy1 was busier than usual because of the long weekend.  It was a good thing that we had a park pass so we didn't have to wait in line to enter the park.  We didn't see many wild animals this time - maybe it's a good thing... since it's Harry and Stella's first visit to Lake Minnewanka and Lake Louise.  

We hiked around the lake.  We met a lot of friendly people and dogs.  Many kids patted them.  Stella kissed a few ladies.  Some tourists even took photos of them.

Flying Home with New Puppy, Stella

We picked up Stella on Monday morning and then went for a quick lunch before Ellen dropped us off at ONT.

We waited for an hour or so at ONT.  Stella was great for her first flight.  We had to wait for a few hours in LAS and she was very well behaved too.  No barking at all and she used a wee-wee pad at a private corner of the terminal. She slept through the flying part. We got home around 1:30am on Tuesday.

South Coast Plaza

Ellen took us to South Coast Plaza - Orange County's largest shopping mall.  It's a good mall to visit.  :-)

We saw lots of rich kids and good looking people on the road with their fancy cars. 

Puppies and Babies

Ellen and Justyn took us to visit puppies this morning. This is the first time we met Stella and her siblings.

In the afternoon, we had a mini high school reunion at Ellen's with Melody, Rebecca, Amy and her three kids. Everyone looks the same - even prettier! We think Amy is slimmer than before she has kids! Rebecca's hubby CAN COOK! Yummy food! Amy's kids had so much fun that they decided to sleep over at Ellen's tonight.

Hot, Hot, HOT!

Today is way too hot to be outside!  It feels like 45c or so outside.  The wind is like coming from a giant blow dryer!  I don't know how people sun tan by the pool in this kind of temperature!  I felt like I was melting when we crossed the street from Paris to Bellagio.  So, we had risotto & mojito at at Trevi and spent most of the day in the Bellagio's conservatory & botanical garden and visiting the forum shops at Caesars.

We went to see The Beatles LOVE after dinner. Cirque du Soleil's performed with the music recorded by The Beatles. It's a good show but O is still my favourite Cirque du Soleil show!

Viva Las Vegas

We arrived in Vegas late in the evening (July 15, 2009). After we checked in, we had dinner at Le Provençal in Paris Las Vegas. I love Bouillabaisse and the creamy Lobster Bisque at Le Provençal.

Some pictures of the view from our room and the dinner:

We are back!

We got back to Calgary tonight.

Until next time, here are some snapshots of NYC in the past a few days:

NYC - Day 7

Tomorrow will be a travel day - going back to Calgary.

We wanted to see another show tonight. So, I went online (www.broadwaybox.com) and searched for a good deal on any shows. We bought Spamalot at a very good price there. After I purchased the tickets online, we went downstairs to Olives for lunch. We had the set lunch menu. Then we went to Metropolitan Museum of Art. We had lunch in the museum as suggested by Christine.

It's my second favourite museum in NYC - it had Super Heroes Fashion and Fantasy, Jeff Koon's "balloon dog" on the roof (where you get to see the view of the city and central park), photography and many other cool items. We were there until they were closed.

Later, because it was so hot and it was rush hour, we took a cab (instead of subway) to Broadway. We walked around Times Square and had dinner at Juniors (right beside the theatre) before the show.

Spamalot was very funny as expected and as all the reviews I've read!

NYC - Day 6

We had lunch at Olive since we slept in, we know they have good food and I was too hungry to wait any longer.

After lunch, we went to American Museum of Natural History. It's a very nice museum but it's not as cool as in the movie - The Night at the Museum. ;-) We spent the whole afternoon there. I even got to take a photo with "gum-gum".

We went to Le Bernardin for dinner - which I booked a month ago! We splurged on this meal - chef's menu with wine pairing. It was a great dining experience and awesome food and wine! We are very pleased that we went with the wine paring option.

NYC - Day 5

We didn't really have any set agenda today. It's a very special day - CoCo would have been 15 years old today... we still miss him.

We attended "Impulse Purchase Paradise" - pet industry seminar in the morning. Then, we took subway to Little Italy (had lunch there).

Afterwards, we walked around China town, Wall Street, Battery Park, Ground Zero, and checked out Century 21 (we didn't like it - it was too messy there) and Grand Central Station (we enjoyed watching the travellers while having a drink at Metrazur).

After the drink, we decided to walk to Broadway and hoped getting into a show. We bought the last-minute Legally Blonde the Musical tickets (the show was starting as we bought the tickets) at an attractive discount price. :-D After the show, we shopped around Times Square - so busy even on Sunday night.

NYC - Day 4 Pet Fashion Show!

Today was VERY interesting!

Chris and I walked to the Pet Fashion Week's trade show in the morning. Christine slept in so she missed the trade show. We met her for lunch at Jean-Georges in the Trump International Hotel and Tower - near the Columbus Circle. We all had the "Tastes of Summer" lunch menu - which was only $28/per person - what a great deal for a gourmet lunch! After a happy meal, we browsed around the mall at Columbus Circle. I bought a pair of Kenneth Cole with Nike air in the heel - they were on sale! Christine and I bought flip flops and then we went for a good walk in Central Park. By the way, Chris spotted a half naked blonde in the park - walking around offering photo opportunities for the tourists. No, we didn't take any photos with her. ;-)

After a long walk in the Central Park, we had some snacks (something like iced tea and pastry) at Le Pain Quotidien (near the Central Park) before we went to the Pet Fashion Week's runway show - we've waited for it since May!

Some photos of the Pet Fashion runway show:

After the Pet Fashion runway show, we hopped onto Christine's car and drove to the East Village for some take-out takoyaki before bedtime.

NYC - Day 3

We did a LOT of walking today. We walked from Union Square to Greenwich Village and to SOHO. We checked out a few shops and bought a couple of new dresses. And some gifts for our friends. We had lunch in a small neighbourhood restaurant in SOHO near Anna Sui and Apple store. After lunch, we walked around SOHO and slowly headed back to the hotel because we planned to be at Empire State building by 6:30pm or so to watch sunset.

After we dropped off the stuff at the hotel, we still had some time before the Empire State building. I really wanted to check out Balenciaga NYC. So, Chris figured how to get there and then we walked there - it is in the Chelsea/Meatpacking district - that walk was longer than I expected! The store is in the warehouse area and the display set up is like an art gallery. After a lot of thinking... (Chris laughs) I bought a Anthracite 2008 Weekender! Kim (SA) was nice just like everyone else said on the Purseblog forum. :-)

After shopping, we took a cab and headed to the Empire State building. Diana met us there in the lobby and took us up - bypassed the 1-2 hour line up like a VIP! We were on the top of NYC within 10 minutes! (Thanks again Diana!!!) We spent almost two hours or so on the top - watching the sunset and enjoying the night view of the city.

We took the subway "home" and had dinner at Olive (inside the W Hotel). We picked Chef's menu which you just tell them if you are allergic to anything at all. They brought us good surprises. :-) We finished dinner late - around 11pm or something like that. It was a very good meal and we were very glad that we were just downstairs from our room.

NYC - Day 2

We slept in this morning - first time since... I don't remember when. :-) I made a reservation at MOMA The Modern's dinning room for lunch at 12:30pm. We had the "three courses and dessert" set menu. Two of us had:
* Cannelloni filled with Fresh Herbs and Artichoke
* Blue Fin Tuna Carpaccio with Red Finger Chili
* Black Sea Bass with Lima and Cranberry Beans, Parsley and New Garlic
* Monkfish Roasted with Pancetta, Tomato and Savory Herb
* Honey Lacquered Pork Belly with Onion Confit and Ginger, Pea Puree
* Lamb T-Bone dusted with Cumin Seed, Fondue of Onion, Date and Black Olive
* Strawberry Macaron, Almond Mousseline, Strawberry Sorbet
* Chocolate Tart, Chocolate "Cremeux" and Sorbet
and freshly brewed coffee to go with the dessert. We were there until about 2:30pm. The restaurant is beside MOMA (dinning room looks out to the museum's court yard).

We spent the rest of the afternoon in MOMA - it's my favourite museum in NYC because it's full of practical and usable art!

We skipped dinner since we were still full from the big lunch. We went to see Lion King at Minskoff theatre at 8pm. I booked the tickets a couple of months ago for the best seats in the house. This is, by far, my favourite musical! The music, the costume, the set, everything is just wonderful!!! Another special thing about it is that Chris and I went to see Lion King the movie as our first date in 1994. :-)

After the show, we took Diana's advice and went to the View lounge - a revolving restaurant where we could see the Times Square night view. We took a cab "home" afterwards.

NYC - Day 1

We left Calgary this morning. Christine picked us up at Newark around 5:45pm (flight delayed for an hour or so). She took us to Madangsui - a Korean restaurant in NJ. We had the BEST raw beef ever there! We've had raw beef before - Italian style, Japanese style and Korean style but all were thin sliced like sashimi. Madangsui cut it like thin short noodles and marinated it with the best sesame oil dressing. Their stewed rib was so tender and yummy too! I think it's one of the best tasting Korean food I've ever had so far!

After dinner, she took us to a park by the river in NJ, so we got to see the night view of Manhattan.

Then, she drove us by Time Square and dropped us off at W Hotel Union Square - our "home" for the next 7 days.

Marketing Team - Banff Trip

P1010116
Originally uploaded by malteserus

We went hiking and boating at Lake Minnewanka yesterday afternoon.  Then, we had fondue dinner in Banff.  We had Shark, Alligator, Rattlesnake, Ostrich, Frogs Legs, Buffalo and Venison. 

We had a great time!  We got back to Calgary around 11:30pm last night.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jelyea/sets/72157606132863352/

Back in Calgary

We are back!  Chris, Harry and I were in Vancouver for a week - visiting family and friends. We drove. Correction: Chris drove us there and back. :-) I offered my help but he turned it down.

We had a great time with Harry.  We spend most of the time with Harry when we were in Vancouver. He got to go to so many different places with us. He met many people and dogs.  He even went to see Stephie's softball game. He was the lucky charm for her softball team - they started winning when we arrived and they ended up winning the tournament at the end of the day!

On the way home, we saw lots of animals near Highway 1 - a few black bears, 1 wolf, a moose, a couple of deer, a couple of mountain goats.

I think these hikers are crazy!

"Originally built in 1901, this walkway now serves as an aproach to makinodromo, the famous climbing sector of El Chorro."

Photos from France trip!

It's been over 4 months since we got back from France! We finally sorted out the photos.  This book is our photo journal of our trip:

http://preview.picaboo.com/Webview/CoverPage.aspx?user=00000000000026544E&album=000000000001E7E565

We will go back to France for sure!  :-D

Garlicy Adventure at Gilroy Garlic Festival with Jenny, baby & Keagan

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jelyea/sets/72157601109311049/

Driving Home

It's been a rainy morning. We are going home today. We had breakfast at the hotel and then walked for an hour or so on the easy trail before we left Kananaskis Country.

This is a pretty little viewpoint beside Hwy 40.

It's a beautiful place. We'll be back soon.

Trip to Kananaskis Country

We left home around 2 pm and drove to Banff first. We saw some deer and elk by Hwy 1A on the way to Banff.

We had fondue dinner in Banff and then drove to Kananaskis Country.

We saw more elk by Hwy 40 - a group of them - maybe 10 or 12 of them, some of them were in the woods.

Delta Lodge at Kananaskis is surrounded by the beautiful Canadian Rockies. The walking trail is very close by the hotel for a relaxing stroll. We saw a lot of families there and many of them had dogs with them! The Signature Club room was great - we'd stay there again for sure!

Camp fire?

We are home!

Feb. 20, 2007 - Bellagio (Las Vegas)
Golden horse near Bellagio's front desk

Chinese New Year decor at Bellagio's garden. This pig's ears, snout and tail move.

Feb. 21 - Rainstorm insida Aladdin (Las Vegas)

Feb. 25 - NASCAR Race in Fontana, California

The photos are finally organized!

It's been a month since we got back! Here's the link to the photos I took in Greece:

http://preview.picaboo.com/WebView/CoverPage.aspx?album=00000000000026AC10&user=00000000000026544E

You may have to copy and paste the above URL in your browser.

We Are Back from the Aegean!

Chris and I spent 12 days (10 nights, really) in Greece.

The short version of the story is:

Thursday, May 11 - left home at 5:30 am and headed to Toronto. From Toronto to Montreal and then headed for Athens

Friday, May 12 - arrived Athens and transferred to high speed ferry (can't stand the smokers on the 3-hour ferry ride!) for 3 nights on Mykonos (arrived Pelican Bay Hotel around 11:30 pm)

Saturday, May 13 (Chris's birthday) - Pelican Bay hotel was at Platys Gialos and it's near Paragka and Paradise beaches. We walked to the beach in the afternoon. We had cocktails and watched the sun set into the sea at "Little Venice" and had dinner at Taverna Nikko's in Mykonos Town.

Sunday, May 14 (Mother's Day) - We took a boat to Delos where Apollo and Artemis were born. In the late afternoon, we went to seek for a pharmacy. Jessie got a terrible cold and needed some medicine. On Sunday, only one of the four pharmancies on the island is open and we had to hunt for that one.

Monday, May 15 - we transferred to the cruise ship

Tuesday, May 16 - we visited Patmos in the morning for a couple of hours and then we went to Kusadasi (Turkey). We visited Ephesus and Starbucks in Kusadasi. Frapp tastes exactly the same there!

Wednesday, May 17th - spent whole day in Rhodes. We visited Lindos and the old town in Rhodes. Lovely place!

Thursday, May 18th - visited the Palace of Knossos in Crete for a few hours and then we headed for Santorini. That night, we had a very nice dinner at Taverna Simo's near our hotel (Santorini Palace).

Friday, May 19th - walk around town in Santorini and visited the archaeological museum

Saturday, May 20th - I got stomach flu and poor Chris had to spend whole day in the hotel room with me.

Sunday, May 21st - I felt a bit better in the afternoon and we visited the prehistoric archaeological museum and then took bus to Oia and walked around for an hour or so in Oia. The bus ride was nuts! It was packed and the ticket guy would still, somehow, struggle down the aisle to collect our money (throughout the 20-minute bus ride). BTW, there's only one bus stop in Fira. No matter where you want to go, the buses start from that spot.

Monday, May 22nd - leave Santorini Palace at 5:30 am! Santorini airport was tiny! We flew to Athens airport for the flight to Toronto.
After about 30 hours in transit (5 hours dead wait in Toronto), we got back home just before midnight!

Despite the sickness and the smokers and those people who do not get the concept of "line up for things" during this trip, Chris and I had a great time together. I love the Greek islands and the friendly Greek people! Mykonos is a beautiful island where all buildings are in shades of blue and white and it has nice beaches. The ancient site at Delos was amazing. I also really liked the old town in Rhodes and the stepped streets and pastel colours in Santorini! More days would be even better since the transit time is just so long! And, if possible, I'd go in later May but before June to get better weather and avoid the crowd.

I'm still sorting out the photos... I'll post a note when they are online.