Can you believe summer is half over?

Emily and Bill were here for their visit last week. In 7 days we managed to drag them to every single known tourist site in southern Nova Scotia. We also managed to meet several of Emily's long-lost relatives who live in the area.

The best part though, was that Emily (with the assistance of Tudor) rounded up the best in Asian snack foods that Vancouver has to offer and delivered them to me in a massive carry-on tote-bag. A picture of the full spread is at left but almost none of that is left now.

Immediately after Em and Bill left Greg and I headed up to the Cobequid Hills (the part of Nova Scotia that is on the north side of the Bay of Fundy) for some Canada Day backpacking. We hiked an 18km wilderness standard loop trail on the Economy River. Economy is an Anglicization of Kenomee so the trail is called the Kenomee Canyon trail. What makes it a wilderness standard trail is little signage and few man-made structures such as bridges. That meant 5 creek crossings.

Another reason for going hiking was to try out my new tent. That's right... after contemplating it for two months I've used my discount to buy the MSR Hubba Hubba (it's called that because it is a single pole design with two hubs.) I feel it is an investment... in the same way that a great business suit is an investment. I love my new tent THIS much! Summer (for me) is half over so I'll have to get as much sleeping in my new tent in as possible before I head back to being the Hunchback of Quingate Place (or the Hunchback of Edward Street - doesn't have the same ring to it does it?)

Today's Halifact: The greater Halifax area has four Asian grocery stores (that I know of). They are all quite small and have the basics for Chinese cooking (except the one store that specializes in Korean and Japanese). Now, however, there is a new Asian grocery in town, bringing the total to five. The best part, though is that the new one is right down the street. I still can't buy coconut buns in this town though :(