The Big Beaver General Store is Back!
With proud new owner, Sheri Anderson, the Big Beaver General Store is back, and the community is thrilled.
Tagged: Canada
Live Transcript: McDonald’s Experience of a Lifetime
The McDonald’s Experience of a Lifetime. -Live transcript of Not Larry during the 2023 Arctic Winter Games in Fort McMurray, Wood Buffalo. [su_dropcap]W[/su_dropcap]hen I was coming out of Mac Island I saw three people walking. One of them was wearing a jacket from Nunavut. I was going to turn towards home, but the people I saw were walking past the Morrison Center. I started thinking to myself, ‘Why are they walking? I have an empty car right now.’ It’s...
Robert: Buffalo vs Dogs Trap-Line Incident
After the wolves ran away, the buffalo saw my dogs and he charged my dogs. He came straight down the trail. That’s why my dog-sled pack leader was trying to stop because she knew that buffalo was there…
George: The Shipping Container Stowaway
This is George’s fascinating story about being a Romanian stowaway on a boat to Canada, and how difficult and near to death the entire experience was in illegal immigration.
Canoe Conundrum in Canada
At 09:08 Not Larry and I unloaded a 16’ canoe into the Clearwater River at Waterways. I was the paddle in the front and Not Larry was the paddle/rudder in the back. We rode the Clearwater to the Athabasca River and headed north. We would tackle a 50 km journey on the day. A storm would come and find us…
A Fun-Day at the Bay of Fundy: Hopewell Rocks!
The Hopewell Rocks at the Bay of Fundy are home to some of the largest ocean tides in the world! It is pretty freaking awesome to see the change!
Driving to New Brunswick and Sappyfest Festival
New Brunswick is a great place to spend some time. The people are happy, there are beautiful beaches in seaside towns, and it is Canada’s only fully bilingual province.
Touring Around Quebec City
Quebec City is an amazing place to spend some time. It is gorgeous, it is fun, the people are great, and you will be grateful that you took the time. If you are looking for Europe meets North America, this is it!
Traveling the Canadian Prairies
Traveling the Canadian Prairies. July 29, 2019. Big Beaver, Saskatchewan, Canada. I woke up at 06:45 but there was no way I could get up. Exhaustion had succeeded any chance of alertness. I fell back to sleep and woke up again at 09:00. Not Larry and I had a little slap and tickle to kick off the morning. At 11:00 we were packed up and ready to roar. I called dad who was at my brother’s house doing some farm...
Mud Bog: St. Laurent, Manitoba – Metis Days
Mud Bog. St. Laurent, Manitoba, Canada. 5 August 2018 Last night before Not Larry and I went into the dance at the Metis Festival in St. Laurent, Manitoba, Canada, we met an indigenous man named Hammi. It turns out that Hammi is short for Hamilton. Interesting. Hammi was telling us about the mud-bog that would be taking place today and how good it has been in the previous years. Not Larry and I decided to go to it. [su_quote]Not Larry...
A 1981 Yamaha MX175: An Eight Year Old’s Dream
A 1981 Yamaha MX175: An Eight Year Old’s Dream I can not remember what we had been doing on that evening, or what friends I had been with, but I was happy to leave them to follow him. I was eight years old and I was busy learning how to become a cowboy on the horse that my parents had just bought for me. But he said that he had a motorbike that, “Would probably be just about right for...
Traveling Canadian Ice Roads: Fort McMurray to Fort Chipewyan
Traveling Canadian Ice Roads: Fort McMurray to Fort Chipewyan. 12 January 2018. I was nearly pacing the floor waiting for Julie to finish her course in the morning to come and collect me. It is hard to know what a person is going to need in northern Canada. I was already far north in Fort McMurray, Alberta, but we were going to be heading much further north than that on an ice-road…further north than most Canadian minds think of, to...
Learning to Butcher a Deer and Make Sausages
Learning to Butcher a Deer and Make Sausages. 15 November 2017. Dusty, Stryker and I went for a drive in the afternoon to see if we could find any deer as hunting season is underway. Shortly into our drive, a buck jumped out of a patch of trees! Dusty took three shots at him but missed the buck that ran into another massive grove of trees. The buck was in quite a hurry by that point, understandably. Dusty went into...
Roger Waters Us + Them
Roger Waters. Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. 24 October 2017. For $167, my friend Christian and I found tickets 16 rows back of the stage for the Roger Waters Us + Them show at Rogers Place in Edmonton. It is about as close as a person can get to seeing a Pink Floyd show that includes Roger Waters post-1981. There were nosebleed tickets available for about half of the price so we went all in. The top four concerts...
Tragically Hip, Gord Downie, Amsterdam and Canada.
Tragically Hip, Gord Downie, Amsterdam and Canada. 18 October 2017. Time is really taking my rockstar heroes. It took Gord Downie today. Downie was from a Canadian band called The Tragically Hip. There is a small possibility that you have you have heard their name if you are from anywhere else, but if you are from Canada, and under 50, you grew up with them or you grew up listening to them. Gord Downie was a iconic legendary poetic rockstar. Brain cancer,...
My Earth Revolutions
Earth Revolutions. Maybe it is common knowledge but perhaps it is not… I have been thinking about this for the past couple of days and it is likely that no one has had to think about it unless it has happened to them… When you fly around this planet from east to west, you lose a day of your life when you cross the International Date Line. One day full of your life! Poof! Gone! Somewhere between Canada and Australia...
Visit Victoria Falls Zambia: Anti-Rain Going Up
March 10 Visit Victoria Falls Zambia. It was one of my main reasons for travelling through Zambia southbound. I have traveled a lot of miles to get here. So, that today turned out to be such a m@therf*ker of a day is pretty disappointing. I do not like to swear in this blog because I think it is tasteless to write with swear words, but I can not think of another word that I want to describe the day as...
Vimy Ridge – Photos and Facts of the Battlefield
Vimy Ridge in France is where the Canadian Corps won in a battle against the German Sixth Army on the 12th of April 1917 of the First World War. The ridge had been under German control since October 1914. Our guide Grégory, a man who possibly knows more about war history than any other human alive, broke down the events that took place and explained the battle to us. I am not much of a nationalist, but I felt a...
The Power of an Old Crush
The Power of an Old Crush. I had not seen her in about 10 years. I used to have a massive crush on her 19 years ago when I was growing up. I have been away for nearly a decade and recently returned for a spell. We became friends on Facebook. Then, two days ago I received this message from her: ‘Umm…Just FYI, Your Facebook pages tell me that you might be the coolest. person. ever. 🙂 Just want I...
A Struggling Edmonton Oiler Fanatic Junkie
My name is Stephen Harris, and I am an Edmonton Oiler fanatic. I feel like making that statement is similar to a line made by someone attending alcoholics anonymous. I really am addicted to a terrible hockey team, and it is difficult. This is how it came to be… I was born in 1979 and when I was a little boy of the age of five or six, I knew of the Edmonton Oilers. I remember being at a house...
Fleetwood Mac Review
Fleetwood Mac – Rexall Place, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada – 15 November 2014 Ironically, as I was trying to think of a way to scheme a way out of work for the night my boss sent me a text that said we would be taking this nightshift off. Unreal luck! I have had this date on my radar for a couple of months. Fleetwood Mac was in town… So, I scrounged up a floor ticket on stubhub, twenty rows from the...
Big Beaver: The Guy I Was When I Left
Big Beaver: The Guy I Was When I Left. August 22. Today I got up to work on a few things and when dad got home from coffee in town we went to work on his truck. We got under the hood and changed the water-pump on the engine of the truck. I was once again be the guy I was when I left Canada. It took us three hours. It has been many years since I did any...
Big Beaver: Slipping into my Old Self
Big Beaver: Slipping into my Old Self. August 21. I got up this morning to a stack of mail on my dresser old. I am probably the only person may age in Canada with his high school bedroom basically untouched. I went through my mail and thanked people for Christmas cards that I just received now. My plan was to only be home for a few days but I will likely be home for a couple of weeks. There are...
Regina to Big Beaver: Home, Home on the Range
Regina to Big Beaver: Home, Home on the Range. August 20. When I woke up this morning I had no idea where I was initially. Then I realized I was in Bean’s bed. I heard Steve moving around. I remembered Kelly saying last night that she was going to cook us waffles in the morning. Steve sent her a message and we went over for an awesome breakfast. It is really nice to be home. I had no idea how...
New York City to Regina: Aguardiente in Canadiana
New York City to Regina – Aguardiente in Canadiana. August 19. A little over an hour of sleep is not enough. I require more. I got out of bed, grabbed my backpack, said goodbye to Julia and her cat and headed for the airport. I would have liked to have spent a lot more time in that bed. Julia is pretty, has an amazing body, is a great person to spend time with and has a laugh that will recharge...
Popayán: The Nature of Age
Popayán: The Nature of Age. July 7. My Canadian friends, Rob and Tracy, are travelling the world with a five year old. Makai is a really good little traveller and he hangs out well with the adults. They have to take him for out for doggie walks so that he can burn off some energy as is the nature of age. I am well entertained by him and their parenting process. My favourite thing he has said so far is,...
