The Canadian Campfire

[trailmix 77]

So I was thinking that we do have off topic and we also have the vent thread, but I just know that we all have stories that have yet to be told, so I thought I would start this thread.

Tell your story here, whatever it is, something that happened to you or someone you know or something you saw, be it happy or sad or amazing - recent or years ago!

[trailmix 77]

Ok we are off to a slow start....so i'll...start.

This is a gruesome story btw.

So, we were living in Calgary at the time, my Husband was out for some reason, I don't remember where he was going, but he turned down this side street - just a few kms from where we were living at the time.

He saw something on the road - he remembers thinking at the time - 'please don't let it be a body'. Well it was! It was a woman lying in the middle of the road. He didn't have a cell phone so he ran to the nearest house and told them to call 911. They said 'why' - he said someone is hurt out here - I think they continued to talk and he told them - just calllll.

So he runs back - now some kids have arrived.

The woman passed away. What actually happened was that it was a fish truck and the woman had been in the back, cleaning it out or whatever, when someone decided to steal the truck. She panicked and jumped out while it was moving.

Edited February 11, 2010 by trailmix

[Revenesque 2]

Back in April 1997, Tiger Woods went on the Oprah Winfrey Show, declared that he was a "Cablinasian" and that it bothered him when people call him an African-American.

Oprah did a follow up show where she rounded a bunch of young Black professionals in Chicago to talk about it. A man in the audience was invited to speak and said something like "Tiger is Black! His skin color is just like mine. When he walks down the street, the world is gonna see him as a Black man."

Yup, that man is my hubby.

Edited February 11, 2010 by Revenesque

[Rhiannercakes 14]

Last year in July when my husband came to visit me during the K-1 process, my mom bought us tickets for the train to Toronto.

I really wanted to rent a car because we wanted to go to the Zoo, but now we were stuck with walking around Toronto all day.

Ate at a good place for lunch and had New York fries for dinner. Day was pretty boring, it's not too fun walking around not really knowing where you're going and not wanting to go anywhere in particular.

We were walking back to the train station and my husband wasn't looking where he was going as he was talking to me... and walked right into a pole.

I have never laughed so hard in my life, I can still see it in my head.

[MtlMama 0]

Several Christmases ago, I was home (US) visiting family. My apartment in Canada was undergoing renovation and the plaster dust did a number on my face and neck - it was all dried out and leathery! I could use a whole bottle of lotion and NOTHING. Understandably, I was really self-conscious about it.

The family insisted on the annual Fish Fry Friday at a local restaurant. I was trying to HIDE in a corner table at the bar while we waited for our reservation when Tom Wopat (Luke Duke, Dukes of Hazzard) comes up and asks if they could join us (he was with his mom). Sure.

So, "leather face" got to sit there for 20 minutes making small talk with "Luke" while we all waited for our tables...

K

[BriCar 0]

About 25 years ago in Northern British Columbia on a nice cool fall afternoon I was out alone moose hunting.

I was seated quietly on a tree stump overlooking a small clearing hoping for a chance to see some unsuspecting moose.

The weather was comfortable and the blue sky studded with some occasional puffy white clouds.

As I relaxed and took it all in, I thought this would be a great time to see a moose.

Just then I noticed some movement, a small rustling noise and then around the clearing the 40 ft trees began to ever so gently sway back and forth all in unison. I expected to feel a breeze any moment, but as I watched the trees swing more and more and still felt no movement of air I began to wonder "What's up"?

Then I noticed the stump I was seated on along with my feet on the ground began to sway ever so gently back and forth in unison with the treetops!!

About the time I realized this might be an earthquake it began to subside and then settled down and everything stopped moving.

I thought WOW my first earthqake!! Coool!! Oddly I thought if I had have been flying in a airplane at that moment I would have missed the sensation of the ground swaying like a bowl of jello!!

Right then a big moose came walking through the clearing like it was on a mission. Unfortunatly it was a cow moose that was illegal to shoot and I think it was kinda shook up that afternoon just like I was!!

[MtlMama 0]

About 25 years ago in Northern British Columbia on a nice cool fall afternoon I was out alone moose hunting.

I was seated quietly on a tree stump overlooking a small clearing hoping for a chance to see some unsuspecting moose.

The weather was comfortable and the blue sky studded with some occasional puffy white clouds.

As I relaxed and took it all in, I thought this would be a great time to see a moose.

Just then I noticed some movement, a small rustling noise and then around the clearing the 40 ft trees began to ever so gently sway back and forth all in unison. I expected to feel a breeze any moment, but as I watched the trees swing more and more and still felt no movement of air I began to wonder "What's up"?

Then I noticed the stump I was seated on along with my feet on the ground began to sway ever so gently back and forth in unison with the treetops!!

About the time I realized this might be an earthquake it began to subside and then settled down and everything stopped moving.

I thought WOW my first earthqake!! Coool!! Oddly I thought if I had have been flying in a airplane at that moment I would have missed the sensation of the ground swaying like a bowl of jello!!

Right then a big moose came walking through the clearing like it was on a mission. Unfortunatly it was a cow moose that was illegal to shoot and I think it was kinda shook up that afternoon just like I was!!

You just reminded me of a great moose story: a friend had walked in to see a waterfall in Vermont and it was getting dark as she walked back to her car. She decided to jog back. As it got darker, she started looking down to make sure she didn't trip on the trail and plowed head-first into a MOOSE! Of course she freaked. The moose just sat there. She quickly ran around it and off to her car. Lol.

[TimandJoyce 1]

Ok, well, this is kinda silly. I lived on Vancouver Island, in the Comox Valley all my life, and the wildest wildlife I had ever seen was deer. ( oh, and a couple of beavers at different times)

When Tim came up to see me back in '07, his first time into Canada, we saw two bear at different occasions! Once in the valley running down the road, and once on our way home from Telegraph Cove. I couldn't believe it! All my life, never seen a bear!! He comes up for one week and sees two!! (Boy I'm glad I was with him!! )

[Kathryn41 3,205]

My first visit to Florida was with an old boyfriend back in 1992. We rented a car one day to drive out to the Everglades and stopped at one of the parks along Alligator Alley. There was a walking trail that went through the swampy part on a bridge and then came out onto a dirt road that passed through the everglades with wetlands on either side. So, about 10 minutes walk down this road, we turned a corner and there - less than 10 feet away from us right in the middle of the road - was an alligator facing us with his jaws stretched wide open! He was apparently basking in the sun. We stopped short and very slowly and quietly backed up until we were around the corner and out of sight - then turned and ran all the way back to the start of the trail. Wish I had thought to take a photograph first.

[Rustbelt 0]

Continuing in the "I Met A Wild Animal" theme . . .

We took a trip out to California a couple of years ago (well, Steve was working, but I tagged along). So I headed up to the Sequioa National Park (which is awesome, BTW), and did the whole Wow Look At That tree-hugger kind of thing. It was great!

But for all the time I spent up in the woods, I didn't see a bear. Not once. Not even a tiny glimpse of a beary behind.

UNTIL . . .

I was driving back down the road out of the park and halfway down the mountain as I came around a hairpin bend I Saw A Bear. S/he was just meandering across the road about 20 feet in front of me, as laid back as you please. Amazing. Of course, I freaked a bit because I had a trailmix bar sitting on the front seat and the windows were down (OMG, what if he wants to eat it!!!!) But I guess he wasn't that hungry because he just kept right on meandering down the road in front of me.

- Steve's wife

Edited February 13, 2010 by Steve Treible