hi. i'm don.

Spent C$10, got 15 losers and 2 winners. Down C$8. Woo gambling?

Julie Anne won, 324 to 310.

283 to 195.

Canadian currency is a bit of a contradiction. Simultaneously high-tech and colourful, playful in its way, but such serious looks on the faces decorating the bills.

And great names for the CAD$1 and $2 coins, “loonie” and “toonie” respectively.

Snow-capped peaks south of Harrison Hot Springs.

Harrison Lake. Ahh, pretty.

Spent at least one night (or most of a day, for the day trips) in each of these cities in 2009.

Listed in roughly chronological order; links go to related posts or categories.

• Seattle, WA*
• Orlando, FL
• Sequim, WA* (day trips, first to hike Dungeness Spit and later for Easter)
• Yakima, WA
• Kapa‘a, HI
• Telma, WA (actually a cabin on Lake Wenatchee)
• Cannon Beach, OR
• Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
• San Francisco, CA

Previous lists: 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008.

Scene-stealing squirrel crashes Banff tourist photo.

“We had our camera set up on some rocks and were getting ready to take the picture when this curious little ground squirrel appeared, became intrigued with the sound of the focusing camera and popped right into our shot!” she wrote.

Such a great shot—squirrel looks totally at home there, POOF hey camera here I am! Click through for the story, the photo is priceless.

UPDATE: I nabbed the pic and put it after the jump, in case it disappears from the CBC link.

I spent at least one day in each of these cities in 2007. Fewer cities than 2006 but about the same amount of travel time.

In roughly chronological order:

• Mill Creek, WA (my home until mid-April)
• Seattle, WA (home the rest of the year)
• Spokane, WA
• Salt Lake City, UT
• Astoria, OR
• Friday Harbor, WA (twice, for whale-watching trips)
• Victoria, BC, Canada
• Corvallis, OR
• Orlando, FL

Similar lists for 2005 and 2006.

Idea via kottke.org

Rehashing the same idea from last year, the list of cities I spent at least one day (a contiguous 24-hour period) in 2006, in roughly chronological order. Asterisks indicate multiple visits; links lead to Google Maps:

• Mill Creek, WA (home)
• Seattle, WA *
• Denver, CO
• Vancouver, BC, Canada
• Salt Lake City, UT *
• Corvallis, OR
• Santa Rosa, CA
• Napa, CA
• Monterey, CA
• San Francisco, CA
• Mill Valley, CA
• Victoria, BC, Canada

I was going to list the cities where I spent at least a few hours as well, but that would number into the dozens—maybe even a hundred or more with the several road trips I took this year. I might do that later if I decide to scrape the info directly out of my Palm database.