Nelson

Good day and salaam to all. When I was in British Columbia I didn't get a chance to post all my activities because I was busy or travelling, so I'm going to post some pictures from Nelson and the Kootenay river today. Enjoy!
~~~
I had a great experience in the town of Nelson. A beautiful small town of 17 000 people, built on hills with narrow streets and buildings with so much character...not the copy paste you see in rich suburban areas...

Everyone was so friendly, my aunt took me around to buy some things to prepare me for the real world (i.e. clothes shopping lol), and one lady actually hugged me as I left the store...she wished me good luck in my travels and success on the job market (inshaAllah!)...
~~~
Nelson is near the US border, so a lot of Americans settled there during the Vietnam war (draft dodgers and conscious objectors)....the town is full of hippies and the shops are cool, hemp clothing, old fashioned candy shops, quaint bakeries etc...it was so nice, I really had a wonderful day
~~~
On our way home there was some construction work being done and our back tire popped. I wanted to take a picture but my aunt was pretty upset so I thought that would be insensitive. The CAA guy came, introduced himself (Jason), shook hands with us and proceeded to fix the tire. My aunt told him I was fresh out of university and on my way to Yellowknife (she told everyone)...he wished me good luck and said he had been there many times and loved it. Small world, no?
~~~
Okay, enough blabbing, here are the pics! I took these pics along the way to Nelson (a 2 hour drive from Grand Forks). There was a dam being expanded and anything related to energy is interesting, right?


Here you can get a good look at the water, it was really rushing. The water wasn't going through a turbine at the point, it was the spillway that was open to allow excess water levels to be released when the water levels are too high. Whenever a dam is built, there is almost always areas that are flooded over (a good example is the Three Gorges Dam that is currently being built in China-some 1 million people will be losing there home as it becomes submerged under water). When flooding occurs, the vegetation undergoes anaerobic biodegredation (meaning without oxygen), and methane gas is produced. Methane gas is much more potent than carbon dioxide as a green house gas, and it contributes to the global warming phenomena that the Earth is experiencing.
I also have a video of this, but I'm not sure how to upload it on blogger...does anyone know?


You can see that there is a lot of work being done by all the construction going on. The area is still beautiful, but somehow large concrete structures in the middle of a beautiful setting isn't really nice...I guess it's the price we pay for our modern day conveniences, but it makes you think, no?


This is a map of the Kootenay River and all the dams along it. You can see where I was (the green bubble that says 'You are here'). Apparently British Columbia has as many dams as Quebec, which I never knew. I always tend to think of Quebec as having the most dams, but I guess we have some competition...renewable energy is definetly the way of the future, but large dams are damaging to the environment. I have lots to say on that topic, I'll post about it later. I have also been reading David Suzuki's new Reader, so I will share interesting topics soon...


I took this picture at a look-out along the way to Nelson. This is a dam along the Kootenay river (which apparently is the Columbia river in the US-meaning it is the same river but it meanders through Canada and the US). They are currently doing construction to increase the power that can be obtained from the falls. There were 5 turbines and there will be 7 if all goes well.