Dharma Bear Initiative

Oh' Canada

Location:  Calgary Alberta Canada

Host: CocaColaCdnGrams/Gail

Dates: May 5-10, 2009


George's first international adventure begins when he arrives in Calgary in beautiful Alberta Canada.  There are lots of interesting places to see in Calgary. Among them are the numerous winter sports facilities that are located around the Olympic Oval.  The 1988 Olympics were held here and is still a primary training facility for future Olympians.




Speaking of sports; It is well known that Hockey is an all time favorite in all of Canada, and Calgary is no exception.  The Olympic Saddledome facility is home to the Stanley cup winning Calgary Flames.


George also visits the Don Hartman North East Sportsplex where Georges host Cola used to volunteer. There he gets to take a ride on a zamboni in the skating rink.


Since Ginger bear had a trip to the zoo in Tucson, George wanted to see the zoo in Calgary.  There he saw elephants, Camels, bears and...dinosuars?!





The Calgary stampede grounds.  Known as "The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth"; the stampede grounds are where the annual 10 day rodeo and chuck wagon races are held every July along with many other festivities.  Too bad George was two months too early to see it.


Cola works with many seniors and takes George to visit Colonel Belcher Veterans centre where he enjoyed thanking the vets for their service.  Not just in Canada or US but all over the world.  He gets his picture taken with a display case of war memorabilia, some medals of honor, some great artwork honoring the veterans and a United Nations Flag.



Fort Calgary is located on the exact site of the original

fort that was built in 1875 by the Northwest Mounted

Police as a simple base of operations.  Over time it

spurred the beginnings of Calgary as a town and

continued to grow into the city it is today.  George

enjoyed the timeline wall display.


In Colas home, George sees where she gets part of her internet
name from.  She has a great collection of Coca Cola merchandise.



Elsewhere around the house he checks out his own website,
enjoys an impressive corral aquarium, chats with Scarlett the
scarecrow in the garden, and takes a ride on a motorcycle just his size.




George got lots of fun and love from Colas many grandchildren.


George needed some down time after all this excitement
and took a nice hot bubble bath.


George had a wonderful time in Calgary with Cola and family and must now move on to his next host, Superservo from Saskatchewan.  Cola takes George to meet Servo at the airport where she is getting ready to go to Los Angeles for a week. And although he has already seen LA he will join her on her trip there and then come back with her to Canada.  George goes where ever fate takes him.

Saskatchewan Canada

Location: Saskatchewan Canada & California USA

Host: Superservo/Jasmine

Dates: May 10-20 2009


It all started when Cola passed off George in the Calgary airport during my
layover.  Good timing.  It was great meeting Cola.  Once we got through customs
and boarded, it was time to relax for the 3 hour flight George got to see the Rocky
Mountains  from the sky. We were actually flying unusually low and had a good
view of the Rocky Mountains.  We also got to see an in flight movie.

 

Our first stop in L.A. was the Santa Monica Pier. So far it looked like

George hadn't seen the Ocean or laid on the beach,

so today was the perfect day for it.

 



For supper we wandered down the pier and checked out a few
seafood restaurants... we eventually agreed upon Bubba Gump's
Shrimp Factory.  There George saw live lobsters in a tank and the rebellious
Bubba Gump shrimp mascot;  who is a very bad influence.
 


The next day it was off to the week long Microsoft conference.

The first night was trade show night.

This meant free stuff ... and for George, Candy!!!

 



Wednesday night we went to Hollywood for a filming of Jimmy Kimmel...

with Matthew Fox!!! I told the seating guy that we were huge Lost fans

and he put us in the second row... George LOVED it!

Unfortunately, when I asked if Jimmy or the guests ever do meet and greets,

the answer was No.

 


Then we walked around Hollywood checking out all the stars...

after coming from Jimmy Kimmel, George couldn't help himself just Like

Sarah Silverman, George LOVES Matt Damon.
Then he posed with the Star Trek plaque with the names and

prints from the cast of the original series. Woo Hoo!

 



After a long week of Microsoft'in, George went for a walk around
the staples center before an NBA playoff game. The next day we went to
Magic Mountain, where George went on every Roller coaster,
including the newest X2. George also posed with Canada's hero,
Wayne Gretzky and checked out the American Idol stage.
 


After a long week in L.A., George and I were glad to be home in

Regina Saskatchewan Canada. First thing we did when we got home

was catch up in the GWN club in the message boards, have a DOD

(Drink of the day) in a Dharma glass and watch MTV Canada and the Hills.

 



Monday I took George to work with me.  George kept himself busy

throughout the week by tending to my miniature carrot garden,

baby sitting my pet sea monkeys, hanging out with Mr. Carrot,

playing office basket ball...

 


...playing puzzles, drinking coffee from Tim Horton's 
and helping me keep track of my work schedule on my LOST calendar.
 


On occasion George had the misfortune to run into The Office Penguin. 
Not only are penguins natural enemies of polar bears (or so I hear...)
but this particular office penguin is a little guy with a BIG ego.  
He teased George about his "nerdy" t-shirt and said that even
CSI is way more believable than Lost.  George got pretty mad
and vowed to take out the penguin by the end of the week.