There and Back Again

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

[jackiiewong]

First Day of the Last Year...

First Day of the Last Year…

First day of senior year. Eeeeesh. Somehow that sentence doesn’t rub me right– even when I got up for class today unnecessarily early at 8:00 am, actually sat down to have breakfast with my roommate, and arrived to lecture on time (For once! I figured I had to get it right at some point in my college career). Yet even with all the stars lined up… I didn’t feel that yearly nervous thrill of…

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Hello hello, and welcome to another recap of my Alberta adventures! Before I get into anything, I just wanted to call attention to my blog post title, “Drumheller and the Hoodoos.” DRUMHELLER. AND. THE HOODOOS. It sounds like a potentially cool band name, and so incredibly fun to say… Or maybe just THE HOODOOS.

Anyhoo (doos– sorry couldn’t resist),

Besides the breathtaking nature vibes at Banff National Park, my family decided to pay a visit to the small town of Drumheller, home to the famed Royal Tyrrell Museum that boasts of a vast dinosaur fossil collection.

Like most little kids growing up, I loved dinosaurs. Like loved them. My sister and I had these giant educational dino posters blue tacked to the walls, and we pored over VHS classics like The Land Before Time series and of course, all the Jurassic Park movies. When we would play together, Catty and I would often try to reenact Little Foot’s hatching scene, or otherwise be engaged in”The Floor is Lava and We also have to Escape the Dinosaurs”– a version that’s loosely based on the Universal Studios water ride, in which I always faked a near-death experience with a T-Rex. Somehow I always ended up clinging dramatically to the edge of the couch screaming at my sister,”LEAVE ME! Go save yourself!!”

So when I’m told that Drumheller is a dino town, as in there are random dinosaur sculptures everywhere around, I couldn’t just pass up on this glorious opportunity.

IT’S AFTER MEE!!!

THE T-REX!!

OH MERCYYYY!!!

I WANNA LIVEEEEE

I GOTTTA GET OUTTA HURRRR

LEAVEE MEEEE!! GO SAVE YOURSELFF!

I blame my parents for my weirdness. They never let me play video games like normal children.

But other than my spirited romps around town taking selfies with dinosaurs, here are some other highlights from the trip! Make sure you click on the pictures as well to catch my lovely commentary (hah).

I think this is called the Horseshoe Canyon (not to be confused with another Horseshoe Canyon in the United States). It’s quite small actually, compared to the wonders of the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona, but it’s cute and has a nice view as well. What my dad thought was really funny was that there were helicopter viewings that you had to pay close to 100 bucks for to get an aerial look at the thing. He didn’t think it was worth it because honestly, it was quite shallow! We could definitely just go hike down there if we wanted to! HAHA

Here’s the matron of our family, my Po Po. Isn’t she hip? (:

I’m just in love with these Canola flower fields. They’re absolutely gorgeous, stretching for miles into the horizon!

Here’s the fam! Look at us being cute! (I’m sadly out because I’m taking the picture, but holla at my dad who blinked AHAH or is pretending to sleep?)

Another one of hipster Po Po rockin the plaid, pixie cut, and hot pink shoes next to a Triceratops😉

IT’S THE T-REX AND IT’S GONNA CRUSH OUR CARS!

This is a Velociraptor skeleton!

My cousin! She usually doesn’t like to pose for pictures I think, but she looks so pretty and natural here (: She’s standing in this greenhouse exhibit at he museum where visitors can see the prehistoric plants that still grow among us today!

Some stairs leading up to an overlook view of Drumheller.

This was the view from the top!

We found a suspension bridge! Officially it’s called the Rosedale Suspension Bridge, which miners used to cross over when it was still a working mine back in the day. This is my little cousin and my aunt walking ahead.

Near the small town of Drumheller were the Hoodoos. Apparently, we have them too in the States, but they’re old rocks that have been weathered and carved out into interesting mushroom shaped formations from years of powerful winds. When the rock’s been stripped away you can see the different colors of rock layers. Unfortunately, I don’t have many pictures of the Hoodoos because my memory card was getting too full already, but here’s a few photos to give you a look at what it’s like.

Well, that about sums up Drumheller and the HOODOOS for now, but keep an eye out for future posts! I’m not done with Alberta yet (: Also, I’ll be posting some of my recent travels around my home city of Los Angeles so stay tuned!

  10 days in Alberta: Drumheller and the Hoodoos Hello hello, and welcome to another recap of my Alberta adventures! Before I get into anything, I just wanted to call attention to my blog post title, "Drumheller and the Hoodoos." DRUMHELLER.

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“I’m just a woman on a mission to love God and go to weird places and eat the best food out there if I can.” -True story by Jacqueline Wong

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  Last month I took a trip with my parents to visit some family up north in Canada: the lovely land of moose, grizzlies, maple syrup, poutine, and so many beautiful beautiful woods.

Now, I haven’t really been to Canada much. I can hardly remember a thing from the few times I’ve visited when I was about (*aboot) four or five years old, so my knowledge of this northern frontier rests mostly on your typical stereotypes and Robin Scherbatsky from HIMYM reruns. Being very patriotic, I spent my Fourth of July week basking in the sweet beauty of the Canadian Rockies in Alberta specifically.

Where is Alberta you say? This handy dandy map might help you out.

  One of my absolute favorite places from my recent travels is Banff National Park. And it’s not just because I innately have an undying love for national parks (which I do, but that’s beside the point). It’s gorgeously populated with the loveliest shades of olive and moss from the surrounding evergreen forests, and it’s set by bright cerulean river waters that have run down from the glaciers further up. The Rocky Mountains are a sight of course. They stand there as immovable and looming giants, like old guardians of a sacred land. And when the cool mountain air hits your lungs you’re delirious from the sheer amount of oxygen in every breath. From a girl who’s grown up inhaling hazy city smog from Hong Kong to LA, you kinda just wanna bottle up that mountain goodness.

There’s something wild and raw about being in the presence of nature. It commands you to be present– yes, without the insistent hum of your smartphone vibrating, or the need to upload the best Instagramable picture (Egad! I’m quite guilty of this), or even the conditioned urge to look for the nearest PokeStop around.

It’s just you and the silent music of the forest.

Here’s a peaceful view of Mt. Rundle from the Bow River riverbank! Isn’t it so magnificent? The weather was pretty fair at this point, despite weather forecast predictions of thunderstorms for the bulk of the day.

More from the riverbanks! I had split off from my parents by this time because I wanted to capture the great mountain, and it was probably shortly after this moment that I started to get yelled at. Heh.

Wah! This is the view from the newly constructed Bow River Pedestrian Bridge and you can see the fog’s thick fingers curling in over the Rockies on the other side.

Other side! It really is breathtaking.

This gem is another view of Mt. Rundle, which according to the interwebs is 9,672 feet.

Bow River Pedestrian Bridge and Mt. Rundle j-chillin in the back.

Sneaking up on strangers for an artsy photo is my specialty.

Everything was truly so lush and green! I really like this photo of some tree trunks we passed by on our journey to the falls.

AH MY HEART! This is my younger cousin who scurried up to me to show me a bouquet of four-leaf clovers he found while I was snapping away on my camera! He’s definitely a lucky one (:

More woods!

Some stairs to some higher ground to get a better view of the falls!

Here’s a glimpse of the Bow River falls! If you could hear the river roar and see the spray of freshwater as it crashed on the rocks below! It was amazing.There were a lot of trees in this area, so I couldn’t get a clear shot. But took more videos instead!

“You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.”

-Isaiah 55:12

God’s creation is beautiful.

10 days in Alberta: Banff National Park Last month I took a trip with my parents to visit some family up north in Canada: the lovely land of moose, grizzlies, maple syrup, poutine, and so many beautiful…

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Well hello there traveler,

Well hello there traveler,

Looks like you’ve stumbled upon my little corner of the cyberspace. It’s where I make it my goal to immortalize the captivating to the mundane, the pretentiously hipster to the truly wackjob places I’ve visited. Of course, my commentary of well-worn wisdom boasts of stellar credentials, mostly grounded in my experience of staying alive for 21 years … regrettably without ever trying the dollar…

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LOLLS le cuties of 105 having high tea this morning ^.^ glad y'all enjoyed it! @melmusicheng and I did work! (at Boston University Charles River Campus)

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First runner spotted!!! #marathonmonday #boston (at Kenmore Square. Boston Marathon)

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Ahhh FIRST CONCERT EVER with @runrivernorth! And here's the encore song, definitely a slower and calmer one of tonight's set, but hands down one of my first favorites by them! #growingup #wahh (at Brighton Music Hall)

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One thing's for sure... We definitely don't like pie. But here's some much needed comfort food/talk with the fav today (: #jcbakerycafedates #pies #wah #sisters (at Petsi Pies on Putnam Ave)

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Aiyah quite belated, but I go by a better late than never policy... >< This though...Gah!!! ^.^ I am so incredibly happy!! And just so proud and overjoyed to be able to witness and celebrate your re-birthday of sorts with you! May God challenge, grow, and guide you in this upcoming chapter, as He continues to mold you into a man after His heart. God is so GOOD. Also eep! ❤ love you #heisrisen #heisrisenindeed #baptism #ahhhh (at Highrock Church - Brookline)

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Always finding my way to books (: (at Brattle Book Shop)

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We're just a couple of cheese-cakes... ^.^V (Shoutout to Masa for holding off on scarfing it down while I satisfied my Insta needs LOL. #keeper) (at Tatte Bakery & Café, Beacon Hill)

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First time at the BSO with @melmusicheng ^.^ !!! #bso #gettingcultured #trackyourjaq (at Symphony Hall Boston)

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at The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston

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There was an piece at the ICA today called "I only wish I could weep." It was a set of videotapes from Operator #17, a Lebanese Army intelligence officer tasked with monitoring the Corniche, a seaside boardwalk in Beirut. Yet from 1997 onwards, he spent everyday videotaping the sunset instead of his assigned target. He was eventually dismissed but allowed to keep his footage. In a separate room for reflection, this is what one person wrote of the tapes: "People watch sunsets when they are sad. The officer who recorded all those sunsets must have been sad." I think that's kinda beautiful. #trackyourjaq #ica #sunsets (at The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston)

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We back at it again! Joanne is HERE!!! GAH so good to be reunited with the London crew ^.^ #tatte #trackyourjaq #joannemeetsworld (at Tatte Fine Cookies & Cakes)

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Sucky succulents today! #plants #trackyourjaq (at Chelsea Market)