Back in the city again

Well Kids... in case it wasnt evident, I am back. Slowly readapting to Canadian society, weather and altitude. The flight home was interesting and took for ever.
My flight out of DC was delayed for unidentified reasons. Josh and I sat in the airport and watched the planes taxi around. It was a beautiful day and all I wanted to do was put on a t-shirt and go sun by the reflecting pool. I waited until the last possible minute to go through security where the guy, again, made me take apart my entire outfit. Better safe than sorry though. When airports DONT have really tight security now, I get scared. We were in Pheonix about 4 hours later. It really is a desert. Lots of cacti and sand dunes. you could see where rivers had created erosion and then dried up thousands of years ago.
What was supposed to be a twelve hour trip turned into a 15 hour trip as a result of a missing plane. My flight out of P{heonix was delayed because they had booked all the passengers for the flight, they had just not booked a plane for it. So we all had to sit around and wait while they found us a plane. This I can say though, if I had to spend four hours in any airport terminal, I am glad it was that one. They have a lot of shops and bars and little coffee shops. This has always struck me as amusing because after you go through security you can buy a whole bunch more stuff that is never checked.
The flight home was long. Another four hours in a smaller plane. Regardless of the faulty rational, I always feel a little safer in smaller planes. It really makes no sense but for that reason alone I felt a littler more at ease coming home. We flew over the Grand Canyon which was amazing. I think a little bit of the impact was lost on me as a result of the sheer altitude, but still intensly interesting.
I forgot how beautiful Alberta can be. As we banked into the airport we flew over Pigeon lake. It was sunset and the light was reflecting off the water and the ripples from the plane were visible. I had left Edmonton while it was still covered in snow and returned to a place of lush green pastures and tilled crop lines. The immensity of my trip, sheer exhaustion, and the relief of being able to get off the plane hit me and I started crying. It had been almost 48 hours since I had slept and I was ready to be finished with my flights.
So, with that siad, I have been a little incommunicado for the last couple of days. I started work again yesterday and I am having some troubles with my schedule next year and trying to find funding.
My birthday is on June 6th and I am looking for suggestions for things to do if any one should have some. Failing that I figure we can combine Wade's welcome back Kareoke night with a Happy Birthday Vic night on thursday. Either that, or weather providing, I thought it would be kind of cool to go t o Hawerlak park and have a big picnic on the Saturday. Any thoughts? Let me know.
Off to work,
~V