Introduction

Hi Everyone!

Okay, this blog will be primarily for holiday pictures and commentary but who knows what else might end up getting posted here? I plan to post photographs not only of holidays but any other days out, weekends, breaks, nature walks, artistic photographs, basically any pictures I take. I may occasionally take photographs of any scrap-books I may create, which I usually do for BIG holidays and International holidays. For example, this year in late May I will be going on a holiday of a lifetime spending FIVE WEEKS in Canada. I know, I can hardly believe it myself but I bet it'll be upon us really quickly! But before then I might pop a few photographs up from holidays and days out from the last year or two, if I have some spare time...! Otherwise, WATCH THIS SPACE because as soon as I get back from Canada in late June I plan to start blogging my account - with photos - of this holiday, especially as I will be taking a journal with me to write EVERYTHING down! With the Canada blog I will plan to post and write every day or every two days so that means it may take a couple of weeks or so to finish.

Anyway, gotta dash! See ya folks!

Siobhan x

Adventures in Canada 2009

SUNDAY MAY 24th

10:15am

I felt like I had checked everything about a hundred times. This is normal for me. Passport, money, camera, tickets....I always feel the need to check I have tickets and documentation. For everything. Even after checking everything already. Twice. (!)

We got up early and at 9am had half an hour to wait before leaving the house to get to the Bus Station. That was a VERY long half hour. I doubted it, but I just hoped the holiday would seem like five weeks. I didn't want it to go by very fast at all - I wanted to enjoy every moment, every hour, every second.

We boarded the National Express coach to Heathrow - which was at first incredibly hot!!! The warmth outside had leached into the coach while it was standing and everyone was boarding. But eventually we were heading down the motorway and after the "sunroofs" had been opened the coach cooled right down. But WHY the heating was on I did now know.....outside it was 20 C, comfortable, sunny, blue skies, no clouds. Why have the heating on? I hoped my crocs wouldn't melt.....

After Milton Keynes I realised how I was still thinking "Money..Passport...Tickets..." and I was starting to think the usual thing before flying : "What if I get through the scanners and discover all my photos have been erased off my card?". This happened once, a long time ago with a normal camera film when I first went to America when I was 11. Even though I have been to America and Italy and therefore through airports since, and had NO trouble with digital cameras or my photos....I can never help but have that thought in my head. Wouldn't it be awful to get home after having spent 5 weeks in another country and have no photos to show for it? I never actually think its going to happen of course. . . but the thought is always there. I'm always comforted by a friend of mine telling me she puts her camera in her hand luggage every time and she's never had any trouble with it. Thank you Liv! :o)

While we were in the coach I had an urge to shout out the window to everyone else "I'm on holiday! And you are not! Muhahaha!". Of course I didn't. . well, I couldn't, with coach windows not opening....but I did have to remind myself I was on holiday and I was going to Canada.

2:30pm

We arrived a little later at the airport than planned. When we got to the check-in desk, we discovered that check-in would CLOSE 60 MINUTES before the flight departed, at 3pm. It was 1:30pm.

ARGH! We did not remember read anything about that on the website. . . !!

Anyway, a nice man appeared and asked if we wanted to "self-check in" on a kiosk - so we did. And that nice man was the only member of staff who seemed human until we reached the check-in desk at the departure lounge.

Now, this is the only part I hate about flying (well with the exception of the fear of losing photos and luggage). I don't care about queuing up, walking through scanners etc - Its the staff who work there.

I swear they are not told anything about customer service. They don't smile, they never appear friendly, their faces are blank, expressionless, and they may as well be robots. They look at everyone with the sternest face as if you had called them out personally and you just end up feeling guilty for wanting to have a holiday. I know they have a job to do but seriously - do they have to look so unhappy and unapproachable all the time? Or is it just me?

Anyway, it all seemed such a crazy rush to get on the plane - as we had no prior knowledge of the check-in desk closure time. We grabbed a sandwich (even though all my snacks had been eaten), and we had to eat standing up because the "Departure Lounge" which had around...oh...40 seats and 150 people in it (do they not know about these large flights or something???). And the sandwich wasn't particularly nice either. It was all looking quite grim....until our names were called and we were given different seats next to one another, as previously I would have been sitting behind Mathew.

Question: how do you book two tickets under one name and end up not getting them next to each other??? Hmmm.

Anyhoo, suddenly we were on the plane waiting to take off. It was all so fast paced and rushed. How did we get here??

4:27pm Canadian Time

It was surreal when we looked at the map following out flight and "local time" was 2:15pm, after having departed Heathrow at 3pm...!

Now we were flying over Canada, towards Labrador City. We had already bade farewell to the English coast, the Isle of Man and Ireland - then we had some food; fish in a garlic sauce with rice which was really tasty!! And so was the apricot and coconut cookie ... ;oD

We were flying past Greenland and just before we reached the Canadian coastline, we saw fragmented pack ice. I have to say that, from 36,000 feet above its very pretty...but I was amazed at exactly how much there was! It stretched on and on for what seemed like ages until we actually reached the coast. I don't know if Polar Bears live out this far East in Canada but seeing all the fragmented ice just made me think - those poor bears. I know the ice thaws sooner than it used to and the bears depend on it. I do wonder if they might become extinct in my lifetime and its sad to say that I really think they might. All this just made me want to see some of these bears in their natural habitat before this happens.

8:50pm

We arrived safely at 6pm ish, and I called home to let Mum and Dad know. We got our luggage (yay!), went through passport control and customs, and met Janet - our friend who we were staying with - on the other side. Oh and the staff at passport control....well they weren't much better than the ones in Heathrow. Although they looked bored rather than robotic cross headmasters. Do they enjoy their jobs, I wonder? They ever look like they do!

Anyway, we had a 1 hour car journey (or thereabouts) to Cambridge where Janet lives. She rustled up a quick meal for us which was greatly appreciated as I was starving, although Mathew didn't feel quite so hungry until he smelled the chicken grilling....! I had made sure I had taken my antihistamines as Janet has a cat, which I am sadly allergic to. I just get sniffly around cats unless I stroke them and then touch my face without washing my hands. If that happens, my face swells into a pumpkin.

On the way to Janet's house, she was telling us that she lives in an "Ontario Cottage" which is around 100 years old. And in Canada, 100 years is old, 150 years is VERY old, and 200 years plus . . . well, apparently you would either be in Quebec or in a First Nations settlement..! Isn't it strange how a couple of hundred years is so different between Canada and England? When I saw the house, I noticed the ceilings were very high. Houses here seem to have two levels - a cellar or basement, and the actual living area on top which is why most houses have steps up to the front door. It was a very nice house, and I found it easy to imagine someone living there in around 1900.

Pie (the cat) is a very nice black cat, although I had no idea how my allergies would be around her. We slept on the sofa bed in the lounge, so I was hoping the cat wouldn't nuzzle me while I slept. Or at least, not my face anyway! I would only know if I woke up with a pumpkin face....!

Monday May 25th

9:30pm

Well, I woke up this morning feeling just fine. Pie had not been interested in nuzzling me and I did not look like a pumpkin. Mathew and I both rose this morning feeling very rested. Good job too, because due to the forecast of rain over the next few days, today looked like the best day to go to Niagara Falls.

We first went to Fort Erie which looks over the Lake of the same name, and you can see America on the other side. Namely, Buffalo in New York - the closest I have ever been to New York! It was kind of odd being in Canada and seeing the British flag flying...but it WAS a British fort. This was a supply base for British troops, Loyalist Rangers and Iroquois Warriors during the American Revolution. It was quite interesting, and there were some people dressed up in period costume while we were there. It was a nice, gentle introduction to the day.

Back into the car and onto Niagara. I noticed the Ontario landscape is very flat. I quite like most of the houses- the traditional ones, like Janet's house, with porches. And I liked the Dutch barns too. There is a part of Ontario here - Lincoln - which is known as wine country, and they also create "ice wine" which I guess is created after the frosts..or rather snow...! Apparently the only other place where ice wine is created is in Vancouver.

When we arrived at the Falls, a spray was visible as we approached - falling on us as soon as we got out the car. Looking over the railings, the Horseshoe Falls (which is their actual name by the way), looked about as big as I expected it to be. Whenever I go to see things like this, I always have an image of it in my head and hope its going to be bigger to impress me further! Unlike when I went to see Stonehenge - I thought it was really tiny!!!

Anyway, the main thing is that, although I knew it is very, very deep, and seeing the scale of the people on the American side....it just didn't seem quite as deep as I thought it would be. Somehow I couldn't grasp the depth, yet I was impressed with it at the same time. Hard to explain, but its most definitely a sight to see!

Eventually, we reached the "Maid of the Mist" boat tour and took one. Seriously - the Americans really don't get that great a view..!! The Canadian view is the most impressive. In the boat, we wet up to the American side (so I guess technically we were in the USA for around 5 minutes, illegally...!), then around to the Horseshoe. We wore delightful blue full-length ponchos....very attractive! ;o)

The water was incredibly loud - we could not hear a word of the tour narration on the boat until we reached the point of. . . just about able to return, and we suddenly heard - in an "American Idol" kind of announcement, "Ladies and Gentlemen, This - is Niagara Falls!" by which time you kinda knew......! I got quite wet despite the poncho....I had a great time! ;o)

After, we headed back to the car and went to Niagara-on-the-Lake after stopping off to see Brock's monument and a view of Lake Niagara. Niagara-on-the-Lake is a very pretty town, much like the place I stayed in when I went to Yellowstone National Park in the USA. Only the shops didn't stay open quite so late. We bought fudge and ate ice cream ;o)

Long drive back to Janet's was interrupted by dinner in Boston Pizza, where I ALMOST left my purse by accident, but we went back and everything was fine, the purse was on the seat. PHEW! We got back fairly late, much to the disgust of Pie who was VERY hungry indeed.

Tomorrow we're visiting Mathew's cousins in Stratford, one of the reasons why Mathew wanted to come to this area. There is a possibility that we might go to see a play at the theatre..although I have no idea if it will be Shakespeare or not. I don't really go to the theatre at home with the exception of a couple of Operas recently, so it should be interesting! :o)

Tuesday May 26th

9:05am

Pie tried to eat my crocs this morning!! But its okay - Janet reassured me that Pie plays with her crocs all the time and they have never been punctured. Neat! Maybe it cleans her teeth or something?

The route to Stratford was pretty straight - like most roads here. Although the roads were a little bumpy..! We passed a place called "Punkydoodles Corners" - I have no idea how its actually spelt. There is no sign for this place because it keeps getting stolen, what with having such an unusual name. I guess nobody would believe the name unless you saw it on a sign. Hmmmm. Have these people seen the names of some places in England, I wonder?

8:54pm

I had no idea how the day would turn out, or what we'd be doing. We stayed in the Tribick's house for around an hour - these are Mathew's cousins. Harry Tribick unfortunately passed away just a few months before we came to Canada, which was a real shame because from what Mathew had told me, he was quite a character. His wife June, her daughter Gail, and Gail's husband Brian showed us around the house which was filled with wooden carvings which Harry had made. These were mainly of birds, and birds with foliage but they were no ordinary carvings. I was told that Harry had never learnt to carve wood - he had taught himself. And if you could see all these pieces he had made, they were all just extraordinarily lifelike. I have no idea how long it took him to reach perfection with his woodcarving but everything looked incredibly professional and perfect.

We went into the garden, seeing the lattice garden gate that Harry had made in the most laborious way possible, and the pond which drained away into a barrel which watered the rest of the garden. And then we went into his workshop which had been left as it was, a time capsule filled with numerous finished carvings, half-finished carvings, carved leaves which were to be fixed onto a carved bird on a treestump. There were also intreaguing tools which Harry seemed to have created for himself, often amusingly labelled with things like "wing-bending jig" which only he could have figured out how to use!

After this, we piled into the car and rode around Stratford town centre. Just by being with his family and looking at what he had created I could tell that Harry Tribbick was a loveable person with a wonderful character to match. He is obviously dearly missed, and I can only wish I could have met him myself.

We rode around the area looking at June's "retirement appartment", still in the process of being built, and after a short while we got out of the car for a stroll around Stratford, enjoying the river until the wind started making us chilly, then up past some very, very nice houses! We reached the main shopping area and enjoyed a Toy Store visit before entering "Gallery Indigina" where I ended up spending my money!! I started my collection of art-cards, bought a Haida Eagle necklace, an Inukshuck pin, and a Haida wooden carving of a hummingbird. Not your usual brightly coloured painted carving, as it was plain, dark painted or varnished wood - I saw it on the wall and it just shouted at me. I had to look at it a couple of times before deciding "Yes!". And at $78 I didn't think it was too bad a price, as some of these carvings can be very expensive. It was the only wooden carving I bought and I would have liked to have bought SO many more, but they are the kind of thing that needs to jump out at you before you even consider buying. This hummingbird was exactly what I wanted! Or maybe it wanted me to buy it?

After buying lots of things, it was time to have lunch. We went to a Pizza restaurant, and Gail started having second thoughts about the place when we told her that the last Pizza I had eaten was in Naples in 2007, but I reassured her that I would enjoy my Pizza here. And I did! I had just eaten far too many Piazzas in Italy. I got "Pizza'd out". The choice for dinner was usually Pizza, Pasta or Risotto and it was worse at lunchtime: Pizza, folded pizza or mini-pizza. I don't know if we went to the wrong places or what, but we ate a LOT of bread in Italy....!

Anyway, back to Stratford Ontario: we had decided, whilst waiting for our Pizzas that we would go to see a play. Now, I had no idea what this play was about, sometimes I like to leave it that way and I end up being more engrossed and enjoy it more. And that is certainly what happened here. We went to see Cyrano de Bergerac, which I know many people had studied at school or college, but I had never even heard of it. The star was Canada's Colm Feore as Cyrano, and the play we went to see was actually a dress rehearsal, so there weren't too many people - which I found quite nice really! Especially as the theatre we saw it in was quite small. But this play was very entertaining, very funny, and at points, quite explosive..!!

At the interval we had a look at some of the costumes which were on display in the corridors, some of whch Gail had made - this is her job! Also on the walls were coloured drawings of some of the characters and their outfits before they are made - often by Gail with a multitude of materials. June kept telling me how Gail was really good at her job, and I could tell by just seeing the costumes she had created. She must have one of the most enjoyable and fun jobs in the world. It made me wish I'd chosen to do art and design in college, instead of just art. Gail, along with most people in the audience, is a "Friend of the Festival" and gets invited to these dress-rehearsals, and we just tagged along! It was great!

After the play, we went to Gail and Brian's house for supper, and Janet came to join us. I had asked Mathew about Brian's accent because I was having trouble placing it......and he explained why: it was a mixture of English, Australian and Canadian; an intreaguing mixture explaining where he had lived during his life. No wonder I couldn't place it! Unfortunately he couldn't eat the same food as us - as he had been ill with throat cancer, the treatment had left him unable to swallow unless his food is in liquid form. But, he ate at the table with the rest of us as we enjoyed a buffet salad including "fiddleheads" which were quite nice, and pickled baby corn - I love baby corn but I had never had it pickled before. I have to say that I might be pickling some at home soon...!!

It was time to leave, but while I had visited the washroom, Brian had put some pots and bowls on the table - which he had made from several types of wood himself - and told us to pick one to take home. I had no idea that Brian worked with wood, this was completely unexpected and it was such a lovely gesture. I chose a small pot made of cherry wood, and Mathew chose a larger one made of a combination of maple, walnut and cherry. Brina wrapped them up in tissue after he wrote the name of the wood, and signed the bases.

I don't know when we will see the Tribbicks again, and it was a shame not to have met Harry, but it was lovely to meet June, Gail and Brian. One thing I do know for sure is that I will definately think of them and this holiday every time I see and use my cherry wood pot. It currently sits on a shelf in my room where I can see it wherever I sit, and it is home to all the jewellery I bought in Canada.

Wednesday May 27th

5:25pm

Today we spent the day in Toronto. We managed to get a Greyhound bus in the morning to get us into Town by 11:00am. It rained pretty hard before we got the bus, and during the journey.

When we got off the bus, the rain decided to come down as hard and as fast as possible - it was unbelievable! Even though I had my waterproof jacket and my umbrella, my trousers got soaked all the way up to my thighs! The water was falling so fast, I was getting wet from the water bouncing back out of the puddles, which were as deep as my shoes were - so my shoes were wet, but my feet weren't too bad - thank goodness for Gortex!!

So, the first stop was the Gallery of Inuit Art. Now...could we find it?? We walked around for about an hour and couldn't find it anywhere. We even asked someone who worked on the sea front, who told us it was "around this corner" but it was nowhere to be seen. All we knew was that the address was "Queen's Quay", and after searching the road and the block, we saw a shopping mall called "Queen's Quay". I said "Well, lets go through there and if its not there, we'll give up and go straight to the CN Tower". So in we went, found a mall map and....there it was!! It was IN the shopping mall. And there were so signs to it either (unless it was signposted just from one side of the mall...), which was strange considering that it was apparently "Toronto's Newest Museum". Do they not want to promote it? Let people know how to get there?

Anyway, there it was tucked neatly away in the corner. It was quite small, but there were a LOT of things, and we found most of it very, very nice indeed - even some of the contemporary art. I particularly liked the 'dancing bear' sculptures and the 'dancing walrus' looked particularly playful. There was a sort-of shop afterwards, but it was more like a gallery extension with pieces you could buy - seriously expensive though. $4,000 for a medium, good sized dancing bear. It was unfortunate that the actual gift shop seemed closed, otherwise I may have bought the book on the gallery or on the art and sculpture.

By this time we had dried off completely, and standing under the hand-drier in the washroom definitely helped..! It was lunchtime. We found a place with a name like "Cafe Suprema" or something similar. I chose a panini and I was asked which soup I would like with it. I said I didn't want soup. "Okay," he said.

Then one of the ladies asked me what salad I would like with my panini. I said I didn't want a salad. "Okay," she said.

Then the second lady asked me which TWO salads I wanted with my panini.

At this point I thought *oh, to hell with it!* so I chose a mixture of plain and greek salad.

Then I was asked which DRESSING I wanted.......

I chose the Caesar dressing and before I knew it, I was ordering my decaff coffee at the till. Yes, I finally got to the till and I finally got my panini. And the panini itself was the lightest wholewheat bread I have ever eaten! It was like eating light toast or crackers - very light. Mathew had chosen soup which came with noodles and salad. Soooo much food all for $5 each!!

The CN Tower was our next stop, very extortionate at $27 (about £14 at the time) of course, but you can't really go to Toronto and NOT go up that Tower. That would be like going to Paris for the first time and not bothering with the Eiffel Tower. Despite the bad weather, the view wasn't all that bad as it had brightened up somewhat. The view was actually strangely eerie - we could see the weather front coming in and raining just outside Toronto, and where the last front with the really heavy rain which we had got soaked in, was passing over the other side. We couldn't see too far in the distance which was a shame, but the moisture was rising with the humidity creating a fog which crept over everything very slowly. From above, it looked pretty dramatic.

We went further up into the "Sky Pod", although we couldn't take proper photos because of the wire mesh which really HAD to be there...! It was also a shame about the weather because there could have been a baseball match or practicing going on in the pitch next door - but the roof was closed.

We came down the lift into the gift shop where I had my photo taken with a goofy looking black bear, and later a polar bear. I bought a few postcards and a maple leaf brooch as a gift for Mum.

We then walked to the Art Gallery of Ontario. At this point I had pretty much decided that Toronto reminded me very much of London, what with all the construction going on, heavy traffic, loud, and bustling streets. I was thinking earlier that Toronto looked cleaner, but on the way to the "AGO", I realised that it wasn't much different from London really - both cities have their grey areas and bright, clean areas.

The "AGO" was not what I was expecting. It was a very modern building throughout, which kind of threw me as I was expecting the building to be much older. I guess I'm used to entering more historic buildings when visiting a Museum at home or in Europe, and I guess I forgot that Canada - like America - has a much shorter historical timeline than Europe! This was the first point where I suddenly realised the short time span of history in Canada - I remembered what Janet had told us: 100 years = old. 150 = very old. 200 years = Quebec or First Nations Settlement.

We mainly looked at artwork created by "The Group of Seven" which I would describe as a cross between impressionism and fauvism. It turned out that I seemed to be very picky about which ones I liked, as most of it seemed quite fauvist which isn't one of my favourite styles but - as with many things I'm not too fond of - there were a handful which I did quite like, and I really liked the more impressionist style pieces. I thought I might buy postcards of the ones I liked the most.

BUT - this Museum gift shop seemed to be in league with the British Museum in London - there were NO postcards of the pieces which I liked. NONE. As a consequence I bought nothing. NOTHING! This is the only Museum where I have visited, gone to the gift shop, and left with nothing!! Astounding. But, it didn't put me in a bad mood..although I was quite fed up with the fact that I didn't buy anything. Although it wasn't all bad - had spent $113 yesterday in "Gallery Indigena"....! (of which I discovered later, there is one in Vancouver.....!)

My feet were hurting by now, so we went to the bus station and got onto the Grayhound back to Cambridge where Janet picked us up and took us home.

Thursday May 28th

6:05pm

Today was a short day really,but it was just as well - tomorrow we fly to Calgary and drive to Banff.

We first went to the Royal Chapel of the Mohawks, Brantford. Today I learned that the Mohawks (People of the Flint) are a First Nation of New York, USA, Quebec and here in Eastern Ontario. This church is the oldest Protestant church in Ontario. The first Chapel of the Mohawks was built at Fort Hunter in New York, 1712. It was destroyed as an aftermath of the American Revolution. During this war, some of the Six Nations people allied themselves with Canada and Britain, and settled in Canada. This Chapel in Brantford was built in 1785 and stands as a shrine to the Six Nations as a symbolic link between the Crown of England and the people of the Grand River Valley.

The Woodland Cultural Centre we visited soon after the Chapel, had quite an old fashioned Museum, but it was very good, very understandable. After lunch, we went to Chiefswood, the birthplace and childhood home of E.Pauline Johnson, or Tekahiouwake. She was half English and half Mohawk and was proud of her mixed heritage - she was Canada's first nationally acclaimed female poet. Today was very interesting and I would have liked to have bought a book about the history of the Eastern tribes in Canada. I should like to do the same with the Plains and River tribes. I shall have to keep my eyes peeled.

On the way back home, we stopped off in Paris (!) and visited a cute shop which I would describe as selling "haberdashery" but we just went in to see the river view through their back window!! ;o) We bought cakes, and some steak for dinner before finishing off my scrapbook for the time being, and packing my suitcase for tomorrow

Friday May 29th

9:35am

All packed and ready to go. Janet drove us to Toronto Airport where we were due to fly at 12:00 noon to Calgary.

1:20pm

After a very relaxed check-in - SUCH a difference from Heathrow! - we finally boarded the plane, no rush, no trouble. I was hoping to take a better photo of Toronto from the air, but we obviously sat on the wrong side of the plane. No matter though - I had two more chances of snapping a photo when we come into Toronto on our way back. I bought a sandwich in the airport to eat on the plane but it was SO dry and horrid. The reason? No butter or margarine.

Seriously!!

Does nobody make sandwiches with butter here?! I thought that just happened in American and France. Hmmm. Never mind, we had snacks on the place. Maybe a little unhealthy, but it was food.. For the most part of this holiday I thought we'd be eating fine.

It was cold on the plane - the air conditioning had been set far too high! We flew over at least two of the Great Lakes, if not three. I couldn't tell, they were far too big for me to see them in their entirety, even from way up in the air. These Great Lakes really are THAT big! On the ground if you stand at the edge of Lake Ontario and look across the water, you cannot see the other side unless you're right on the edge close enough to America. To the British, not being able to see the other side of some water means you are on the coast. No so, here!! Seriously - if you have seen Loch Ness and Windermere and think they are massive, think again!

Looking out of the window now, we have flown over all the lakes already. The in-flight entertainment system wasn't showing us the map so I had no idea where we were. Still, outside there was still a LOT of water, mostly forming much smaller lakes...but there were LOTS of them. I don't know how big they are....perhaps the size of the lakes in the Lake District in England? I had an urge to just stand on the edge of one to see the size of them. The roads are also very straight, or mostly so, like in Ontario. I imagine in such an isolated place its so easy to take a wrong turn. From the plane it seemed like there was just one main road, possibly the only road. I wonder how long it takes to drive from Toronto to Calgary....but I have been told the journey is flat, straight and uneventful. But I have also been told of the Alberta Sky and how huge it is. It is in Prairie land so the flatness of the landscape accentuates the size of the sky. I wonder if I'll be impressed with it....having been on the ground in the Prairies of America I have seen huge sky before. I was wondering if the sky would be bigger or about the same. I probably had bigger expectations of it, as usual.

It was also very hard to believe how far North we were, in relation to the Arctic Circle. What I could see out of the window may have been the very edge of it, I don't know. I just know the Arctic Circle wasn't really that far away, and its odd to realise it.

It was 12 degrees in Calgary when we left...I really hoped it was going to warm up!!

9:20pm

Our flight was fine. A little turbulence, but no worries. Once we got our luggage, we strolled over to the Car Rental place which was signposted from the airport. This part was actually totally straightforward! Out car was a brand new shiny silver Ford Focus. Mathew was a little worried about it, what with it being his first time in an automatic, and driving on the other side of the road. But he took to it like a duck to water. He began feeling less nervous and more confident.

Driving along the highway was fine, Mathew was worried about getting out of Calgary but it was no trouble at all. It was odd in a sense - Prairie land is very flat indeed, and the sky was very big...but as I suspected, it was no bigger than last time I was in Prairie land in the States. The Prairies weren't all flat though, gently rolling for part of it. But they soon turned into mountains.

Seeing mountains approach was very strange. They were there in the distance, but before you knew it, they were right next to you....it happened very quickly! This was when I first realised that distance and perspective doesn't seem quite right here. A long, long road to the Rockies.....didn't take that long to get there at all.

We quickly reached Banff National Park and paid for our annual Park Permit (the other choice was a daily pass), but this covered ALL National Parks in Canada which was pretty handy. We reached our first Bed and Breakfast "Mountain Country B&B" by around 5:00pm. We were welcomed, introduced, and taken to our room.

And what a fantastic room this was!! The house was a log cabin style, possibly actually made of real logs. We stayed in the room at the top of the house, and we had the balcony that went with it. The room itself was large with a huge, soft bed, wooden furniture and a soft carpet and lots of storage. Windows ran the width of the room with blinds and curtains on the lower half. Being in the valley of Banff, you can't NOT get a mountain view. But did we get a view..!!! The room was brilliant and we were here for 5 nights. "Boy, this is great!" I thought to myself. It was definitely worth flying all this way, and definitely worth the money.

In the morning we would sit at our own little dining table or outside on the balcony for Breakfast. Which was in the mini-fridge: cereal, milk, orange juice, muffins, bread to toast, jams..everything we needed was there, and would be re-filled every day while we were out, ready for the next morning. This seems to be the way a lot of Bed and Breakfasts seem to work in Canada, I think its a great idea!

This evening, after unpacking, we strolled "downtown" where there were SO many shops. We had dinner in "Wild Bill's Legendary Saloon" where I had a "Wild West Salad" which came in the shape of a mountain of leaves topped with grilled chicken and piles of tomatoes, carrot, egg, onion....you name it, it was there. Mathew enjoyed an Elk burger and had Onion rings....which came on a separate plate, there were so many of them!

We walked home feeling happy and with full stomachs. I wrote in my journal, did some scrap booking and Mathew had a nap in what we called the "Kipping Chair". Evil and soft, you didn't know the meaning of "get up" once you'd sat in it!

Saturday May 30th

2:00pm

This morning we walked out on “The Fenland” trail which was not that far away – just behind where we were staying. It was just a couple of miles loop trail, but as the walk was ending my legs were really hurting – my brand new trousers were rubbing on my legs! It was irritating and very painful – it felt like they were bleeding, but they weren’t.

We walked back to the B&B via the Supermarkets where we bought some moisturiser. It really stung at first but it soon passed and I put my actual walking trousers on. We went off to do the “Bow Valley and Hoodoos” trail after getting into the car to start at one of the car parks.
The walk was fine with the exception of the “ascent” which didn’t seem much when in writing but in actual fact was short and steep. I grumbled and grumbled but I managed it eventually. I’m not cut out for walking long distance as every time I try, I reach a point where I start to find it really difficult. I’m not the greatest walker at the best of times, and at altitude its worse – it’s noticeably different for me at least, as I knew I was out of breath much quicker than usual. I had to remind myself I was much higher than I would be if I was at home. By the end of the trail, despite the grumbling, my feet weren’t feeling too bad and Mathew pointed out where we had started. I felt reasonably impressed with myself and hoped it had shifted a couple of lbs.

Now, these “hoodoos” are absolutely NOTHING compared to Bryce Canyon in America. Seriously – but you do get a good view at the end. When we got there, Mathew said he would make his way back along the same trail, get the car and come to this car park to pick me up. It was far too long a trail for me to do it twice. I thought it would be a good idea to sit under a nice shady tree and write in my journal whilst admiring the view and watching over our bags.
These mountains are very pretty but I think the view was too much for my mind to comprehend. Yes, the mountains were there and yes they are huge. But I wasn’t saying “wow” nor was I disappointed. It was a good idea for me to sit down and take it all in, the size especially. When I saw Bryce Canyon and the Grand Canyon I was very impressed, and was in awe of them. Maybe that’s because they are Canyons which you can look down into and I always have the urge to go down into the Canyon (which you can in some places). I like to feel the sides looming high way up above me. Its then, that I usually realise how large these things are. So I guess I would have liked to stand at the foot of these mountains, then I might have been able to grasp the scale a little more.

Whilst taking in the view, I spoke to a guy from Calgary who told me he had seen a black bear on the Bow Valley Parkway yesterday. He also informed me that the Ice fields are more spectacular than Banff, and Jasper has plenty of bears....! Here’s hoping!


After a short while I thought I may have just started to realise how big those mountains are. I was glad I wasn’t on a coach tour where we would likely have about 15 minutes here before zooming off elsewhere. It was nice to sit and admire the view and take it all in – I think I needed to stay there a while and just look at it for as long as possible. So I did.

10:45 pm

I felt very tired after getting back to the B&B and having a shower. I dozed for a short while before we set out to browse some of the shops and go for dinner. I looked at lots of t-shirts and started to grow incredibly frustrated at there being more men’s than ladies fitted t-shirts. The patterns on all the ladies t-shirts were flowery with “Banff” scrolled across them. What’s so Canadian about that? What's wrong with maple leaves and bears or moose? Tomorrow I thought I might try on some small and large men’s t-shirts to see how they fit. I was irritated already at the t-shirts being so long and mostly for men. The men also seemed to have a wider range, a bigger selection of really nice things on them too. I did, however, buy a bear-shaped cookie cutter which came with a gingerbread recipe which I shall try when I get home.
For dinner we ate at the “Maple Leaf” which ended up being more expensive than we expected....but it was definitely worth it. I ordered Buffalo tenderloin and was persuaded by our waiter to have it done “medium” at the most. Otherwise, if I’d have asked for “well done” I would have been paying $35 for a hockey puck. He was very friendly and chatty and spent most of the night dropping cutlery about the place! Anyway, I took his advice. . . and MAN was it delicious! It was SO soft and tasted like the most expensive and best quality (and probably was!) beef I have ever eaten. It was the nicest cut of meat I had ever eaten. Plus, for dessert I had a Lindt Chocolate and ground almond cake which was served with raspberry puree and crème fraiche.


Divine.

Sunday May 31st

Today we started by taking lunch with us before swinging by Vermillion Lakes for a little while before heading out to the Sulphur Mountain Gondola. Heading up Sulphur Mountain was fun, although I am not great with heights, especially in cable-cars. I hated it when we passed by a pylon as it made the entire cable car rumble....! NO!! I faced where we had some from. It seemed easier! The photos came out nice too!

Once at the top, we went outside to walk to the top, known as Sanson’s Point I believe, named after the guy who climbed Mount Sulphur very regularly (most days I think!) and often stayed at the top, especially if he got snowed in. Apparently his epitaph read “Gone higher”!!

The wind was chilly but it was a fine day and we had a great view, also seeing golden ground squirrels. Looking at the view I felt I was starting to understand how large these mountains were. The view was expansive, endless, and impressive. I still wanted to have the mountains looming over me rather than look at them from a distance at the peak of another. My mind was struggling to grasp scale and perspective here.

Descending the mountain in the Gondola was not much different than the ascent, although I preferred to see where we were headed rather than where we had been. One thing we noticed was all the sterile burnt lodge-pole pines – which make up the majority of the forests here, and they regenerate after burning. And there had already been a good few forest fires already, since we had been here. We saw one later on in the evening outside our room window.

We next decided to do the “Sundance Canyon” trail. We took our lunch and sat by the Bow River which ran alongside the trail. I was a little conscious of bears, but we saw none. Although we did see a mule deer and a female Elk later on. The Sundance Canyon trail was quite dull after passing the river. Again, my feet were hurting so I got grumpy. The rest of the walk was incredibly long and uneventful with the exception of seeing the deer and Elk. We finished the walk with a lovely well needed ice-lolly and went back to the B&B where we watched a cloud of smoke rising and expanding quickly from behind one of the mountains.

Later, we went out for food and had an Italian meal. I had tagliatelle. Before going to eat, I popped into a couple of shops looking for t-shirts and after trying one which I really wanted, I discovered that all the nice interesting patterns are on the men’s t-shirts which did NOT fit me!! I felt like I was wearing a t-shirt which belonged to my brother. And again, I was seeing millions of ladies t-shirts with nothing on except flowers and “Banff”. This was seriously irritating me as there were no end of men’s t-shirts with very, very nice designs which I could not buy. Ladies usually had about 6 designs to choose from, all totally un-Canadian or plain.

I did, however, spot a nice t-shirt with a moose on which I might buy tomorrow. Otherwise, I guess it is mow my task to try and find a ladies t-shirt with a bear on it. If I don’t find any I will assume Canadians don’t think ladies like Canadian-looking t-shirts or t-shirts with nice designs on. Oh and I have to find one in a nice colour. (Seriously – orange? grey? yellow? Please! I don’t want to look anaemic!!).

Monday June 1st

10:00pm

As we had the weather forecast telling us it was going to be raining and cold, we thought we would do the museums and the shopping (yey!) today. It didn’t rain at all, but it was VERY cold this morning and it was very cloudy, especially on some of the mountains, so it was a good idea to leave the museums and shopping until today.

We started out by going to the Cave and Basin Museum where three guys discovered a hot spring and decided it would be a great idea to exploit it and make some money. Which they did of course! This was the story of the birth of Banff National Park. Now the spring is still very hot but incredibly smelly. It is home to rare water snails and other aquatic species. There was a nature trail too, and we saw a Garter Snake slithering away from us. They are tiny, rare and shy creatures which only live here because they love the warmth of the hot spring.

Next was the Luxton Museum, or now the Buffalo Nations Museum which was quite old fashioned and was about the Siksika mainly, which I think are a branch of the Blackfoot tribe. It was a nice Museum and a very nice shop too! I bought myself a bear calendar for 2010, and a book on native Canadian myths and folklore. Next door was the “Trading Post” gift shop which was dangerous. Lots and lots of nice things. Although I resisted the beads, I spent around $70, but some things were souvenirs!!

We went back to the B&B to leave the car there and go into town to eat some lunch. We haven’t been eating a great deal at lunchtimes, often just half a sandwich and a drink. My feet were killing me but I went on......we went to the Whyte Museum where I discovered the artwork of Robert Bateman and Erica Neumann which I both liked very much indeed. In the shop there were expensive bear pictures which I decided NOT to buy, but I chose a book by Charlie Russell on his living with Grizzlies in Kamchatka in Russia instead. It looks good; I have seen programmes and have read a book about his work before, so I look forward to reading this one. I haven’t seen it before. Feet still killing me, we went into the Banff Park Museum, a small old fashioned museum of mostly stuffed animals, birds eggs etc. Quaint and cute!

So, feet still hurting....we went shopping!! We went into almost every shop and I ended up buying more souvenirs and things for myself, and Mathew even split from me for a short while so he could buy something and save it for my Birthday or Christmas (Bear things, most likely!).
I bought myself a thermal mug with a bear on it (one of my must-haves on the list!) and I FINALLY bought a t-shirt....but it wasn’t a ladies cut. It was a “Youth 14/16”, where the numbers mean the age not the size. I looked at it, and it looked kind of small...small enough for me. I tried it on and it fit! I looked at the other t-shirts, but this had the nicest pattern with a moose, a bear and maple leaves. Now, THAT is a Canadian t-shirt. And it was only $8.99. Bargain!

As for the moose t-shirt I saw yesterday, I tried on large and x-large and they just got longer and longer!! How bizarre is that? Mind you, that’s happened to me before with jeans....anyway, I finally had a t-shirt with a bear on it. And this is just the beginning of the second week in Canada...I have bought SO much! I may not buy much over the next few days . . . but my credit card seems to be working just fine. Usually the bank have something to say about it, but this time I made sure I told them I was in Canada between May 24th – June 25th. Everything seems to be working just fine.

So we ate a burger at Wild Bill’s and padded home on tired, aching feet. I thought my feet had died but I did buy a new pair of crocs today and they work like magic shoes...hopefully tomorrow won’t be quite so painful. My feet definitely need a good long rest.

Kootenay Park tomorrow, via the Bow Valley Parkway. Perhaps we’ll see a bear or two...?

Tuesday June 2nd

5:55pm

Today we started off by leaving at 9am to drive along the Bow Valley Parkway – this road isn’t closed, but visitors are asked not to use it between 6pm and 9am so as not to disturb the wildlife. Needless to say, no bears were out today, although there were several lay-bys with information boards and viewpoints. We stopped at most of them, and through binoculars we saw a Loon, Osprey, an Otter, a Moose and a Mule Deer.

Onward we went to Kootenay National Park which borders with Banff. Today we actually crossed into British Columbia while we went into Kootenay! We first went to Marble Canyon which at first I wasn’t that impressed with – except for the glacial waters which were a really nice colour! But the boardwalk too us zig-zagging up and across the Canyon which I would describe as more of a Gorge, but when we reached the end at the top, we were VERY high up and could even see some ice inside the Gorge – a frozen waterfall which had grown as the ice had accumulated.

The landscape surrounding the Canyon was very strange – there had been a forest fire a few years ago, and there were many dead trees and bark, but there were also saplings growing in between the dead wood. It was quite surreal. At the top of the Canyon there was a double waterfall which was fun and quite impressive. Lots of spray and rainbow patterns – here the stone looked like marble as it was constantly wet – hence the name of the Canyon I guess! We had our photo taken by a Tommy-Lee Jones doppelganger, and then had lunch at the bottom of the canyon before moving onto “The Paint Pots”

“The Paint Pots” were different to what I was expecting, having seen “Paint Pots” in America which were muddy bubbling hot springs in Yellowstone, these were totally different. Again, the landscape was strange – part due to where the edge of a forest fire had reached, but the main strange thing was the presence of “ochre beds” – where Native people collected ochre, baked it into cakes and ground it into a powder in order to turn it into paint when mixed with oil or grease. Everywhere was orange, mostly dry and sandy, other parts wet and gooey ochre clay.
At the end of the walk there were three “Paint Pots”. Two large and one small, plus a large defunct one. These were created by natural springs and natural iron minerals mixing together. Iron minerals deposited around the edge and hardened eventually forcing the spring to move upward to create a cone. These weren’t hot and bubbling like in Yellowstone – these were still. But throughout the walk, there was a small steady stream of glacial water and iron mineral water mixing and depositing within the clayey soil below. A bridge across the river here was also quite fun with its gentle swaying!

We went back to the B&B going along the Bow Valley Parkway a second time. By now it was around 2:50pm, it was warm and sunny – most furry animals were probably asleep by now! Even by 5pm there was little activity with the exception of the Columbian Ground Squirrels which were pretty much everywhere.

BUT, we did find three Big-Horned Sheep grazing by the roadside on the way back before stopping off at a place I thought was the best spot and viewpoint along the Bow Valley Parkway ...at least from what we had seen anyway. This morning we had stopped there and saw the Loon and Osprey first thing, and there was a cyclist taking a break on the grass on the hill just below. When we came back here this evening, I thought it would be nice to sit at the top of the hill for a while, even if there was no wildlife (which of course, there wasn’t!). But the reason why I wanted to sit here a while was the view – I just wanted to sit here and take it in just like I had with the Hoodoos the other day. We were looking across the river which ran parallel with the railway line.

Despite being close to the main road, this viewpoint was my favourite in particular because we had a view of mostly pine forest covered mountains, and some snow covered. Being must lower down than we were when looking at the Hoodoos viewpoint I think I finally began to realise the scale of everything and appreciated it much more here. The immensity of these mountains, the habitats and how long it stretched on for in the distance.

The mountains were impressive, huge, and amazing. I just loved how the forest completely covered them. More forest spread out like a carpet below the mountains, interrupted politely with large marshy lakes. It was certainly one of the most beautiful views I had ever seen and it was nice to be able to just sit and stare at it for a while.

There was another place called “Pilot Pond” formerly known as “Lizard Lake” (because of Salamanders), which I would have liked to have stayed a little longer, but I was really conscious that although we weren’t far from the main road, it seemed like we were actually in the middle of nowhere. I though a bear or elk might come out of the forest behind us, and I felt quite uncomfortable despite the pond being more of a lake and the view quite spectacular, especially with the dark green water!

But this view point where we sat for a good long while, was my absolute favourite and I don’t think I would have tired of it at any point. The last meal in Banff was in Wild Bills (our third visit here!) and this time we had dessert. Pecan Pie with Ice Cream and Maple Syrup.

Delicious!!

Wednesday June 3rd

5:00pm


Off to Lake Louise today! We left quite early in the morning so we might see wildlife on the Bow Valley Parkway one last time. Bidding farewell to our host and luxurious room, we packed the car full and headed off to the Parkway.

At my favourite spot, we saw the Osprey again, and two Herons – one was in flight and landed on the TOP of a tree, which I was quite surprised about – I didn’t know Herons could stay on the top of a tree! No wonder we didn’t see them before, we were looking in the wrong place!
We continued along the road stopping off at a number of places, but we saw nothing more with the exception of a duck or a goose. As we approached “Moose Meadows”, we thought we would have a good look along the roadside as this is where we saw a Moose yesterday. Fortunately, luck was on our side and we found one munching in the trees just next to the meadow, closer to us this time!

After taking a photo, we moved onto Johnston Canyon. This Canyon was pretty much like a Gorge again, but this was much larger than Marble Canyon. This was quite fun as there were paths and boardwalks along the edge about half way down the Canyon itself, so we were really walking inside it as opposed to above it. Again here, the rushing water was milky blue-green glacial water. There were a few small waterfalls within the canyon, but we soon reached the “lower falls”. We stopped here but continued on to the “upper falls” to have a closer look at those first. The walk was reasonably tiring for me, but my new crocs were working their magic and my feet felt fine and only started to ache when we got back to the car after walking 5.4km which is impressive for me, especially as the ascent was 100m, the path was continuously up and down all the way. I was quite pleased with myself as Mathew had told me the distance but NOT the ascent because he knew that would put me off! I thought the walk to the Hoodoos was much more difficult, and that ascent was just 40m! I do not understand!

Anyway, the “upper falls” were very nice, and quite high, and the spray made our clothes and hair damp. Nice though, as it was a very warm day. Making our way to the “lower falls”, we went along a bridge to get close and there was a small alcove into which you could walk and get even CLOSER to the waterfall! Wet, but fun! Again, very nice on such a warm day.


After having lunch here, we continued along the Bow Valley Parkway to the very end, seeing only some more Big Horned Sheep by the roadside again. We headed off to Lake Louise – one of the stop off viewpoints was quite spectacular. The mountains seemed to get even larger, but there were also SO many more trees. Almost a complete carpet of forest lay below the mountains here, which stopped at the edge of the Bow River. Quite spectacular.
We were only a few minutes early arriving at Lake Louise, so we decided to go straight to the Lake itself. The village looked quite small – nowhere near as large as Banff but I guess I’ll have a better look at it later. The Lake itself was quite nice – but I didn’t realise it was so close to other things, such as the (hideous!) Chateau Hotel and lots of paving for visitors to walk on. I thought it was going to be more in the wilderness like most places in Banff seemed to be.



Time to check into our hotel. We booked the “Deer Lodge”, but breakfast was extra here. From the outside it looks really nice and swanky, and it is known for being one of the priciest hotels here. We got a great deal on Expedia, although it was around £330 for 4 nights which was still quite a lot. More per night than our accommodation in Banff.

So we got the keys, found the door, in we went and. . . . oh my goodness! We had been given a tiny box room just big enough for a bed to fit into. This was the most disappointing accommodation we had on this holiday. No proper wardrobe – just a hole in the wall with a curtain, no tea and coffee making facilities – it may as well have been a cupboard! Small SMALL windows looking out onto a main road and a very noisy stream. Decor was green and cream but the wood was dark and the entire room was dark and gloomy – hardly any natural light came through the windows. The best thing about the room was the soft comfortable bed and the bathroom. And to think the original price was SO much more....! Mathew likened it to luxury camping in the Rockies. The Deer Lodge was usually 95 Pounds Sterling per night. Our Banff B&B was 95 DOLLARS a night! Hmmm.

I didn’t unpack properly of fully. I never do when I am in a place where I feel uncomfortable or unhappy with. We agreed we should spend as much time as we could outside away from here and just go to sleep as soon as we got back, late, preferably! And we agreed we should leave as soon as possible on the last morning. It was gloomy in this hotel and I couldn’t wait to leave. I only hoped that Lake Louise and Yoho National Park could make up for our lame hotel. I thought breakfast definitely should have been included – having to pay extra was quite a cheek, especially after being given such a poky little room. Most of the rest of our accommodation in Canada are B&B’s – let’s hope they are as nice as the first one! Unfortunately we had already paid for the Deer Lodge...but at least there was a questionnaire about the hotel to fill in....


10:30pm


We went for dinner at Bill Peyto’s which was basic but quite adequate for a Youth Hostel. I had spaghetti bolognaise and as usual I got some sauce on my clean white shirt! But I did get the stain out! After dinner we strolled along part of Lake Louise before returning to our tiny room, checking and writing emails on the free internet (I should think so too!!), and going to bed.

Thursday June 4th

1:30pm

Today we first called by the General Store for some snacks and headed on to Moraine Lake. The road was quite windy which was an interesting change from all those straight roads before. The weather forecast predicted 14 degrees but it felt like 20 already at 9am. After arriving at Moraine Lake, we saw that it was actually still half frozen. Not only that, but the Lake wasn’t very full because of the ice. It sort of took away the full impression as you would see on a postcard, but it was still impressive, especially with so much snow on the “Ten Peaks” across the lake, of which about seven were visible to us.

We walked along a trail leading up a small mound of rocks which had originally fallen down from one of the mountains – it gave us a great view. We stayed there for a while taking in the scenery, watching at least two coach parties come and go. We made our way down to the lake, missing out the walk to “Consolation Lake” because of “winter conditions” over the ridge.

We visited the “Lake Moraine” gift shop where I bought some bear socks and. . . a ladies t-shirt! With a BEAR on it!! It was dark brown so I was unsure at first, but after trying it on, I decided that the colour was dark enough and suited me and fitted, so it was sold!

We walked along the edge of the Lake and went down to the water’s edge which was quite surreal because of all the ice...on the sand.....in June!! On our way back, we had our lunch on one of the benches overlooking the view whilst covering our food to prevent the Clark’s Nutcrackers from stealing it. But they were the least of our worries! Cute little Golden-maned Ground squirrels climbed all over the benches and onto, into bags of food. They weren’t successful with us, although one jumped onto Mathew’s leg to try an swipe his wrap and another tried approaching our lunch from behind. Other people having lunch were less fortunate, including a group of French ladies who had a large slice of apple stolen from right inside their bag of lunch....!!

6:40pm

After lunch we went to Lake Louise. This time we walked along the lakeside trail which was quite fun at first – we walked right to where an avalanche had fallen before sitting down and gazing at the Lake for a short while. This part was curving around a corner so we didn’t have THAT good a view....good spots to stop along the way though! The “footpath” was very wild and involved lots of clambering under and over fallen trees, and walking over lots of exposed roots. When we sat down I wasn’t too comfortable being just below and in front of a potential further avalanche! The rocks were quite loose. We stayed for around 20 minutes before heading on to continue the loop trail.

Unfortunately, this trail began zig – zagging very steeply up the mountainside, and as this walk had been called a “trail” I only had my crocs on and proper walking shoes would have been more practical. But I had not known this, nor read anything about this trail other than the usual about views and it being a loop, and the distance. Miraculously my feet were fine all the way through, although very dirty at the end. I wasn’t wearing my “walking trousers” either, so I was hoping the ones I had on wouldn’t tear or rip (and fortunately, they didn’t!). What DID get to much for me was the ascent and the altitude. I don’t usually mind a few “ups” but this was getting ridiculous – this was turning into serious seasonal walker territory. Not only did I feel I was walking an unknown, unused trail, but the higher we got, the more difficult I found it to breathe. I think we were actually climbing part of the mountain, and this was not what we had planned to do.

We stopped at a point where I had to sit down for a while, and Mathew went ahead to check out how much further up the trail went. I wouldn’t have minded if there was just another bit to go, but Mathew came back reporting that it just kept on zig-zagging up and up. Finally, we decided to turn back and head down the path we had already walked. Strangely, my feet still didn’t hurt, and we arrived back at the Lakeside and strolled through the monstrosity of the Chateau Hotel looking at the shops and places to eat. We ended up getting some ice cream which was VERY nice, almost Italian like. Back at our hotel room, we changed our clothes and rested a little while before going out for dinner.

9:24pm

Dinner was at the “Station Restaurant” where we were served by the lovely Dominic all evening. My Atlantic salmon fillet delicious, Mathew enjoyed the chicken. Dessert was an unusual but very tasty apple and cinnamon crème brulee, and Mathew had strawberry cheesecake. A scrumptious meal made all the more pleasant with Dominic....and the restaurant itself was fantastic, an old railway station playing big bang jazz music in the background, it was a brilliant atmosphere to be in.

Cake Day tomorrow!

Friday June 5th

8:30pm

This morning we looked at the weather before deciding exactly what to do. Rain and snow was forecast, although we were going to be in a pretty large National Park so I guess it would have rained anywhere really!

We decided in the end, to go to Yoho National Park – temperatures were supposed to be a little cooler than yesterday and rain was forecast in the afternoon. On the way there, we stopped by the “Natural Bridge” which was a zig-zag shaped bridge formed naturally by the water rushing through it. So much water, such a tiny hole!

We stopped by “Spiral Mountain” but we didn’t have the patience to wait for a train to come along – basically it was a tunnel where you can see long trains going in and coming out at the same time. I’m sure its pretty cool if you actually see a train going through it, but we decided we’d rather get our walk in before the weather turned. Onward we went into Yoho National Park, where we stopped by the visitors centre for me to get frustrated – yet again – at the ladies t-shirts being in ridiculous colours which don’t suit me and all the best patterns being on the men’s t-shirts.....


We headed on to Emerald Lake where we decided to walk the lake shore trail. The length was 5.2km which was just over 3 miles and the ascent was pretty much zero. Just my kind of walk! Flat but quite long (okay, long for me!) When we got outside it was warm and sunny with few clouds in the sky, so we decided to put the sun cream on and take layers and waterproofs in our bags. It started to get VERY warm with a light breeze. Quite nice, I thought.


I wore my walking shoes today AND my walking trousers. The path was gravelled and even, and there were lots of benches along the way. We passed a few places where avalanches occurred in the past and where vegetation was growing back. The Lake itself did look emerald green – a very deep green. There was also very little wind at first so the reflections were perfect in the water.


We continued on to the very end of the lake which was very sparse with trees and vegetation. This was where succession was still in progress, with vegetation still growing and establishing itself within the sediment at the end of the Lake. It was a second habitat on the same walk – we had walked through the woodland, and now we were on open gravelly, marshy land. Few trees but plenty of saplings grew by the side of small streams trickling down into the Lake from the mountains which loomed above us.

Walking over a couple of bridges, we could see at one point where the spring water mixed with the glacial water, and the place where they met, staying separate until travelling further downstream. Onward over the bridge and we were suddenly stepping into temperate, wet rain forest. A third habitat on the same walk, completely different from the other woodland side. It became humid after being cool and breezy, and now we were among the tall, tall endless pine trees, fallen dead trees, new saplings, fungi and moss. There was a path to follow but it was very muddy and wet in places, surrounded by damp, deep lush vegetation – it even smelt different here.

Many times I thought I was going to fall over but I fortunately didn’t, even after balancing on two narrow tree branches when crossing a VERY muddy puddle in the centre of the path! We had to watch our footing carefully here too, what with gnarled tree roots all over the place. Eventually we got hungry and started thinking about lunch. Just at the right time, we came upon a huge boulder at on the edge of the lake which was perfect to sit and enjoy the view whilst eating lunch. Not many people seemed to be walking on this side of the Lake. Yet again, we had found a quiet place to eat and enjoy by ourselves.

Finishing lunch, we continued our loop trail around the Lake when we heard a deep growling rumble. Mathew was convinced at first that it was an avalanche in the distance, but the more often it happened, the more we couldn’t decide whether it was avalanche or thunder – thunderstorms had been predicted for Yoho, but as I said, Yoho is a pretty big Park!
Eventually it started to cloud over and it became quite dark and it rained a little light shower, but nothing heavier. Maybe the rumble was thunder after all. Humidity came back as we pressed on and eventually came to a point where the trail climbed a little towards the end, and the path and vegetation gradually became drier and more woodland again, as it was at the other side. We walked through “The Lodge” which must have been a collection of expensive (or so we thought) holiday homes overlooking the Lake. After a short look in the local quirky little gift shop we returned to our hotel room, did our laundry, had showers and went out to eat at the “Mountain Restaurant”.

Cheap and cheerful, we filled our bellies with basic but filling food before having a look at the shop next door so I could get even more frustrated at the t-shirt issue. At this point, dark clouds were looming and rain started to fall. The clouds fell lower and lower giving the scenery a surreal look as they sat at the tree tops, low enough for us to see the mountain peaks still. It was very cold but the time we had finished, and we returned to the hotel via the “Station Restaurant” to reserve a table for the following evening at 7pm/ I wonder if we will be graced by the presence of Dominic again?

Saturday June 6th

8:00pm

Today we rose early in order to leave early, but it didn’t quite work out that way! For starters, breakfast was a shambles – we were seated, a buffet was on, and we weren’t given a menu or served drinks for about 15 minutes. Eventually, Mathew got up and asked if we could help ourselves to a buffet. The answer was ‘yes’ so we did, not knowing how much it would cost....but even when the bill came, the waiter had to ask us what we had eaten. Fortunately, they mistakenly charged us for one Continental Buffet breakfast and nothing else, not even the drinks! We didn’t complain about that, but no gratuity was left!! We left the dining room and I filled my thermal mug with free tea (available only in the mornings). I paid enough to stay here, I was having all the freebies I could get thank you!

By 9am (not that early then!) we were off. We decided to go along the southern third of the Ice fields Parkway to look for wildlife. It was SO cold – zero in the morning warming up to around 7 degrees for the rest of the day. At one point we went back to the hotel so I could put my thermals on, along with hat and gloves. Much more comfortable!

First off, we stopped at Hector Lake which was mostly frozen but in the process of thawing. Here

we could also see the ‘Crow’s Foot Glacier’ in the mountains. Looking along the Parkway we saw very little wildlife. But we weren’t to know of the marathon or relay race which was taking place along this road. Many cars were parked at various points filled with people encouraging their friend or family member who was (foolishly!!) running along the Ice fields Parkway in this silly temperature! Shouts of support probably scared off any wildlife which may have been lingering there.

But suddenly we came upon. . . .a BEAR!! A black bear, *nomming* on his breakfast. He was close to the roadside but he quickly *pommed* off behind some trees. Unfortunately we didn’t get that good a photo – just some fuzzy bear butt – but we wondered if we might see some more wildlife tomorrow when we drive along here on our journey to Jasper?

Next up was Peyto Lake – Janet’s favourite, apparently. There was a short, cold and icy walk, but when we got there the view was pretty damn good, although the lake was quite frozen. I could not believe the colour of the water. Such an unreal deep blue I did not think existed in nature, the same colour as Mathew’s coat!

Next we stopped at Mistaya Lake to have lunch. Still very very cold and LOTS of silly runners and their supporters. No wildlife with the exception of Nutcrackers, Ravens and some tiny brown birds which seemed quite tame. We continued onto Mistaya Canyon which we walked DOWN to and I immediately knew I wasn’t going to like walking back – effort at altitude does not seem to comply with my body! The Canyon was quite small but very pretty. The water flowed fast and just by watching the water move, I could see how it had shaped and was still shaping the rocks surrounding it. They were curvy and shapely, and reminded me of the Grand Canyon in America on a very small scale. We agreed that it was definitely worth the walk down and back up again, which by the way, wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.

The last thing on the list was the turning point to go back to the hotel – Saskatchewan Crossing. By now the weather had improved a little (temperature up, sun out, NO snow!!), so Mathew took time out to have a rest here from driving while I sat and looked for bears. Several had been spotted here last week apparently, and there was an incredible amount of space for bears to have been – they could have been anywhere.

The mountains ahead sat behind forest and rivulets of water breaking up a plain where Native people once lived. I could easily imagine a small Native village here on the plain, as it was a HUGE valley. It was mid-afternoon, so the beards could have been asleep or elsewhere – although we did find two female elk when we first arrived, but they quickly ran off shortly after we spotted them.

No luck on the bear front, we left and turned back to Lake Louise. We discussed getting breakfast elsewhere but we didn’t find anywhere else which would start serving as early as 7am, so we settled for breakfast at the hotel but we would make sure we had a menu first! When we got back to the hotel, my trousers ripped (!) but I managed to sew them up successfully. Then it was off to the “Station Restaurant” for our last dinner in Lake Louise. Alas, Dominic was not working on Saturdays, but we still had delicious food, great service and I had a lovely strawberry cheesecake!