I get up at six o'clock in the morning. First I answered all the birthday-sms I received during the last night (Canada has a eight hours time-shift to Switzerland).

In the meantime my friend get up too and we had a little breakfast before we took the car and drove up to lake moraine where we parked the car and started our today's hiking trip up to mount sentinel. After only a few hundert meters walking we reached the point, where you have to be at least a group of 4 if you like to go further, because of the bears. I didn't knew that, but it seems that a bear fears groups of humans... So we waited a few minutes to join any group which passes by, but nobody came and so we decided to go in a group of two. But careful, big brother is watching you, even out in the wilderness. We found only a few meters behind the warning sign a camera, attached to a tree...

But we had really luck, exactly in that moment a group with about ten members walked by and we joint them to walk up the mountain.

It was pretty cool and I made some hot nature picture. In total we made a 5 hour trip this day and we climbed up to about 3200 meters over sea level. We met different interesting guys, a group of elderly people from Vancouver, which gave us many ideas what to visit in their area, two Bayerns (Germany) and also a mixed couple (he was from UK, she was a local).

Hope you have time to have a look on the pictures, so you are able to see where we have been.

After our return to the camping and showering, I tried to get an WIFI access somewhere around here. There is just one available, it's the one of the post office. It costs you 5 CAD and it has the speed of a 2400 dial-up connection. Horrible, this is what we had 10 Years ago. I really hope this will be much better in the Vancouver/Vancouver Island area and specially in the US, otherwise it's impossible to write a blog and to upload all the pictures.

Now we are both pretty tired and I'm shure we will sleep very well this night. Tomorrow, it's planned to move the camping and to do an other hiking... more tomorrow.

We drove from calgary to the village lake louise in the rocky mountains. On our trip to lake louise we visited Banff for a short moment and Canmore, which are both pretty exiting places.

In Banff, as an example is a really huge hotel, which looks like a castle and this is an absolutely must see.

After that we went over to lake louise, put our tent on ground, and visited the world famous lake louise (the lake itself), which is really romantic surrounded by high mountains and glaciers.

After all that my first outdoor night in canada followed.

Day2

My first day in Calgary – wow is this city huge, if you include the suburbans you may drive more than a hour from south to north, even if you don't have any heavy traffic conditions.

My friend took me to two major outdoor store, where I bought a tent, a sleeping bag and some other absolutely necessary stuff to survive in the wilderness.

That was the major things we did during the day. In the evening we first went to cinema, watching the film “mirrors”. For all those who liked “six sense”, this film is a must see. For all others, this is one of the most boring film I've ever seen.

After cinema we found a pretty interesting country bar with a few pretty girls and real cowboys in it. We drank some beers, listened some country music songs (live) and we decided to leave pretty early because we planned to leave calgary pretty early the next day.

After a flight of seven hours, we arrived around 8.00 pm at Calgary, Canada, for a three week roadtrip around the westcoast of Canada. After we picked up our car for the trip, we went to the hotel. When we arrived at the hotel it was already dark, so we went to bed early. The trip will begin the next morning.

The flight from Calgary to Glasgow was schedule for 22:00 on June 17,2008. The Flyglobespan flight from Vancouver was late. We boarded close to midnight then sat on on the tarmac. They had some mechanical problems. They served the meal and we sat. The pilot announced that they we looking for a starter part and we should soon be on our way.

02:30 June 18  The flight is scrapped and we are told to come back at 15:00 hours. They need a part from Vancouver. All flight staff vanished.

head back to my sisters. for sleep.  During the day we rescheduled on to the Zoom Flight that leaves at 19:00 to Glasgow.

19:00 hours the Zoom flight departs for Glasgow. The Flyglobespan flight that was leaving at  15:00 is still on the tarmac.

July 6, 2008

·         Went to the Calgary stampede

·         Bought Pizza on a stick-very good

·         Got up early so we could get in for free

·         A mile long line for a pancake breakfast

·         Just like the Houston rodeo

·         Got to pet a 6 day old piglet!-and the mom pig

·         Say dogs herd sheep-very cool but very difficult(for the dog)

·         Didn’t like campground-people in front office were very mean and competitive

July 5, 2008

• Crossed into Canada-yea. We didn’t have to throw any of our fruit out!
• Drove to Calgary
• Found campground-very lucky since we hadn’t reserved and the Calgary stampede was going on
• Stopped at the visitor’s center-they were very nice
• Went to head-smashed-in-buffalo-jump: a place were the Indians use to run the buffalo off the cliff to kill them, named after a guy who wanted to watch the kill and got to close. A buffalo landed on him and he got his head smashed in

Hooray!  We've made it to Calgary and miracle-of-miracles, got a 2-night RV spot (the last site) at the Mountainview Campground http://www.calgarycamping.com/home1.html during the famous Calgary Stampede, which is celebrating its 125th year!  http://calgarystampede.com/  The Visitor's Center ladies were very kind and called the campground for us this morning.  We are very lucky!

Customs this morning went great- we got a nice Customs guy and we chatted after I'd handed over the passports, my driver's license, proof of insurance in Canada, and my vehicle registration before he could request it all.  It turns out that in B.C. and Alberta they do NOT confiscate all your fruit - we had no need to eat all those bananas this morning!

The campground has a shuttle ($10 each) to take us to the Stampede tomorrow at 11:15 am and we'll return at either 5:30 pm or Midnight.  Hmmm....

Upon crossing the border, we switched our GPS to metric and took off going 110!  Km/hour that is. 

We crossed 5,000 miles on our trip today!  Although it is effort to catch up on the blog by each evening's bedtime, we feel our travel and activity pace have been sustainable and we've really gotten to experience the best of the best in many places.  Or course, that is categorized as national parks and natural wonders.  I would love to have all the time in the world to appreciate everything in our path, but we do prioritize our time and have been pleased with our choices.

We were told that roaming charges on cell phones were horrible and not to use ours, so we bought a few groceries at the IGA and got a $10 phone card.  We also used the debit card cash back to obtain $200 in colorful Canadian money.  We called Ned on a pay phone, which took multiple attempts, but finally we finally got through (but missed him).  

I have no idea what our Verizon Air Card rates are for Canada, so we paid $6 for the campground wifi. 

Gas is $1.38 here... per liter.  There's 3.8 liters to the gallon.  Yes, it's pricey.

This is like International Powder-Puff Travel.  Everyone still speaks English and the exchange rate 1:1 is easy.  However, there are enough changes to wake us up a bit and challenge us.

Although people have been helpful when asked, they are more, let's say "reserved" when we talk to them.  I haven't gotten many warm fuzzies.  I'm not sure if it is the U.S., the Texas license plate, me, or them, but I always love to take a "people-pulse" to see what the climate is like.  I'm betting things are different world-wide with the attitude toward Americans than it has been in previous decades.

Oh!  We went to the very good World Heritage Site, Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump.  The excellent movie (that Jazy refused to watch) explained how important the buffalo were to the First People, who used every part of the buffalos they killed.  The name technically does not come from the way the buffalo died, but rather a legend of a young brave who was in a tragic accident during one of the buffalo jumps.  The Buffalo Jumps were so much work that when the Indians got guns and ponies from Europeans in the mid-1800's, they stopped organizing the labor-intensive jumps.  We hiked both the upper and lower cliff paths and enjoyed the strong winds that are native to that area.

Alberta is beautiful!  Fields and acres of flowers and grass- so much grass!  I'll try to upload some pictures later.  We're off to explore for now the campground with a petting zoo, horseshoes, playground, etc.!

We enjoyed the Stampede today! 

Be careful if you put your kids in charge of the budget!  They can get picky.  They convinced me last night to skip the shuttle and we were kindly refunded our $40. 

Early this morning we drove our big rig throughout a major city, down small streets, with construction barriers, and 3km runners.  Fortunately, Calgary was reduced traffic this Sunday morning.  By 7:15 am. we'd paid $20 total for 2 parking spots in city parking and walked the few blocks to the Stampede. (See picture)

Because it was Family Day, admission ($41 for the 4 of us) was free before 9am.  Also, they provided free Pancake Breakfast tickets, but the line was several people thick from the entrance alll the way to the Grandstand at the far end of the park.  I would estimate the line at half a mile!  Of course we did not wait and enjoyed the rest of the park and some muffins.  We did attempt to go at the end of the breakfast, but just missed it. 

We made ourselves feel better with pizza-on-a-stick (like a calzone on an oversized popsicle stick) and popcorn.  The kids figured we came out $50 ahead because we drove ourselves.

The weather was perfect and we really enjoyed the dog-herding competition where the border collie gets the sheep to circle the barrels, circle the trainer, run through a chute along the fence, and then pens them in under 4 minutes, directed by the trainer's different whistles.  We were so impressed with the dogs!  Some of the sheep were mean and head-butted the dogs!

The animals were a real treat and we got to pet pigs, piglets, cows, and huge draft horses. 

They had a carnival there with rides ($5-$6 each), lots of food, cowboy hats for sale, etc.  It was VERY similar to the Houston rodeo, but with a population that was much more diverse (many Asian and Indian families, which we enjoyed) and without the festive spirit, which is probably due to the early rise of the visitors and the fact that Calgary is a major city.  We did meet some very nice, helpful people.

We were all caught up on our rodeo-quotient and ready to return to the RV by 12:30 pm - we were glad that our driving plan worked.  Sallie, our GPS, got us back to the campground and we hooked up just before a major hailstorm blew through.  I'm betting hail cleared out the Stampede's straggling parents who needed a nap!  Ha!

We've been working on schoolwork- Lia reached her subtraction goal on Level 9 on the Flashmaster today!  We also reached our internet upload limit and had to buy more time.  We are so grateful to have it though.

Then the kids got ice cream and ran off to the playground.  Ahhh.

Hopefully we'll get on an earlier schedule now and plan to be through Calgary early again tomorrow.  The Canada 1 Highway goes right through the middle of town, complete with construction and stoplights.  I can only imagine how much fun it is with real traffic!  We've seen much of Calgary on our drives and it is a big, vibrant city.  We'll head for Banff and then Jasper, enjoying natural beauty again.

This morning the alarm went off way too early, ringing at 6am. By 6:30 we were on the subway on our way to the airport. I had booked mom's flight through Areoplan, and it had really bad connections. The first flight at 1:30 (instead of my 10:30am flight) with a 6 hour layover in Montreal, getting her in at 11:30pm. We went to the booking agent and for $50 got her flight changed so she was on my flight and got into Halifax at 4:30pm. Much better and definitely worth the change fee!

Mom had given me a book to read by Nicholas Sparks called A Bend in the Road. Over the length of the flight to Montreal I read the entire 366 pages (although some of that was in the customs line up and waiting for the next flight)> I also had enough time to watch 27 dresses as well. That's how long that flight is!

In Montreal me and mom were parting ways and then she was onto Halifax and I onto Calgary. I was hoping to sleep on the plane to Calgary so I could go out for a friends bachelorette party but seeing as I landed at 5pm, which felt like 1am, and didn't sleep for a second on the plane, I had to bail on the partying.

So now I'm back in my apartment, half empty and definitely different than before I left for Europe. At least my cat is here and is very happy to see me. Now I have to get used to "normal life" and I'm not looking forward to it. Thank goodness for a 4 day long weekend!

Well, I just got off the phone with my friend Jenny who decided on the fly to book a trip to Belize...at first I cursed her for being a Teacher and having the Summer off to plan trips on the fly, then I cursed her for going there without me since we had traveled there together last New Years, followed by me cursing her for reminding me she did ask me and I had no holidays left...FINALLY I cursed her for making me take care of her dogs while she is away...the last curse wasn't as loud, since I do love her dogs.

In the end I forgave her, and I realized that I shouldn't be selfish , especially since my next travel adventure is going to make her little two week jaunt look pale in comparaison...

;)

I have spent the last 3 months conflicted, wanting to spend 5 months traveling through Central and South America, improving my Spanish and volunteering. However I didn't want to give up the security and career advancement of my current job, since it is a pretty sweet deal. It wasn't until last month and a weekend in Vancouver visiting "mi amiga mejor", that I realized security doesn't mean much if your life isn't enlightening you in some way...

Therefore, I am booking my trip (will keep you posted), getting everything in order, and am going to have the time of my life even if I do get homesick once in a while...and when I return I will be moving to a new City and starting a new adventure (an adventure that I will be able to translate in both English and Spanish versions):).

Wish me luck and once I get the itinerary and dates, I will post them and then be creeping on all of Central and South America blogs I can find...I apologize in advance.

Within an hour we were on the ground in Saskatoon. It was warm and sunny with some high cloud

Disclaimer: These pictures do no justice to the beauty of the Rockies.

It all started in downtown Calgary around midday. Picking up the hire car on 6th Ave, I became Chief Navigator to Nick, a job I didnt take lightly, especially as it was to be the first time that Nick had driven an automatic, let alone on the wrong side of the road.

An hour later and we had just about managed to negotiate our way out of Calgary and onto the highway Banff bound. Once we hit Banff we parked up to have a mooch about the town and a cuppa. With a fresh dose of caffeine, I was ready to take to the map once more - lucky for me it was a straight road into Lake Louise.

Arriving about 20 mins later, we headed straight for the lake. Although still frozen, it was absolutely stunning. Once David Bailey had taken enough pictures, we found our motel and checked in. Getting quite late, we strolled to the motel restaurant to pig out on pizza then opted for an early night to make the most of the next day.

Up with the lark, our destination was Jasper - 180 miles north. Stopping off enroute in downtown Lake Louise (more a parking space) for some croissants and tea we headed for the National Park. The road itself is in the valley between the Rockies on either side and is just beautiful. Our first stop was Bow Lake and Num-ti-jah Lodge where we stopped amidst coach-loads of Japanese tourists for another cuppa to soak up the stunning scenery. Next on the agenda was the hike up to the Peyto Lake lookout. Although still snow covered and very slippy (Nick did a massive stack, sinking about two-thirds of a metre into the softer snow, much to my amusement after telling me to stop treadding around like a princess), it was well worth the 20 minute hike to see the Lake. Still frozen with the Rockies as their backdrop, the photos simply do it no justice.

On the road again, and by now we had seen many signs warning us of bears. This sends Nick into immediate Bear-watch overdrive. Threatening to call his mum if he did not keep his eyes on the road, this seemed to do the trick. However, I soon found myself promoted from map girl to Chief Bear-spotter. Nick drove us to Mistaya Canyon for a trek to the waterfall and then to Saskatchewan crossing for a spot of lunch. We were well into the Icefields Parkway by now, which means lots of icefields spilling over the mountains forming gorgeous ice-blue glaciers and stunning vistas at almost every bend in the road. A litttle further on we reached the Columbus Icefields centre, from here you can take a purpose built bus onto the actual icefield but more about this later as it was too cloudy to do the tour then so we headed onwards.

With a few more scenic stops, we arrived in Jasper about 5pm.  We were expecting a bigger town and it did not take us long to have a look around and stop off for a cheeky glass of wine (or Orange Juice for my chauffeur). We then headed straight for the Maligne canyon where you can ice hike in the winter. By now, it was thawing and we headed about 1km in for some spectacular views.

Back in the car, it was time to head back in the direction of Banff. We were staying in a place called Sunwapta Falls, about 50mins from Jasper. Enjoying once again the scenic road and tranquility of the Rockies, I was shocked about 20 mins into the journey by Nicks (quite high pitched) screams of "BEAR BEAR BEAR". Nick had spotted a black bear by the side of the road looking for some berries.  After some hesitation, we turned the car around to get a another view and take some pictures.  Feeling chuffed to bits with our footage, we pointed ourselves in the direction of Sunwapta and checked into our hotel. A scrummy but expensive dinner with some beers wiled away the evening, most of it spent discussing whether the bear would still be there in the morning.

Another early start, we began the morning with a 4km hike up to the actual Sunwapta Falls. The walk was through the woods and being early morning, not many people were around. Again, before you start the hike, there are a fair few warnings about bears and what to do if you encounter them and although it was a lovely walk, I spent most of it peering around, planning out my route of attack should we see a bear. An hour later and still in-tact we headed for Athabasca Falls. These were very similar to the falls at Sunwapta although entailed less hiking to see them and were more touristy with ugly grey concrete surroundings deflattering them a little, which was a shame.

Heading back in the direction of Banff, destination Columbia Icefields, we saw several cars parked by the side of the road, in pretty much the same spot we had seen our bear the night before. Lo and behold, Nick´s mate was still scoping out berries, and feeling slightly braver, Nick badgered me to get out the car to get some better photos. A few snaps later and it was time to move on and let our new found friend finish his breakfast. No sooner were we a few miles down the road another line of cars were parked on the side of the road, and, now accomplished Bear-spotters we knew that this could only mean one thing, another Bear!

We arrived back at Columbia Icefields around 1ish and after a spot of lunch, it was time to board the special snowcoach to take us onto an actual icefield. After being driven out onto the glacier in a $10-million bus with wheels the height of Nick, we were stood on ice thick enough to bury the empire state building. Simply stunning - and the decision to put the trip off another day paid dividends as the sun was shining and the glaciers were a fantastic bright-blue.

Returning safely to our car, we drove the remaining 90 miles to Lake Lousie where we were spending our last night in the Rockies. We had another wander around the lakeside and then into the very plush Fairmount Hotel for a drink in the saloon. It was then back to our home for the night, the Lake Louise Inn for some dinner and rest.

The next morning was spent on a gorgeous road between Banff and Lake Louise with plenty of scenic stops. It took us longer than expected as there was so much to see and the views were just stunning. We stopped off at Johnstons Canyon, which we had been reliably informed provided amazing views. It was quite a hike to see the upper and lower falls but we were not disappointed, they were beautiful and provided lots of photo material.

We planned to stop on Banff on the way back to Calgary to take the Gondola to the top of the mountain. We arrived about 12ish and boarded the cablecar to take us 2281m high providing spectacular views across both the town and the Rockies. A perfect end to our trip though the mountains.

We had the car back in one piece in Calgary and after a spot of lunch, we were lucky enough to have a few last drinks with Rich and Li. After an amazing week in Calgary and the Rockies and great hospitality from Rich and Li, we really did not want to leave. Nick and I were both smitten with the place and hope to get back to spend some more time exploring the area (as well as some more Bear-spotting) in a few years time.

Next stop Vancouver and a 14 hous bus ride awaited us...

Back in Calgary, we were far too weary to do anything other than sleep. Fresh powder is as tiring as it is fun and we needed very little convincing to have a lie-in. Eventually surfacing at around noon with sore limbs and even more painful faces (let that be a lesson to us!), we decided that the only constructive way to spend the afternoon would be to wander along the Bow river stopping for lunch and beers (including the aptly named 'Powder Hound').

So that's how we wiled away the rest of the day trying some local brew and sampling some of Calgary's finer bars, particularly 'Seven', where all the models have bar jobs it would seem. After popping back to the flat for a quick pit-stop we took a taxi to the Back Alley, Calgary's Rock club. If you're interested, for a mere five dollars you can be fed a shot by a buxom barmaid who'll then rub her ample bosom in your face. All in the name of good clean family fun! Onwards then to Whiskey, more your average run-of-the-mill club that kept us happy til 2ish.

Sunday was leisurely, leaving the sanctuary of the flat only for a hangover-busting breakfast on 17th Ave in Metro. I was astonished to find that they had no English Breakfast tea to go with breakfast, to which the waitress replied 'you guys English? Gotta have your tea, eh?'. The rest of the day disappeared into movies and some more trip-planning. A fantastic roast a la Rich and Liana rounded it all off nicely and with a heavy heart it was time to leave their flat and head into the wilderness...

After a few weeks on the road, a night of sleeping (sort of) in Toronto airport and a 4hr flight we were in need of a friendly face or two. Lucky then that we had arrived in Calgary to catch up with Rich, a friend from Uni and his better half (Emma made me say it Rich), Liana. Having spent their previous year living and working in Calgary they were perfect hosts, and for once we opted out of any of the tourist bits that we'd been occupying ourselves with and lived as locals (or ex-pats at least) do.

After getting acquainted with Calgary (not a stunning city but one with hidden charm and quite a laid-back feel) we divided our time between sampling some great food in the local cafes and restaurants, as well as Rich and Li's generous hospitality. It would've been rude not to try some of the local(ish) brew as well.

We also spent a fair share of our time on 17th Ave, where Calgary's snowboard shops are to be found. Beyond my expectations, not only did I get a board, boots and bindings for a very reasonable price, but  Em took the plunge and got kitted out too. Only one thing for it, pray to the powder gods!