Colleen's Birthday

So, after a hot tip from a friend, I booked a river cruise/lunch for Colleen and I to celebrate her birthday.

I managed to keep it all under wraps until we actually emerged at Westminster tube, a few more steps bring you down to the waterfront and the piers. It's not much of a surprise from then on :-)

Letting the peons go upstairs to gawk at the scenery in the wind and cold, we took our seats in the (fairly deserted) dining area and sat down to our lunch.

Chicken salad, wine, coffee and cake made a nice accompaniment to the banks of the Thames sliding slowly past. We didn't try to listen to the droning of the tour guide up top, as we had a return ticket, we'd listen to the tour part of the tour on the way back :-)

Journey's end was Greenwich, which I'd visited before but Colleen never had. Luckily the weather was pretty nice, and we wandered around the market and the Queen's house before heading up to the observatory.

We did the whole jumping across the prime meridian thing that everybody does there, then I had a geeky moment and tried to explain how according to WGS84 the dateline was actually some 10's of yards off in the surrounding parklands. To her credit, Colleen didn't just dump me at that point :-)

Here's me 'holding up' the ball that drops daily, to alert the river traffic in the thames exactly when midday is:



We wandered through the museum parts quite quickly, I'd seen it all before and it was rather claustrophobically crowded that day. We walked through to the second museumy bit and checked out the exhibits. Unfortunately the planetarium part was closed so we didn't get to see that. I just leant against the giant 'cone' on the outside of it and posed for some pictures :-)



We had a bit of a 'photo shoot' moment in the park, the ones of me turned out universally un-photogenic, but this one is rather lovely :-)



Back on the boat, we listened to the guided tour, which was so good we felt compelled to drop some money in the bucket (despite having already paid for the cruise!

Soon we were home, tired but happy.

Canada: Day Seven - Farewell

My last day, so, not wanting to waste it we got up nice and early, about 7:30. Well, I did, I seem to recall that Christine needed some coffee-based cajoling!

First order of the day was Coffee (of course), then a supermarket to get all the Canadian goodies I'd promised Colleen. We managed to find most everything.

We took a quick trip to the school where Christine works, it's in a lovely setting on the hillside, with forest all around, though only a few minutes from her home.



We drove up to Horseshoe Bay for Lunch on the waterfront - it was really lovely. Had my first ever chowder, and my first ever Sangria. Both went down really well in the awesome bright sunshine, sitting on the deck of the restaurant.

After lunch we went to the nearby Point Atkinson, where there is a lighthouse and lovely walks around the wooded coastline. Although we got slightly lost, we managed to find out way in, and out again. The awesome weather meant we got we got pretty warm walking around, though it was cool under the shade of the trees.

We took our turns in posing for a final few photos:





Soon though it was time to head out to the airport. I found the sculpture there which appears on the $20 bill:



We we had a final meal and a beer, and said our goodbyes. I was really sad to go, but I'd had an amazing trip, with lots of memories and pictures to take with me. Thanks Christine!

Canada: Day Six - Back to Vancouver

Again, we had a lot of driving to do today, to be back in Vancouver for the evening. Driving needs Calories, so before we left Jasper we went into Smitty's and I had some waffles and coffee. Good stuff. I am starting to get the hang of the way tipping works by this stage, and appreciate the service you get because of it. I still don't like the system though!

After some uneventful driving we reached the border back to British Columbia. Here's me!:



Adjusting our clocks for the new timezone, we continued onward.

Soon we arrived at Valemount, home of Christine's Great Aunt Louise. After a friendly greeting we were invited in for Gingernut cookies. I was surprised to see that Great Aunt Louise had her own Roomba, and she set it operating on the carpet for a few minutes for our amusement.

Conscious of the time constraints, we soon headed off again. Places to eat were few and far between on this stretch of road, so we had to settle on the place we found in Clearwater. The meal was average, though I got to try Poutine.

Entertainment at this meal was provided by the white trash in the next booth, who did their best to treat their children badly and be generally ignorant. The youngest child got his head conked quite badly by the mother who yanked him away from a picture he just wanted to look at. During the tears he was repeating over and over "bad mommy, bad mommy". Couldn't agree more.

Then it was just back to the driving grind, eventually we made it back to 'civilised parts'. Stopping at White Spot for dinner (burgers) we arrived back in time to watch Napoleon Dynamite (awesome) before retiring for the night.

Canada: Day Five - Lakes and Glaciers

No wake up calls, rude or otherwise this morning. What was slightly rude though was the way the power kept going on and off while I was in the shower. Showering in an alternatly lit and pitch black bathroom is slightly disconcerting.

Breakfast was pancakes in the Y's restaurant. And of course more coffee!

We checked out of the Y and hit the road again. Our destination for tonight was Jasper, and we had a lot of driving and a lot of things to see along the way.

We got in the car took of for Moraine Lake. It was a little off our course, but according to Christine it was well worth seeing. Right she was!

It was a really beautiful spot. The quiet was occasionally piercied by the gentle 'bonk' sound of a newbie canoe paddler hitting their paddle on the side of their boat. We took a walk along the shore and got a hot drink from the shop there. Unfortunately, pressed for time again, we had to leave.

Although it was cold at the lake, it's not like it was icy, or snowing. So I was a bit unprepared (though I knew it was coming) to find .... a glacier at the side of the road.

Ok, ok, I understand the principle of glaciers and how it doesn't have to be freezing cold for one to exist a few hundred metres away. But it was still an amazing and inspiring sight.

Although it was possible to take tours up onto the actual glacier, on foot, or in buses like this:

we still had a lot of driving to do. We had a look around the visitor centre and took a bunch of photos. I met a bear there - my first and last for the trip:

Then we got back in the car and zoomed off for the final leg - to Jasper.

After much more driving we arrived and checked into our hotel at Jasper (was very nice). Then we went out to grab some dinner (being kinda ravenous). Dinner was a place called "Earl's", and while kinda pricy (by Canadian standards, when I converted to pounds I felt rather amused), it was *really* good. I managed to talk Christine into desert as well, and we went for a walk around town.

Again, the tax-free shopping was too enticing to Christine and she tried on a few pairs of jeans, without success.

Sadly the night ended in tragedy, with me losing at Yachtzee, three games to one.

Canada: Day Four - Mountains and Caves

The room at the Y was pretty comfortable, considering, and we slept OK. Until the early hours of the morning when the workmen started outside. Never mind - gave us an excuse to get out and at it!

According to my GPS so far we have spent around 12 hours driving, travelling a total of 989 km. Not too bad since the speed limits are so slow here :-)

We went to the restaurant at the Y, it was pretty affordable and not too bad. Bacon, Eggs and Hashbrowns - good travelling food. We weren't travelling far from the environs of Banff today, but we had a lot to do, so we soon gulped the last of our coffee and hit the road.

We couldn't go anywhere else until we'd seen the famous Banff Springs hotel. Walking along the river past the Bow river falls, we came at the hotel from behind. Walking through the grounds we came up to the hotel proper. Although I felt a bit like an intruder, Christine walked straight in :-)

The hotel was really amazing! I think I'd like to stay there one day - and probably only for one day - that's all I could afford! Each room held new surprises, with a huge variety of decors and styles, but always with an enormous dollop of grandeur, albeit a little over the top sometimes!

Outside of the hotel I found my first mountie!

We went back to the Y for a quick coffee and recharge, then headed out for the next visit - the sulphur caves and basin. This is one of the reasons for the fame of the region - we saw a small documentary about the region (which apparently hadn't been changed since Christine had been there as a child!) which told of the explorers who found the cave and staked their claim to it.

Our tour guide for the area was the incredibly stoney Gareth the Park Ranger. He was literally ours - no one else arrived at the designated point for the tour. Very strangely however, shortly after we started there was another tour group, with many members, being led by a much more animated guide. Did they know something we didn't?

Christine took Gareth's demeanour as a personal challenge, and rose to the task admirably. By the end of the tour he'd almost smiled several times.

We saw the entrance that the two explorers found (just a hole in the ground) and later saw the caves from within. Kind of amazing to think of them risking their lives going down that small hole.

On top we saw the rich eco-system that the sulphur waters give home to. For "rich eco-system" read "pond scum" :-)

The story goes (says the gradually thawing Gareth) that several decades back a bear came down from the mountain and decided to hang in the sulphur pool for a while. Apparently the ranger in telling the story was also fond of the drink. Because of the protected status of the park, they wouldn't be able to do anything to him should that happen today. I looked around for signs of a bear (hadn't seen one on the trip yet) but I was disappointed.

Leaving behind Gareth, we made a short drive to our next stop - the foot of Sulphur mountain. We took the Gondola up the mountain, which was incredibly fast, and provided us with incredible views to boot.

At the top there was a visitors centre, but we had to walk a few hundred metres to get to the actual peak, across some very busy walkways. It was very cold and windy! At the peak there is a hut where some poor sod lived, taking measurements for a year or so.

There was also one of those things that shows you how far you are from the major cities of the world. Turns out that Vancouver and Canberra, my erstwhile home were in the same general direction. I persuaded a guy who could barely speak a word of english to take the photo of us. There wasn't much he could do about our hair though - so windy!

By the way, we didn't expect much from the machine-regurgitated hot-chocolates we are holding but they were awesome. Tons of sugar and chocolate, perfect for this climate.

We headed back to town to rest after these experiences. We booked a table for dinner later at the Old Spaghetti Factory (was very busy) and went out to do some shopping. I got an awesome Cow mug for Amy from the Cow store, and some other Banffy souveniers.

Old Spaghetti Factory was cool. Crazy busy, so we got a Martini while we waited for the table. Pasta was great, wine was good, we were all set for the finale of the evening...... Yachtzee! I'm sad to report however that there was no clear winner, the night ended one game a piece, and we went to sleep with the victor undecided.

Canada: Day Three - Lakes and Trains

My wake up call was certainly effective - Uncle Dave stomping on the floor right above my bedroom below woke me up in an instant! Breakfast was very welcome, as was the coffee. I am really getting used to the whole filtered coffee thing. It never used to do much for me, but the ubiquitousness of it here is growing on me.

After replacing a burnt out headlamp at the service station we were on the road again. At Uncle Dave's suggestion we stopped by Revelstoke Dam. Free tour, all the way to the top of the dam itself. Unfortunately - no photos allowed. So you'll have to settle for these shots of the outside:

Stopping at a pub called 'The Taps' I had a burger and Christine had Quesadillas. I swear they spell and pronounce it differently in every part of the world.

Next up was the spiral tunnels. As a bit of a train nut, this was pretty exciting. We got really lucky and arrived just in time to see a train negotiate the spiral tunnel. The train comes out of the tunnel, lower and driving under it's own cars. Very cool :-)

I felt really sorry for the kids that came running up just as the train had left :-(

Heading off again (we had to be in Banff by nightfall) we stopped by Lake Louise. It's a really pretty spot, though pretty heavy on the tourists. There's a big hotel there, probably with appropriately big prices. The lake itself is gorgeous:

It was bloody cold on the lakefront.

At this point I took a picture of Christine with a funny look on her face. I have been sworn not to show it (on pain of much torture, followed by death), but its nice to know I have some ammunition should the need ever arise :-)

After a bit more driving and experimenting with our respective music choices we were at Banff! We had enough time to check into the hostel and take a bit of a look around. We bought a parks permit and checked out the liquor stores (cheaper liquor in Alberta :-) before grabbing some dinner (Pad Thai) to eat on the river.

We tried to watch a movie on the laptop but it wasn't very cooperative, so sleep time it was.

Canada: Day Two - Road Trip Begins

We were up bright and early (well, I was, Christine not so much, at least until coffee was proffered. We'd packed mostly the night before, so we pretty much just up and left.

Stopping briefly at Safeway for a few supplies (like GPS batteries), we hit the road for real!

Soon we were outside of the city and on our way to the first stop, 'Hope'. Nothing more than a pitstop though, lunchtime at subway. After receiving some fairly bogus advice from a fellow driver, we were on the road again - on the wrong side of the road!

Yes, it was my turn to drive now, and while it was weird at first, I quickly remembered the little tricks. Like driving on the right. And checking what's coming when you do a left turn.

The next stop - our first real tourist stop - was Hell's Gate. After getting a really ordinary park (hey, my first park in Canada) and walking a couple of hundred yards we were at the entrance. The ride down to Hell's Gate in the airtram gave us a nice view of the rather scary swirling waters below.

At the bottom you can walk around and check out various historical displays. We grabbed a cup of coffee, which we didn't even end up getting charged for (the waitress was impressed we were willing to share our table since it was so busy).

There is a special bypass for the Salmon heading back upstream. After a rockslide caused during the building of the railway, the salmon could no longer get past the vortex, and their numbers starting dropping dramatically. So a little cheat route was added for them :-)

Pressed for time, we airtrammed back up to the top and took off.

A few more hours later we were at Christines Uncle Earl's place in Salmon's Arm. A little overwhelming with lots of family I didn't know. We sat down for dinner (just us, we were a little late and missed the main event).

With the sun going down we we followed Uncle Dave back to his place nearby, where we were spending the night. Sleep time - a big day on the road.