Canmore

One of my absolute favourite things about being here is the coffee.  I don't mean flat whites and lattes, because they don't make flat whites and sadly I haven't found a latte the same as Stevie Jeans in St. George!  I mean the filter coffee.  Every motel room we have been in has a little coffee machine and we can have real coffee.  Currently, the place we are in has a coffee pot, so I'm sitting in the living room, looking out at the mountains, drinking coffee as I type (Not at the same time), but more on the current lodgings later...

So anyway after our night in Golden, recovering from near death, acclimatising to mountain time (up very late, struggling to get up early) we took off towards Lake Louise.

Part of the view whilst driving.  I wasn't driving, just so you know.  I may drive on the wrong side of the road BUT  I draw the line at taking photographs from behind the wheel.

This is our first view of Lake Louise.

It was a very COLD and drizzly morning, and the kids were more than a little whingy, let's say, not appreciating the natural beauty of the place.  That situation improved, and we spent quite a while just exploring around the lake front and looking at it from different angles.  It was prettiest from the front of the hotel.

We went into the hotel and had some morning tea.  We couldn't afford to eat with a view, so we were delegated to the hotel deli, but it was nice.  It looked over the front entrance and the people arriving to check in.

Yes that is a porter.  Dressed in knickerbockers and a funny hat....

The hotel is very grand inside and the view out to the lake is breathtaking (but not from the deli) and we had a walk through the lobby and out to the front on our way back to the car.

Of course there are a trillion more photos, but I'll leave it there.  We left from there to head towards Banff, where we intended to do a gondola trip and have some lunch.  It is a gorgeous, busy place and we had a fun walk down the main street, looking in all the souvenir shops at the same souvenirs we've seen EVERYWHERE!  Just with a different name printed on them...

Anyway, after some lunch at MACCA's  (I know!!!! But it gets expensive buying every meal!!!  And Canadian McDonald's is actually okay) we set the GPS to head towards the gondola.  

I did not enjoy the gondola.  It was frankly terrifying and I could not look down for very long.  Of course the view was amazing and I could appreciate it, but was very glad to land at the top and even more so at the bottom.

There were squirrels and Thomas got very close to one, there was also snow on the ground quite close to us.  COLD!  

From Banff we headed down the road (only 15km or so) to where we are now at Canmore.  It is beautiful and our suite is GORGEOUS!!!  It's 3 bedrooms, two bathrooms, full kitchen and LAUNDRY!!!! (who would have thought I would get so excited about a washing machine!!  Ellen is disgusted!) and beautiful view.  There are four tvs, so everyone is catered for!

I'll finish now, but write more tonight before we leave here.  The internet is really good.  Love to everyone xxxx

A Catchup!

Well, where to begin...

It's amazing how quickly you lose track of the days and activities when you can't update.  We had very poor internet last night, so there was no point in trying to get on here.  Everywhere we have been, wireless has been free and usually fast, but last night was hopeless.

So, Wednesday night after leaving Vancouver, we made it to Merritt, about 3 hours drive north of Vancouver.  We're so glad we did it that way, as yesterday and today were very easy driving days and we were free to stop a bit and see things where we felt like it.

Yesterday's drive took us well and truly into the mountains.  We left Merritt and did an easy drive across to Kamloops and then Salmon Arm, where we stopped to have a look around.

Hanging from all light poles in Salmon Arm

It was  a really pretty little place with a great pie shop and of course we had to stop in for a slice of pie, which sounds very North American eh?  I had Blueberry and Peach and Bruce had lemon buttermilk custard, which he has declared the "nicest pie ever"!  A pretty big claim...

In the carpark we had a chuckle... the ute on the right is a standard Australian sized normal vehicle... beside it is its DADDY!!!  Absolutely massive!!!!  We have passed so many of these gas guzzlers and found out only recently that, in the US, many of the drivers would also be carrying guns...  I'm supremely glad I didn't know that while actually driving down there...

I won't even try to describe the scenery we have passed in the last couple of days.  We have so many amazing pictures of glorious mountain peaks... honestly... words escape...  I'm thankful that Bruce did some driving so I could photograph...

Just before Revelstoke we came across Crazy Creek Waterfalls and because we had heaps of time, dropped in for a look.  It was an easy walk up into a canyon with suspension bridge across the aforementioned waterfalls.  

Very hard to get a photo of everyone together!

The gift shop had Bible verses on all walls... it was lovely.

It was awesome being so close to the power of this water falling down the mountain.  The volume of water here everywhere is hard to comprehend and in fact, a few towns in this area had been experiencing flooding from a combination of rain and snow melt.  We passed through on little town on the edge of a river/lake that looked like it was just about to engulf the town.  The water was on the way down, but it would have been threatening.

We had a late lunch at Denny's in Revelstoke, which was expensive and not at all worth it.  I think they look for ways to calorie add- things must be deep fried or have deep fried things added to them. I asked for pancakes without any side dishes (they originally came with two eggs, sausages, hashbrowns and bacon and I said no to all of that to the surprise of the waiter) BUT they still came with roughly 8-10 crispy rashers of bacon!

Anyway, after  spending a LOT of both time and money there, we headed on down the road to Golden where we had our first brush with near death!!!  There were several hotels on both sides of the divided two lane highway, with cement barricades separating them.  We went to both sides trying to find the right place to stay (I was driving) when we turned onto the highway and I was driving merrily along the road, when I suddenly realised I was on the WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD!!!!  I just naturally turned to the left rather than the right... to top it off, coming towards us... TWO TRUCKS!!!!  Luckily for me, there was also a traffic light up the road a little way so I pulled right over, put on the hazards and waited with my eyes closed for the lights to change so that I could do a fifteen point turn and face the right way!!!!!  Not my best moment and a naughty word may have passed my lips... and my darling husband was very good about it and didn't mention it again.  

We changed over to Mountain Time- so even later to bed with a light sky.  Right now, I'm typing at 8:15 and it is very light.

I'm going to break up the posts and finish this one right now.

God bless everyone! Lots of lovexxx

Mountains

I was so tired last night and opened up this page to update but I simply could NOT do it, I was so tired. I went to sleep at about 8:45 and didn't wake until 6:45.  We have a massive suite (at the Best Western in Merritt BC) with a separate bedroom, queen bed and sofa bed with a mini kitchen and big living area.  So far, we haven't had to rent two rooms anywhere which is great.

Yesterday we said our emotional (for me anyway) good byes and left the Taddy/Noble house by about 7:30.  I was really sad to leave, it was a lovely little portion of our holiday.  From there we took the ferry across to Vancouver.  It was a great trip- we found two little tables in the sun and the view was just gorgeous.

We managed to get into Granville Island without causing any traffic accidents, there were a few tricky parts.  The Island is a little piece of land under a bridge and from there you look across to the city.  There are a lot of crafty and interesting shops, buskers and a vast range of places to eat.  We all chose what we wanted and sat out in the sun looking back to the city.  

It was a beautiful sunny day, still only about 22 degrees, but really the first summery day and everyone was pretty excited.  The island was hectic, you can only drive one way in a loop and streets are very narrow.  We are glad to have been there, it was fun.   

Glad we left at 2:15 though.  Jane said the traffic was heavy from about 3 p.m. on so we were determined to miss that and truly it was bumper to bumper from 2:30 on.  There was a lot of construction (road work) from Vancouver east and we were crawling along for quite some time.  The mountains took away the frustration of that slow leg of the trip.  Coming from such a flat place makes you really appreciate such amazing scenery.

Once we got out of the traffic we could move pretty quickly and the speed limit hit 110 km for the first time too.  The road was excellent- the only problem being that there was so much to look at.  There was so much water falling down the mountain sides from melting snow...

My turn for the shower so I will finish this when we stop tonight.  Should end up in about Revelstoke or even further if we can..  Love to Mum and Dad and all the other special people catching up with our adventures.  It feels good to know you are there!!XX

The Last Day

Today feels quite sad as we prepare to say farewell to Victoria again.  I honestly don't feel ready to say goodbye just yet but the time has come.

We were out of the house earlier today.  Thomas woke up with a hacking cough, he had coughed a lot during the night.  Sounded a bit like croupe so we were imagining all sorts of doctor visits today but he improved through the day.  He is snoring here beside me now, so is much better.  Hasn't coughed for a while.

Nicky Kew and I

Our first job this morning was to return to Mayfair to exchange Ellen's shoes for bigger ones.  We were meant to be there because as we were leaving, we ran into my fourth host mum Nicky Kew!  We stopped for a chat and it was lovely to see her and to hear what all the kids were up to.

We went for a long drive today, up to China Beach which is on the west coast of the Island and quite remote.  You have to park your car and walk down through lush forest to the beach.  The trail is great although quite steep which is okay going down!

The beach is dark sand, lots of rocks and shells and logs which have washed up over the years.  We had made a picnic thanks to Jane and enjoyed rolls with egg salad and meat, and we enjoyed watching Thomas building and creating all sorts of masterpieces using driftwood and rocks.  It was a beautiful place and we were blessed with a bit of sunshine while we were there too.

After the drive home, we went via the Marina at Oak Bay to see the seals.  I'm so glad we did.  They are amazing.  We bought two little bags of fish and as soon as we appeared, so did they.  They were a bit like seagulls at the beach, you feed one and heaps arrive.  Before we knew it we had 6 seals swimming around waiting to be fed.  Each one had a different approach: one lay around on his back with his whiskery chin in the air, another stayed just below the surface looking up at us.  Another one was really bold, slapping the water impatiently waiting for food.  It was so great to see them but as soon as we ran out of food, they took off.  Smart creatures!

Tomorrow we leave Tim and Jane's and we are all very sad about that.  They have been the most amazing hosts, from cappucinos first thing in the morning, to special dinners, helping with laundry, providing internet, use of their basement and I could go on forever.  Tonight Jane even mended Ellen's jumper that she noticed needed a few stitches. We cannot express how grateful we are for their generosity and hospitality and this will forever be a highlight of our trip.  I feel quite emotional about leaving here tomorrow, partly because I'm leaving Victoria, and the Gurney's and Taddy/Noble family, but also leaving a place where I and we as a family, feel so at home.  Thank you to you both.  This has been very, very special!

Well, we are mostly packed up.  I spent the last part of this afternoon organising flights from Seattle to LA- we've decided that we absolutely CANNOT drive that again, especially as we would be doubling up in a lot of places.  So we are dropping the hire car in Seattle and will be carless from then on.  I think we'll do okay!

Love to everyonexxxxx

Monday

It really is very wintry here in Victoria BC.  The morning started beautifully with bright sunshine but as soon as we left to head downtown, things changed.  It wasn't horrible, but it was very cool.  We walked all over the downtown area and found some cool shops.  Most importantly we found Baggins, the shoe shop with every variety of Converse  and Vans shoe ever made, and the kids were absolutely enthralled... except Thomas who wasn't all that impressed.  We ended up buying 6 pairs of Converse/Vans (I abstained and Hannah bought two pairs) and they loved us so much they gave all the kids free t-shirts, stickers and an iPhone case.  The guy behind the counter had actually been at the same high school as me.  

Photo by Thomas

We had lunch at Murchie's Tea Room and hit all the tacky souvenir shops, buying gifts and then went down to the BC Museum which is pretty great.  We only had two hours to closing time but managed to see most of it.

Following the Museum, we walked along to the Parliament Buildings for a quick look, then were about to walk back when we spotted the carriages.  We were all tired of walking, so we paid them to carry us back to the car and it was really lovely.  The horse dealt very well with peak hour traffic, thankfully!

We returned home and had the loveliest evening with Tim, Jane and Jeff.  Jane had prepared a gorgeous salmon dinner, with the most delicious and enormous piece of salmon I have ever seen.  She had also baked a rhubarb and strawberry pie, with rhubarb from her garden and fresh strawberries which are sold in massive 2 pound punnets for about $2.  Unbelievable.  

It's hard to get used to the light evenings and getting everyone into bed is hard, but we are earlier tonight.  

Love to everyone....xxxx

A Day in Sidney

We had a leisurely start to our day, with everyone sleeping in until after 8 am.  I got up earlier and had a cappucino with Jane, and enjoyed the view from the sitting room, overlooking the water.  The mountains were in full view, and the water was absolutely still.  It is a magical place.

There are families of Canada Geese swimming past constantly and yesterday we saw a sea otter and this morning evidence of deer (poo on the lawn) but we haven't seen deer close up yet.

Tim went on a 140 km bike ride today as part of the Tour de Victoria, and Jane was a marshal so we took ourselves shopping to Mayfair Mall.  The GPS wasn't too keen on the location and couldn't find it so we did a bit of driving around for a while, but eventually made it there.  Found Roots and bought some great stuff, and the girls enjoyed spending a bit of their cash.  

We then made our way out to Sidney, where my third host family, the Gurneys, live.  They hosted a BBQ for the whole family- Jamie and Ila and their children Connor and Olivia, Chris and his partner Marise, Jill and Bruce, and Grandma (Sue's mum) were all there and we had a lot of laughs.  We had such a lovely afternoon with them, remembering old times and reliving tea towel fights.  It was wonderful to see Ron and Sue looking healthy although Sue has had some tough times.  Her mum was funny, and reminded me of Nana Laing.  

Today I also had my first Tim Horton's donut: Boston Creme which I have dreamt about for 26 years!!!  The best part about it was that it was 90 cents!!!!

Somehow I don't think Michelle Bridges would approve!  I can't imagine how long it would take to burn this off on a treadmill!

This is our view driving home from Sidney at 8:44 this evening.  Firstly, check the light!  It's so beautifully light so late here.  Look closely at what appears to be clouds in the sky... they are actually mountains!  This was an incredible sight as they appeared to be floating in the air above a carpet of cloud.

Lastly for today, we enjoyed a walk around Jane's garden and it is AMAZING.... will share some photos later.

Love to everyone especially Nana and Grandad (Mum and Dad).  Wish we could give you a cuddle but we will soon!xxxxxx