Canada Day, eh!

I was so excited about Canada Day which is celebrated in the 1st July every year. Because we may not be here this time next year I really wanted to get into the spirit of things so I went out and bought some Canadian flags and temporary tattoos, a small expense but enough to make me feel a part of it all. Airdrie puts on a parade in the Main Street of town each year so I was looking forward to seeing that but when D decided to work overtime in the morning I knew i'd be alone for that part of the day.

It was a perfect, sunny and very warm (actually hot at around 30 degrees) morning and I walked over to the street to watch the parade from my camping chair. It seemed like the whole town had turned out for this thing there were people everywhere like an endless sea of red and white. Local businesses dressed up and made floats to celebrate and the whole thing was over in a couple of hours. The crowds dispersed headed for their afternoon activities. I headed home to wait for D's return from work.

Waiting for the parade to start, it was hard to find a spot!

Showing my love for Canada :)

RCMP marching uncomfortably in the heat and those boots!

When D got home we decided to wander down to the local park to check out a dog day afternoon put on by the local humane society. There wasn't a lot going on so we went and bought a bottle of Canadian Club, walked home and drank/snoozed the afternoon away on the balcony.

D having a whiskey nap after work and our walk

At around 10:30pm just as the sun went down we watched fireworks from our balcony that we could see in a local park across the highway. It was a cruisey, lazy day not unlike the Australia Days we experience at home.

Fireworks from our balcony, no need to go anywhere

Dinosaurs and floods, it's a mixed bag here in Alberta

For her last week here we drove mum out to Drumheller to check out the Royal Tyrell dinosaur museum and Horse Thief Canyon. D and I had visited the area in February but it was completely different without a blanket of snow.

Horse thief canyon

He couldn't help himself, notice the sign on the bottom left corner....

T-Rex skeleton, i'd never seen one before in person

We then headed up to the Rocky Mountains and a night in each Jasper and Banff. Unfortunately the weather decided t play up and a view of the mountains that can usually be seen from Airdrie could hardly even be seen from the Icefields Parkway which winds directly through them from Banff up into Jasper. Despite the less than perfect weather mum seemed to enjoy the drive and we stopped at the Columbia Icefield for a look at the glaciers in the area (which we hated because it was a circus full of tourists) and then at a couple of waterfalls on our way into Jasper.

Sunwapta Falls

We stayed on Patricia Lake in a lovely little lodge and after a morning of looking around the gift stores for a souvenir for mum we headed back down the parkway for Lake Louise and Moraine Lake. The weather became worse as we drove further south and by the time we reached Banff it was pouring rain. We checked into our loft apartment and after grabbing a cheap and easy dinner from Safeway and a wander around some stores hit the sack.

Patricia Lake Lodge, Jasper

Wild rose - Alberta's state flower

Moraine Lake, Banff

We woke the next morning to mum telling us to turn on the news, and honestly we didn't really believe what we were seeing. All roads out of Banff had been cut off and highway 2 (the main highway that cuts parallel across Canada had been washed away in Canmore. We didn't quite know what to do so we checked out and headed for McDonald's to use the wifi and hopefully make it out that afternoon. Mums flight was leaving on Friday so we were really hoping for something to open up so we could get through. Unfortunately this dragged on for another 2 nights. Banff was completely cut off and most of Southern Alberta was inundated with floods from a mix of heavy rain and melted snow from the mountains - Calgary was also evacuated during this event. It was unprecedented and one of the worst disasters the province had ever seen. 2 nights later, 2 hotel rooms later, 2 flight changes later and a lot unplanned emergency spending later we FINALLY pulled out of Banff headed for Airdrie. What was usually a 1.5 hour drive turned into 11 hours via the crowsnest pass 3 hours south west of Calgary due to all other roads still being closed but we made it. I was so glad to be home and luckily for us Airdrie hadn't been affected by the floods at all.

Bow falls just about to break the banks of the Bow River

D totally happy to still be stuck in Banff on day 3

After all of that mum made her flight back to Australia and I was so glad she had come to visit but looking forward to getting back to normal after all the excitement and drama over the previous month. Our troubles had been nothing though in comparison though to the people who lost their homes and belongings, or even lives in this terrible natural disaster. We are used to summer floods in SE Queensland and certainly had more damage and lives lost there over the years but we expect them wheras Albertans were totally unprepared for the event.

Yukon & Alaskan Adventure

We boarded MS Amsterdam bound for Alaska on the last Friday in May all very excited about what was ahead of us. A journey to Alaska is on a lot of bucket lists and ours was no exception. The ship owned by Holland America Line was much smaller than the Pacific Jewel which D and I had sailed on to the South Pacific Islands in 2012 but it was a nicer, more maintained and 'classier' vessel. All three of us shared a stateroom which was pretty cozy but for 3 nights it didn't really matter. Having an outside window made a big difference as well as on our previous 14 night cruise we were inside which made it impossible to know what time of day it was when we were in the room.

The cruise up the coast was nice, the weather had come good that morning and we started with a few drinks in the crows nest at the front of the ship. Having free food available 24/7 was just ridiculous and we took full advantage of it ordering room service quite a few times. Mum and I had a spa treatment on day 2 in between meals which was lovely but as with our first cruise experience we found we got bored pretty quickly and being restricted to a ship is just not our thing, even if it's only for a few days. We got dressed up for the formal night but apart from that didn't get involved in any of the ship board activities.

View of Vancouver as we pulled out on the cruise ship

Formal night - it was bloody cold outside!

Day 3 brought us into Glacier Bay and a perfect sunny day. We witnessed dolphins jumping and playing during breakfast, whales swimming past as we entered the bay, eagles perched on floating icebergs and parts of the glacier splitting off into the ocean making thunderous sounds as the waves forced the massive ship move in the wake. A national park ranger came aboard in the morning and narrated the whole tour through the bay and to the glaciers, it was an amazing sight - so peaceful and one I am glad we had the chance to experience.

Coming into Glacier Bay it was such a perfect day, so quiet and clear

Enjoying our cabin's window

The binoculars and cameras were pretty much in action all day long

Stunning snow capped mountains right into the ocean

Ice breaking off the glacier's face

We made our way back out of the bay that evening and headed towards Skagway, Alaska overnight which was our port of disembarkation. Again the weather was smiling upon us as we left the ship never to return! Our 8 day land tour was upon us. It was perfect day - sunny and warm. Skagway is a definite tourist town we couldn't believe how many jewelry stores one small town could possibly sustain! We wandered through the gift stores and bought homemade lemonade from kids in the street. It was a lovely morning for a stroll before boarding the White Pass railway winding up through the mountains which was some of the prettiest alpine scenery we had seen. The bus was waiting for us at Fraser BC and we boarded bound for Whitehorse, Yukon Territory.

Frontier themed Main street in Skagway, Alaska

The scenic railway ride through the mountains and back into Canada

Fraser, BC border crossing. This was pretty much the only building.

En route to Whitehorse at Emerald Lake, Yukon

Whitehorse is the biggest city and the capital of Yukon Territory, with about 38,000 people living in the area it's around 12,000 people less than our small town of Airdrie! I couldn't believe it was a capital city it was so remote and so full of nothing, I could never live there. We took a tour to a wildlife preserve and went to visit the fish ladder where the counting of the salmon swimming up river to spawn occurs followed by a view of the SS Klondike - the last river boat that serviced the Yukon River.

Modelling the shed antlers at the Yukon Wildlife preserve

D enjoying the fish ladder

Me and mum at the SS Klondike

We left Whitehorse headed for Beaver Creek on the border of Canada and USA driving through Kluane National Park along the way which was snowcapped mountain after snowcapped mountain. Beaver Creek has a population of around 140 people and this was the most remote place we visited. We were literally hundreds of miles from anywhere and I actually enjoyed this tiny town and the rendezvous musical show (a little lame) put on by the town folk, campfire smores with Yukon brewed beers and a family style dinner with a lovely trio visiting from Pennsylvania.

Kluane national park

Indoor smores at the Rendezvous show in Beaver Creek

Welcome to Beaver Creek!

Midnight sun

Couldn't believe it was 12am and still so light outside

After our quick one night stay in Beaver Creek we were back on the bus and making our way once again into the USA to Fairbanks, Alaska. We had a stop at North Pole, Alaska and the official Santa Claus house where we met Santa and his reindeer and were each given a deed to one square inch of land. Fairbanks was again, a remote city that I didn't fall in love with. The steamboat tour to a Native Indian village and afternoon panning for gold at the historic Gold Dredge number 8 (where I found a whole $12 worth of gold flakes) were redeeming factors but staying in another town with not much to offer scenery wise was getting to me... As was sharing one hotel room with 3 people. I held high hopes for Denali.

Panning for gold, hoping to strike it rich!

My stake

D was in his element I think he wanted to steal this hat and move into the cabin

Probably the only time I will ever drape myself in a dead animal. Poor Mr Fox.

The train was into Denali was great with windows domed over the roof for a real view of what was to come but it dragged on quite a bit and considering the drive only took 2 hours, I thought 4 hours on the train was a little much. Most of the journey was trees on either side of the carriage but the scenery really opened up during the final moments as we wound around a river and large gorge into Denali. Finally we were here, this place we had been watching in documentaries from Australia and dreaming of one day visiting. First impression though, not so great. Hotels everywhere, gift shops everywhere, inflated prices everywhere and people all around - although it was nice enough it certainly didn't have that wild feeling I was expecting. We decided to do a true tourist activity and sit for an Alaskan style portrait before heading out for a guided fly fishing lesson in the afternoon.

So this is what we'd look like if we were Alaskan.... Probably not....

D caught one Arctic Grayling and neither mum or me caught anything. I didn't even get any bites. I'm an impatient fisherman on a good day let alone 4 hours getting swarmed by horse sized mozzies covered in mud all smelly and wet.... Yes my boots suctioned in mud at the very beginning of the night and I fell over resulting in a very uncomfortable experience for me. It was nice scenery though as we had a beaver swim and bat his tail at us as well as passing a moose on the way in so it wasn't all bad!

The next day we took our tour into the actual national park. Denali only has one road in and out. Regular cars can only drive to the 15 mile mark so to go any further you have to travel on a park bus. It was a VERY crowded and squishy school type bus and considering we were in it for 8 hours I was already dreading the experience before we even crossed the park gates. The driver had a video camera at the front of the bus and whenever we saw wildlife she would stop and zoom in so everyone could get a look but it was a lot of moving around other people to get pictures and ducking down to allow others a chance to see with their own eyes. The scenery turned from dense treed rolling hills to sparse arctic tundra with high peaks in the background. It was unlike anything i'd seen before but I wouldn't describe it as 'beautiful'. On the tour we saw Dall Sheep, Moose, Grizzly Bear, Elk and even an illusive Wolverine!

The converted school busses - don't look too bad but try spending 8 hours with 50 other people on one!

Baby moose twins!

Scenic overlook in Denali

Dall sheep munching on grass

Grizzly mama and her cub

The next day we boarded the McKinley explorer train again bound for our last stop of Anchorage. Again a 4 hr drive in a car was 8 hours on the train and unfortunately we were all over the long days of travel. Anchorage turned out to be a highlight it was covered in flowers and we took a trolley tour around the city the morning before our flight out. I was so glad we went and saw Alaska and the Yukon for ourselves but I don't think we would venture there again. We saw everything we wanted to see, scenery, wildlife and even a look at Mt McKinley from the plane as we left Anchorage. What more could we have asked for?!

Anchorage tourist trolley

Fell in love with flowers on this trip, wish I had more of a green thumb!

Denali/Mt McKinley - 'The high one' from the plane as we left. Goodbye Alaska!

Wet and wild west coast

After 15 hours on a greyhound bus through the Canadian Rockies and the Okanagan region we arrived to a cloud covered, wet and rainy Vancouver. It was the start of our 2 week holiday to Alaska and a pretty restless, uncomfortable overnight trip. The last thing we wanted to see was shit weather but you can't have it all I guess. We were mostly just glad to be off the bus and headed for unknown territory really for the first time since moving to Airdrie. We jumped in a cab and to the car rental agency in downtown Vancouver before making our way through a rush hour traffic to the ferry and across to Vancouver Island.

The landscape on this side of the country was very different to the prairies and rocky mountains in Alberta. It was much more green with rolling hills and reminded me a lot more of the Australian coastal landscape. It had been over 7 months since we had seen the ocean and it was nice to feel close to the coast before, it's very weird to be landlocked!

Our hotel was in a central location in Victoria and despite the rain we ventured out and walked the pretty streets surrounded by blooming gardens and English style buildings. The Fairmont Empress was a gorgeous structure with vines growing up the exterior and the government buildings were also in keeping with the old English feel of the city. We had dinner at a dockside restaurant and followed up with a few beers at a local pub where we found out one of D's favourite bands, Fear Factory, was playing that night. After a huge shit fight about whether he would go or not he finally left and I spent the rest of the night in the apartment watching TV.

Victoria had a very distinct English feel - even a red double decker bus

The beautiful Fairmont Empress, and Dale making it look even more classy

Flowers everywhere!

Victoria Government Buildings

We had to leave relatively early the next morning as we were picking up mum from Vancouver and had to catch the ferry back in time to be there to meet her. It was still miserable outside but that was the only thing on the cards for the day so it didn't matter too much. After about an hour of waiting at the airport mum emerged and we made our way through Stanley Park and over the Lions Gate Bridge to North Vancouver where our hotel was located. After a quick dinner at Denny's we were all ready for an early night.

The weather had cleared a little the next morning as we headed out of North Vancouver on the Sea to Sky Highway headed for Whistler, a resort town made famous recently by the Winter Olympics in 2010. The road was really scenic and we stopped at Brandywine Falls in Squamish to stretch our legs for a bit before arriving in Whistler village mid morning. I found Whistler to be a lovely little town but didn't think it was as nice as other places we had been. Everything was fairly expensive and probably the fact it poured rain the whole time we were there added to the frustration. We walked around looking through the many gift shops, got some pizza and an ice cream and by mid afternoon we were ready to leave. On our way back to Vancouver we spotted a black bear right beside the highway and pulled over to take some very close up photographs - we stayed in the car though so we could make a quick getaway if he got angry! This was the most exciting thing to happen so far and we were glad we left when we did to spot this amazing animal!

Trail to Brandywine Falls, Squamish

I've always wanted to do one of these railway shots, the trail led straight over

The black bear - we were literally that close

Scenic overlook heading out of Whistler

After checking out and driving back into Vancouver to return the car we made our way on foot to Tim Horton's for breakfast and to waste some time before we could board our cruise ship. As luck would have it Tim Horton's was located at the bottom of the Vancouver Tower so we went up to have a peek at the skyline before walking to the cruise ship terminal ready for our Alaskan adventure.

Birdseye view of Vancouver streets from the tower