Vancouver is a pleasant spot to spend the last two days of a North American holiday. However, one part of the downtown is quite confronting. As we drove into town along Hastings St, with our fuel gauge on empty, we saw many unfortunate people wandering along the footpaths, lying on the paths or queuing for soup kitchens. The Lonely Planet book devotes a half page to this area's plight and its collection of druggies, prostitutes and down and outs. It is in stark contrast to the rest of downtown Vancouver, and one wanders whether the local government has its priorities right [View Full Entry]

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It is an enjoyable but reasonably long drive from Lake Louise to Vernon, taking about 5.5 hrs plus breaks. Passing through several national parks, including the Yoko and Glacier NPs, time passes very quickly. Golden was a pleasant spot for lunch, then late afternoon we sought out ice cream. Setting for a manufactured variety at a 7-eleven in Revelstoke, we were then dissappointed to pass by many ice cream shops in the following two hours drive to Vernon! Darren's colleague Max, and her parents Sonia and Al made us very welcome at their home in the Okanagan Valley, where the weather [View Full Entry]

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It is an enjoyable but reasonably long drive from Lake Louise to Vernon, taking about 5.5 hrs plus breaks. Passing through several national parks, including the Yoko and Glacier NPs, time passes very quickly. Golden was a pleasant spot for lunch, then late afternoon we sought out ice cream. Setting for a manufactured variety at a 7-eleven in Revelstoke, we were then dissappointed to pass by many ice cream shops in the following two hours drive to Vernon! Darren's colleague Max, and her parents Sonia and Al made us very welcome at their home in the Okanagan Valley, where the weather [View Full Entry]

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As we drove towards and into Banff township, the rain that followed us from Drumheller struggled to wane. We spent a short while in the town, glad that we chose to stay in Lake Louise instead as Banff is so busy and commercial. We didn't see the surroundings for clouds so did not know what else we may have been missing. Darren enjoyed a short walk around a fen before we headed to Lake Louise, where we found our comfortable accommodation in a super huge hotel (but not the very expensive one right by the lake.). Next morning the thick cloud [View Full Entry]

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As we drove away from Calgary towards Drumheller, I told Anna to expect a sudden dramatic change from the miles of rolling prairies. She didn't believe me but there it was, Canada's own version of the Grand Canyon, the Badlands, with Drumheller inside its edge. Gary and Val took good care of us, treating us to Val's own pork ribs first evening, before we hit the fabulous Royal Tyrell Museum, dedicated to dinosaurs and the like, the next day. After lunch the heavens opened and there was a good inch or more of rain in a few short hours. We managed [View Full Entry]

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Calgary does itself up for the stampede, with murals in many windows and the locals dressed in Wrangler shirts and jeans. First night we went to Caesar's Steakhouse to try out Albertan beef and a local creation, the 'Bloody Caesar', supposedly invented at the Westin Hotel in Calgary in 1969. Next day we wandered downtown to watch some festivities associated with the Stampede, including square dancing and an indian parade cum festival. Darren loved a few good hours at the wonderful Glenbow Museum, a highlight being the Vistas exhibition, featuring works by artists who were taken on the railw [View Full Entry]

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Edmonton is around the same size as Adelaide back in Australia. Except that its river has much more water than the Torrens! It also has what was the world's biggest shopping centre, the West Edmonton Mall. On what started out as a rainy day, we happily spent a day wondering around the mall, fulfilling one of Darrren's childhood dreams. Only problem is we didn't feel youthful enough to ride its rollercoasters, play mini golf, skate its rink etc. But we got to relive our time in LA 15 years ago, when we went to Tony Romas. We generally try to avoid [View Full Entry]

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We were out of luck during our stay in Jasper, as there was either heavy cloud or rain for the most part of our time there. We had some good fortune on our full day when we hired a car though, as the morning remained relatively clear. We drove up the Maligne Valley to its canyon and lake, enjoying the spectacle of its river gushing though a very narrow gorge. Also spotted about four black bears along the way, along with about 10 -20 cars on each occasion, pulling over to look from a (usally) safe distance. Alas there were no [View Full Entry]

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The Skeena train, run by VIA rail, is a 20 hour journey with an overnight stop in Prince George. The trip was very scenic for the first four hours, then extremely pleasant but not so stunning for the remainder. Early in the trip the conductor told us we were very fortunate to get a vista of the Seven Sisters, a spectacular jagged mountain range. The train also runs along the Skeena River for the first four hours then the Fraser, BC's mightiest river, for most of day 2. We missed the view of Mt Robson, late on Day 2 due to [View Full Entry]

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Travel guides tout Prince Rupert as Canada's gloomiest city and they weren't kidding. The sun failed to show all day, with a thick fog surrounding this town of around 15,000. No small wonder given it is so close to Alaska. We wandered around Cow Bay, a small historic shopping precinct near the wharves where we enjoyed our best coffee on the trip so far. Then Darren checked out the Museum of Northern British Columbia, that had another fine Indian display. Anna was over Museums at this point. There were also many totem poles throughout the town, which is only 105 years [View Full Entry]

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