http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Mel-and-Nige/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Mel and Nige en-us Sat, 12 Dec 2009 01:23:31 +0000 Sat, 12 Dec 2009 01:23:31 +0000 On this morning we packed our tent did groceries and left for the beautiful Lake Louise. It is incredible how the color of the glacier water is different at each place. Lake Louise was more like a minty green. Sometimes it really looks unreal Tip if ever you want to go visit this place be sure you get there early to beat the crowd. So anyways we decided to do another full day hike even th http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Alberta/Banff-National-Park/blog-303780.html We got up early this morning and left towards Moraine Lake which is about 30 minutes from our campground. This place is AMAZING We have never seen water this colour before. The color of the water makes you feel like you are in the Carribbean but surrounded by the Canadian Rockies. It is really nice After admiring this beautiful lake we decided to go on our 5.6 KM hike called The Valley of the http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Alberta/Banff-National-Park/blog-303776.html Early this morning we left towards Banff National Park. We got on the highway and we were shocked how well you could see the rockies from Calgary. We never noticed them because the other days were very cloudy. So this is where the excitement began As we drove that direction the mountains got closer and closerr WOW This place is so gorgeous and it is just the entrance to the park The first t http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Alberta/Banff/blog-303770.html Around 200 PM we decided to leave the park and go to the STAMPEDE . This is something we both looked foward to. So we got to our campground Mountain View at 530 pitched our tent and got ready quickly because there was a bus going straight to the stampede at 615 PM.We were pretty glad that we didn't drive there Traffic was terrible. So instead we got the chance to just relax in the bus. T http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Alberta/Calgary/blog-300370.html So after Cypress Hill Alberta side we headed towards the Dinosaur Provincial Park. When we got there we just stopped at the viewpoint and it was quite the sight this provincial park is a badland and it is HUGE.Anyways we set up our tent and headed towards a little trail. We didn't go very far because we couldn't see where the trail went and there were also big stormy clouds coming. So we h http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Alberta/blog-300362.html After the Great Sandhills we decided to head to The Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park it is a park that is share between Saskatchewan and Alberta. The first thing we noticed when we got to our campsite is the crazy trees which are called logde pole pines we think that they might use those trees to built log cabins eheheh. Anyways we thought they were pretty cool because every tree was sup http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Saskatchewan/blog-300350.html Cypress Hills Alberta was pretty nice too not as nice as the sask. side though. We had a campsite with a great view. At night we went up to another high elevation point with a great view of the plains and tried really hard to get some nice pics... lol. The next day we went on a nice drive and tried to find a particular trail and had no luck... Mel wasn't too pleased. Damn poor signage. argghh. http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Alberta/blog-300354.html After our journey to Grasslands National Park we headed towards the Great Sandhills located in Saskatchewan. Can you believe that there is a little desert in Canada It is pretty cool ehThe sand was really smooth and it felt soooo great on our feet ehehehhe...It was a different texture of any sand that we ever touched. It was pretty cool Anyways we got there but we didn't really have http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Saskatchewan/blog-300345.html We called ahead to see for camping in the Grasslands and a really nice Woman Collette who was our tour guide the next day set us up with everything we needed. Our campsite was unlike any other we had been at so far. It had an amazing view of the park and we arrived just in time for the sunset. It was in an open field up on a hill beside an abandoned convent. The mosquitoes were UNBAREABLE. W http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Saskatchewan/Grasslands-National-Park/blog-299404.html We headed down south to see Big Muddy Badlands the drive was really enjoyable We had the beautiful Big Saskatchewan sky to look at and the we had the back roads all to ourselves. It was really beautiful in itrsquos simple way endless fields and endless sky. Along the way we say all sorts of cute little buggers along the side of the road. Nigel thought that they wersquore Prairie Dogs he wa http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Saskatchewan/blog-299401.html We packed up quick in the morning and headed to Gorge Creek Trail which is a 6.5km one way trail with the rating of difficult. At the beginning we were like ldquothis trail isnrsquot very difficultrdquo then we started going up and down all sorts of stairs in and out of the gorge and we quickly changed our minds. Check out the pic of Melrsquos itrsquos red as a tomato from the hike. http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Manitoba/Riding-Mountain-National-Park/blog-299399.html The drive wasnrsquot too bad but we were both exhausted from the trail. We arrived in Regina around 9 and went to the hostel where we wanted to stay but it was all full. So we had our first night in a half decent motel. In the morning we headed to the farmers market downtown which we were expecting to be pretty good since wersquore in farm country. However we were pretty disappointed at th http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Saskatchewan/Regina/blog-299400.html We headed back to Winnipeg because it was on our way to our next stop Riding Mountain National Park. So we took the opportunity to stop at the Mint and take a tour. We learned how coins are made which is really amazing how many steps it takes. It was cool to learn that they also make coins for 100 other countries It was also cool to learn that a loonie only costs 11 cents to make and penny is http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Manitoba/Riding-Mountain-National-Park/blog-299398.html In the morning we did a few errands then got on the road with Brad and Stephanie to Grand Beach Provincial Park which an hour from Winnipeg. It is known to be one of the most beautiful beaches in North AmericaWhen we got there we quickly set up our tents ours took 2 minutes and Bradrsquos took 15 lol. After we finished up we hit the beach When you walk in on the sand path you see 20 foot s http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Manitoba/Winnipeg/blog-299397.html Just a reminder from the last blog we have been awake since yesterday at 8amWe arrived at Bradrsquos at 11 local time and we served a nice refreshing wrap for lunch which felt great after eating mostly chips and a greasy breakfast. After that we hung out for a while played guitar hero and had a few beers while we did our laundry. After supper we headed downtown where there was a street cl http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Manitoba/Winnipeg/blog-299395.html We left Timrsquos cottage around 11ish AM and left towards Winnipeg thinking it would only be a 13 hour drive. Jeez de Jeez We were wrong. It took us 24 hours in total. We had to drive slowly during the night because it was very dark and we kept seeing glowing eyes of moose and deer along the side of the road. In total we saw at least 10 deer 5 moose a fox and even black bear. At night i http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Ontario/blog-296227.html We woke up early and headed straight to Kingston to see Nigelrsquos family. On Saturday we went to a really nice place to swim on Lake Ontario and went to Nigelrsquos place to relax and catch up with his mom his sisters Mallory and Marissa and his aunt Julie. Of course we played the game pictionary that night which is always fun. On Sunday it was the big family party. All the family on http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Ontario/Kingston/blog-294474.html We arrived at the park at the East Gate and went straight to the visitorrsquos center. The nice girl there set us off to do some cool camping in the interior of the park and have a canoe delivered to us to go to our camping site you can only access these campgrounds by canoehellip.unfortunately the girl at the information center gave us the wrong information and couldnrsquot get our canoe http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Ontario/Algonquin-Provincial-Park/blog-294479.html Tim is an old friend of Nigelrsquos and his family owns a great cottage on a private island. It is a perfect place to have a reunion with his friends Tim Cricky Tracey and Steve and have a great party. We also made some new friends people that Tim brought to the cottage. 9786 The weather wasnrsquot the greatest but we made the best of it. We went swimming riding on the big boat9786 http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Ontario/North-Bay/blog-294485.html We got to Ottawa around 900 PM and went directly to Joeyrsquos place one of Nigelrsquos friends from Moncton. The first night was very relaxed. We went to this pub close to Joeyrsquos place had a few beers and headed to his place for a nice sleep. June 20th We slept in and had a nice lazy morning for the first time. Unfortunately Joey had to work during the morning but he got to meet http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Ontario/Ottawa/blog-294466.html