travelbuffs

When:3rd-6th Aug 2012 Where: Long Beach unit of Pacific Rim National Park, BC, Canada What: camping near Mackenzie beach, our first proper beaches in Canada, enjoying the Pacific again, watched some decent surfs, built sand castles and in the process became Vitamin D-rich, thanks to the scorching sun. Friday, 3rd August We took the 7.45am ferry leaving Twassessen bay to Nanaimo . Ferries leaving from Horshoe bay(closer to Vancouver) were all filled up for the long weekend. We left as early as 6am allowing enough time for the traffic. We not only made it on time but had just enough time to grab some quick breakfast. Most of the cafe's were closed. Only Starbucks and second cup were open that early. No matter how many ever tim... read more

What: Ice Magic Festival Where: Lake Louise, Banff National Park It had been 6 months since we visited Lake Louise. We had stopped on our way back home from previous trips, I think. Ice Magic Festival brings carvers from around the globe(mostly from USA & Canada, sometimes as far as Russia) to Lake Louise. They have 34 hours to create a 7ft wonder with 36 blocks of Ice. The weather is always the trick while visiting Rockies in Winter. Specially, at Lake Louise, the weather is specially favourable for the Victoria Glacier. Prediction of -10C gave me the chills. But we had decided to go, no matter what. G was a little apprehensive about parking. But we reached the Lake at around 10am. There was parking still available at the Lake. Also, this year, the festiva ... read more

When: September 2nd - 5th Where: Mt.Robson Provincial Park Highlights: Camping, float trip, hike, BC. Friday, 2nd September We were so dead, both of us that we thought we would just pull over & catch up some sleep. But somehow(read G took over) & we reached Jasper by 2pm. I fell asleep 1 hr into the drive & S slept when I was half way through it. So, it was break time for all of us at Jasper. We witnessed rain & a bit of snow on our drive & Jasper was still cold & windy. But we enjoyed being outside so much. Even S did not mind the cold. It was only a short 1 hr drive to Mt.Robson and we reached there early enough to set up camp and check out the visitor center. ... read more

Sunday, July 31st 8am ferry to Haines. The only other time we travelled with our car in a ferry was in Washington. From Bremmerton to Seattle. So, it was interesting to see cars from different states(US..some as far as Arizona) & other provinces(Ontario was popular, I noticed). It was the first time for S to be on any vessel in ocean waters(though typically, you don't get to the ocean between Skagway-Haines). It was a very short 40 min or so cruise & the ferry had a movie theatre that played some Alaska movie. When I have more time, maybe I should watch it. Mainland Alaska memories seem so long ago. The ferry had a neat dining area that served decent food. We spent most of our ferry time there as S had more space to run/see ... read more

Wednesday, 27th July We had a late start from Watson Lake & I was a little worried about the 450km drive ahead. But we seemed to catch up when it was raining & managed to stop at many interesting places before reaching Whitehorse, YT. We entered YT for the first time. Four yrs ago, we had a view of the Yukon river on our way to the Arctic Circle(in Alaska).That was all we had known about Yukon. Our first stop was at the Contintental Divide. This divide separates the rivers that flow W(all rivers join Yukon river) to the Bering Sea from those that flow N into the Arctic Ocean(joins Mackenzie river). Our next major stop was at Tesli... read more