travelbuffs

When: 19 April 2014 Where: Dinosaur & Kinbrook Island Provincial Parks Little S(well, not so little anymore) is now an ardent fan of dinosaurs. It all started with a computer game called Dino Dan where she had to take care of dinosaurs. All kinds of them. All the weird-o-saurus names started pouring in. G and I stayed away from it for a while. A few months. But eventually succumbed to it! The craze of knowing all dinosaurs by name, diet, size & which period they lived. Triassic, Jurassic & Cretaceous. A visit to Royal Tyrell Museum made sense a few months ago. But with Spring finally around the corner, we drove ourselves 3 hours due East to Dinosaur Provincial Park. The park is home to a variety of dinosaur fossils including Ceratopsians, Hadrosaurs, Ankylosaurs, Dromeosaurus and ... read more

When:13 Sep 2013 Where: hike up Parker Ridge Highlights: Saskatchewan glacier view It has been over 3 years that I had heard about this must-do hike. Superlatives were used and as time would have it, we had crossed by the trailhead several times with no time to stop. We then realized that we had to dedicate one day to come this far. Summer would end anytime soon. We tried to try our luck as little S had day off from school. All of us were tired in the morning. Our decision to leave by 6.00 am faltered(nothing unusual there). We left by 8.00 am. Our destination being 316 km away, we had close to a 4 hr drive. With brief stops at Canmore and Lake Louise for essentials we reached Parker Ridge trail head past 11.00 ... read more

When: 22 August - 1 September 2013 Where: Yellowstone National Park, USA Highlights: Animal sightings, hot springs, first mud pot experience, colors, lots of water and our first Junior Ranger Badge!!! This was mine & G's 2nd trip into this awesome Caldera. It is a world unto itself. We were excited beyond words to share this place with S. She would get initiated into the world of geysers, hot springs, mud pots & fumaroles. 22nd August Unsure about the immigration delay, we started early enough that we were in Lethbridge for brunch. This was our first time to Lethbridge and the small town feel the place had made us feel at home. As we entered town, we saw the url=http://www.crownofthecontinent.net/content/high-level-bridge-lethbridge-alberta/cot62279239D4F931409High Level bridge. Unf... read more

When:15th July - 20th Aug 2013 Where: Toronto Highlights: visiting & living IN the concrete jungle, hunting open space whenever wherever possible, making new friends, visiting all the touristy venues. In short, been there, done that. Calgary has 1/5th of Toronto's population. This statistic meant nothing to me until I actually felt it. I am not a city person and if this post is biased, well, I cannot help it. Did I come across all the 5 million people in the city? It definitely feels so! Toronto Eaton Center Highly over-rated! Expensive! Touristy! And this feeling after my third(and probably final) visit. Also after a local told me so. I just blindly began to believe that shopping is expensive i... read more

When: 31st Aug - 4th Sep What: Vancouver to Calgary Highlights: camping, enjoying fresh-water beaches, Okanagan valley views, first jet ski experience, interesting people at a hostel Friday, Aug 31st We did a quick round of packing previous night and in the morning. It is a wonderful truth that we have definitely slowed down with S. And she definitely makes everything so much more worthwhile. G was not somewhat happy to know that we had 1 extra(food) bag. It added to the weight, but slowly we got used to driving with it. Or,maybe we forgot about it totally. My south-indian cuisine craving took us to HSB on Broadway. After a carb-filled belly, we embarked on this 4+ hr drive to Kelowna. S fell asleep as soon as we were outside the city. And woke up only ... read more