Into the wild

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Hi guys,

I can't believe that more than one month is already over... and it is almost half time!=(

I still had a really good time in the Rocky Mountains doing nice rides with the horses from the ranch (except for the small incident when Riette fell off the horse resulting in a mild concusion). One of the highlights in Valemount was the Rodeos! I wouldn't have thought that the western style as we know it from the movies and as we dress up for carneval really existed here! That was just amazing! I loved being around the real cowboys as a real cowgirl, even if it was just the High School Rodeos!😊 I also went on a beautiful hike, the Swift Loop in the Rockies and walked to the Little Lost Lake to hang out there. It seems like ages ago that I haven't played some real footy, but in little Valemount everything is possible. haha
Oh, and not to forget that I had one of the most expensive steak dinners in town for free apart from all those Canadian BBQs with Bavarian Smokies (ebs wai Bockwirstl)! So that's the story how I became a Western fan... and it was again the people who made it so special! Thank you!:-*

So my woofing time at the ranch really flied and my Frenchies Cecile, Marine and Isabelle already picked me up in their hired car. After a night in a free local cabine (thanks to Patricia's insider tip) we got on the road to the Jasper and Banff National Parks, where we stayed mostly in wilderness hostels as it was still to cold for camping. Yep, it is already June, but there is still loads of snow up there in the mountains. Not every night we had running water and electricity, but once we even had a sauna. It was really fun to travel with the girls for a week and we shared same awesome moments like getting a Mc Donalds drive thru desert with a view to the mountains by night or watching the play off final in a pub in Calgary with real pub food bison burgers. It is amazing how close 'British Columbia' is to British cultures sometimes and the 21st birthday party at the table next to us was nothing else than all our nights out in Cambrdige. A weird experience to have my French and British world packed together in one place, which is Canada.

Well, it wouldn't be fun if everything went as expected... and if I didn't lock the keys in our rental car in the middle of nowhere without any phone service! It was quite a challenge to get hold of somebody out there, not to speak of finding somebody nearby, who wouldn't damage the car and charge me a fortune! But nothing is impossible and I managed to have our keys back only 3 hours for a very fair price. Before that I was so proud to be still under my budget (and luckily I still am) - but anyway, it could have been a lot worse and Sammy, our hero was worse the money... but the sausage I got out of the boot (or trunk in AmE 😉 ) wasn't it I have to admit!lol

I'm struggling hard to keep my British accent, but it seems that the Canadians already have influenced it and somehow every second Canadian I meet asks me whereabouts in Australia or New Zealand I am from?! Well, at least I still speak a more or less pure French without any Quebec accent... 😉 Au moins j'éspère?! Luckily an Australian guy told me yesterday that the Canadians always think he was a Brit... so it's probably rather the Canadians who are bad at accents though and Mike even admitted that!haha

So the girls headed back to Montreal and I went on another bus trip to Vancouver. At the moment there is a lot going on because of the NHL play off finals with the local team called Canucks! As I already had to get into hockey in Valemount thanks to the Canucks fans there, it was a special event to watch the 3rd game of the playoffs against the Bruins, the Boston team here on the big screen in downtown. I stayed at a flatshare with 5 guys, Sams former flatmates, in a beautiful residential area. After two days in the city discovering Stanley Park, Granville Island etc. I got a ride to Whistler from a British guy, who works up there, for a fairly reasonable price. After hearing not only positive things about it, I have to say: I loved it! Whistler might be a fake Disneyland-like town, yes... but that's not why you go there. It's all about the beautiful landscape up there! And the weather made it just perfect.

I also met some interesting people in Vancouver and Whistler with some nice stories to tell, but I don't won't to bore you any longer and just let you enjoy a selection of the pics I uploaded for you!

It was already time to say good bye to my beloved Canada this morning and I'm on the bus again: California here I come! I should better make sure to wear some flowers in my hair for my next stop... 😉

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Photos

Photo 162
incredible landscape

Photo 98
Me, the puck and Scott

Photo 39
Columbia Icefield Glacier

Photo 132
the Rodeo High School Finals

Photo 131
up in the mountains with my boy Maynard, doggy Lucie and Riette on Sam

Photo 134
getting the cattle back to the other side

Photo 135
Pauline - the new French woofer replacing Sam

Photo 136
Viv and her Mom Riette

Photo 138
so haude boranand....

Photo 139
sorry, no drinking in the public allowed in Canada

Photo 141
the two local girls waiting for their turn in the rodeos

Photo 142
the Cowboys getting the cows for the rodeo rides ready