First three days in Alberta, Canada

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Leaving Edmonton was kind of a last minute thing, we thought we were waaay more organized than we really were.
The van is totally weighed down with an array of stuff we need, probably need and don't need. Bryce was a mastermind on packing, thanks to him and I guess some military training, we are prepared for some of the worst scenarios possible.
To start the trip we headed down to the infamous camping site Abraham Lake, which has been home to the May long camping event Bryce and his mates have been to many years prior.
We stopped off in Nordegg, an old mining town which is pretty much a ghost town these days after 29 miners died in a collapse in the mines and were consequently shut down, it kind of reminded me of route 66 in America, you could kind of picture what it would've been like when it was busy, as things were left as they once were, here's a website to check out the history of this town : http://www.ghosttowns.com/canada/alberta/nordegg.html
Anyway...right after this town was our destination for the next couple of nights...Abraham Lake, just off Dave Thompson highway.
Ahem. One of the most beautiful sights I have EVER seen in my life.
The sun was out in a perfect sky, the mountains still had a touch of snow which sat perfectly on the tips of the jagged mountains and the water was the clearest blue you could ever imagine. When Bryce and his friends told me that this place was probably the nicest places in Alberta it was actually legit. Freaking incredible.
Every day we watched the sun rise and set.
We drank a fair bit and got the texta out for the van, now Dora is complete with traffic stopping drawings and writing all over her, and a few killer skulls courtesy of Jordan (Some tattoo artists stopped and had a look in Calgary).
Well, day one we decide to go for a little bit of a hike before we started drinking, armed with bear bells (Which I thought was enough) we started to clear through the bush ready for a mountain climb. Bryce, gets up like the meerkat to see for any trails ahead once we were about 5 minutes or so into our walk in the bush, low and behold there it is. A massive Kodiak Grizzly bear...the biggest Bryce has seen in his life, naturally.
Well, frozen on the rock i'm not sure what Bryce is exactly doing...but when he told me there was a bear....yep I freaking ran. Fast as I could, oh and the bell...it jingled off with me. I know your not supposed to run, Bryce has told me that, but when he tells me a bear is right near me, and would probably eat us both, its flight or fight baby. Well after a few seconds bryce is behind me "Got your camera...shit we should've taken a picture". No fear in Bryce although his heart rate indicated otherwise.
Well after that we come back and it's no more hiking just us two- and our bear bells. We go on a hike with the others and trek up by the river stream, there is still a bit of snow due to the heavy snowfall we received earlier this year, and you can see that it's slowly melting away and preparing for the summer. The air was the cleanest we'd ever breathed in, and it was just a taste of what was to come.
On Sunday everybody packed up, and we went off on our own to Banff, part of the Canadian rockies. As if the Grizzly bear wasn't enough for our 'wildlife experience' along came my first ever sighting of a Cougar. The only Cougars i'd ever laid eyes on was usually the women who preyed on younger guys. Well these Cougars are much more dangerous and will stalk you for kilometers before attacking from behind, ripping at your neck and snapping your spine. I guess it gives a whole new meaning to "having eyes in the back of your head". Luckily we were in the car at the time, but it ran across the road in front of us...it's always nice seeing wildlife, but I think Canada/ North America has some pretty tough animals, and it's always on our minds when we go on a hike- and people think wildlife is dangerous in Australia! You definitely need a shotgun here, at least a 12 gauge. But no...we have two little bells. Here comes Santa claus!
Well now we are currently in Calgary...we came so totally unprepared and winged the whole night (As with everything else in our lives). We are staying at Super 8 cheesy motel...but definitely not the seediest of the strip of motels, and we have free internet and a real working shower, toilet and sink. Its like going from the slums of Mumbai to a Chateau in France, and we are living like kings, buddha kings, with big stomachs on the bed after an all you can eat Indian buffet. I can't say it was either one's idea but rather a silly joint effort...sometimes we never learn from our glutinous ways. Well not much else is planned for tonight, about to watch the end of Apocolypto ( Which cut out the previous night in Dora after the battery to the laptop ran out) Or possibly watch some talk shows/crappy american tv before hitting the sack. After all...there is an inclusive continental all you can eat buffet tomorrow morning....

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