Blogs from Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada, North America - page 4

Happy 4th of July everyone. There didn't seem to be any excitement here for Independence Day. I guess we weren't around any people from the USA. Today we booked for the steam train ride -starts at 7:30 pm and apparently goes by a church just in time to see the sun set through the stained glass windows. I will be interested to see how they manage to time that! We get "held up" too. Today we went to a BC Wildlife Park where animals (which have been rescued from the wild and are unable to be re-introduced into the wild because of some defect) are housed and we were able to see them up close. That's just in case we don't actually see them in their natural habitat. Actually, I don't mind if I don't see ... read more

Die zugverkaterten koepfe brauchen heute ein bisschen laenger um wach zu werden. Fruehstueck mit blick auf see und es geht weiter. Unser erstes etappenziel ist Kamloops. Die spannung ist uns praktisch ins gesicht geschrieben. Wird es uns gelingen den „national pass“, also die eintrittskarte fuer alle nationalparks, bei der budget-filiale abzuholen? Ist die post aus Victoria schon angekommen? Der freundliche mann bei budget, kann uns tatsaechlich weiterhelfen und fischt aus dem brief aus Victoria den kleinen Plastikpass heraus. Die reisegruppe ist erleichtert, erstes etappenziel geschafft! Jetzt koennen wir endlich nach Jasper und Banff fahren. Um diese beiden orte in den Rockies liegen grosse und sehr beliebte nationalparks. Viele berge und baeren. Zur belohnung goennen wir uns einen snack bei Taco Bell. Los geht es in richtung jasper nationalpark. Tessa sichtet an einem hang eine schwar... read more

********* HAPPY 18TH BIRTHDAY TRAVIS!!!!!!!!! ********** Today I wake up excited that it is the first day of the Rocky Mountaineer train ride through Canada, but I also wake up sad that today is Travis’ 18th birthday and we are so far away. I hope he knows that he will be in my thoughts (as he has been our whole trip), but being a teenage boy, he probably hasn’t given his mum a thought! I know he is surrounded by his good mates and Mum and Dad will be spending time with him. We catch a taxi to train station with the craziest driver, he nearly ran a red light - perhaps it’s still a little early for him, or it has been a long night… We check in and meet other passenger while having a ... read more

October 2, 2009 Today we drove most of the day. We left the cabin in Johnston Canyon at about 9am. The road out of Banff and into British Columbia was difficult because it started to snow!!! But we carried on…stopped in a small town and ate lunch (the afore mentioned ham sandwiches) in the car! I was disappointed that we couldn’t see the views in B.C. but the fog was so thick that all the peaks were hidden. We arrived at Kamloops B.C. at about 3:30pm. Somewhere along the way the time changed again and we are now 3 hours behind Boston time…It’s getting harder and harder to keep things straight! This morning while getting ready to leave, Donna told us this story. She got up during the night and sat in the living room of ... read more

Day 121 (Wednesday 19/08/09, JRJ) Left camp just before 9am and drove straight to the River Safari launch again for our free return trip. Again there was no sign of bears along the shore of Mud Lake so took a trip up Mud River but still no bears! Went back to the lake and stopped at the waterfalls again. While at the waterfalls a call came through on the radio that a bear had been spotted, so we raced off to the oposite side of the lake to see the large female black bear. It was amazing to see her in the wild and not long after we saw another walking along the shore towards the first bear. The guide thought there may be a clash, but they just managed to avoid each other before we ... read more