Blogs from Alberta, Canada, North America

After a restful sleep we woke up to another glorious day. It was quite cold during the night and our propane heater worked all night. We had three blankets on the bed just in case. Our first stop of the day was Lake Louise, an area where you just can't stop taking photos. The lake is still frozen except for some open areas on the edges which expose the crystal clear water below. After our photo ops we climbed back in our RV's and headed to the Iceland Parkway. It is impossible to describe the beauty on this roadway. There are scenic vistas at every turn of this 144 mile highway. This is our third time traveling through it, and I still am blown away with the scenery. At the Columbia Icefields, we stopped and had ... read more

20231001 To Jasper Park Lodge The day was glorious for being on a tour bus, looking down on the traffic. The true blue sky was a backdrop worthy of the gleaming snow on the mountains and the shining yellow leaves on the Trembling Aspens. The dark green deciduous trees set off the golden glow, only superseded by the even darker blue-green of the firs at the higher altitudes. In some places, recent snow sugared individual trees, reminiscent of a complex carpet pattern. Yet, some dark stony-grey steep mountain faces were stained with the deep yellow of late larches. Occasionally, deep turquoise lakes beamed through trees beside the highway. The Athabasca River , icy pale blue, trickled and flowed in the flats along the roadside. Only a mountain chill belied the sunny day. 20231002 Lac Beauvert Lac ... read more

30 June It’s a slow start after last night’s celebrations, but we eventually stir and head across to the venue to survey the damage. The errant frisbee’s still stuck firmly in the bottom of the flower pot, and it looks like someone’s had a go at watering it, which is a bit worrying. Other than that everything seems to be in tact. Emma looked exhausted well before the end of proceedings last night, and she still looks very tired. It seems they had an undisturbed interlude, which is more than Issy and I could say about our wedding night. We spent it in a room on the 35th floor of a Melbourne city hotel. I was having a shower in the morning when I heard Issy pounding on the bathroom door in panic. It seems that ... read more

26 June It’s a day of wedding domestics. First up Issy and I are summoned to take Emma to pick up her dress. I’m strictly forbidden from venturing anywhere near the fitting room, on pain of death. As another father of the bride tells me as we sit patiently in the waiting room - “you’ve got two jobs. You have to wait, and you have to pay”. Hmmm. Next up is a stop to pick up enough ice cream to feed a small African country. Then it’s off to a session at the local spray tan salon, which is proving a bit hard to find hidden away in the back blocks of an industrial estate. I hope they know what they’re doing. I think it was in the movie “Bride Wars” where one of the brides ... read more

It’s an earlyish start for me; I need to collect Michael and head off to get a “rush” fitting of my suit for the wedding … and to think I managed to get through six decades without ever realising that one of my arms is longer than the other. That little surprise out of the way, it’s back to the ‘burbs just in time to witness Troy trying to set fire to the kitchen. Our Airbnb house is great, and has everything that opens and shuts …. well almost everything. It seems the one exception is a toaster, and apparently cooking toast in the oven wasn’t quite as straightforward as Troy might have hoped. Oh well. At least we now know where the fire extinguisher is. Issy’s decided on a day off from touring, and Emma ... read more