Geo: 50.2338, -121.577Today was a travelling day. We set out from Jasper late after a late breakfast and going to the Post Office to send Lucy and Sam presents for their birthdays. We then drove towards Kamploops. We stopped for lunch at a small town called Blue River. We had a great lunch there at Saddlelodge restaurant. We continued to drive along the Thompson River. One of the observations we have made is of the huge freight trains that run through here. Today as we were driving there were at least 12 trains which each stretched at least a kilometre in length. I managed to count the number of carriages and it was 100!!We drove through Kamploops and on to Highway 1. We decided to stop at a small town called Lytton. It is a very ... read more

Geo: 51.4262, -116.178Today we spent discovering the delights of the Rockies. We began this morning by going to Lake Louise. This lake is stunningly beautiful. At one end is Mount Victoria with the Victoria glacier evident on its slopes.At the other is a huge resort hotel called Chateau Lake Louise. To stay and visit here we had to buy a pass from the Parks and Wildlife department which covers all this area. There were many people at Lake Louise. We walked from one end of the lake to another. One way took about 40 minutes. We stopped for many photos which I will include in this entry. The walk was fairly easy with few uphill spots. After we walked back we then moved on to Moraine Lake. This is in the Valley of the Ten Peaks. ... read more

Geo: 49.5002, -119.594Today we left Yakima about 9am and started driving north along Highway 97. The scenery consisted of lakes and mountains and we saw a fire with a helicopter scooping water from the lake to dump on the smouldering brush. It was a fairly uneventual drive, we listened to CDs of Kerry Greenwood novels and Yes Minister radio plays. We stopped for a very ordinary lunch in Okanogan in Washington but then arrived at the Canadian border about 2-30pm. Once through there we were in the Okanagan valley,(yes the variation in spelling is right) and we had the prospect of myriad wineries within a few kilometres. We stopped first at the Burrowing Owl winery. There, a very nice guy called Larry, took us through a tasting of 4 wines and then he recommended some other ... read more

Geo: 46.6041, -120.507We are now in Yakima (stress on the first syllable). We had an interesting day in getting here. Started from Garibaldi and our first stop was at Cannon Beach. Our friend peter Thompson had highly recommended this to us. The coast line along here is very attractive. Cannon Beach is a holiday town , set up for visitors and well developed. It is a bit touristy but very tastefully done. The beach is very attractive. Long, sandy and safe for kids with great rock formations just off the coast to add to the scenery. We found an excellent bookshop and bought some books!! They are so cheap here it is hard to resist. We then drove to Astoria. this is at the mouth of the Columbia River. This is a huge river, they call ... read more

Geo: 34.0533, -118.245What a way to start 14 weeks of travel!! Arrived at Adelaide to be warned that our flight to San Francisco was running 9 hours late! Travelled as scheduled to Sydney where after much negotiation we were given seats on a flight to LA that was leaving very quickly. We decided that that would be better than waiting an extra 9 hours in Sydney even though Fletcher had to give up his upgrade to Business. the flight was packed naturally as it is school holidays. After an uneventful flight arrived in LA where my worst fears were realised. While we had made it onto the new flight our bags hadn't. We are now in the First class lounge sipping champagne and watching the Wimbledon final. We fly to San Francisico in 2 hours and ... read more