Today was one of the earliest starts but so worth it. We traveled along the Icefields Parkway, considered one of the most scenic highways in the world. We stopped at a shop for lunch and started to layer up for the glacier. My layers were something like leggings and 2 pairs knee high socks under thick fluffy track pants, singlet top, t-shirt, cardigan, jacket and my grouse mountain jacket on top of all that. We then headed to the Columbia Icefield where we would travel to the Athabasca Glacier. The Columbia Icefield is located in Jasper National Park. The Icefield - the largest sub-polar body of ice in North America - is one of the reasons why the United Nations declared Canada's four Rocky Mountain Parks World Heritage Sites. The Icefield covers 325 square kilometres with ... read more

So this ended up best day of tour so far. Ok so its early days. Today we traveled out of British Columbia and into Alberta. The morning started off with an included breakfast at Denny's (Denny's became a lifesaver on my various travels around USA and Canada. Open 24 hrs - love it). The breakfast included bacon, pancakes, scrambled egg and sausage. I remember I only ate half of it but unsure if that is because I wasn't hungry or if because it was bad. We headed into Jasper with a few stops along the way. One of them was wells gray park where there is a life size statue of a moose. Let me tell you those things are huge.! Think Clydesdale horse big. If i ran into it is would breath into my face ... read more

Today was a free day in Whistler. Cat and I choose to do the paddle excursion, as did most of the tour. So you think paddling is like relaxing, paddling down a nice wide river. NO. not the case. We were driven to the water front. There was one man Kayaks but not enough for everyone so there was also 3 canoes used. Hmm.. What is worse, what is harder. Go alone or by ourselves. Which will capsize easier? Cat and I ended up in a two person Canoe! Go team!. So anyway this is not slow paced paddle across a lake with wide open spaces. Sure, we start in a big lake to practice. Cat had the front so she was our speed and power and me at the back doing the steering. Hmm. Our ... read more

It was a really cold morning today and started to rain and sprinkle a little bit. I went to do some shopping and to the internet Cafe then we checked out and stored out luggage at the hotel. We did have some concerns about storing our luggage at hotel as "storing" was putting in an unlocked and open room downstairs that was getting renovated so several workers were inside. Cat and I headed up to Grouse Mountain. Only just making the bus. We were debating going up because of the weather (rain and fog). We got the gondola up the mountain. It was so steep. I don't know how ppl hike it. But I would like to try one day. I was a little scared (heights) but not too bad. When we got out it was ... read more

I got up about 8:30 in the morning and let Cat sleep. I went and found an internet Cafe and once again let mum know I was alive. I then set off on my mission to find a Canada Sim card - $95 later. I struggled to figure out how to call home but I could send SMS. I went for a walk around and up to Robson Street and had a look around some of the shops. Vancouver is such a pretty city. I love that you can see the snow capped mountains and Stanley Park in between buildings. I went back and got Cat and we went to Stanley Park. (Eventually) We initially headed in the wrong direction. You think one of us would notice that the trees were getting further away from us ... read more