Blogs from Banff, Alberta, Canada, North America - page 9

On every trip, every where, every time, you always get hit with the same statement... "You have to go there... you can't miss it!!" and with the more travellers you meet, the list gets longer and longer until you simply can't see everything. I know I've been guilty of it... and I'm pretty sure that if everyone was under oath then they'd say the same. Luckily for me, my style of travelling with only a vague idea of my route and timeline is sympathetic to these kind of situations. At other times, some of the places mentioned were never going to be left off the itinerary. Banff was definitely one of the latter! Now that I had some time on the snow under my belt, I was itching to find some more... and as luck would ... read more

Calgary is such a huge city, what are the odds that I have 2 relatives from opposite sides of the family living 3 minutes away from each other. My cousin David and his wife Lucie just had an adorable happy little baby boy named Quinn. I have never really had much contact with babies and I have to say Quinn was a learning experience for me! A baby is a lot of work, hard work! Lucie is an amazing mother, cook and somehow even has time to hike mountains and make her own yogurt! David and Lucie are hydro geologists and are both extremely intelligent. The second day I was staying with them we went out to Banff and climbed Tunnel Mountain with little Quinn in the baby backpack, and Sam, their wonderful dog running around! ... read more

Since today would be the last day spent with Jon and Joyce we all decided to head to Banff for an afternoon of sightseeing and dinner. Banff is a gorgeous town with lots of character. I will let the pictures speak for themselves. It was a fun dinner talking about our adventures together, but we sure will miss Jon and Joyce. Had it not been for them none of us would have had this wonderful adventure of a life time. We can't thank them enough for showing us the way to Alaska. They are now heading down the road to do some other adventuring of their own. Travel safe our friends. See you back in good old San Antonio.... read more

So after going home and saying 'Hi!' for 2 weeks, we were off to the cold depths of Canada. Airtransat was our carrier and we were not expecting much, however we were pleasently suprised. Those extra leg room seats for £10 more were worth their weight in gold!. Our own screens and loads of room. Bargain at £250 each. A long flight later and we touched down in Calgary. It was all going so smoothly until we hit immigration. Question " how long you staying?"" 5 Months" we said. "Ummmmmm, thats a long time, are you going to be working?" "No, just snowboarding" " So how are you supporting this trip" "Savings". "Show me your bank accounts". Well it just got worse and worse. They ended up going out and speaking to Marks cousin, who was ... read more

A few photos from our time in Banff .... read more