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Published: January 14th 2009
Grande Prairie
It's bloody cold!The Shane Summary:
Spent 3 weeks & Christmas at Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada & then spent 10 days & new years eve in, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It was cold but great.
From there we flew to San Francisco, California, USA, for 3 days where it is unseasonably warm. After San Francisco our holiday ends & we fly home.
The Full Monty:
We (Christine & I) arrived in Grande Prairie, Alberta Canada, just prior to Christmas where we stayed with Peter, Carroll, Sharley & Josh. The coldest temperature we experienced was -34 degrees and the warmest was -6 degrees. Until you actually experience such low temperatures it difficult to understand how cold it is.
The locals still function as normally as they can. One thing that caught us a bit by surprise was how little they rug up, but, they go from very warm houses into their cars & from cars into very warm shopping centres. You can't stay outside for too long and you need to ensure you are dressed appropriately - which means about 20 layers including face protection!!
The roads are iced over all the time and driving can be
Edmonton
Legislature building & bloody cold! quite hazardous.
Canada - Alberta:
Road Trip Claire arrived in Calgary the Saturday before Christmas Day so Peter (Christine's cousin) & son Josh took us on a road trip during which we picked up Claire from Calgary Airport We left on Thursday 18th December and returned on the following Monday evening, 22nd December. Day 1 we drove to Edmonton, day 2 to Red Deer, Day 3 to Calgary, day 4 to Jasper via Banff & Lake Louise. A couple of hours after leaving Calgary we started our drive through the Canadian Rockies and some very pretty & spectacular scenery.
We had a lot of highlights during our little road trip including:
• Spectacular views of the Rockies
• Gondola ride to top of mountain overlooking Banff
• Seeing the local wild life including elk & long horn sheep
• Ice walk in Maligne Canyon
White Christmas Christmas was great & very white. Went tobogganing on Christmas Day which was great fun.
Canada - British Columbia
Stayed with Christine's uncle Mike & aunt Daphne in Victoria located on Vancouver island & is the Provincial capital. British Columbia is on the west coast of
Banff
On mountain after Gondola Ride Canada.
Went skiing at Mt Washington which is about a 3 hour drive up island from Victoria. Plenty of snow and nobody (hardly) at the mountain which made for a very enjoyable time.
U.S.A
San Francisco
The first thing that struck us is how small San Francisco is, particularly when the impression of the place is from TV shows etc. Only 800,000 people live in the City and it is quite a relaxed atmosphere. The locals are very friendly and the weather is unseasonably warm for this time of the year. Each day has been in the mid teens and not a cloud in the sky. Our hotel was in the middle of 'down town' so getting around has been very easy. Trams & cable cars are great for travelling on. Highlights have been a tour of Alcatraz and driving over the Golden Gate Bridge on an open deck bus tour.
And this is where our little trip ends. We leave San Francisco at 7 pm (local time - now 8.45 am) to return home. To say it's been fun would be an understatement, but we are looking up to coming home and
Jasper
Ice Canyon walk moving to Ballarat. Hope we haven’t bored you too much but remember, you have had to log on to read this crap!!!
Until the next trip, hooroo
P.S. We're now at the airport & waiting to board our flight. See sume of you soon & some of you later.
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