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Published: April 1st 2016
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Hi everyone
We enjoyed our house sit in Edmonton. The time flew by and although we arrived there in a blizzard, the whole time we spent there the snow was gradually thawing. And then the day before we left it fell again and we had to dig the car out to get going! While we were there we went to watch an ice hockey game, Edmonton Oilers versus Nashville Predators. There was a great atmosphere inside the stadium and lots of entertainment in the intervals which was fun. There was a smooch cam and someone won $47000 which was amazing. We obviously had to do the hot dog and fries thing with a beer and sat and watched a really exciting game. These guys are very fit and there are constant change overs in the teams. There are three 20 minute periods with two 20 minute intervals and numerous time outs during the game so it took about two and a half hours in all and it goes without saying that it ended in a fight! Great night though, would definitely go again.
So we left Edmonton (-4) and drove for around 4 hours to get to Banff (+6).
The sun came out for us again and we had spectacular views of these beautiful mountains. It's weird to think that they have been here forever and all the people that come to see them or just drive past without really noticing them (locals!) come and go in a tiny piece of time comparatively. We made our way to a very famous hotel 'Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel' which was extraordinary. It was huge, resembled a German or Swiss castle and was amazing inside as well as out. We treated ourselves to a nice drink in the bar and on the walk back to town saw some elk and deer grazing alongside the river. Banff is a really pretty town, lots of nice shops, hotels and restaurants and in the back ground and all around it are the mountains. A perfect place, we loved it. All the streets are named after animals i.e. Wolf Street, Grizzly Road, Deer Lane etc. We visited the Norquay ski resort. Neither of us have ever been ski-ing or snowboarding and we have to say we probably won't ever try it now, it looks so fast and so dangerous (although we did see an elderly lady
with a walker and a crash helmet so she put us to shame!) but it was good fun to watch some excellent skiers and snowboarders. We have new found respect for our youngest son who has been snowboarding quite a lot and our friends who ski 😊 We had a visit to Banff Hot Springs which was a lovely hot pool (40 degrees) which you could laze about in while it was snowing around you, much more our thing, bliss 😊The day we left Banff it was zero degrees and by the time we got to our next stop, Kelowna, it was 13 degrees so quite a radical change. We drove through sleet, snow, rain and sunshine and into the Okanagan valley which is a big wine area. So, as I think we have said before, when in Rome or in this instance, in the Okanagan wine region, you have to partake in a taster or two, which we did, obviously 😊 We had another stunning drive through the mountains when we left Kelowna, the sun was shining and the
snow really was glistening. We drove back to Vancouver to get the ferry over to Vancouver Island where we had four nights booked.Aah Vancouver Island. We had been told we would like it and we certainly did. The ferry took us into a town called Nanaimo where we had an interesting little bed and breakfast. It was being run by a young Chinese couple who were super friendly and made us wonderful Canadian pancakes with maple syrup for breakfast. The B&B was perched on the side of a lake and had lots of little quirky novelties in the very steep garden. Unfortunately it was raining that evening so I don't think we saw it at it's best. But the next day the sun came out and we had a glorious drive to the west coast and two small towns called Ucluelet and Tofino. Ucluelet had a trail to walk along called the Pacific Rim which went along part of the coastline and it was spectacular. We took loads of photos and really enjoyed the walk. We then went into Tofino
and had booked a Best Western hotel which normally are pretty average hotels but this one stood way out with it's setting right on Mackenzie beach and all the rooms facing the Pacific Ocean, it was incredibly peaceful and very relaxing, we didn't want to leave. There were lots of people there with dogs and one lady with a pet sheep! Apparently there are lots of storms in Tofino but we had beautiful warm sunny weather so we think we may just have been lucky. It was like a little bit of heaven 😊 We spent two nights there and then drove to the capital, Victoria, stopping at Cathedral Grove on the way which was where we saw 800 year old Douglas Firs. Ann loves trees so put aside her bear worries to venture into the forest, very brave!! Victoria was also a lovely town, loads of spring flowers everywhere just like we have in the UK for example Daffodils, tulips, hyacinths, wisteria and lots of blossom trees. It's a very pretty time of year to be here. We left Victoria on the Clipper ferry, a catamaran that delivered us to Seattle to continue with our US adventure. And on
the way, guess what?? We saw orca whales, brilliant 😊So it is farewell to Canada for now but we can see in years to come we will be back here. It is a country that has really surprised us, mostly with it's stunning scenery especially through the Rockies, and we have only seen a very small part of this huge country. There are many words we could use to describe it but we will just say, breathtaking.
Until next time, Ann and Dave
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Chick studd
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Canada
I know I have said this before - but seeing Banff etc and you hugging (Dougie's) the Douglas fir brings so many memories back. I have a photo which he took of me in front of the Douglas Fir. Not sure where you will be on your birthday Ann but I would just like to wish you A Very Happy Birthday on the 17th - we will drink your health on the Sunday when we are in Spain. Safe onward journey.