Holiday Summary

Here is a bit of a summary about places we stayed (more for us than anything else so next time we know)

Anaheim
Park Vue Inn -1570 S Harbor Blvd, Anaheim

We had stayed at a neighbouring property in 2007 which was just OK so we thought we’d give the Park Vue Inn a go this time.  The location, as you would expect, is outstanding, just a walk across to the entrance to Disneyland/California Adventure.
 
We were very happy with our stay.  The rooms are clean, the beds comfortable, bathroom a large size with the sink being outside the bathroom.  The airconditioning was old and oddly located on the wall above the sink.  It was a reasonably cool time when we were there so we didn’t really need to use it that much but I don’t know how effective it would be in very hot weather and sleeping with its noise might be a little difficult.  The room had a very old CRT TV but I did notice while walking by that some rooms had flat panels so I suspect they are slowly upgrading them.  The free Wi-Fi was excellent.  The Disneyland fireworks can be viewed from the walkways which was nice.
 
The free breakfast was outstanding.  Large choices, good produce.  The area can get a little busy so you need to be patient as there isn’t a lot of seating area.
 
I would recommend this property to anyone looking for good, clean accommodation near Disneyland.  We will certainly stay here again. 
 
Denny’s just next door, I think, is the best Denny’s in the USA for food and service.

Venice Beach / Marina del Rey
Foghorn Harbor Inn - 4140 Via Marina, Marina del Rey

 
We booked an upper floor room which is what you need if you want to have a great view with a bit of privacy.
 
The hotel is small and quite quaint, in a good location to Venice Beach.  The rooms are quite nice although the bed was very soft and springy and every time someone moved, it disturbed the other one.  We stayed in the room closest to the reception area and it was quite noisy with people coming in at all hours of the night and then up early in the morning, talking to the desk clerk.  Maybe request a room away from the reception area. The breakfast was very lacking and seemed to be just there as an afterthought.
 
The Cheesecake Factory next door is a must.  Great food (not just cheesecake) and lovely location.

Vancouver
Blue Horizon Hotel - 1225 Robson Street, Vancouver

 
We choose this location based on its location and reviews.  We were upgraded to a King room which had a small mountain view (between two other buildings).  The room was well appointed and very quiet and the beds were very comfortable.  The internet access was free but wired which really didn’t suit us that much with us having two laptops.  The bathroom is small but livable.  Parking is extra and the area isn’t too big so I can imagine it gets a little difficult to park in busier times.  We ate one meal in the hotel’s Inlet’s Bistro & Lounge.  It is a lovely location with a lot of glass so you can watch those passing by as you eat.  The food was delicious and not pricy.  The desk chair in the room was the most uncomfortable chair I have ever sat in in my life and the ones in the restaurant came a close second.
 
The Vancouver Trolley Tour stops right outside which was a great plus.

Whistler
Whistler Village Inn & Suites - 4429 Sundial Place, Whistler

 
Great location, easy access to everything.  We chose to stay in a Queen loft room.  The rooms have nice décor however I think way too much furniture for the space.  Thankfully there were only two of us but anymore, you wouldn’t have been able to move.  The balcony was nice with a good view.  The stairs to the loft were very creaky which disturbed the other person during the night.  The Queen bed was a little smaller than a regular Queen, the mattress soft and we kept rolling in to each other. Internet and parking were an additional cost.  We paid for one internet and were able to piggyback our second laptop off the first connection so we got two for the price of one. 
 
We arrived the last day of the Whistler ski season and the place was packed.  2 hours later it was deserted.  Blackcomb Mountain was still open for another month and for sightseers they offered $20 ticket which got us up the Gondola and Chairlift for a lovely view of the mountain.  Outstanding!

Sun Peaks
Nancy Greene’s Cahilty Lodge - 3220 Village Way, Sun Peaks

 
Thank you to Nathan for making us feel like the only guests.  Oh, wait, we were.  190 rooms and being the only guests is a little scary. Thanks to all the family and friends email comments about Psycho and The Shining.  It was OK, we thought them up ourselves.
 
We used this place as a night stopover in our drive from Whistler to Jasper.  Ski season had ended about two weeks prior and the place, not just the hotel but all of Sun Peaks, was pretty much deserted.  The room was clean and comfortable.  The Wi-Fi was initially not working but after Nathan got it fixed it was still a little iffy, going offline every couple of minutes.  A fridge in the room would have been nice. The meal we had at the hotel’s restaurant, Memories, was delicious and inexpensive.
 
Staff in the morning gave us directions on how to cut 30 minutes off our trip to Jasper.  It was a dirt road but he failed to mention we would be on it for about 45 minutes and we were starting to question whether we had the right directions, but we did find the main road and it did cut 30 minutes off our trip.

Jasper
Sawridge Inn Jasper -82 Connaught Drive, Jasper

 
This location is located on the end of the main road and quiet.  We initially had an internal room before being upgraded to a room with a balcony and view.  Either would have been fine with us.  The rooms are nicely appointed and the beds are comfortable.  It has an indoor pool, which we didn’t use, which is strangely located with those internal rooms looking down on it.
 
We had two dinners at the Hotel’s Hearthstone Lounge and it was excellent.  We were given one morning of free continental breakfast.  I’m glad we didn’t pay for it as it wasn’t a very impressive selection with overcooked eggs and stale baked goods.

Banff
Charlton’s Cedar Court - 513 Banff Ave, Banff

 
I was very disappointed of this three star hotel.  We chose to book the more expensive Loft Fireplace Suite for the guaranteed mountain view as the standard rooms couldn’t guarantee it.  We shouldn’t have bothered.  The mountain view could only be seen from standing outside our room or getting on our knees in the loft bedroom.  Also, no where, on Expedia or on their website mentions there is outdoor access to the rooms.  This made it very noisy when people were coming and going and they were at all hours of the day and night.  The walls are paper thin so you heard everyone moving around inside their rooms and having normal conversations. The front reception staff were not particularly friendly.  The housekeeping staff were very nice although they would call out across the walkways to talk to each other during the day which was quite disturbing. 
 
The room was nicely furnished, the bed was comfortable but a bit short and the bathroom spacious.  It is nice to be in a place with a freestanding shower (not being in a combined shower/bath).
 
The internet, albeit free, was painfully slow.
 
Thankfully we got a good deal on Expedia but still, I wouldn’t spend that sort of money to stay here again.
 

Calgary
Four Points by Sheraton Calgary West - 8220 Bowridge Cres Nw, Calgary

 
We spent one night in this hotel before flying out the next day.
 
The location was fine for us as we didn’t need or really want to be in the centre of town.  The hotel is located on a major road but we were given a room at the back of the building, overlooking the car park which was very quiet.  The room was lovely and bright, with a balcony overlooking the car park, and very comfortable beds.  There was free wireless internet and free parking. It is across the street from Calgary Olympic Park.  Although the season was over, we enjoyed driving around the area.  The midday checkout was a lovely extra bonus.
 
They have a nice looking indoor pool with a slide which might have been nice to try out had it not been -8 degrees.
 

 Las Vegas
Planet Hollywood - 3667 Las Vegas Blvd S, Las Vegas

 
Check-in is ridiculously slow.  We arrived before 7pm and waited a good 30 minutes with staffing wandering around behind the desk and choosing not to serve anyone. 
 
We had booked a non smoking Fountain View Room but it would appear none was available.  We were ‘upgraded’ to a suite which was on a lower floor and when we arrived at our room, it was only just being cleaned and we would have to wait another 30 minutes.
 
The room itself was large and nicely appointed but we were only able to see the tops of the fountains. We did have a nice view of the Bellagio Hotel and looking down into Planet Hollywood’s pool area which was always a hive of activity from 10am until 5pm.  The location of this hotel is great to get out on the mid Strip area.  Like all places in Las Vegas, your parking is a long way away from your room so enjoy your 10 minute walk to and from the car.
 
The buffet in the hotel was excellent.  Great value (especially with the $5 coupon you got at check-in) and great variety of food.  I was definitely recommend it. 
 
We got an excellent price so, all in all, Planet Hollywood was a good choice.  Would we stay here again?  I’m not overly sure.

Day 20 - Home Day

Sarah is writing this blog and I doubt if Alan will be awake enough to make any comments.

We got up on our final morning of our trip and it was a lovely sunny warm day, typical for Las Vegas.

We checked out of our hotel by 11am and had a few hours to kill before returning the car to the airport and flying to Los Angeles and then home.

First stop was at New York New York casino where Alan faced his fear again and went on the Manhattan rollercoaster.  It is starting to show it's age and Alan came off feeling a little knocked around.  We then decided to go and see what the buffet at The MGM was like.  We had a lot of money to burn as Alan had had a good poker win the night before.  The buffet wasn't that great and had no where near the quality or variety of the one at Planet Hollywood. 

After a final farewell to the MGM lions (only two now, there were three the last time we were there) we headed back to the airport.  We had planned another quick photo stop at the Las Vegas sign but there was a tour bus in and people everywhere.

The car was quickly dropped off, got the shuttle bus to the airport and went to the check-in.  Even though we had already paid our baggage cost, we were told that if they checked our bags straight through to Sydney, we would get that money back.  After agreeing we were then a little apprehensive as the woman had to go and get her notes on how to do it.  Oh well, if they bags didn't arrive for a few days, it didn't really matter.

Our flight to LA was delayed 40 minutes but as we had 5 hours to kill before our international departure, it didn't matter.

We were hopeful we might be able to check into our flight to Australia early but were surprised to discover with still 4 hours until departure that the flight was open and in fact 111 people had already checked in before us.  We were able to secure two seats in the centre part of the plane so we didn't have to worry about disturbing or being disturbed by someone wanting to get up during the night.

The V Australia/Virgin America part of the airport is dreadful with only two food choices; this really smelly fish place and Burger King.  We opted for Burger King and then joined the others in the large holding room and waited the inordinate amount of time for our flight.

Finally on board we chose to use our blankets as seat cushions in the hope of improving the quality of the ride home which seemed to work pretty well.  The onboard food was dreadful again and I was glad to have had something to eat at the airport.  I watched The Blind Side with Sandra Bullock and loved it.  I highly recommend it.  It was so good I was contemplating watching it again straight away.

The flight was reasonably smooth with only a small bit of turbulence and I managed to get a decent amount of sleep.  After waking up I watched Up In The Air with George Clooney.  It was OK.

We arrived back in Sydney only about 15 minutes late which wasn't bad considering the flight left 30 minutes late.  Immigration was reasonably quick and then we waited and waited for our bags to come out.  Finally about 40 minutes later they arrived and a quick 2 minutes and we were out of Customs.

So, that's it for this blog.  I hope for all those that read it, enjoyed it. 

No plans for another trip just yet but we will keep you posted.  I did almost book something last Thursday when I received a travel newsletter about a 24 hour sale to Hawaii on Hawaiian Airlines for $485 return to Honolulu (including all taxes) for Feb/March 2011.  Alan thinks I should have booked it!

Day 19 - Our last full day

Alan is writing the blog today and Sarah may add some nonsensical ramblings a bit later in red.

 

Today is our last full day before we make our way home tomorrow. Well, providing we don't mess up like we did in Japan that is. Surely we wouldn't do that again would we? Not a chance.  We will be back in LA 5 and a half hours before our V Australia flight leaves.  I don't think we can get that lost at LAX.

 

We had a nice sleep in and finally got moving at around 11am. We drove northwest toward Red Rock Canyon, which is around 32 kilometres from here. Red Rock Canyon is exactly as the name suggests - it's an area of rocky desert between the outskirts of Las Vegas and the mountains which has a remarkable red section. First we stopped at the visitors centre to have a bit of a look around there, before driving the 13 mile trip through the canyon area. We stopped a few times along the way for photo opportunities, including when we came across a couple of mountain goats perched nicely in a rock just waiting to have their photo taken.

 

After finishing the canyon drive, we headed back into Las Vegas and stopped at the Circus Circus Hotel. We stayed there during our trip here back in 1999 and also visited during our 2007 trip. Circus Circus is looking very old and run down these days and it took us a little while to figure out where we were goig once inside. I had planned to go on the rollercoaster in the AdventureDome amusement park section, but I was disappointed when we realised that it's now only open on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. He made the saddest little face. Oh well, luckily I've ridden all the rides in there previously. We went to the Midway area, where there are games for you to play. We've won stuffed animals here in the past when playing the camel racing game in which you have to roll a ball into holes to advance your camel along the track and once again we left with a pink bear and a big flower. Not sure if they will fit in our luggage for the trip home though. The flying trapeze act was in progress as we were leaving so we stopped and watched that for a short time.

 

After returning to our hotel, we thought that an early dinner would be in order and we decided on the Rainforest Cafe at the MGM Grand Hotel which is a few blocks down the strip from here. We've eaten there on a previous trip. It's really cool there - you're surrounded by animatronic rainforest animals and water falling from the roof.

 

After dinner we went over the road from here to watch the Bellagio fountain show. We got a good vantage point and got some nice photos. It only lasts about 3 minutes. I thought it ran for longer than that. Anyway, we're back in our room now and I suppose I should probably think about packing my new suitcase since we have to check out by 11am tomorrow. Less than 48 hours and we'll be at home snuggling our children.

 

Tomorrow Alan plans on going on the very scary Manhattan Rollercoaster at New York New York Casino.  Hope he survives.,

Day 18 - Las Vegas

Sarah is blogging tonight as Alan has been called to the poker tables, hopefully having a win.  When he gets back I'm sure he'll let you know how he went, in red. I played. That is all.

 

Alan didn't get back to the room until 2am, $100 richer, so we tried to have a lie in.  However, the hotel doesn't have "do not disturb" signs so housekeeping knocked on the door just after 9am.  We decided to get up then and head out for a while.

 

Our first stop this morning was Madame Tussauds at the Venetian.  Actually, the first stop was parking in their car park and then walking for a long distance.  Wouldn't have been that long of a walk if Alan could actually read a map.  Madame Tussauds was great.  In 2007 when we were here we were going to go but it was too hot and too many people.  Same in New York, although it was just too busy.  I had prebooked tickets and saved $13.  They really focus on famous Hollywood and US sports stars which was to be expected.  Some of them are getting a little old and need updating.  There is one part of the exhibition which is called Scream.  It is like a Chamber of Horrors, very dark with real people jumping out to scare you.  I only got a fright once, right at the beginning.  Alan had done something similar in Japan, but a lot longer, set out in the grounds of an old mental hospital which he still says is the scariest thing he's ever done.  This one was laughable. Yeah this one wasn't scary in the slightest. It was quite a poor effort really. Now the one in Japan, that really was seriously freaky. Sarah was too wussy to come in there with me of course.

 

Back in the car, we took a drive to the Las Vegas Outlet Centre in the hope of getting some luggage.  Unfortunately this place is no longer what it used to be, with lots of very big names and not much in the way of discount prices so we hopped out of there fairly quickly. Oh, and on the way we stopped at the Las Vegas sign.  Have always wanted to do it but it isn't very well located. Now they have built a car park in the middle of the road making it much easier. Unfortunately the photo taken by someone else isn't very good.  Might have to stop by again.

 

By this time it was around 1.30 and Alan was contemplating lunch but there was a soccer game on that he was interested in seeing so we returned to the room, only to discover that he forgot about that we changed time zones again, and in fact he had missed most of the game.  No real loss I thought, considering the score was 0-0 and he got to see the only goal in the 15 minutes of the game he saw. Missing soccer is always a great loss. People just don't understand.

 

So around 2pm we went down to the buffet here in the hotel.  We had a $5 off voucher so lunch was only $14 including drinks.  As much was we loved the buffet last time at the Flamingo, this one was so much better.  There was a very large variety; seafood, salads, breads, Italian, Mexican, Chinese, American and something else, I can't remember.  I'm sure Alan will. Soups and Middle Eastern. Then, of course, there was dessert. Star City Casino in Sydney doesn't have a clue how to run and prepare nice food for a buffet. I ate until I could eat no more. So much food!

 

After our fill (and Alan liberating 6 cookies to his pocket) we returned to the room for a while.  We stopped via the pool area on the way back.  I wanted to know what the water was like as there are two pools in our view from our room and although there are lots and lots of people around them, hardly anyone goes in.

 

We got off the lift on the 6th floor, walked out on to the pool deck and was immediately hit with blinding light, even though we were wearing sunglasses, and boiling heat. I could barely keep my eyes open despite having sunglasses on it was so bright out there. The area is painted a very pale cream colour and the sunlight and heat from the sun just bounces off it.  We tried the water and it was pretty cool.  No wonder people weren't using it.  I just can't imagine how people stay out there for the length of time they do.  We very quickly left and returned to the coolness of the room.

 

A short time later we went out, with good instructions, to the nearest Walmart.  We just love these places.  You can get everything from fruit and veggies to tyres.  I'd still love to see someone roll four tyres to a checkout.

 

Alan found the mint chocolates that he loves and bought four packets.  They are tiny little mint patties and he eats like 1 every 4 weeks.  A friend went to the US about 18 months ago and bought him some and he still has a packet and a half left.  Maybe now he can eat 1 every 2 weeks. Well I like to make them last. You never know how long it might be before we come back here again. Me, I hit the bras section and bought 2.  The last I bought about 3 months ago I paid $100 and today I bought two for $35.  Plus, we bought a couple of new suitcases. We weren't sure what we were going to do with the old ones but we asked concierge and they said just to leave them in the room and housekeeping will get rid of them. I will be sad to see the back of my little red case we purchased for $25 in Orlando in 2007.

 

Tonight, not really hungry after our last large buffet lunch, we just went for a walk through the Miracle Mile Shops, in which our hotel is located, and bought a couple of milkshakes made with gelato.  I had mango which really tasted like a cup of custard and Alan had strawberry.  Not really sure what they tasted like.  Just drink your cup of custard Sarah.

 

Today has been really windy.  Let's hope tomorrow isn't too much like that as we are hopeful of taking a drive to Red Rock Canyon as we celebrate our last full day of our holiday.

 

 

 

Day 17 - No more snow

It's Alan's blog day today. If Sarah stays awake long enough to add some comments, they'll be in red.

 

After a great night's sleep, aparting from listening to the strong wind outside, we woke up this morning only to look out our hotel window and see snow flying in every direction and the wind blowing a gale.  I didn't have that good a night.  The pillow was very soft and with my cough, I felt like the pillow was smothering me ... or maybe that was just Alan trying to shut me up. The temperature was around zero, but the wind chill was minus 8. Our checkout time wasn't until midday, with our flight scheduled for 3.35pm, so there was no rush to leave the hotel early. Most of the morning was spent packing and constantly checking the Calgary airport website to see if our flight would be going ahead. More and more flights were being cancelled as the morning went on but luckily they all seemed to be for Canadian destinations, not for American ones.

 

We checked out of our hotel and started driving toward the airport, which we had carefully written down directions for. It was midday and the snow was still coming down and as we drove further, the wind was getting stronger and the snow was falling heavier. As we approached the airport we were desperate to find a petrol station as we had to return the car with the tank full and the light was on indicating that we were almost empty. Finally we came across one so I got out to fill the tank. Of course Alan was inappropriately dressed and I had to lend him my waterproof jacket. The wind was so unbelievably strong that it was almost blowing me off my feet and the snow almost froze my hand off while holding the petrol nozzle.

 

I asked the guy working there where we had to go to return our rental car and he gave me directions. After a few wrong turns, we found our way to the Hertz section but we couldn't get in as this was not the return part, but instead it was where the cars are cleaned. Fortunately a Hertz employee was about to drive to where we needed to go, so we were able to follow him.

 

So we made it to the airport safely and were thankful to get inside out of the freezing weather. We checked in quickly enough and then went to the Travelex office to change the last of our Canadian money into US dollars. The useless woman behind the counter was about to give us $340 instead of the $112 that it should have been, when another lady working there corrected her. Her excuse was that she couldn't count the money. You've got to wonder how she gets a job there in the first place.

 

Next up was passing through US customs. Alan forgot to mention but at this stage, we still had our luggage.  They tagged them but we needed to take them with us to customs and after we cleared that, we put them on the conveyor belt to go to the plane and they have to be there 60 minutes before the flight. After a brief wait in the queue, we were processed by the customs officer. Sarah was photographed and finger printed as usual with no problem, but when it came my turn, the dude hesitated while my finger print scan was being taken. I was then lead into a secondary screening room and told to wait. There were 10 other people waiting in the room and the customs officers in there didn't seem to be in any sort of hurry. Around 40 minutes later and still only 1 person had been cleared to go from that room. At least another customs officer comes in and starts calling for Mr Gordon. He called a couple more times and after nobody answered, he rechecked the passport and said "Oh sorry, Mr Munro". I was taken back outside to have my finger prints scanned again. This time they gave me some hand lotion first, because my fingertips had become quite dry due to playing in the snow and therefore the computer system couldn't match them up to my original print 2 weeks earlier. Anyway, after using the lotion they seemed moderately satisfied that I was in fact who I said I was and I was allowed to pass through customs. It was thanks to me that he got out of secondary screening.  I had been standing outside against a wall for ages with customs employees walking past me and ignoring me.  Then this one guy looked at me and smiled and I smiled back and then asked him how long secondary screening takes.  He said it depends on how many people but he'd go in and check on Alan.  He came back out and said it was just a problem with the fingerprints and would see if he could get them scanned again. 

 

As we were on the tarmac preparing for take off, our plane had to have the wings and tail de-iced. We've seen the consequences of icing on the wings on Air Crash Investigations previously. We managed to take off despite the heavy snow and driving winds, so we were on our way to Vegas. We both managed to get some sleep on the plane and before long we had landed in the 32 degree warmth.

 

We picked up our rental car; this time we have an almost brand new Ford Focus, and then drove to our hotel. Apparently the Planet Hollywood hotel is notorious for having the lowest check in of any of the big hotels in Vegas. Well, the rumours are true. The staff behind the counter wander about as if they're lost and when you actually get there, they don't seem to be in any sort of hurry at all. One plus is that we've been upgraded to a suite. Except we were supposed to have a higher room with a Belliago Fountain View and we are on a lower floor with a not so clear view of the fountains.  Oh well.  However when we came up to our room, the housekeeping was in there still servicing the room and she said she would be another 25 minutes which did not impress us at all especially as it was almost 7.30pm. We dumped our bags in the room and just went for a walk through the casino before returning to our made up room. We have been given the CHiPs suite. CHiPs was a tv show back in the 80s about a couple of motorcycle cops in Los Angeles. I used to watch it back then, and by chance, I happened to watch an episode of it on the plane today probably for the first time in well over 20 years. What a massive coincidence. Anyway, there is pictures and memorabilia from the show in this room which is kind of cool.

 

We decided to go to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner, which is in Caesars Palace, just a little way up the strip. About 40 minutes of walking later and we made it there only to find the queue well out the door. Darn! So we turned around and slowly trudged back through Caesars until we came across a food hall. Sarah wasn't too hungry, but I had a decent Chinese meal.

 

Back in our room now and Sarah is trying to get photos of the Bellagio fountains from our window. I haven't decided whether I'll go downstairs and try to win some money this evening.

 

Our main job tomorrow is to find 2 new suitcases as our current 2 are falling apart and may not survive the trip home. There is no 'may' about it. 

 

Alan forgot to mention that we did 1,894 kms in our hire car in Canada.

 

 

Day 16 - Farewell Rockies, Hello Calgary

Sarah is writing tonight's blog as Alan is frozen.  If he thaws out a bit, he will add his comments in red. Just starting to thaw a bit now after sitting in front of the heat for a while. Oh my god it's cold here.

 

We needed to be out of our accommodation in Banff this morning by 11am.  We decided that we would give Sunshine's ski area a miss and just head to Calgary.  As we exited our room, we discovered it was raining with a bit of snow.  Alan remarked that no one would be going up the gondola this morning as the cloud was so low and I suggested we drive up and see.  Well, the further we drove up the hill, the heavier the snow got.  We were pretty excited and were the only idiots standing out in it taking photos.  You forget how wet and cold it can be when you're having that much fun. I'm sure it's mundane for Canadians, but for us it's awesome to be driving through and then standing in a heavy snowfall.

 

After managing to get a little wet, we got back into the car and started heading out of town.  The snow/rain stayed with us for about 20 minutes and then it stopped.  I think it was a fitting farewell to the Rockies.  As we drove, on the mountains slowly started to fade away until it was nothing but flat ground without a mountain to be seen.  That was pretty sad.

 

As we were approaching Calgary, we came upon an amusement park just off the side of the highway. I saw a rollercoaster so I took the next exit as it's so long since I've done something fun like that. To my dismay, the park was closed. That's not fair. How nasty of them to tease me like that.

 

Our accommodation is west of Calgary across the road from where the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics were held.  As it was still too early to check in, we drove into town, with written instructions on how to find Calgary Zoo.  Of course, Alan failed to follow the directions and before we knew it, we were driving around stuck in the city's many one way streets. I'm pretty sure the directions must have been wrong. I would never take any wrong turns. 45 minutes later, I spied a Police Officer who was doing radar.  We pulled over and asked him directions to the zoo and his response was "you're in the wrong city aren't you".  I had read from several different sources that the zoo was fairly lame and the Officer's comment kind of reinforced it.  He gave us directions and off we went and then realised that his directions were wrong.  I think he might have been confused about exactly where he was.  So again, lost, we kept driving and finally, after another 15 minutes, found out way back on to the other side of the river where we needed to be.  Another wrong turn and then we found ourselves heading in the right direction and into the zoo parking lot.

 

It was reasonably full for what is supposed to be a bad zoo. When we got to the gate it had a note saying that it was closing today at 3.30 for a staff function and as it was just after 1pm, they did a 2 for 1 deal.  Can't complain about that.  They didn't give us a map which was a little suprising. At this point it was actually sunny and relatively warm, so I only wore one jumper into the zoo. I should have known better.

 

It took us going to a zoo to finally see all the Canadian wildlife we had been promised: bears, moose, caribou. Finally!!!  We also walked around the rest of the zoo.  It was strange to see giraffes indoors but I guess it is too cold for them outside at this time of the year. They had an Australian section which contained wallabies, a sad looking emu, lizards and cane toads. Really? Are they the only Australian animals they could come up with?

 

After about 90 minutes, we had seen all of the zoo except the weirdest thing of all, the prehistoric section.  Yes, you read correctly. Doesn't every zoo have animatronic dinosaurs? Well I thought they were pretty cool. I thought I was at Jurassic Park.

 

By this stage it was absolutely freezing and getting close to the zoo closure time. Freezing does not come close to describing how I felt in that cold wind with only one jumper on. Thankfully we both knew how to get to our hotel and about 20 minutes later we were here.  Ah, nice and warm and very comfortable.

 

We had seen a Denny's while driving into town and planned on going there for dinner.  I thought I'd check up to see if there was one closer than the 8kms away and discovered we had one around the corner, just a mere 220 metres. Before going to dinner we took a drive around Calgary Olympic Park.  The park is closed, with the ski season having ended in the first week of April.  However, we were able to walk around the ski jump towers.  Why on earth would anyone decide that they would want to strap on skis and jump off something 90 metres high?  Just standing beside it near the launch point made me dizzy.  We drove back by the bobsled track but couldn't get too good a view of it.

 

Alan managed to eat just about everything on the menu for dinner, including bringing a piece of lemon meringue pie back to the room for dessert. Yes ok so I'm a big fatty. No need to rub it in. Mmmmm lemon meringue pie. Yum!

 

Tomorrow afternoon we fly to Las Vegas.  Hopefully there won't be any delays as there is a severe storm warning in place for Calgary tonight and tomorrow, with it clearing for the afternoon.  They are predicting 100km winds, rain and snow. 

 

Las Vegas will be a huge shock after being in such cold temperatures for over two weeks, quiet roads and lack of people.

 

Day 15 - Stuff

Sweet lovely Alan is writing the blog today and Sarah may have a few comments which will be in red.

 

Today was another one of those take-it-easy sort of days because we're both a bit exhausted at the moment and Sarah says she's sick. Nooo, I'm just coughing for the fun of it. So we got moving late in the morning and drove back to Lake Lousie. We had only spent 5 minutes there a couple of days ago so we wanted to go back for a proper visit. So we drove the 56 kilometres, most of which was through roadwork zones and arrived back at Lake Louise. When we got out of the car it seemed quite pleasant, but after walking the 100 metres or so up to the lake, the temperature must have dropped a good few degrees and there was a wind blowing into our faces. I guess it's because the wind comes off the glacier up on the mountain above the lake.

 

We took a few photos and then went for a walk around the boardwalk area to the left of the lake. We could only go as far as the boathouse before the snow on the path got far to deep and dangerous so we had to turn back. I had this lovely walk planned which would give a great view looking back over the lake to the Fairmont.  Oh well, maybe next time.  We could see people cross-country skiing across the lake in the distance. That looked like fun. We really need to learn how to ski.

 

We walked around the other side of the lake and it started to get even colder. The little snow flurries which were falling turned into proper snow. Some of the snowflakes were quite hard when they hit us in the face. We walked around for a bit longer and then decided that it was time to say goodbye to Lake Louise. It will be nice to get back there some day when the lake isn't completely frozen. There were some patches where it was sunny, the wind wasn't blowing and we could just stand there as it snowed on us.  I like being snowed on.

 

We drove to the other side of town, where the ski area is. We parked and got out of the car to watch the skiers briefly and it was funny to watch them going over ski jumps and then there was a big inflatable cushion jump which everyone was crashing onto. After a few minutes of that we were back in the car and making our way back to Banff. We decided to take the back road this time to avoid all of the roadwork and along the way, in the middle of nowhere, we came across a memorial site for the Castle Mountain internment camp, which was used for Eastern European prisoners of war during World War 1. It must have been an awful place to be back then in the freezing cold temperatures.  -25 degrees is what it said I think.

 

When we arrived back in Banff, we took a drive up to a 'surprise corner' which is a little known spot to get great views of the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel. We took a couple of photos, which were much more impressive than the ones we took yesterday over the other side of the hotel. It's a bad spot though, because to get to the viewing platform, you have to run across the road which has a blind corner from both directions. Maybe that's the surprise. You really do have to be very careful.

 

Next up, we returned to the market that we had found yesterday and bought some food which we bought back to our hotel room to eat. A ham and salad roll and a roast beef and salad roll. 

 

We ended up at Chili's again for dinner since it's only 1 minute walk from our hotel, plus almost every other restaurant in Banff is unbelievably expensive. We both had a mesquite salad and a chocolate milkshake. Sarah spent the entire meal picking through her salad, eating it one corn kernel at a time. I think that's the first time ever that I've actually finished a meal before her. There was a lot of capsicum and I've already got a sore throat so I didn't want it repeating on me all night.

 

Tonight is our last night in Banff before heading off to Calgary tomorrow. I wouldn't mind going to Sunshine Ski Resort although it is 23 kms in the wrong direction.  They have had 7cms of snow in the last 24 hours.

Day 14 - Banff

Alan is being a big meanie poo poo and making me write today's blog,. He will undoubtedly dispute this in red. That's ok. Everyone knows I'm bloody lovely.

Sleep in morning and the theme of the rest of the day was pretty much rest. We needed a bit of rest after 2 weeks of being on the go every day. It was lovely and sunny this morning but the forecast was for cloud and rain this afternoon so we got ourselves together and left the hotel about 11am.  We drove to the Banff Gondola.  This is the first time since Disneyland that we've had to queue up for anything.  About 15 minutes later we were on our 8 minute trip to the top.  It wasn't freezing like in Jasper, it was actually reasonably pleasant at the top.  Here you get a 360 degree view of the Rocky Mountains.  They really are spectacular. After about 20 minutes the cloud started to roll in so we queued up to return to the bottom.

We then took a drive around the large Fairmont Banff Springs Resort.  There must have been something going on there today as there were people everywhere.  Next was a quick few minutes drive to Bow Falls. I don't really understand how they can call a little bit of water dribbling over a few rocks as falls. It's to suck in unsuspecting tourists. 

Then we drove back to the town looking for something to eat.  Alan spied a Mall and we thought we might find some food in there.  Ah, no.  There were four shops. Not what I call a mall.  I suggested to Alan we go one block off the main street and sure enough, I saw a market.  We found what they call a picnic lunch, which was quarter of a chicken, potato salad, coleslaw, carrots and celery.  Although we had no cutlery we were able to improvise and use the celery as a spoon for the salads and ate the chicken with our hands.  I have to say, it was pretty good, all for $4.99 each. I think our bodies have been crying out for some real food.

As we had lunch we were watching Star Wars Attack of the Clones on TV.  After lunch we had a nice nap and when we woke up, they were showing Star Wars Revenge of the Sith. After that was finished we went to the next hotel over and ordered a pizza. We weren't confident we were going to get what we ordered as it seemed that neither girl working there spoke good English but we did get a pizza eventually and returned to our room to eat it. They had no idea what was going on. They couldn't even remember whether we had paid them already. Now we are watching Star Wars Phantom Menace. All in all, it has been a pretty good day.

Tomorrow we hope to get back to Lake Louise for a bigger walk and might head up to the ski area, whose season is still going strong.

Day 13 - Columbia Icefield, Lake Louise, Banff

Sarah is writing the blog tonight but Alan will give the various facts and figures my head can't hold.  He will do so in red.

 

We got up about 8am today and headed down to the free breakfast our Aussie check-in guy Tom had given us when we arrived.  Thankfully it was free because it wasn't that good and I can't imagine having spent $13.95 on that. We still managed to eat a lot even though it wasn't that great.

 

We checked out and started heading to Banff.  It was a lovely morning, not too cold, even by Alan's standards, and a little bit of sunshine.  Before leaving the hotel I had looked up on youtube about how to combat the overexposure that has been occurring with taking photos on snow. Hopefully I was able to make some changes but I haven't yet checked the photos today.

 

Our first stop was at Athabasca Falls which was nice but I suspect would be much more impressive when the snow on the surrounding mountains start to melt.  The next stop was Sunwapta Falls. The sign said the falls were closed but we pulled in anyway.  Someone then pulled in behind us and then two others turned up.  I think we started a trend.  The falls were hard to see from the vantage points but we managed by leaning over the fence. There was a lot of snow and ice still in this area.

 

The Rocky Mountains are just amazing.  We don't get sick of looking at them.  

 

About 70 minutes after leaving Jasper, we arrived at the Columbia Icefield which has the Athabasca Glacier. We signed up for a tour out to the Glacier.  It takes about 10 minutes to get out by coach to the pickup point where you board an Ice Explorer.  It takes another 15 minutes or so to get out to the Glacier and then we got to get out and walk around for 30 minutes.  We were lucky as we were the only group out there and there were only 11 of us.  Just before we left the glacier another group arrived with about 40 or so people and then, while we were on the road coming back, another large group were on their way out and then a full coach load arrived at the pickup point and were on their way out.  By this stage there would have been about 150 people out there.  It's not a particularly large area where you're allowed to walk around on the glacier, so it's much preferable to be doing it in a small group like we had. The Athabasca Glacier is about 6kms long and 1km wide and it is up to 300 metres think in certain points. The company who organise the tours are very careful about where they take you, as there are always very deep crevasses all over the glacier which are hidden by the surface snow. The end of the glacier moves at around 15 metres per year. The rock hard glacier ice is a distinct blue colour, which is why a lot of the lakes around here are that magnificent light blue colour. Contrary to popular belief, it is not simply because the ice is so cold, but because when the ice is compacted so tightly, as in a glacier, it turns blue.

 

Alan had gone overboard on the 'keep warm' warning and had a long sleeve shirt and four jumpers on.  He looked like the Michelin Man.  It ended up not being too cold out there unless you found yourself in a wind pocket. It was very cold when the wind blew so I was thankful for having my 5 layers of protection on. He can't have been too cold as he went for a walk into the snow and ended up knee deep at one stage. That was funny. I just kept sinking.

 

As we were walking back to the carpark, we heard a rumble in the distance and just looked up to see a huge cloud of ice particles in the distance from an avalanche. I'm glad we weren't below it.

 

Back on the road we still had had another 2.5 hour drive to Banff.  We stopped at another frozen lake, Waterfowl Lake.  It looked like it was thawing but Alan picked up some rocks and launched them and they bounced.  Pretty tough ice around here.  We were pretty high up and there was snow everywhere so it really isn't surprising. I was really surprised. I was throwing decent sized rocks up into the air and they were coming down right on the edge of the ice and it wasn't even cracking it. It was obviously well and truly frozen solid.

 

We took the turnoff to Lake Louise for a look, just in case the weather isn't as good tomorrow.  As we approached the car park, it would appear everyone else had the same thought.  It was pretty busy down there.  The lake, as suspected, is very frozen, except in one very small area. Plus the snow is very deep around there.  I had my mind on a small hike (not today) but I'm not sure whether we will be able to.  We hope to get back there in the next few days.

 

We got a little bit lucky about 8 kilometres out of Banff. I was driving at about 115kmh in a 90 zone and was overtaken by a car. Seconds later and he was pulled over by a hidden police speed trap. Thank goodness he chose that moment to pass us, otherwise it would have been us being pulled over.

 

We arrived in Banff and checked into our hotel.  I had booked a Loft Fireplace Room which is supposed to have a mountain view.  Well, I guess it does, if you stand outside your door to see the mountain, or get on your knees in the Loft bedroom to look out the window.

 

As we were a little tired, we took a 2 hour nap, getting up at 7.30pm and decided on Chili's for dinner.  I looked it up and discovered it was 170m from our hotel, so we decided to walk. The meal was OK, albeit a little spicy.  We ordered chocolate milkshakes and the woman was confused as to why we would want a milkshake BEFORE the meal.  OK, it came off the dessert menu but who wants a chocolate milkshake for dessert.

 

We are here in Banff for three nights so we might have an easy day tomorrow and start it with a nice lie in.

 

 

 

 

 

Day 12 - Lots of mountains

Today is Alan's blog day, provided that my fingers have thawed out sufficiently to type. Sarah's ramblings are in red.

 

We had a nice sleep in this morning since the weather forecast was for wet and icky today. We could see squirrels playing on the grass just across from the hotel carpark. They're so cute the way they chase each other around. There are plenty of sights to see around here, but with the weather looking ominous, we weren't particularly confident as we headed out at around 11am. Before we left the hotel we had a few flurries of snow so we were hopeful of a bit more.

 

We decided to take a drive the short distance to Maligne Canyon. It was only a short walk from the carpark to the canyon, which was quite impressive. We took some photos on the bridge over the canyon and then managed to find a waterfall a little further upstream. After leaving the canyon we made the decision to take the 38 kilometre drive to Maligne Lake, despite the low cloud looking like it could rain at any minute.

 

After driving for a short time, we started to come across trees covered with snow and it actually started to snow lightly. When we came across a rest area on the side of the road we pulled in there to take some photos. I convinced Alan to shake a tree branch while just wearing his jumper.  That was funny. Back on the road again and before long we came to Medicine Lake. We stopped at the viewing area once again to take photos. There was a couple of wooden tables and chairs which were covered in about 2 inches of snow which we threw at each other. More like you drowned me in snow. Someone had previously built an adorable little snowman there. Medicine Lake is very strange. During their summer and autumn, it's a perfectly normal lake, around 20 metres deep. But during winter and spring almost all of the water disappears, leaving sodden mud flats. Nobody knows where the water goes because the lake has no outlet for water.

 

A short way further up the road and we came to Maligne Lake. There was a heck of a lot of snow around this area and it was absolutely no surprise to us when we saw that the lake was completely frozen. We parked in the designated parking area and walked down the icy path to the lake. Unlike the frozen lakes we had seen in the last few days which were unsafe to walk on, this one was solid and we were able to take a walk out onto it. Yes, I can walk on water. Even I can walk on water. We ran into a guy from Brisbane there and he's doing a similar trip to us except in reverse, so we were telling each other what to expect in the days ahead. More photos were taken before we decided that it was time to leave and head back into Jasper.

 

It was around 2.30 by now and the weather had cleared up nicely. There was even some blue sky trying hard to poke through the clouds. So we thought we wouldn't have a better time than now to give the Jasper Tramway a go and we headed straight over there. The tramway is a gondola thingy which takes you up a very steep mountainside almost to the top of the mountain. The view on the way up was amazing. We had a great view of Jasper, plus the nearby lakes and all the surrounding mountain ranges. I think it's the first time that we haven't had cloud covering the top of the mountains. We got out at the top of the tramway and took a walk around the little boardwalk area they have there. The snow up there is so soft. It's like nothing we've ever experienced before. It's like touching cotton wool except a little colder. After about 5 or 10 minutes outside I was ready to get back inside and out of the cold. It was minus 2 up there and that's far too cold for me. One long sleeve shirt, a jumper, leather jacket  a beanie and with his hands in his pockets and yes, he was still complaining.  .It actually wasn't that bad if you were out of the wind. We caught the tramway back down the mountain and then headed across town to check out some of the lakes.

 

Lake Annette and Lake Edith are both light blue lakes, just like Seton Lake which we saw a few days ago. I was actually surprised that the water wasn't as cold as I thought it would be. I mean it was cold, but not freezing. But after taking a few photos in front of the lakes, I was absolutely frozen solid so I just couldn't stay out there any longer and we made our way back to our hotel room. It's lovely and warm in here because we have the heater on. We'll have to go out to find some dinner soon, but I think we'll probably eat in the hotel like we did last night because it's going to get down as low as minus 4 here in Jasper tonight so I don't think we'll be going outside.

 

We did manage to see deer and elk today, but still no moose or bears unfortunately. We're still hopeful.

We did have dinner in the hotel again.  Tonight they are having a special all you can eat chocolate buffet for $7.95 to raise money for the Make A Wish Foundation.  We are heading back down there shortly. It is for charity. Chocolate overload.  Chocolate fountain with strawberries, rockmelon, honeydew and pineapple. There were banana and chocolate crepes which we thought we were putting custard on but was actually white chocolate. Then there were various spoons with stuff, like dark chocolate squares, a brownie, chocolate and nuts.  Then there was chocolate mousse and chocolate tarts. Of course there were chocolate easter eggs too.

Day 11 - Jasper

Alan is making me write the blog tonight because he said nothing exciting happened today.  I'm not sure about that, but if he does feel like making a comment, it will be in red. It must be true because I can't remember anything we did today. I drove 430 kilometres. Maybe I just wasn't paying attention.

So, we survived our night in the hotel.  It really is spooky being the only guests in a hotel, when you are on the first floor and a couple of staff are staying on the fourth floor. We never knew whether they locked the front door last night and, really, we think it was better not knowing. At least we weren't disturbed by noisy neighbours. There were, however, quite a few strange noises coming from the hallway outside our room at various times during the night. Needless to say that we didn't go out there to investigate.

We packed up and went to check out at 10am.  They seemed a little sad that their own guests were leaving.  The new guy at the desk that we hadn't met before offered us a short cut to get to the main highway to Jasper which would save us 30 minutes. He told us we might even see a bear so we were sold.

Oh, before I go on, Alan forgot to mention yesterday that the Australian girl on the desk in Whistler had told us that they had a bear sleeping under their stairs in the staff housing. How cute. I would want to give him a big cuddle.

Anyway, back to the story, so we got on the short cut dirt road and started driving. Unfortunately the guy failed to tell us how long we would be on the road but, before we second guessed ourselves and turned back, we came upon a man on the side of the road who told us we only had a small way to go before hitting the highway. The dirt road was actually 40kms long, so no wonder we were starting to think we'd made a wrong turn somewhere along the way.

We stopped shortly afterwards at a little town called Barriere and found a coffee shop to get some breakfast (sausage and egg muffin with fried potato, not bad).  On the wall they had an LCD screen that ran various messages and told us we were at the Station House and Great Barriere Reef. Oh dear! That wasn't the really strange part as next it told us it was 15 February 1996! We all know Canadians are slow, but come on, that's a bit much isn't it? Everyone in the coffee shop stared at us for a while after we came in. Maybe they don't get out-of-towners stopping there too often.

The trip was long and there wasn't that much interesting to see.  There were snowy cliffs and we travelled a long way next to North Thompson River. We honestly must have crossed the river about 10 times. 

We did see another frozen lake, this time Moose Lake. Sarah had planned for us to stop during the trip today to see a couple of waterfalls. Unfortunately I drove right past the turn off to the first one because of poor signposting. I managed to pull into the parking lot of the second one, but the pictures of it looked pretty sad so we gave it a miss. We were hoping to see a moose or bear or deer somewhere along the way, and despite seeing plenty of signs warning us that they're in the area, all we saw today was 4 squirrels way back on the dirt road near Sun Peaks. Oh and cows. There's lots of cattle farms over here.

Finally we passed over the boarder into Alberta and discovered we had lost an hour.  Darn time changes, however it did mean we were now able to check into our hotel.  However, before that could happen we had to enter into Jasper National Park.  This will teach me to research things better as we were taken by surprise to discover that for 5 nights, the cost was CAD98!  They sure know how to charge. Approaching the National Park gates, Sarah had said to me that we'll need to pay about $9 to enter the park. All our cash was in a bag in the car boot so we pulled over to get some money out. Luckily they accepted travellers cheques after the lady at the gate told us it would be $98. Ridiculous! I did have $9 in my head because it is $9.80. That is per person per day or a little cheaper for a family.

Shortly thereafter we arrived at our hotel.  We were checked in by Tom, an Australian from Greenwich. For those who don't know Sydney well, that's about 10 minutes from our house. After dropping the bags in the room, Alan went to move the car and when he came back he said Tom was going to upgrade us.  The first room was nice with a window looking in to the atrium of the hotel.  The upgraded room has an external balcony.  However, 5 minutes after being in that room we had to go and asked to be moved as the heater wasn't working.  As it is expected to get down to 1 tonight, we thought we might need a bit of heat.  So, we were moved into the room next door.  Yes, this place is quiet but at least there are some other guests.  Tom also gave us vouchers for tomorrow's free buffet breakfast.

We had dinner in the hotel restaurant tonight.  Great food.  Alan had some sort of burger and I had a steak sandwich, with fried onions, coleslaw and Caesar salad. We then shared a creme brulee for dessert.  I should have gotten my own.

We have no plans tonight other than to stay indoors and arrange our plan of attack for tomorrow.  We have a number of things to see but it will depend on the weather what we get done. According the to weather forecast, tomorrow is supposed to get to a maximum of 4 degrees with both rain and snow. We'd better rug up.

Day 10 - Sun Peaks

Alan is writing the blog today and Sarah’s comments will be in red.

We were up bright and early this morning as we had a long drive ahead of us today from Whistler to Sun Peaks. It had been raining very heavily for most of the night. We started off with some crepes for breakfast from the same place we had lunch yesterday. They were so yummy! Sarah had researched the trip for today and it appeared that we would have very little to look at during our drive.

We hit the road after checking out of our hotel at about 10am. We stopped a little way down the road in Pemberton to fill the petrol tank since there was a sign saying last fuel for 94kms. In Vancouver petrol was $1.16 a litre.  We paid $1.09 today at Pemberton and saw it later for $1.05. It would appear the more remote the place, the cheaper the petrol. We gradually began climbing into the mountains and before long, large snowdrifts started to appear along the side of the road. At one point we came across a sign pointing to Lake Joffre, which was the only place I had information on so we turned off hoping to have a short walk to the lake. Unfortunately, there was far too much deep snow for us to contemplate a nature hike so we quickly returned to the car. The information I had was that there was a lovely view right beside the parking lot but through some trees so you can’t actually see it from the road. So close, and yet so far.

At one point of the trip today we were driving for about 45 minutes through the mountains without seeing any other people or vehicles. Lucky we didn’t break down or run off the road. The mountains were so tall and steep, and not surprisingly there were Avalanche Area signs every now and then. From time to time there would be a sign saying End of Avalanche Area and then another one starting again within 100 metres or so. Why bother?

After driving for some time through the snow covered mountains, all of a sudden we came upon a frozen lake (Duffey Lake) which ran right next to the road. It was such an amazing sight so we just had to stop and take photos of it. Here and there the ice was melting next to the shore, so I suspect it would have been very unwise to try walking out onto the ice.

We continued on our way and began our descent out of the mountains. The snow covered slopes were replaced by rocky ones instead and a little way further up the road we rounded a bend when Sarah shouted to stop. It was more like PULL OVER at the top of my lungs. Beside us was a magnificent aqua coloured lake (Seton Lake), so we pulled into a viewing area and took some more photos. We came across a 3^rd lake (Pavilion Lake) further down the mountain and this one was a deep green sort of colour. Unfortunately the couple of photos I took do not really show the colour of the lake.

After finally coming out of the mountains we came across a small town so we stopped at the petrol station to buy a drink. There was a girl standing just inside the door, staring outside, waiting to say hello to anyone who might happen to walk inside. Small town people with nothing to do.

The countryside was now changing to cattle farms and it looked so dry that it was hard to believe there was so much snow and water half an hour back up the road. At one point we had to stop while 2 girls on horses herded a bunch of cows across the highway. There were so many calves in amongst them and they were ever so cute. They had 3 dogs helping them, but they seemed to be frightened of the cows.

The next 100 kilometres or so were very boring with not much to look at, but then we came to the town of Kamloops at which point we knew we were getting fairly close to Sun Peaks. The directions we had gotten from the internet weren’t particularly accurate and we were lucky to end up on the right road despite a great lack of sign posts directing us.

We were expecting there to be a fair bit of snow here when we arrived in Sun Peaks, but there’s really not too much at all. I guess that’s why the season ended here a couple of weeks ago. It’s a really quaint little town nestled in the mountains with all the buildings built in a very similar European chalet style. We found our hotel easily enough because it’s such a small, quiet place. After checking in, we decided to take a walk around the immediate area and were surprised to find a lack of people throughout the entire town.

Our hotel has 190 rooms and we are the ONLY people staying here. We went to have a look at the hotel restaurant and they close at 7pm because there’s simply no use staying open. We made sure that we got back there for our dinner nice and early so that we didn’t miss out and the waitress said that we were the first people she had seen in about 4 hours. She was heading home as soon as we were done. Our burgers were really really yummy.

We took a drive around the whole town (which took 5 minutes) and once again we saw hardly anyone. It’s really quite strange and freaky. Has anyone seen “The Shining”? We keep bugging Nathan, the guy at the front desk, but hopefully he’s happy to actually have some conversation. Not really bugging him. We had to ask about the internet because it wasn’t working, we needed to know where the ice machine was and I needed another pillow. The internet is very unstable here so there’s a good chance the photos from today won’t be uploaded until tomorrow night. I’ll try, but don’t hold your breath.

We’ve been for a couple of wanders outside, but it’s absolutely freezing out there now (8pm and still broad daylight) so I doubt we’ll be leaving the room again before morning.

So for a day in which we didn’t think we’d see anything good, we’ve done pretty well.

Tomorrow is our longest driving day of our trip as we travel from here to Jasper, which is between 500 and 600 kms I believe.

It’s 8.13pm and Nathan has just called our room to tell us that the hotel owners won’t substantiate having him on duty all night so he’s going home for the night. This place is so strange.

Day 9 - Blackcomb Mountain

Alan is napping so I'm starting to writing the blog. Alan will give his "oohs" and "ahhs" in red.

We slept in this morning pretty late, not getting up until 10.45am.  It was our first really long sleep in for the trip and we needed it.

The forecast for Whistler today was rain, rain, rain so we were more than surprised when we got up and discovered, although it was overcast, there had not yet been any rain.

We left the room about 11.45am and headed over to where they sell the lift tickets.  As mentioned in yesterday's blog, the Whistler season ended yesterday but Blackcomb Mountain still had one gondola running and when you reached the top of that, there were a few chairlifts.  The lady at the ticket booth told us we could get a sightseeing only ticket for the cut price of $C20 each which would take us up the gondola.  She said we could also go up the chairlift but that it was freezing and very windy and wouldn't recommend it.  So we bought our ticket and before boarding the gondola, we were given the same warning by the woman at the gate to stay away from the chairlifts.

We had no waiting at the gondola (and why would we, there is no one here) and took the 10 minutes or so ride to the top.  It was a lovely view, although not much to do there as the sightseeing section is fairly small as you are limited to where you can stand so as not to get run over by a skiier or snowboarder.

Deciding to throw caution to the wind, we went and got on the chairlift. Sarah was very hesitant, but I convinced her that we might as well go up further. Kind of scary for those of us who don't like heights and although it was a little cold it wasn't that windy and within about 8 minutes we were at the top.  We were greeted by an Australian.  Where was he from Alan? Mooloolooba, somewhere up around the Sunshine Coast. It was actually quite pleasant up there and we weren't really feeling the cold. Whenever we took off our sunglasses we were almost blinded by the whiteness of the snow. And it wasn't even sunny today.

There is a much greater area to move around up there for us non skiers.  The view was spectacular and I'm not sure whether our photos do justice to the sheer beauty of the mountains and the quality of the snow.  There was another chairlift we could take to go further up but it required us walking down a very steep incline, which probably wouldn't have been so bad but the trek back up would have been another matter. It was quite a long walk through the snow to get to the next chairlift and the walk back would have been very difficult indeed.

After spending almost 90 minutes on the mountain, watching the rain clouds roll in, we bid it farewell, not wishing to get caught on the chairlift in the rain. On the chairlift on the way down it started to get really, really cold. The wind was blowing and the temperature was dropping by the second. We were very happy to get off the chairlift and into the relative warmth of the gondola.

Once back on the ground in the Village we went looking for the bakery we had heard so much about.  We stopped by the hotel lobby to take a photograph of the large moose on the wall and asked for directions.  The Australian girl from the Gold Coast was working again and said she had just been there for lunch but seemed to have great difficulty giving us directions. There was even a map but she still couldn't seem to locate it. She's been working here for 6 months and for anyone who has ever been here, the place isn't that big. Whistler Village is actually tiny. You could walk around the entire place in 10 minutes. After we walked for 10 minutes around the Village without success, we asked at the information booth and discovered it was in the last little side street we had yet to check. As it turns out, the bakery was only a 30 second walk from the hotel and we discovered that we can actually see it from our balcony, just across the laneway.

We both had crepes for lunch; ham and swiss cheese following by lemon and sugar.  Ah, that was really nice. They were better than really nice. They were awesome. Just what we needed after a days exercise on the ski slopes.

After our lunch, we got in the car and took a drive down to where they held the Whistler part of the Olympic Games, hoping to get a glimpse of the ski jump but, alas, the area was closed off and is now a construction zone.  We assume, like with the sliding track here near the Village, it is being pulled down.  As we were only a few kms away from Brandywine Falls, we decided to stop by and this time, unlike yesterday, take the 15 minute walk to the falls.  You know you are not in Japan when they say 15 minutes walk and it takes you just over 5 minutes to get there. In Japan it would have said 2 minutes, but actually taken you half an hour. It is a 70 metre waterfall and quite impressive.

We then returned to the hotel to get some much needed washing done. There is hardly anyone else staying in our hotel so we comandeered both washing machines on the two levels below us. Unfortunately the drying process is taking forever and we might be up all night feeding the machine with $1 coins.

For dinner we went and walked around the Village not really sure what we wanted.  We ended up at the Irish Pub and had 2 for 1 fish and chips.  Gotta be happy with that. There was a live band playing there while we ate. Not sure, but it could have been U2.

Tomorrow we bid Whistler a sad farewell as we make a very long drive to Sun Peaks.  It is really just a stopover night as we drive on to Jasper the next day.  Not too sure what sort of blog information we will have tomorrow but here's hoping we see something good to report on the drive.

We've decided that maybe we need to learn how to ski because it looks like so much fun. I'll be fine, but Sarah will have problems galore given how clumsy and accident prone she is. Oh and Sarah wants to move here to live. I don't mind it for a couple of days holiday, but there's no way I want to live somewhere cold.

I am not the accident prone one.  Injuries suffered from Sarah while we have been together 0
Injuries suffered by Alan - 4

One last thing I should mention is the water here.  My hair has never been so soft or shiny.  I think I need to bottle a lot of it and bring it home.

Day 8 - Rain, Bridge, Sun, Snow, Waterfall, Whistler

Sarah is writing today's blog because we did so much, if Alan was to write it, it would be 3am before it got posted.  He will of course add his cold comments in red.

This morning we got up around 8.30am and started our packing to leave Vancouver.  We planned on attending the 10am Anzac Day ceremony and when we left the hotel it was teeming with rain.  We thought we'd be the only ones there and were surprised at the 100+ other people who were happy to stand out in the rain. There must be a lot of Australians and New Zealanders in Vancouver.

After the brief service we returned to our room via the cupcake place just around the corner from our accommodation. It doesn't open until 11am but the lady in the shop took pity on us and let us in early.  We bought two lemon cupcakes with vanilla icing and some chocolate milk. Just what you want for breakfast.

We returned to our room to eat them and packed up the rest of our gear.  When we checked out at 11am, the sun had actually come out and it looked like the cloud was lifting. We still had a few hours to kill before driving to Whistler so we went to the Capilano Suspension Bridge.  It is much bigger than the one we visited the day we arrived in Vancouver. There are also lots of other walks you can do around the site, including a treetop adventure.  We had a lovely hour or so there, with the sun out most of the time. The suspension bridge is 137 metres long, 70 metres above the river below and can hold the weight of 1300 people all at once. Back in 2006, a 17 ton tree fell onto the bridge under the weight of heavy snowfall but the bridge survived. This bridge sways quite a bit more than the one at Lynn Canyon. Sarah was very scared. The treetop walk was good. At times you're quite high off the ground. There is also a trout pond and we did see a few swimming around.

We had hoped to get to the top of Grouse Mountain while we were in Vancouver but there had been no visibility. However, with the cloud lifting we were hopeful we might get there but when we drove up to the entrance of the skyride, you could still only see it going half way up.  As it is expensive with no guarantee of seeing anything, we decided to give it a miss.  However, when I just checked the website a little while ago, it said at 5.30 the visibility was unlimited.  Oh well, it just wasn't meant to be.

So we started heading out to Whistler.  On the way I said to Alan let's go and visit Cypress Mountain where the moguls, aerials and snowboarding half pipe events had been held at the Vancouver Winter Olympics.  It is only about 40 minutes outside of Vancouver and on the way to Whistler.  As we started driving up the road, we saw a sign saying the season was over and the area was closed. We were therefore not confident we would be able to get close.  On the way up, we stopped at a lookout which looked back over Vancouver.

Then, back in the car we started driving.  Alan remarked that we weren't very high up and then about 3 minutes later, we turned a corner and there before us was snow, lots and lots of snow.

We were able to drive all the way up to the main gate and park the car. There were very few people around since the place is officially closed for the season. We then got out and had a frolic in the snow. It's probably around 25 years or so since I last saw snow. Alan of course had the wrong shoes on and after a few minutes needed to return to the car and put on his waterproof boots.  He also took the opportunity to put on a beanie as well. Then he could only complain about how cold his face was. I'm pretty sure icicles were forming on my nose.

We came across a couple of skiers who had just come down the mountain.  Not sure how they got up there to ski considering no lifts are working.

We had hoped to get to see where the snowboarding half pipe track was but was too far a distance away and we would have had to walk through calf high snow. It was hard enough trying to get through the ankle deep stuff, let alone trekking off through really deep stuff.

We did however get some photos of us taken in front of where they held the moguls and the aerials (albeit with the jumps now removed).  We had a great 45 minutes in the snow but then it was time to farewell Cypress and head to Whistler.

On the way we stopped at Shannon Falls which is composed of a series of cliffs rising 335 meters above the road.  We stayed here only briefly as all these places want you to pay for parking with a minimum of 1 hour. We were feeling stingy and didn't want to pay the $1, so we hurried to make sure we didn't get a parking fine.

Back on the road we came across another waterfall, Brandywine Falls, but as it was 15 minutes walk from the carpark and it was starting to get late, we decided to give it a miss.  We might get back there tomorrow depending on the weather. Plus we didn't want to pay the $1 once again.

When we got into Whistler at about 4.30pm, it was bright and sunny and the place was packed.  Today was the last day of the season for Whistler, but Blackcomb (next door) is open until 24 May. People were still getting on the gondola for the last skiing of the day but the majority were in the village.  We even saw some of the band Arrested Development who were live on stage. The outdoor concert was just finishing as we arrived. There were so many people around that we could hardly make our way through the crowd.

At about 5.45 we went and had dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory.  It was really nice and inexpensive. The waitress was annoying so she didn't get a tip. When we came out about an hour later, the place was deserted.  Alan and I went for a drive hoping to get a glimpse of the Whistler Sliding Centre but unfortunately it is all closed off and is a construction zone.  Not sure if they are pulling it down.  We then drove up to the upper village and just like where we are in the main village, the place was deserted.  I will be interested to see what it is like tomorrow. Everyone seems to disappear very quickly once the chairlifts close.

I forgot to mention, there are Australians here EVERYWHERE from the girl from the Gold Coast who checked us into our hotel, the hostess at the restaurant to the checkout chick at the grocery store. We also heard plenty of them in the village when we first got here.

Our hotel room is very nice. It's a 2 level place, with our bed upstairs on the mezzanine floor. We have a balcony with a mountain view.

Tomorrow is scheduled for rain again but heres hoping they are wrong.

 

Day 7 - Vancouver

Sarah is writing today's blog and Alan will complain about the cold (constantly) in red. As if I would complain.

We had a lovely night sleep in our king size bed with very soft pillows.  Alan got up early this morning to check the soccer scores from England (on holidays and I still can't get away from it) but he was quiet about it so I slept in until 8.30.

This hotel doesn't offer breakfast so we chose to skip that meal this morning.  After a shower we dressed warmly to go and do the Vancouver Trolley Tour.  A quick check of the forecast before leaving the room said it was going to get to a maximum of 9 degrees today and be wet.  Lovely!  Even with jeans, a t-shirt, jumper and leather jacket, Alan still couldn't resist telling me most of the day it was cold.  Yes Alan, it's Canada! I think I'll have to start wearing 4 jumpers from now on. As Sarah's dad pointed out, I don't have enough insulation on me.

The trolley tour is a hop on, hop off bus and does two separate loops but we chose to stay on for an entire trip on each loop.  We enjoy these tours as it only takes a couple of hours, you get to see (and get information about) various locations and then choose what you want to go back and look further at. Luckily these weren't open top buses like you get in some cities.

The first loop took us through Stanley Park which is extremely large, very green and has great scenery.  We had only just entered the park when I saw something in the distance.  I asked Alan "what do you think that is?"  It was an animal of some sort but certainly not a squirrel the way it was moving.  Alan said "It's too small to be a raccoon", then it turned around and it was a RACCOON. Unfortunately he was too far away to get a photo. He was very cute though. Later in the day we came across a sign in the park warning you not to get close to the raccoons because of rabies.

After leaving the park, we continued on the trolley around the streets, eventually arriving at Canada Place.  The building juts out over the water and its
white sails makes it look like a ship in port and is the major cruise ship terminal for Alaska-bound cruises.  After a quick walk around, we got on the trolley for the second loop which took us through such areas as Yaletown, Chinatown and Gastown before returning to Canada Place.  There were a number of other Australians on the tour, including an obnoxious South Australian couple where the woman kept asking where Michael Buble was.  She was only in Vancouver to see him.  We tried to distance ourselves from her. It's disappointing when you see other Australians overseas being drunken dickheads.

After getting off the tour, we decided to take a walk to where the Olympic flame rests (of course no longer burning) and then walk back to our hotel.  The rain had held off for most of the morning but now, as we were walking, it decided to come down on us.  By this time it was around 1pm so we stopped into McDonald's for a bite of lunch until the rain stopped.  It was a typical McDonald's meal except the shakes were exceptional. We really only stopped there for lunch because at this point it was so ridiculously cold that we just had to get inside.

Back at the hotel we organised our plan of attack for the afternoon.  As it was still very dark and overcast, we decided to put off going up Grouse Mountain to hopefully tomorrow (there is no visibility today) and got in the car and headed back to Stanley Park.  First stop was to the Vancouver Aquarium. It is on a very small piece of land but houses a lot of different animals including 4 beluga whales, dolphins, seal lions and seals.  The belugas are amazing and Alan is convinced they are animatronic. They're not real. They're made of soft squishy marshmallow.

We were lucky we got there when we did as the queue was way out the door when we were leaving.

Our next stop was at the totem poles followed by a stop at Prospect Point to get a look at the Lionsgate Bridge. There are a lot of signs here to be wary of raccoons but unfortunately didn't get to see another one.

Then we left the park and went to English Bay’s Morton Park to see “A-maze-ing Laughter” by Chinese artist Yue Minjun. This is a larger-than-life, cast-bronze statues depict Minjun’s own face in a state of hysterical laughter.  Strangely entertaining to see.  It's on loan from China for 18 months.

Then we stopped at the Inukshuk.  The plaque at the base reads "Ancient symbols of Inuit culture traditionally used as landmarks and
navigation aids, this grey granite statue representing a human form
with outstretched arms is a well-known symbol in Canada of northern
hospitality and friendship".

By this time Alan was frozen and in need of a nap so we returned to the room.  Here we discovered that some of the cloud had lifted and that we did indeed have a mountain view from our room.

Alan had a very long nap and I finally had to wake him at 7.30 for dinner.  I had, three nights ago, spilled something on my jumper and had remarked to Alan numerous times that I was sure I had packed another one but it wasn't in my bag.  He, of course, never listens so I had to wear the stained jumper inside out for a few days.  I remarked again tonight that I wish I had my other jumper and he says "oh there is one in my suitcase".  Great Alan, just great.  Now you tell me!!! You never asked me for the one from my suitcase. You just kept blubbering on about the stain on your other one. Be more specific woman!

We chose to eat in the hotel restaurant as it was reasonably priced, we didn't have to go outside in the cold plus we had a $5 off voucher.  We both had crab cakes and shared a ceasar salad.  Nice meal.  The restaurant has a full glass frontage and we are located right in the middle of the busy section of Robson Street in downtown and we got to watch the traffic go by.  One thing we are confused about.  It is about 7 degrees outside and the busiest shop is the gelato place across the street.  At one stage there was a queue of about 10 people outside waiting to get in.  Now I think about it ... gelato might be nice Get me one while you're there please.

Tomorrow we are hopeful of better weather before we take off for Whistler.  We are still hopeful of getting up Grouse Mountain, might stop at the Capilano Suspension Bridge, swing by Cypress to see where the Winter Olympic events were held before taking the 1.5 hour drive to Whilster.  Unfortunately the forecast there is for rain for the next few days but we remain ever hopeful for a few breaks in the weather.

Trivia for the day:  There are no comfortable seats in Vancouver.  The trolley tour seat was dreadful, the chairs in the restaurant tonight were bad and the one I'm sitting on right now to write this blog is the most uncomfortable seat of all.  Wooden frame with cloth around it is not comfortable. By the end of the trolley tour my bum was so numb that I was happy to get off.