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.