Canada

Arrive in Vancouver 8 July 2013

My blog before I left stated that we would be in Vancouver 8 July. Well this didn't quite eventuate!

Kad and I arrived at New York airport at 12:45pm to fly out to Vancouver via Ottawa at 3:45pm.

Flight was only to take 55 minutes to Ottawa where we would connect with a 6:10pm flight to Van.

Flight was very delayed and we landed at 5:45pm. Had our suitcases and raced out to resend to next flight, but they had cancelled our booking due to delay. This was at 5:55pm. They then booked us on the red eye that was leaving at 9:10pm.
Disaster struck in Toronto with floods which caused all planes to land in Ottawa.
We were at the airport until 1:30am when they finally announced that the flight was cancelled. It was chaos at the airport. Many International and local flights cancelled. We were lucky we were not on one of the planes that had been stuck on the runway for 5 hours. At least we could walk around and hit the bar for food and drink. The bar was the place to be!!! Luckily we met a young bloke named Lucas who had been in Ottawa for Blues Festival and to see Paul McCartney. He works for the Fairmont Chain (Vancouver one)  of outstanding hotels in Canada. Instead of lining up for hours to try and get free accommodation; then get on a bus and be ferried around. He booked a room for us at Fairmont Laurier for $70.00. Usually over $300. We had been advised we had a flight out at 6:10pm the next day. So felt this was a great option and we only had to leave the room by 12:00pm

http://www.fairmont.com/laurier-ottawa/

The airport had also set up army cots, as there were about 3,500 stranded passengers from all over the world.  So I think we were the winners. We arrived at about 2:30am; hit the mini bar (half price) and I had a reasonable night's sleep.
Next day had a tour of Canada's Capital City with Parliament house being just next door to our Chateau.

Hotel foyer has many shops

Beautiful old hotel

Hotel from the front

Riedeau Canal

Canada's Parliament house - currently Progressive Conservatives have power

Hotel foyer

We also went and toured their market and I found a fabulous shoe shop!!!

Sorry, it has been so busy, no time to upload the blog. I think the difference is that this time I am travelling with others and instead of me going back to a room on my own like I did in 2010, I am sharing with several others. We have also been doing lots of catching up with James's family as well.

Having a fantastic time and will update once we return to Vancouver in a couple of days.

Just some great news to report:

CONGRATULATIONS TO KADDY as she has received a credit for her exam, so has passed her first semester!! So proud!!

Also, one other news - Go the mighty Pies. Just reminds me of 2010 when I was away..............

Oh sorry, one more news; Eva Rose is crawling and we skyped her last night. She is such a funny little girl. Just makes you laugh all the time.

Banff is the most stunning scenery I have ever seen!! Looking forward to sharing with you.

Johnston Canyon

9 July

Arrived in Vancouver very late at night. Anna and James picked us up and it was back to their apartment for the night. They are on the 20th floor at downtown Yaletown. Off to bed as early start in the morning.
Anna and James had booked accommodation at Salmon Arm (I kept calling it Salmon Run) as this was around halfway to our destination Banff. We of course lost that accomm due to flight delays; so it was a full day trip to get to Banff.
Anna and James are the only ones who can drive the hire car, so it was sit back and relax for Kad and I. Well, we all know I am not the best back seat passenger, especially when we are on the wrong side of the road. I apologise to James and Anna for my panic attacks/
We headed off from Vancouver at 7:30am

845 kms - 9 hours without stops.

First stop Merrit for morning tea:

Second stop lunch at Salmon Arm

It was a very long day, especially for James who did most of the driving. The scenery once we hit the National Park was just amazing.
On the way James had planned to see waterfalls; but we took the wrong track and ended up on a dirt road. We found a sign and my first steps onto the  National Park was almost my last or maybe Kad's.
Hard to explain; but to start our walk, there was a steep descent. I had made a decision I wasn't going to hold up the young ones and only way down was to run. Poor Kad almost got knocked flying as I yelled "Catch me Kad" as I couldn't stop. Landed on my knees and we all thought - Oh no, there goes the end of our trip. But I do know how to fall and no great damage done at all.
We are still laughing today as you had to be there to see it, especially Kad trying to catch me!!!
We didn't find the waterfall that day and realised we should have entered via the freeway and not the dirt track we were on.

James leading us up the garden path

Wrong way. Day one animal life = 1 frog, 1 deer, 1 rabbit,

We finally arrived at our destination around 9:30pm and headed to one of the many local pubs for a very late dinner.

10 July
First stop for the day, was the famous Lake Louise
Kad, Anna and James hiked up to the tea house 1 1/2 hours, whilst I walked the flat track around the Lake. Stunning!

Most of the snow has disappeared now it is summer, but on some mountains some remains all year round.
Below is some photos from Kad, Anna and James hike.

The Tea House at the peak

Below is the path I took

We stopped to have lunch at the Fairmont Lake Louise (another Fairmont). We met up with James's family. His mum, Rosita has been staying with her family over here and she was in Calgary with Auntie Fannie and her friend Max. Also,Auntie Elliot and her husband Eugine and their son Ryan drove 4 hours from the north to all catch up.

Lovely lunch.





Then off to Moraine Lake. This is certainly my favourite. The colour blue was just amazing and it is surrounded by 9 peaks. As we entered this area, we were very, very lucky to find 2 grizzly bears up close. They had wandered down near the road and one was very close. The ranger was on hand just in case! People can live here for years and not see a grizzly!

The photos do not do justice to just how stunning these places are!!

Anna and James had booked a restaurant (Saltwater steak house)for dinner for everyone to catch up. Kaddy had also been in touch via facebook with Casey her friend from when she first studied. Casey is living in Kenmore, not far from Banff, so she came to dinner as well. She is such a lovely girl and we all had a great evening out.The girl who was serving us was from Eltham. There are many Aussies working over here.

It was lovely to have Rosita stay with us for 2 nights whilst she was in Banff.

11 July

Rosita, Ryan and James headed off this morning to play 9 holes at the beautiful gold club. Kad and Anna did a hike (too steep for me), so I gave myself a morning off. Just caught up with the blog, arranged photos and watched some of the Pies/Crows game.

Photo of golf course the girls took on their hike

Another Fairmont Hotel. This one is at Banff

We all went into Banff township for lunch and browse the shops.
Stopped at Bow falls.

In the evening we went to the local hot springs. I always remember Anna's photos from her trip last year and thought how much I would like to go. Felt very relaxed. Take out dinner tonight

12 July
Headed to Johnston Canyon where we spent 2 1/2 hours hiking up to the waterfalls. This is a gentle hike and was absolutely stunning. At times, had to get over my height thing, which I am doing reasonably well.

Alberta native wild rose

Here is a link to our Rockies Tour

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?vps=2&hl=en&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=205382974359778077005.0004e0a867149702d82aa



We said our goodbyes to James's cousins and headed off to Calgary.
Aunty Fannies friend Max lives in Calgary and he was having a stampede party.
We dropped Rosita at his house and headed for the famous Calgary Sampede!!!
It was a bit like going to the Royal Melbourne Show only 20 times bigger and everybody dressed for a rodeo. Couldn't see the rodeo, as you needed to have purchased tickets!!
We walked around and were amazed with the food on sale. Everything deep fried:

enormous turkey legs

James and Kad opted to have just one very small hot dog in corn batter.
Just love the shot of Kad, look at the guys at the back posing as well! We didn't realise until we looked at the shot.

James and Anna didn't buy these hats, just tried them on for the photo........

We did buy a bag of the taffy which has been very handy whilst on the road!

Well we managed to spend about 1 1/2 hours here and then headed back to Max's house for the party.

I am now not quite sure what the Canadians think of us Aussies. We had a great time. Walked in, had the most brilliant finger food, ate, drank, danced and then left!!
Actually, we had such fun, there was a brilliant guitarist and singer Max had hired. He had also hired the caterers and the food was magnificent = scallops, candied salmon,cured meats, trout, fine cheeses and bread, japanese, popcorn made with truffle oil and korean chilli flakes etc; together with gorgeous little desserts. There was also an excellent selection of fine wines.

Poor James, could enjoy the food and watching us dance, but he had a long drive to get us back.

So, it was back on the road back to Banff. We left Rosita with Fannie and Max as they were flying back to Vancouver.
 We were entering the highway, when we heard a noise!! A lady had hit us from behind. Not much damage and luckily we had full insurance organised by Anna and James.

James must be so exhausted, not only from driving, but listening to the Fogarty girls all day!!
Our last night in Banff and we got to bed around 1:00am.
Below is views from our apartment in Banff.

Below is some photos of the road trip. Really is amazing travelling in this area.

13 July

Up early as we leave Banff National Park and head for Kelowna (wine growing country)
On the way, we stopped at Emerald Lake (not hard to work out why it is called Emerald) and also the 'Natural Bridge'. We have been very lucky to have wonderful tour guides in James and Anna, as they visited this area 12 months ago.
They have shown us some wonderful/extraordinary sites in Banff.

No photos of Anna, as she was not too happy. She discovered they she had left her phone at the Banff accommodation. That reminds me of another blog sometime ago!!!


21 July (just skipping a couple of days to mention below)
Also, I am not mentioning AFL football nor the Ashes tour  at the moment!!

BC Canada Lions did have a win in their football league and we could hear all the action. Anna and James's apartment is on the 20th floor (have I mentioned that) and they are next door to the stadium and also near the hockey stadium

13/14/15July

We arrived at Kelowna around 6:00pm. James had chosen very well indeed with our accommodation.
Beautiful views of the lakes, with a pool and a hot tub. This evening is when Kad found out her results, so we walked along the board walk to a restaurant for cocktails and dinner to celebrate.
Have some photos below as you can see the weather changed very quickly with an incredible gust of wind and we headed inside just as we were finishing our dinner.

Change in the weather came just taking these photos

Have I mentioned that Kad had to buy a new camera in New York!! Kad has a reputation with cameras. In her Europe travels in 2011 she managed to loose her camera, so I sent my camera over to her via Fog and Netto and she managed to break that camera.
So, she had bought a new camera back in Melbourne and as we left the airport for our travels, she also bought a new case and extra memory card. Well, all of this did not even arrive in New York. We have no idea what happened to it.
She is very happy with her selection and is having some fun! Let's keep this one Kad!

14 July
Storm last night came and went and weather is just beautiful.
Up early (just me) for a swim (water aerobics) and spa and a walk around the area.

We caught a cab to the other side of the lake as it is wine touring day today. My favourite type of day.

Wine tasting at Quail's Gate and then on to lunch at their restaurant.

2 courses with matching wines. We didn't have any dessert

After lunch, it was a hike to the next winery Volcanic for more wine tasting.

We returned back to the other side of the lake to our accommodation and had a relaxing late afternoon evening by the lake, with a swim and hot tub, followed by a bbq dinner.

Enjoying fine cheesses and wine we had bought today

15 July


Another stunning day and we are leaving Kelowna and heading off back to Vancouver.

We stopped at McCulloch's Tunnels.  Conceived in the late 1880's as a route to allow the mines of the Kootenay District of southern British Columbia access to the coast and Vancouver, the Kettle Valley Railway became an epic struggle of personalities, politics, finance and geography. Over half a dozen governments rose or fell on issues related to its development and construction. Approximately 100 workers died building and operating it. The Kettle Valley Railway earned its nickname, McCulloch's Wonder, from the railway's chief engineer, Andrew McCulloch, who built the remarkable railway across the backbone of three mountain ranges and some of the most rugged river canyons on the face of the earth. A number of people called it the most difficult and expensive railway ever built. It was completed in 1915 and operated for over 40 years.

No wonder James was happy to return to view these tunnels. Andrew McCulloch is also a civil engineer

Headed off from here back to Vancouver, stopping off at Hope (where they filmed Rambo) for lunch.

I would especially like to thank the two drivers James who did most of the driving and Anna who had to put up with the back seat panic/manic person.

Also, we would all like to thank Shiela for her guidance and advice. (Anybody guess who Shiela might be)

James has found a new vocation. He would make a fantastic tour guide. He put so much effort and time beforehand to assist with this trip running very smoothly. Great accommodation and great times were had.

16 July - 21 July

Time in Vancouver

First night back was visitng at Aunty Fannies to farewell James's mum Rosita as she was flying back to Melbourne after 1 month in Canada.

Dinner was magnificent Chinese cooked by Rosita and Fannie. Also, great to meet Fannies two children and their families. Anna has spoken so much about them all.

Other days in Vancouver have included walks along the wall. Visits to Granville Island, Stanley Park, which included a long walk along the wall past third and second beaches to English Bay where we stopped for cocktails. We also visited the 2010 Olympic Village, Gastown, Westend etc.

Of course, a day shopping, some wonderful food including Japanese and seafood. James and Anna's apartment is in downtown Vancouver and is so close to all the city has to offer.

The apartment block has its own pool and hot tub which I loved. Great to go early in the morning or the evening and just relax. Not quite sure about living in an apartment that is on the 20th floor. So difficult if you have that fear of heights. Haven't been able to venture too close to the window or the balcony. 

Facts discovered by James as discussed by my two girls. 

On my travels:

I have more necklaces than knickers

I have more shoes than knickers

No wonder the suitcase is so damn heavy.

What's a girl want with so many pairs of knickers I ask.

James was starting to learn how to stir me just like my two girls:

After dinner one night they decided to head around the wall to another bar:

James to Viv - I have two keys, if you don't want to come...........or did this mean go home Viv!

James also takes off my power walking even more so than the girls. He is also now aware of why Anna pronounces words incorrectly!!

Granville Island - walked there over the bridge and back by ferry

Has a great food market and artist shops.

You line up for these fish'n'chips and fish tacos

Ferry ride back. Anna could not cope as as far as she was concerned far too expensive. My legs said Yippee!!

Anna and James live in the building that is in between the two taller buildings in this photo. So close to sporting arenas. If I followed any of these sports, I would be in 7th heaven!!

The girls took me on the sky train. Entered the front carriage above. See there is no driver for this electric train in the sky and tunnels!!!!

Dinner in Gastown - Tuc another wonderful meal!

Stanley Park with Lyons Gate bridge which connects North and West Vancouver together with reaching the slopes

Off on our walk around Stanley Park. Past the point, third beach, second beach and onto English Bay where we stopped to admire the view and have a cocktail.

Rock balancing - from a distance looks like birds

Kitslano Beach for the day. Kit's beach

The girls stopped to play. Do they take after their dad!!!

Olympic Village

What's Kad been up to in Canada???

21/22 July - Whistler overnight:

The scenery on the drive to Whistler is magnificent. In competition with Great Ocean Road. We stopped at Cypress where James and Anna could go to ski = just 1/2 hour from home!!

View from Cypress Mountain

This photo says it all

At Whistler we stayed in accommodation right in the middle of town. - Sundial Hotel. 

There is also another Fairmont at Whistler. They are everywhere!

Hot tub on the rooftop. Such a great way to relax.

In the afternoon, James, Anna and Kaddy hired bikes and went riding to the lakes. I walked around the shops, went and watched the mountain bike riding, had a nana nap!!

I went up on the gondola -----Yay!

Once we arrived at the top, Anna and Kad took the chairlift to the peak and James and I had a hike around the paths. James couldn't believe how much snow had melted since he was there two weeks ago with his mum.

What views!! We met for lunch and then Anna, James and Kad went on the peak to peak. The longest gondola in the world = from Whistler to Blackcomb.

Our accommodation. James again has excelled

Olympic rings in the village

Anna and James loved skiing the Blakccomb

Olympic rings up on the mountain

Only way I could get back down

Peak to peak, some of  the gondola's have a glass bottom!!

Fairmont at Whistler

mountain bike riders. They are thrill seekers and start right up at the top!

Only once in our time in Canada did James suggest we 3 girls just settle and shhhhhhhhhhh. Well done, James Friend!!

Weather in Canada has been magnificent. No rain and between 24 and 29 degrees.

Kad and I have dubbed this city. Thought New York was bad, no comparison to the amount of emergency vehicles in downtown Vancouver!

Tomorrow us three girls are off to Mexico. Check out the Mexico link........

Love Viv