h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I’ve been back nearly a week already, but work has been so hectic that I haven’t had any chance at all to hootoo there and my evenings have been taken up with sorting through and editing the 300+ photos that I took in Canada. But here, at last, for your delight and delectation is a bit (all right, a lot) of a journal about the trip me and my Mum recently made to Canada.

We flew to Calgary on 8 June. We stayed at Heathrow the previous evening and shortly after checking-in, a bottle of champagne was delivered to my room. It was a “bon voyage” present from my brother, his fiancée and her parents. How lovely!

At the start of our trip, I discovered three new things I hate; (1), Heathrow Airport, (2), long haul flying and (3), turbulence. Despite checking in more than three hours before the flight, we still couldn’t sit together as the flight was too full. Nice old lady next to me swapped seats with Ma for a couple of hours, but baby noise up front got too much for her so Mum swapped back. Arrived in Calgary in torrential rain. Went to bed at 8 pm Mountain Standard time, having been up for 21 hours. We woke up again at 3.30 next morning and sat on our beds eating biscuits like a couple of naughty little girls.

The next day we travelled to Banff via Canmore. We drove out from Calgary, past the ski jump made famous by Eddie-the-eagle Edwards at the 1988 winter Olympics. Among interesting things that we saw from the coach were a beaver lodge, an osprey nest (complete with baby osprey poking its head out) and mountains. Weather still a bit . Spent some time going around the shops in Banff – very good souvenir shops – far better quality tat then you get in Britain!

Saturday 10 June was the day when I realised why Mum had spent 40 years wanting to visit Canada. We were over our jetlag, the sun shone and we went on the Sulphur Mountain excursion. First, we stopped to take photos of the Banff Springs Hotel at Surprise Corner. Also took photos from Hoodoo trail and then at Two Jacks Lake, were we saw a ground squirrel. Two Jacks Lake was very pretty. Nearby is Lake Minnewanke, which was very still and beautiful and atmospheric. En route to Bow River Falls we saw some deer. After viewing the falls, we went on to Sulphur Mountain. We rode up in the gondolas and had lunch in the Panorama restaurant. Incredible views. After riding back down on the Gondolas, we went back to the hotel. We didn’t take the afternoon tour, but walked back into Banff instead and walked beside the Bow River and took a further look at the falls. Introduced Mum to Mexican food for supper and she liked it.

Sunday 11 June was a really full day. We drove out of Banff, along Highway 93 and through the Columbia Icefield. Saw some Elk at the side of the Highway. Stopped at Lake Louise - very beautiful; very still when we first arrived and mountains reflected in the water. Water had started to ripple by the time we left.

As we drove on through the Icefield we saw Crowfoot Glacier, Bow Lake and Bow Glacier and Peyto Lake. Peyto Lake was the most incredible turquoise colour. Each lake we saw seemed more stunning than the last. Our Tour Director (Jeff – top bloke!) told us that only 10 days before it was still too snowy to get up the road to Peyto Lake.

As we continued along the Highway, we saw a bear! A real live bear at the side of the road. Highlight or what? It was a small, black bear, about a year old. He looked scared by the traffic. I hope he made it back into the woods OK.

We continued along the Icefields Parkway and saw waterfalls and glaciers and more mountains than I knew existed. The road we travelled on was thousands of feet up and yet as we climbed higher and higher, the mountain peaks still towered above us.

In the afternoon, we visited the Anthabasca Glacier. We took a ride out onto the glacier in a snow coach with the most annoying man in the world as our driver. Walked on the glacier briefly. Surprised to find that is wasn’t particularly cold. Scooped up a little melt water to drink. Noticed that melt water was a rather lovely icy blue.

Continued on the bus towards Jasper. Photographed Tangle Falls. Stopped at Anthabasca Falls. Stunning. Finally arrived in Jasper around 6pm after a very full nine hour day. My first impressions of Jasper was that it wasn’t as nice as Banff, but I must admit that the place grew on me during our brief stay there.

On Monday 12th, we saw some Elk grazing right outside our hotel. Travelled on the bus through more stunning scenery. Saw more wildlife, Elk, deer, coyote and big horned sheep. Also saw a tiny red squirrel at Maligne Canyon that ran right past our feet. Stopped to photograph yet another beautiful waterfall at Maligne Canyon. Stopped all too briefly at Medicine Lake to take photos – I could have looked at that all day. Then we moved on to Maligne Lake.

Maligne Lake is beautiful; very tranquil, surrounded by majestic peaks and is that stunning turquoise colour caused by glacial run-off. We took a cruise across to Spirit Island and back again. Coronet Glacier nestles between two of the peaks that can be seen from Lake Maligne, and the white of the glacier seems to reach up into the clouds as though it were touching the sky. Among the things that our guide on the cruise (Aaron; what a nice young man!) told us was that the lake freezes in winter to a thickness of 3 metres of ice. Wow! Where we ate lunch, there were small birds making raids on people’s food and an adorable little chipmunk scampering about.

In the afternoon, Mum and I once again eschewed the organised tour and set off exploring on our own. We walked on a trail behind Jasper for about 45 minutes. Nice views across the townsite. Glorious sunshine all day too and really hot.

Tuesday 13 June, it was “All aboard The Rocky Mountaineer”. It was an early start as our luggage had to be outside for the porters at 6.15am and we had to be on the bus at 7. We had breakfast and lunch on the train both Tuesday and Wednesday. We crossed the continental divide on Tuesday morning, and gained an hour in time. I must admit to being mildly disappointed with the first day’s leg of the train journey. The first couple of hours were amazing, but once we had passed Mount Robson and were out of the Rockies, the scenery, while beautiful, just wasn’t as stunning. Also, we kept having to stop to let freight trains pass and also for workmen on the line. There was just too much hanging about for my liking. The food and service on the train, however, were excellent.

Saw a bald eagle sat atop a tree as we approached Kamloops. Land much flatter here with foothills all around. The rivers were the scenic feature – the Thompson River just goes on and on and on. Our overnight stop was at Kamloops, which is an odd place. First impressions were that it is a shanty town but on exploration it turned out to be a city. We found our way down to the place where the North and South Thompson Rivers meet – wow, it’s huge!

Next day we got back on the train. Second leg of the rail journey was more scenic and we had less stops, so it was much more enjoyable. Saw another osprey nest, this time with mother osprey sitting on top. Saw another bald eagle, this one hovering over a lake.

Saw more little towns and settlements as we made our way along the rivers, lakes and canyons leg of the journey. As we snaked along beside the Thompson, there was another track on the opposite side of the river and we saw no end of freight trains going the other way. They must have been going by at the rate of about 10 an hour and some of them were really long. Apparently, they can be up to 2 miles long!

Arrived at the Renaissance Vancouver Harbour Hotel on the evening of Wednesday 14th. Wow! The swankiest hotel I have ever stayed in. Really, really nice and very close to the waterfront area. We could even see a bit of the harbour from our hotel window. Vancouver is boss! Spent the Wednesday evening there, all day Thursday and also Friday morning. We didn’t do any of the organised tours, but did our own exploring. Somehow we ended up doing most of it on foot, so we got pretty tired. I was fascinated by some of the sky-scrapers in Vancouver, some of them are coloured gold, green, blue and there was even a pinky-red one. I want to live there! A pink building must surely be made for me!

Among the things we did in Vancouver were walk by the harbour, visit Gastown, went up The Lookout Tower and walked to Stanley Park to look at the Totem poles. On the Thursday evening, we had dinner in the revolving restaurant on top of our hotel. On Friday morning, we were too tired to do anymore walking so we went for a ride on the Skytrain. We then headed off to the airport on Friday afternoon. We were expecting to be transferred by bus, but our tour director had arranged stretch limos to take us to the airport, so that was rather fun!

And so we landed at Heathrow airport last Saturday morning and I have to say I was a lot less jet lagged on the way back than I was on the way there.

Would I go again? Ho yus!

Good to know you are back safe and sound. Wow! Liz, it sounds like you had just the most fantastic trip, if only because there was no mention of a falling-out with your Mum I'm so glad that you weren't disappointed. I shall add it to my 'Places To Go' list

I didn't know you were planning a holiday....but it sounds amazing!!I have to admit the long haul flight knocks me sideways a bit,and that's only nine hours.
It sounds like a wonderful place to visit,would you really lke to live there,or was it just the pink building????
You must have both been tired ,it sounds like a very busy schedule,even omitting some of the toursglad it didn't take you long to recover from it all.Maybe you could post some of the pictures when you have the time???
Glad you're back safely..
sal

I don't actually know how to put photos onto the Internet; it's not something I've ever needed to do before - I guess you have to register with a photo website somehow. I shall find out!!! Watch this space! Actually, I am STILL sorting through the photos. I've reduced the original 325 down to just over 200 that I want to print, but I might try and pare that down a little further.

No, I wouldn't really want to live in Canada - the pace of life is way too slow. And it's too cold in the winter. Quite fancy living in France though.

My only regret about the holiday is that we didn't take the opportunity to extend our stay a couple more days. It was such a long way to go (9 hour flights each way, ugh!) for 8 days. But didn't we pack a lot into 8 days.

Liz
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PHOTOS

OK, I have created an online gallery with a mere 21 of my 200+ Canada pics on it. Hopefully, if you click here http://www.kodakgallery.co.uk/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=5s6krk6l.1uu41crx&Uy=-qvx5be&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0
you should be able to see them. There is an option to view the photos without signing in (towards the bottom of the screen), but you will need to create your own account if you want to leave any comments.

Let me know if this doesn't work or you can't see them.

Enjoy!

Liz
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Hi Liz, glad to see you had a fantastic time - you packed an amazing amount into your holiday . You covered about as much as we did in our 13 day holiday!

Will have to look at your photos at home - and one day I might get around to doing something similar with mine . I can imagine how difficult it is with the pictures - we have 500 from our trip . As yet, they're all still digital but we might print one or two.

Your tour guide was telling the truth about the road to Peyto Lake - we tried to go and see it while we were there, which was probably about 14 or so days before you did, but it was still a couple of feet deep in snow .

Good to know the jet lag wasn't too bad .

Chat soon,

Lins

liz.I'll pop in and look at the pictures a little later on today,when i've time to take everything in!!!I wonder why i thought the flight was a lot longer then nine hours??me!!

what lovely photos! They're so good I'd print half them off, frame them and hang them on the walls. Looks like it was a fantastic holiday! I want to go!

Beautiful pictures

Pretty chuffed with the photos actually. I have plans to frame a couple of them. I have whittled my original 300 down to nearer 150. Now comes the long job of putting them in the album(s).

It is a beautiful country - go should you ever get the chance. While my PC has been at the menders, I have been amusing myself by planning itinerarys for future visits. Now I just need a lotto win (or a rich husband) to pay for it

Liz
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I need that lotto win too, though I can't see that happening as I've never bought a ticket.

I've just renewed my lotto ticket on line. Deep down I know it is a waste of money, but: You've got to have a dream; if you don't have a dream; how you gonna have a dream come true?

Indeed, I'll just have to win the prenium bonds instead

All those memories

You are very lucky to see a bear out there. I haven't seen a single live one in the wild. Loads of chipmunks, racoons and elk but no bear. Just hope people didn't feed it for if they become used to humans they can be a threat and be shot.

I like the painted bear too, when I was out there they had painted moose they auctioned off.

Anyway for sharing your photos with us and here's to hoping you win the lotto and visit Canada again.

There were loads of those painted bears in Vancouver and will be auctioned off for charity at the end of the year. I know that they did a similar thing in Calgary a couple of years ago and their themed animal was the cow - a cow doing some painting was still on display on the way out of Calgary airport. Where did you see the painted moose?

Toronto painted mooses were also auctioned off for charity. Wonder where they dissapear to ...can you imagine a colourful fake bear in your living room?

Having Vancou-bear or something similar in your front garden would make a nice change from a garden gnome!

ooh I'd like one of those