As I said, you can never have too many hot Springs, so on our way back to Calgary we stopped off at Whiteswan (also known as Lussier) hot Springs, quite a ways up a Mountain. Rylan was very secretive about them, so I wasn't quite expecting natural hot Spring pools located next to a cold running River surrounded by Mountains. Or the overwhelming sulphurous smell of rotten eggs.

Our penultimate stop on our route home involved a walk beside a bright blue River running through a canyon that grew deeper and deeper the closer we got to the falls at the top.

Finally, we stopped in Banff so that I could stock up on cheesy Canadian t-shirts. Banff really is a very touristy place - I'm not entirely sure why people visit the Rocky Mountains only to stay in Banff. Soon, it was time to leave the Mountains altogether and return to Calgary.

Back at the Alston's, we feasted on spicy goat curry, deer sausage, and our newly-acquired ice wine served in little chocolate cups. We ended my trip as we'd started, with a freak thunderstorm and a Tim Minchin DVD in the home cinema.

]]> Thu, 23 Aug 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=191839 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=615264 0 51.0833333 -114.0833333 New Denver, a brilliant little town of colourful clapboard houses and stunning Mountain views, once known as Eldorado City in its mining days. We were searching for the Nikkei Internment Memorial Centre, where Japanese Canadians were interned during WW2, but a wrong turning unexpectedly took us to a scenic beach. When travelling, sometimes the best things are unplanned!

We eventually found the internment camp, which was interesting, particularly since I had studied the novels of Joy Kogawa, a Japanese Canadian interned during the war. We then headed back to New Denver's mainstreet for lunch - it was fun seeing how everybody seemed to know each other in such a small town!

We made it to our second B&B at a more reasonable time than the night before, and the welcoming proprietors recommended us some places to eat. We ended up at the Old Bauernhaus Restaurant, a log barn moved from Germany to Kimberley, serving traditional German food. Naturally, I had schnitzel and strudel.

Our room at the West Winds B&B was gorgeous, with a unique patchwork quilt covered in Canadian animals, from bears to moose. It took a lot of willpower not to smuggle it out of there in my bag the following morning.]]> Wed, 22 Aug 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=191839 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=615263 0 49.9833333 -117.3666667 Kaslo, and our B&B.

For some reason, we ended up taking a route that was twice as long as the one originally planned...although, admittedly, it was a beautiful route. We drove very close to the Canadian/USA border, experiencing ranches and frontier-style towns, complete with clapboard houses and saloons. We spotted a sign with the brilliant message, "Welcome to the U.S.Eh!" It's nice to know Canadians can make fun of themselves, not to mention their relations with the USA!

During the entire trip I'd been mentioning that I wished I had a cowboy hat (particularly for our epic horseback trek up a Mountain), but I wasn't expecting Rylan to pull up at a ranch selling riding gear and ask to see their selection of cowboy hats..!
Below: the cowboy hat plus other cheesy Canadian attire...

The hat

We got near to Kaslo much later than we'd anticipated but, because of the route we'd taken, we came across Ainsworth Hot Springs and decided to stop for some relaxation (you can never have too many hot springs!) and dinner. The hot springs themselves are reached by swimming inside a cave: it's ridiculously hot and stuffy inside, but there's also an icy cold plunge pool and an outdoor pool for some relief from the heat! Ainsworth Hot Springs are attached to a hotel, so we decided to eat in the hotel's restaurant. I had a fantastic creme brulee.

We arrived at our B&B around 10pm, the owners seeming a bit confused as to why we'd taken so long. Our B&B was a great place, remote, hand-built in wood and with only one guest room.

We made it to Ellison and, after putting up the tent, we spent the afternoon and early evening at the beach.

Rylan told me about a rock that you could jump off into the lake, so we decided to give it a go. In the dark. Of course, we scouted out the route to The Rock beforehand, spotting a chipmunk behaving in a very odd way, jumping up and down, spinning and rolling around. Suspecting some form of chipmunk rabies, we made a hasty exit.

As darkness fell, we made our way back to The Rock with the aid of torches and, after making Rylan go first to prove that I wasn't, as I suspected, at risk of death, and then dithering for at least another 10 minutes, I jumped.

I'm still alive. I think.]]> Mon, 20 Aug 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=191839 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=615261 0 50.2666667 -119.2666667 Okanagan valley's wineries. We tasted and we bought, including the super sweet ice wine, a Canadian speciality. I like sweet wine, but ice wine is a whole new level of sweet. We stopped for a tapas lunch at the Little Straw winery, my personal favourite, with stunning views over the lush wine country.

On the way home, our day became a little less relaxing when Rylan casually drove into a ditch. Stuck, we managed to summon the owner of the driveway we'd got stuck on. He wasn't impressed: he'd just had his asphalt done. He wasn't able to help us as his tow cable was in his other truck; however, a family in a 4x4 took pity on us and pulled over, then generously offered to go home, pick up their tow rope, and come back. We felt absolutely terrible when, on their return, the weight of our truck snapped both of their ropes. Just as we were beginning to despair, a man across the road appeared at his door and offered us a chain. This was also a spectacular act of kindness considering that he was attached to a drip at the time. Luckily, the chain was enough to pull our truck out of the ditch, although the brand new asphalt hadn't fared too well. In a final act of kindness, the owner of the driveway, who had originally warned us that we'd have to pay for any damage to his new asphalt, told us not to worry about it after all.

Aren't Canadians nice, eh?

Our evening was much more relaxing: we lay by the pool in the garden overlooking Okanagan lake and the valley; we barbecued Chicken; we witnessed a beautiful sunset and lazed in the hottub. Perfect!

Things were fine until lunch time. The horses were very familiar with the steep, uphill trail: all we had to do was lean forwards and leave the work to them. My horse, Diamond, preferred to canter up the steeper parts of the trail, which meant I spent most of the uphill stretch holding on for dear life.

We stopped for lunch at the summit, with a brown paper bag packed lunch and lovely views of the surrounding mountains. We then pressed on for our next stop: the lake. The thing was, our guides hadn't used this trail for a while (clearly, other visitors were more easily discouraged from booking the 8 hour ride than we were) so we ended up hacking our way through the forest. Soon, we were lost. Very, very lost. We had to dismount and lead our horses through the increasingly thick and wild undergrowth in the stifling heat. It was only by chance that, after a lot of false leads, we stumbled upon our original trail and were able to retrace our steps back to the main trail.

We eventually made it to the lake, which was beautiful, and we relaxed for a while before beginning the return journey. By this point, my battered legs were in all kinds of agony and my horse had decided it was going to try to consume every blade of grass in sight. This meant a battle of wills between me and Diamond - one that Diamond usually won.

The downhill journey was slightly terrifying, particularly considering Diamond's tendency to stumble even on flat ground. I spent the steep downhill ride leaning so far back in my saddle I was practically lying down.

Safely back at the ranch, we hobbled to the verandah of the ranch and drank the most delicious home-made iced tea with freshly-baked cookies.

When we'd recovered a little, we drove to Rylan's aunt Linden's house, our base for two nights. We arrived late evening. ]]> Sat, 18 Aug 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=191839 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=614966 0 50.25 -118.9666667 Mountain the day before. So we packed up camp and headed off to Sicamous and the lakefront home of Lossie and Jan, Rylan's aunt and uncle. Jan had made sure he was here especially so he could take us out on his motor boat, so after lunch on the balcony we headed out onto the lake for a few hours of deep relaxation.

However, the relaxation didn't last as long as I'd hoped...before I knew it I was in the lake, at the end of a rope attached to the boat, humiliating myself on (or mostly off) a wakeboard. Followed by a battering on the inflatable tube as Jan tried his hardest to throw us off, driving into the wake of other passing boats.

Finished the evening with an incredible dinner from Lossie as we talked about Peru, Lossie's home country.]]> Fri, 17 Aug 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=191839 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=614965 0 50.8333333 -119 Mountain, 8.5km sliding back down again. The first stretch of the hike took us through shady trees strung with gigantic spider's webs, many of them suspended across the trail path, so obviously I made Rylan go first. The next stretch gave us great views of raging waterfalls and a treacherous walk across some late snow. The final stretch was torture. The way became ridiculously steep and exposed to the sun, and for a good few minutes I was concinved I was going to have some kind of organ failure. However, we made it to the top and sat and ate at one of the most epic lunch spots I will probably ever experience.

As if the uphill trek wasn't painful enough, on the way down I lost my footing and tumbled, head over heels, a good ten feet down the trail. Luckily, my legs took most of the impact...I still have the cuts and bruises to show for it.

After the hike, we headed to the town of Revelstoke where we limped around looking for jeans for our horseriding adventure two days away. We were intrigued by a restaurant advertising German-Indian cuisine, so we stopped in for deep-fried bratwurst wonton, korma and rose-flavoured milkshakes.

Another evening at the hot springs burned and then eased my Mountain-related injuries.

]]> Thu, 16 Aug 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=191839 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=614621 0 51 -118.1833333 We started off at the Giant Cedars Boardwalk, which was quite mystical and awe-inspiring. Next, Skunk Cabbage Boardwalk, where we saw recent evidence of bears...but sadly (or luckily, depending on how you look at it) no bears themselves.

Next, we took a chance on Meadows in the Sky, which involved a long, winding drive up a Mountain and turned out to be one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to. Despite being stalked for the first fifteen minutes of the walk by a horse fly that took a shine to (and a bite out of) my head, we made it to the summit for some absolutely stunning views of snow-capped peaks and bright blue rivers. Our Mountaintop meadow itself was also beautiful, covered in a carpet of brightly coloured wild flowers. The experience is impossible to describe or replicate through photos.

Meadows in the Sky

We finished off the day with the Loop Brook trail, which followed the route of an old railway line through the Forest. We accidentally started at the end of the trail instead of the start, managing to get ourselves lost for a while.

Back at the campsite, we cooked fajitas with rice-a-roni (flavoured instant rice, slightly crunchy, my new favourite lazy food) and made the most of the hot springs again.

]]> Wed, 15 Aug 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=191839 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=614620 0 51 -118.1833333 River in real American-style yellow ex-schoolbuses, which was a huge novelty for me (not just seeing one, but RIDING in one?!?) and completely underwhelming for Rylan, who used to get one to school every day anyway.

We were eased into rafting on the calm upper canyon, and then stopped for a barbeque lunch. We then headed to the middle canyon, which flowed slightly faster with several runs of Class 3 and 4 white water along the way. During another break, we mentally prepared ourselves for the lower canyon, a stretch of mostly Class 4 rapids. It was hard work, and we had several man-overboards, but the highlight was a stretch of rapids that our guide assured us was "totally safe" for us to jump out of the raft and swim through. The only warning: "oh, by the way, your head will definitely be underwater...just ride with it".

After a freezing cold yellow schoolbus ride back to base in Golden, we headed to our campground at Canyon Hot Springs, between Glacier and Mount Revelstoke National Parks. We recovered from rafting with a visit to the hot springs, and then cooked sausages on skewers over the campfire.]]> Tue, 14 Aug 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=191839 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=614618 0 51.3 -116.9666667 Mountains! First stop: Takakkaw Falls. These falls were a lot more spectacular than New York's Taughannock Falls...Rylan suggested we climb alongside the raging water and within seconds we were soaking wet. Lucky we had some super-attractive, bright yellow raincoats to wear!

Takakkaw Falls

Takakkaw Falls

We gradually dried off on the drive to Lake Louise. The bright blue, Crystal Clear Lake was beautiful, I admit, and I always knew it was going be touristy...but I wasn't quite prepared for the swarms of tourists in and around the lake. We decided not to linger there for long, heading off on our hike up to Lake Agnes Teahouse. Again, I was expecting the teahouse to be jammed to the rafters with tourists but we managed to grab a table with a lovely view of the lake and ordered delicious chai teas. We saw a 'staff wanted' ad on the wall and asked our server what it's like working there: during the week they stay in lodges near the isolated teahouse, which has no electricity, and must hike up and down the Mountain to bring in supplies/dispose of garbage. Sounds like one person's idea of heaven, another's idea of hell!

During the hike, I very nearly slipped off the edge of the Mountain - "ooh, that was close!", a passing stranger commented - and Rylan won the award for first injury of the trip when he fell flat on his face.

Our accommodation that night was...a cabin! Called Deltaform.

Lake Louise

On the way home, Rylan got fed up of me making fun of his terrible driving of the standard-drive car he'd borrowed (of course, most Canadian cars are automatics) so as we entered his quiet neighbourhood he made me take the dRiver's seat. At which point I executed the smoothest gear changes I have ever managed in my life and was happily rubbing it in his face until we unexpectedly came to a 90 degree bend in the road and almost died.

Downtown Calgary

Calgary from Nosehill park

For dinner, we barbequed some huge Calgary steaks and I got to catch up with Kira before Rylan and I headed off on our tour of the Rockies. As dinner ended, a thunderstorm of epic proportions hit Calgary. While the Canadians didn't seem particularly concerned by the lightning flashing relentlessly every second, I stood at the window like an English fool repeating "THIS IS INSANE!!" until gigantic hailstones began to fall from the sky.

Thunderstorm excitement wearing thin, we all watched Tim Minchin in what I like to call their 'home cinema' to finish off the day.]]> Sun, 12 Aug 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=191839 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=613949 0 51.0833333 -114.0833333 It was up to us to decide where to go once we arrived in the city, so Charlie, Amanda and I took the subway to Harvard University where we sat and soaked up the Ivy League atmosphere and battled with tour groups for a photo with John Harvard himself.

Harvard

Losing Amanda, Charlie and I sat outside on the street eating pizza and iced tea, before heading to Monument Park, hoping for great views over the city. Unfortunately, the torrential rain that had been following us around the US and Canada caught up with us again, and by the time we arrived at the park, the monument had been closed due to the weather. We stumbled upon Amanda again at this point and made our way back to our meeting place on the Ferry. As we waited for our guide to pick us up, a clock Tower nearby bizarrely started chiming 'God Save the Queen'.

For our final dinner of the trip we visited an all-American restaurant which served us portions big enough to feed four men rather than one: I swear I had at least half a turkey piled up on my plate. To recover from the meat sweats Charlie, Lewis and I wandered around the city, soaking up the pretty lights and live music.

American-sized portions in Boston!

While most of the group hung around the campsite in the afternoon, Charlie and I took the free shuttle bus into Bar Harbor, where we accidentally bought the largest and most delicious ice-creams known to man, and barely managed to eat half of them before admitting defeat.

American-sized ice-creams

We sat on a green overlooking the bay for a while before heading back to meet our group for a typical Maine dinner: lobster! Some members of our group bought lobster for the first time ("when in Maine...") but hadn't quite realised what they were in for: Lorna's disgusted face as she dissected her lobster was priceless!

That night, as we slept soundly in our tents, we were interrupted by a huge crash. Scared to investigate, imagining a bear prowling around our tents, we waited until morning to inspect the carnage: all our food had been eaten during the night by raccoons.

We arrived at our campsite in Acadia National Park and spent the evening around the campfire bonding over some beer, wine and card games.
]]> Wed, 08 Aug 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=191839 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=613946 0 42.35833 -71.06028 We began with a visit to the Citadelle to watch the changing of the guards, a 40-minute long process involving soldiers in English-style red uniforms, a marching band and a goat with golden horns.

We wandered around parliament, the Chateau Frontenac, and quirky streets complete with giant murals. On the search for some good poutine (a local dish of fries covered in gravy and cheese curds) we asked an off-duty local tour guide who led us to a restaurant apparently frequented by the locals. We weren't disappointed: despite not usually liking fries with cheese OR fries with gravy, I ate every bit of my delicious poutine.

Poutine

Poutine

Charlie and I, separated from the group, stumbled upon a glassware shop where you could watch live glass blowing, and then settled down at a cafe in a beautiful courtyard opposite the cathedral. We made bets on how long it would be before we spotted another member of our group and, sure enough, Ross soon wandered by and joined us for a drink. We wandered around a bit more, stopping to watch street musicians and artists.

Not very nice, eh?

Earlier in the day Charlie, Amanda and I had visited the Morrin Centre, an ex-jail that now houses a beautiful library. There, we met a man who referred to himself as 'The Ben' and informed us that if we returned at 5pm, we could join a tour that would give us the chance to be prisoners: "we WILL treat you like prisoners". How could we refuse?
We arrived for our tour and were forced to line up outside, in handcuffs, before being led to the 'medical room', where we were examined and given a 'tonic'. We then proceeded to the cells.

Charlie and 'The Ben'

Me and 'The Ben'

After the tour, we thought "when in France..." and went for crepes at a great little creperie.

The torrential rain caught up with us again just as we were headed to a a free Cirque du Soleil performance under an underpass. After much deliberation we decided to stick it out and I'm glad we did: despite a completely bizarre and disturbing concept the performers themselves were amazing, with their gravity- and death-defying acrobatics. ]]> Tue, 07 Aug 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=191839 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=613890 0 46.8 -71.25 Back to camping again in Quebec after two comparatively luxurious nights in a hostel. We arrived late afternoon in time for a ghost tour of the old town lead by a Liverpudlian girl dressed as a Victorian man. The highlight of the tour was being allowed into the Notre Dame cathedral at night, sitting on the pews in the dark listening to ghostly tales. It was lovely seeing Quebec all lit up, particularly the Chateau Frontenac on the hill.

Chateau Frontenac

Ghost tour

Streets of old Montreal

We were hit by torrential rain but decided to carry on sightseeing regardless; luckily, the sun soon came out and we wandered the very French and atmospheric streets of Montreal, eating ice cream and watching a street performer climb a ladder made of knives while offending passers-by. We also tried maple lemonade served in classic American red plastic cups.

Maple lemonade

In the evening we returned to our pirate restaurant, which turned out to be a great find - not only was the food fantastic, we also had a pirate musician playing sea shanties and Irish folk music on the fiddle and banjo (with audience participation) and posed in the stocks with our pirate host.

Piratical entertainment

Dinner in the dark

After the meal, somebody decided karaoke would be a good idea...we ended up at Pang Pang's, a true Chinese-style karaoke place with our own room. Such a hilarious night...