Waterton Lakes

We returned to the mountains at a place called Waterton Lakes.  A fabulous place, extremely picturesque, with a huge lake surrounded by mountains and yes they had snow on them too.  We enjoyed it here so much we stayed for 6 nights.  The campground was in walking distance of town, a large playground with a water park that was opposite a café with the best coffee in town (as per Lonely Planet).  What more could you want!

The kids got drenched at the water park and the water was icy cold, I don’t know how they could stand it.  Chloe even insisted on paddling in the shallows of the lake, a lake that partially freezes in winter!!  Luke decided it was too cold for him. 

We hired a quad bike for an hour and Rich and I were counting down the last 15 minutes, it was hard going.  The kids loved it, then again they didn’t have to peddle.

We celebrated Canada Day, 1^st July, with a family BBQ lunch in town.  The kids were given a beaver tattoo from the man in the beaver outfit, which scared the bejeezus out of them.  You can just imagine Luke!

It was very fitting that Waterton was our last stop in beautiful Canada.

Banff

From Lake Louise we drove to Banff and spent 3 nights.  Banff was a really pretty town that was surrounded by more snow-capped mountains.

I insisted we do some ‘touristy’ things in Banff, so we went to Lake Minnewanka (pronounced Minnewonka….)  We spent a whole 10 minutes there, it was freezing.  The wind coming off the lake was icy. 

After we left Banff we hit the flat plains near Galgary.  The scenery was a stark contrast, paddocks for miles and straight, straight roads.

Jasper to Lake Louise - Icefields Parkway

Our plans to stay in Jasper for a few more days, quickly changed when we heard the weather forecast.  We had a small window of fine weather before the rain set in, so we decided to hit the road to take advantage of the clear skies.  We didn’t see the point of driving along one of the most scenic roads if we couldn’t see anything.  We had a beautiful sunny day and the scenery was breathtaking.  I was poised with the camera as we drove and on almost every turn Rich would say ‘now that’s a photo’.  In the end I said I think we have enough photo’s of snow capped mountains.  

We made 3 stops along the way; Athabasca Falls, Sunwapta Falls and the Athabasca Glacier, which unfortunately is receding rapidly.

We spent the night in a Provincial Park and headed for Lake Louise very early the next day, thanks to Chloe waking at 5am.  After 2 hours and more amazing scenery we arrived at Lake Louise with plenty of other tourists!  We were extremely lucky and thankful to Chloe waking so early, as we arrived with blue skies and sunshine and within an hour the cloud had rolled in and it started to rain.   Lake Louise was beautiful but so too are many other places in this region and unfortunately I think the commercialism has overrun it a little.  

Jasper

When we booked into the campground we were forewarned about the animals we may come across, Elk, Bears, Cougars etc.  But we were still surprised to look out the window of the motorhome at 10 o’clock at night to see an Elk just there, grazing on grass.  I think I was even more amazed at the fact it was 10 o’clock, complete light with just a hint of dusk setting in.  No wonder we’re finding it hard to get Luke into bed before 8.30pm.

While at Jasper we drove to the Maligne Canyon.  As we stood at the bridge and peered over the steep narrow gorge to the river below, it made our stomach’s turn.  At one point along the gorge the temperature seemed to drop by 10 degrees and ice clung to the side of the canyon.  We are still amazed at the amount of snow/ice still around.

Whistler to Jasper

From Whistler we headed to Jasper, taking 5 days.  We probably made 1 or 2 more stops than ,  originally planned but the weather had closed in and we didn’t want to miss any of the scenery as we got close to Jasper.  We had certainly made the right decision.  The morning we headed for Jasper, the RV Park owner told Rich, the weather may just clear and we might be lucky enough to see Mt Robson.  He said he had being living here for 20 years but he still gasps when he turns the corner and sees it and he was right.  It was another ‘WOW’ moment.

 

Whistler

To all my family and friends who have heard me bang on about Whistler for almost 20 years now, well I can finally say I’ve been, BUT, I just have to come back in winter.  Whistler Village is very pretty, perhaps the Winter Olympics in 2010 helped with its beautification.  But then again when the clouds clear and you glimpse the surrounding mountains you have some idea of how magnificent it would be in winter, completely covered in snow.

We took a small gondola up Whistler mountain and then the Peak2Peak Gondola between Whistler and Blackcomb.  

Here are some stats for you:

·         4.4 kilometre journey

·         Longest unsupported span of 3.024 kilometres

·         Highest lift of its kind at 436 metres above the valley floor

The only day we didn’t take the camera with us, we came across two black bears.  One was up ahead on our walking trail.  We made a detour through the back streets where there were some really nice houses.  So we enjoyed the detour and then we came across the 2^nd bear, in someone’s front yard.

This is where we saw the first bear the previous day

We really enjoyed our stay in Whistler, the RV Park had an 18 hole putting golf range, which Luke managed a couple of rounds, even with his healing arm.  The Village had a great playground for the kids, right next to a café, perfect for everyone!

Vancouver

We spent 5 nights in Vancouver and met up with more Canadian friends, Howard and Kellie who we knew from our sailing trip.  On the first night we had dinner at their house and parked the motorhome out the front for the night.  The next day we moved to an RV Park and Luke made a friend, a 6 year old boy named Nick.  He was pretty impressed with Nick and so too was Chloe.

We did the ‘touristy’ things in Vancouver, Stanley Park, Granville Island and Grouse Mountain and Kellie was kind enough to be our tour guide and chauffeur. 

Grouse Mountain blew us away, a ski resort within 20 minutes of downtown Vancouver, an 8 minute gondola ride to the top and it was still open for weekend skiing in June!!  The annual lift ticket was $99.  Of course the ‘real’ skiers went to Whistler but still…..

Parksville – Nanaimo – Nth Vancouver

From Parksville we spent a night in Nanaimo near Departure Bay where we caught the ferry the following day to Horseshoe Bay, North Vancouver.  Once again Rich manoeuvred the motorhome on the ferry day, this time we had a lot more room and we were on the front row, which was interesting at the other end.  They opened the doors of the ferry just prior to docking!  We had brilliant blue sky for the crossing which provided spectacular views of snow-capped mountains and the city skyline of Vancouver.

Parksville

We drove 2 hours north of Victoria to Parksville.  We thought the RV Park was in a pretty good location, next to a large playground, right on the beach and in walking distance of the shops, what more could you want.  Then the sun finally came out, the clouds dispersed and WOW!  From the beach you looked left to snow-capped mountains and to the right across the water more snow-capped mountains on the mainland.

After Rich and Luke had their haircut at the Barber Shop I decided to take the plunge, all for the pricey sum of $11.  I then coloured it myself for another $11.  I was quite happy with the cut and for the colour, well, you could say Chloe and I are even more like mother and daughter, I have her strawberry blonde (red) tinge!

Victoria to Parksville, Vancouver Island

On our last day in Victoria we met John and Arianna downtown and took a little tour of the Fairmount Empress Hotel.  

We then walked along the harbour to Fisherman’s Wharf and had fish and chips on a floating dock surrounded by floating houses.  There were two resident seals in the wharf which absolutely fascinated Chloe.  We farewelled John and Arianna and took the ferry taxi back to the RV Park. 

We could have easily stayed a few more days in Victoria but decided to make tracks and headed up the east coast of Vancouver Island to Parksville.  We found a great RV Park, right on the beach, next door to a large park and playground and across the roads from shops and coffee!  Now if it could just stop raining……