Day 99/365 - Cruuuuuuise, Baby!

I'm writing this out on the deck at 11pm, so it's dark and we can't really see the Pacific Ocean, but we can hear the waves :) Matthew is having a puff on the hilarious cigar he got in Vancouver the other day. It's called a CHUB...and it looks exactly like it sounds, short and stumpy. Smells pretty good, reminds me of Dad :) (I would just like to point out that I do not allow him to smoke regularly...I only allow him to ruin his lungs occasionally to allow myself the lovely trip down memory lane of Dad out on the back step having his cigar now and then).

It's quite unbelievable to finally be on the ship! It took quite a while to board after we dropped the car off, as there were two other cruise ships leaving from the port today too, so there was over 7000 passengers to get through security and customs. It took a loooooooong time! Much longer than they intended so the ship was over an hour later in setting off.

But all is well now, and we have reserved the best table in the dining room for dinner ever night; right at the back of the ship...or should I say stern ;), on the 2nd deck, so quite near sea level. There are floor to ceiling windows giving us breathtaking views of the swell behind us! I just can't believe how perfect is is.

Day 98/365 - Vancouver to Vancouver Island

To make sure we had plenty time to explore Victoria on Vancouver Island we hit the road at half 9. But before we headed off I wanted to get some shots of the funny men along the road at the beach front, as they reminded me of Elsie when she laughs, so Matthew and I ran along the road (not literally!) and snapped a few comedy photos. We also put our feet in the Pacific Ocean!! This led to a comedy moment back at the hotel whilst I was attempting to wash my feet...I stepped in to the bath and turned on the tap...but the water was set to come out of the shower, not the bath taps!! So my back got a lovely refreshing blast of cold water...requiring a speedy change of clothes before heading downstairs to pack the car and hit the road on time to catch the ferry. So many lols.

The ferry was so much more efficient than the Lewis ferry (soz Calmac, but true fact), we were all amazed! It had two decks of cars offloading at the same time, and it held a lot of cars! It also had a wee clothes and tourists tat shop on it where I bought a pair of 'Toms'-like shoes with a totem pole style print on them. Woo!

Matthew and I decided that when we win the lottery (which we don't actually take part in) we're gonna buy a house on the edge of one of the wee islands the ferry sailed between on our way. I really love the wooden houses they have here...if I haven't mentioned that already...Especially the ones looking out over the ocean.

Once we landed we drove half an hour south, to the bottom of Vancouver Island, to the waterfront of Victoria...to our ridiculously beautiful hotel (see above)! It looks out over the boating wharf and sea plane docks...although our rooms didn't have that view, we had a little side street instead...but beggars can't be choosers when you're staying somewhere as lovely as this!

All we had time for really was a walk around the shops, what a shame! I found a beautiful pair of burnt orange sandals in a major sale. Yay! And Matthew finally found the hoody he's been searching for all week!

Check out the funky Elephant trees at the front of the hotel. Loved them! And the two figures you see across the street are two girls waiting for a lift home after their graduation dance...or whatever they're called in Canada.

Day 97/365 - Vancouver

There was no way I was going to choose any other photo for this day of the holiday...it's hilarious! I love it so much because it's 100% natural, no posing, and it is sums up a large part of Maggie and Calum; Maggie hunting for presents for Bindi, her dog, in a shop specially dedicated to gifts for cats and dogs, and Mr Grumpy, waiting out on the pavement...sorry, sidewalk.

Back to the journal...

After our very healthy Continental breakfast we headed out to get a tour bus around Vancouver. We hoped off after just 20 minutes to check out the market on Granville Island (see above...ha). Somewhere you'd need to spend quite a few hours to fully appreciate.

We hopped back on the bus after a couple hours and stayed on for the full tour (making a note of the location of the shops!). The drivers were full of facts about Vancouver and had all the banter for keeping everyone entertained. Shame I can't remember/be bothered writing all the fascinating down (so I have no forgotten them all...note to self, next time just write them down. Ha.)! There is a hollow stump in Stanley Park which was hit by lightning at some point, and is over 1000 years old, and they were going to tear it down at one point but instead decided to spend £100,000 restoring it to make it structurally sound. That's the only fact I could remember. I clearly just spent 2 and a half hours admiring the views.

Matthew and I headed straight to the shops after dismounting the bus, involving a wee trek up hill, and a pitstop at a cigar shop (for Matthew). Shopping was sadly almost a total disaster, until Maggie and Mary came along and took me to GAP. I realised I didn't pack enough smart dresses for dinner on the cruise each night so wanted to find some (cheap) dresses...who knew GAP would save the day?! I've never bought anything there in my life!

Once we were done the others piled in to a taxi, tired after their trek to the shops, while Matt and I ambled back through the streets of Vancouver, on foot. I got a few snaps of the cute wooden houses I've been loving so much :)

We freshened up back at the hotel and Matthew and I headed out for dinner at The Boathouse with his parents. A delicious seafood restaurant just a couple minutes from our hotel, with views out across the Pacific Ocean. LOVE. I had salmon cooked in maple syrup (cause I hadn't had enough of that already this week...Matthew thinks I'm turning in to Buddy the Elf). It was absolutely delicious! And I thoroughly enjoyed watching the sail boats going about the bay as the sun set. So lovely.

Day 96/365 - Sun Peaks to Vancouver!

After another scrumptious breakfast of pancakes, bacon and maple syrup, at A&W Home of the Burger Family back down on the highway, we hit the road again to drive 410km to Vancouver.

To pass the time we played a couple games; A-Z of bands/artists, then countries, and then guess the celebrity. Men vs Women resulted in major disputes so that last game didn't go on too long. Thankfully, Nigel, the car, is very comfortable so these long drives haven't been that bad :) The name Nigel came because when we stopped at the icefields the other day there were signs pointing out the different mountains around us, and they all had funky names likes 'Athabasca' and then there was one simply called Nigel! #goodstory

Skip forward a few hours and we reached our hotel in Vancouver. Our rooms are on the 15th floor, and look out over the north west bay of Downtown Vancouver, so it was pretty spectacular at sunset (see above)! We have the Pacific Ocean to our left, and mountains to our right. I love it!!

We had dinner in an Irish Pub...that's a first. Then Matthew and I had a wee walk along the water front, and a little bit in to Stanley Park, and fell in love with Vancouver.

Day 95/365 - Jasper to Sun Peaks

WE SAW A GRIZZLY BEAR!!

No more than 15 minutes in to our 5-6 hour journey we spotted a grizzly at the side of the road. There were a few other cars pulled over too, but unlike the other day, no one was getting out of their cars! Haha. I didn't manage to get any photos because of our position. Calum went to turn the car around, but we told him to stop as the bear was making it's way towards the road, which was uphill from where he was, and he stood up on his hind legs with his paws in the air to have a look across the road, as Calum is mid way through a u-turn, and pops back down on all fours and walks back towards the pushes. What a cutie he was! A big, brown, hairy cutie!

We drove through a timezone on our journey, making us 8 hours behind the UK now, instead of 7. Time travelling is weird!

We stopped at Mt Robson (see ginourmous mountain in background of image above) which is the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies, at 3,954 metres high. We didn't climb it of course, just parked at the visitor centre, took some photos, bought some snacks, and the boys looked at the map to check out where we were on the grand scheme of things. We couldn't actually see the top of the mountain because the clouds were covering it unfortunately. That's how tall it is! Ha.

That was the furthest north we were going and after that we began the long drive south, down through the rockies and nearer to sea level. As we drove further south the temperature started rising, reaching a maximum of 28*C, which we were very excited about, but then we bagan our ascent, once again, to Sun Peaks, our fourth destination of the week, a quiet wee ski resort.

Obviously it'll be overflowing with people in the winter, but right now there's only a handful of golfers, and small groups of people travelling across Canada! Calum and Matthew are at the bar (you're seeing a theme here...) and have met a couple from Stirling who are doing the same thing as us, but in reverse! And the barman used to live in Inverness #smallworld.

Day 94/365 - Banff to Jasper

Today we moved on to the next location on our schedule, which required a 4 hour journey further north. There were a few sightseeing spots along the way which broke up the journey, the first of which was Lake Louise, just 45 minutes in to our journey.

Apparently Spring is late this year so the lake hadn't fully defrosted yet, meaning we didn't see the famouse turquoise water in all it's true glory, but seeing it half frozen was pretty darn beautiful too! I was in my shorts and sandals so I flicked them off (just the sandals) and hopped in to the lake to see how cold it was...pretty cold if you're in for a while! But very refreshing :)

After Lake Louise the climb up the rockies began, and what a spectacular drive that was! Eventually we hit the "Icefied Parkway" and the glaciers started to appear on the mountain face. We pulled over to look out in 'awe' at another totally frozen lake, called Bow Lake, with the snowy peaks behind it.

Further up the road we stopped off at place where you could get on a MASSIVE 'Ice Bus' which would drive you out on to a glacier up the mountain...if you wanted to spend $50 for a 15 minute adventure...

With just half an hour left in our journey we saw something completely unexpected...a BEAR!!!! Just chillin' in the wee bushes at the side of the road, looking for berries. We were all hoping to see a bear on our travels, but didn't expect to be lucky enough to see one! There were about half a dozen cars pulled over at the side of the road and a big gathering of people with cameras following it up the road. Luckily it wasn't a grizzly! To make this even more crazy we hit the road again and within 5 minutes saw another bear at the side of the road! Two bears! In the space of 5 minutes!

Just 3 minutes away from our hotel in Jasper, literally, we came to a train crossing...remember that train I talked about yesterday? Well this one was longer and we had to wait for the whole thing to go past. It had 176 carriages (again, Sandra counted)!

After a delicious KFC dinner (which we were not expecting to find in Jasper), Matthew and I walked back to the hotel and I found quite a few houses I'd love to live in! Stupidly I didn't take any photos of them...and when we got back to the hote we joined Calum on the balcony of...wait for it...Lobstick Lodge...our hotel...amazing! And enjoyed a drink whilst seeing the beautiful golden light hit the mountains in the distance. So peaceful, and simply amazing.

Day 93/365 - Exploring Banff

I woke at 4:30am (11:30am UK time) and couldn't get back to sleep so messaged Sarah for a while :) We spotted a Presbyterian Church along the road from our hotel so planned to have breakfast and head along to church for 10:30.

It was interesting...a lot more informal than back home, and the minister seemed a little scatter brained, but I won't say any more than that. It was just good to get to a church.

After church we hopped in to the beast (still trying to think of a name for the car) and headed off in search of the Vermillion Lakes, only 5 minutes from Banff town centre. More beautiful landscapes, but disappointed there wasn't a beach to get close to the water. There were a few pontoons though, so I was wishing I had a canoe to head out on the lake in.

We saw a cargo train passing the far side of the lake which has 119 containers being pulled along behind it (Sandra counted), and it wasn't going very fast because of that! It took a loooooooooong time to pass.

For the rest of the afternoon we broke off in to pairs and wondered the streets of Banff, checking out the shops. *The rest of my journal entry is about Matthew's tourist shopping list and his obsession with the Canadian programme Wicked Tuna, so I'll just skip that part :) *

Day 92/365 - Calgary to Banff

Due to the time difference we were all awake at 6:30am and feeling pretty hungry! We hit the road at 10am, after loading out luggage in to the car...oh yeah, the car! Last time I wrote we were still on the plane. We picked up our beast of a 'People Carrier' at the airport, and played tetris with our 6 large suitcases...and several slightly smaller hang luggage bags...a few of which needed to go in the middle of the car, between us all. It was cosy!

So, yes, anyway, we hit the road, to go meet a lovely lady from Breasclete in Lewis who has lived in Canada for 48 years now, but when she was in Lewis she knew Matthew's Dad and Aunt. We went to see her cute wee house, which was full of photos from Lewis of landscapes, and family members...one of which is now relating to me distantly by marriage...#dontyoujustlovelewis. Then went to Humpty's for our breakfast, where I ordered proper Canadian pancakes with bacon and maple syrup for the first time. I soon discovered that portion sizes in Canada are bigger than the UK. My orange juice was more than a pint, I'm sure, and my plate came with 3 massive pancakes, and bacon. Yum!!

Once breakfast was over we took some group photos, said farewell to Donna and began our journey to Banff. It was pretty much a straight road with the Rockies ahead of us the whole time, and only took an hour. We checked in to our hotel and headed for Sulphur Mountain to get the Gondola ride to the top. We could've walked...but we're not crazy, we're lazy. The view from the top was absolutely AMAZING (see above photo)!

When we got back to the hotel, Matthew's Dad, himself and myself sat at the hotel bar for a drink. Himself (Matthew) got the most disgusting drink ever created...It contained 'Clamato' juice, which is tomato juice with clam sauce in it...#barf, garlic tobasco, worcestershire sauce, vodka, lemon juice, and salt and pepper, accompanied by a prawn and a pickled bean. One sip was enough to put Calum and I off, but Matthew had two of these disgusting things.

We went out for dinner in the evening, devouring giant portions again, and we were all very keen for bed due to it being 4am in the UK once we'd finished dinner. Very hard to comprehend!

There are so many more photos to go along with this, and it was difficult to choose just one for the blog, but I hope you like my choice!

Day 91/365 - The Holiday Begins!

You guys are in for a treat; you're going to hear ALL about my holiday, thanks to the journal that Sarah gave me before I left, so I could tell Fin all about my holiday :) So let the trip down memory lane begin...

I'm writing this at 1:19am UK time and 6:19pm Calgary time. We're just over 6 hours in to our journey with two and a quarter hours to go. I'm the only one that hasn't slept. I've watched the second Thor movie...not amazing. But then...I WATCHED FROZEN!! And I've just finished watching Gravity...I never want to go in to space.

We are currently flying 11582m high at 531 mph. CreyC!! I better round this up because the place is dark and I have my spotlight on.

(That was fascinating wasn't it! Fin won't quite be able to comprehend the height and speed yet...but in a couple years he will.)