Friday 2nd August, we know we have a long journey ahead however we don't know how long as we set out undecided whether to drive the 330miles to Whistler or to stop midway around 100 Mile House.  Much of the route was on single lane windy mountain roads where our average speed was 40mph as we were stuck behind slow moving vehicles so the whole journey would take around 8hrs.

Entertainment was an interview with David Mitchell talking abut his book 'Backstory' which was so funny that the book must be a great read. After that it was Desert Island Discs podcasts with Michael McIntyre, Damian Hirst, Rankin, Russell Brand, Tim Minchin, Ricky Gervais and Dustin Hoffman.  We were surprised that we enjoyed ones we hadn't expected and disliked other that we thought we would like! I thought Ricky Gervais would be insincere and generally annoying and he was the opposite and I thought I'd like Tim Minchin and he came across as really cynical and uninspiring, which was quite disappointing.

Michael McIntyre was probably the most entertaining recalling memories of his grandmother and other family details along with the accent reinactment..

After a long drive we arrived at 100 Mile House, so called because it is 100 miles from Lillooet, on the gold rush trail (along with 98 mile house, 108 mile house and others similarly named).  It was around 4.30pm and I'd already been driving for what felt like ages, so we thought we'd find somewhere to stay for the night. We drove past the Ramada, which looked like the drabbest place on earth, and 108 Mile Ranch which turned out to be a vacation place for recovering alcoholics and was so dull it was enough to turn anyone to drink! So, we gave up and decided to press on and perhaps stay at Lillooet.

A hundred miles further on the mountain pass wove promisingly down towards the town, but on arriving we realised it was a mass of industrial factories and plants and not a place to stay. So we decided to press on the 80 miles to Whistler. The sat nav forecast it taking 2 hrs 25 mins, which I thought was crazy for just 80 miles but it turned out to be right as the road was like a narrow English country lane, except it climbed up, around and through the highest mountain passes.  Mile after mile at 30 mph max had me longing for a hotel, any hotel to stop for the night - but there was nothing, not a single inn or motel or anything for 75 miles.

We ended up booking an extra night at Nita Lake Lodge in Whistler and staying there, which turned out to be a great choice.  The staff were friendly and could tell we were exhausted so they ushered us into the loveliest room and parked the car for me.  

Another suprise was that the man who checked us in was from where we live, actually a road very close to us!

The one bedroom suite was beautifully decorated, modern yet cosy, with big windows a balcony and a fireplace. It was so nice to arrive knowing we were staying in one place for 3 nights, even though we knew we would have to change room to the cheaper room I had pre-booked for the next two nights.

Who could guess that a day of sitting in a car could be so draining... I'm guessing that it's similar to flying, the whole process being pretty tiring.

Gina

On Thursday 1st August, we spent the morning wandering around Jasper browsing the various gift shops. It was a glorious hot sunny day around 30 degrees which is a strange experience when you are looking at snowy mountains all around. 

After a small lunch, we left for Blue River, about 150 miles west of Jasper towards Whistler. We drove around the edge of Wells Grey National Park, and past Mt Robson, the highest peak in Canada and then on through Mt Robson National Park. It was very green with dense pine trees on the massive but gentle slopes travelling alongside a gushing river, almost the whole route. 

 There's not much at Blue River, other than Mike Wiegele's Helicopter Skiing Resort, where we stayed. Each wooden cabin has its own helipad and the place is famous for celebrities flying in and out to ski in the winter. In the summer it's quiet, with no helicopters in sight, just beautiful mountains and a lake. 

Upon entering Blue River town, we had seen a sign for a river safari, so we decided to do that. It was about 5pm so the sun was a bit lower in the sky casting a very pretty amber light on the river and Grizzly Bear Valley. The boat was small, with a powerful engine, and there were about 8 of us on the trip. We slowly left the boathouse, rounded a river bend through the glorious valley, and the river opened up wide, like a lake with beaches and small islands in the middle, perfect bear country.  

 On board was another passenger, a Mexican husky. She was fairly small for a husky with a thick black and white coat and ice blue eyes. She was a bright as a button, and stood at the bow watching everything, totally alert and ready for anything. We took so many photos of her as it was hard to take your eyes of this captivating animal. 

About half way through our hour long trip, they moored the boat so we could take a short hike up to a isolated waterfall. It was so special being somewhere where few others go as so many beautiful places are awash with tourists. Later back on the water we saw a lone black bear, looking for food on a small beach. We watched for about 10 mins and managed to take quite a few photos.

Gina

On Weds we left Sunwapta Falls for Jasper, which was less than an hour's drive. We arrived around midday and went to but a few supplies and some picnic lunch. We left straight for Maligne Canyon and Lake, both of which we had heard are beautiful. The lake is about 45 mins drive south east of Jasper and its a long slow road past pretty lakes on the way. 

Maligne Lake apparently means Evil Lake, as it was so difficult to cross....on horseback! We were amazed that they even tried to cross it, let along on horseback, as the lake is vast and deep and less than 5 degrees, so freezing cold.

Upon arriving at the lake we had a short picnic and then wandered to the boat house and hired a canoe to row around the lake rather than taking the organised boat tour. It was well worth it, the lake was peaceful and beautiful and it seemed surreal to be on the water surrounded by snow capped mountains. 

As we drove back from the lake, we noticed someone stop by the roadside looking int the bushes with his camera lens. We stopped to see what he was looking at and saw a beautiful mother black bear wandering along with 3 baby bears running along behind her. They were a handful, jumping, tumbling and playing all the way whilst she was doing her best to herd them along.

A few miles on, we stopped at the canyon to look at the view. It was deep and made me feel feint with vertigo! Nonetheless it was beautiful with raging waters at the bottom.

That evening, we wandered into Jasper for supper at Earls, a noisy modern bar. There were people sitting on balconies all around, overlooking the snowy mountains. It was a hot night and, for once, lost the alpine evening chill. Walking back to the hotel after supper through Jasper, the sun was low and the mountains had an amber glow. 

Also, a vital moment of our trip to point out, the moment when we needed spoons. You see, for our breakfast we bought granola and milk etc, but we didnt have any spoons! so on the way back from Earls we popped into a small supermarket and saw at the last minute plastic spoons for 5cents each.  Hallelujah! even though they were a bit of a rip off we still treasure them now. 

Jasper's high street is flanked by the railway and the most incredible freight trains go by, some of them taking 7 or 8 minutes to pass as they are miles long!

At one point along the route, we suddenly realised some large deer-like creatures in the middle of the road - Elks! These huge horse size animals were grazing on the bushes and trees planted down the middle of the road!

Gina, with an insert from Jazz

{Guess which ;) }

On Tuesday we left Lake Louise early, after a good bagel brekkie at the village deli. It was cold, about 2 degrees, and mum had already bought a woolly hat and gloves! We knew it would be a long drive to Sunwapta Falls near Jasper, and we thought we'd probably want to stop several times on the way as it was due to be a stunning drive. 

After about a 45 min climb, we found ourselves surrounded by massive snow capped mountains and big, big skies. We stopped by Peyto lake and hiked up to catch the view, both at the tourist viewing point and again an hour up the mountain near the peak. The vista was surreal, and out photos look like something downloaded from Getty images! You couldn't take a bad shot it you tried. The alpine wildflowers were so pretty, especially the Indian Paintbrush, all red and feathery. After that we headed North for another hour or so stopping by 'Big Bends' to have a picnic lunch overlooking a wall of scree and waterfalls. The journey then took us through the Columbia Icefields to the Athabasca Glacier, a whole bowl of snow in between two mountain peaks, which was apparently as deep as the Eiffel Tower is high! It was amazing to be in summer clothes in the mountains with snow all around us. Another hour or so took us to Sunwapta Falls where we stayed the night in a rather strange motel. It was a short walk from some beautiful waterfalls which was lovely, and the restaurant was good, but the room was very basic and a bit dark and with too many mosquitos! It was all good fun and we felt we'd seen a lot in one day.

Gina

We woke up at 8 to decide what our plan was for the day we planned to have a look at the Lake Louise and the infamous photo spot and then go white water rafting! Such fun ;)

The last time we did that was in California and we both thoroughly enjoyed that.

Sadly the weather wasn't great: Rainy, cold, windy and cloudy… :/

But still, we trudged along the road to Lake Louise. We got out of the car, 5 degrees, and I decided to put on my luckily brought beanie! Mum was left wishing for hats and gloves. Anyway, after taking the essential tourist shot and one wiv us innit, we made our way around the lake.
By this time the hail started falling so everyone went inside the nearby, overly-posh-but-not-beautiful, 'Fairmont Chateau' hotel. They had a beautiful store inside with all kinds of precious stones and even eagles carved out of antlers.

Because of the terrible weather it was not very busy, yay! So really, it worked in our favour!
It started to clear up as we started on our way back round the lake so we managed to get some good shots.

{A quick insight that mum wanted to point out: The petrol is only 123 cents a litre! It was only £25 to fill up :O Whereas back home it would be £100... That was a nice surprise.}

Later on in the day and it was time for our White Water Rafting! It was awesome.
We did the 'Whitewater Exciter' which, in rafting terms, was between a class II - IV
We didn't manage to get any pictures in fear of getting one of the cameras wet and also the photos that they offered were incredibly expensive so no photos to laugh yourself funny over...

And to top it all off, when we were driving back from the rafting experience all soggy we saw a double rainbow! xD It passed from one side of the road, a hilly area to the other. This means that we drove underneath one and also saw the end of it. Now, let me tell you, there was no pot of gold at the end however, the ground particles did have a very golden tinge. Maybe that's what they've been confused about...


Jazz

Today we are working our way from Calgary to Lake Louise via Banff town.

Observation #1: Cars have no front number plates, even in adverts! Does that mean they are frontally naked? :s
Observation #2: Canadian animals seem to be troubled... I don't really want to explain that, just trust me. Both encounters with other animals have not been nice.

First, once getting out of Calgary we went into a Walmart to get a cool bag, white wine -bottle opener-, pack of cards and warmer clothing.
Oh yeah, thats another thing. Both of us have packed pretty wrong.
When looking at the weather forecast from back home the lowest temperature at all of our stop off sites was 23 degrees. But, alas, they lied.
It's been around 15 degrees.

On the way we stopped off at Banff town however immediately after putting one foot out of the car, the rain started to fall :\ We some mexican for lunch which was pretty okay, but freezing inside, and continued walking around and trying to find mum a pair of hiking trousers and polarising sunglasses. We succeeded with the latter.

We arrived at our hotel for the next 2 nights, The Post Hotel and arranged our stuff in -all over- our room. Then we checked out the nearby village of Lake Louise to see what it had to offer and ask some questions in visitor information.
For dinner, we were going to walk out to a restaurant called 'The Railway Station' in which we cheekily shared a salad and garlic cheesy toast. Just as mum said 'I wish a train would come to see what it's like' exactly that happened.
No jokes, the train carried on for at very least 1mile.

So that was our first night in Lake Louise.

Sorry for the lack of 'good' photos but at least it gives an idea of what it was like. The first photo is the B&B that we stayed in in Calgary, anyone reminded of Bear in the Big Blue House? Most of the landscape ones were taking from the road on the way to Banff.

Jazz

 Flight went well, arrived 30mins early and the pilot came and talked to us as mum knows someone who knows someone etc he was very lovely. Also we met a very sweet, kind and well informed couple on the flight. The man was canadian and grew up in a place called Longview just an hour detour on the route from Calgary to Lake Louise which is apparently incredibly beautiful and quaint. They recommended lots of places to go to in Calgary and some accommodation suggestions also. Quite a few of them we happened to have been booked into already! Lucky us.

So, It's our 1st morning here and already the first change to our itinerary. Typical. We originally booked a Dodge Caliber{with the subtitle or similar} thinking that it was like a small SUV, oops. Leaving us with a Ford Focus... :/
But, we did manage to change cars to a Ford Escape. Pretty lush and has iPod connection, the ultimate necessity.

Later on we found ourselves wandering around Calgary trying to find one of the recommendations by the flight couple, Wicked Wedge Pizzeria on 17th SW Avenue. We guessed that most of the places on this street were closed or in reconstruction due to the floods as it was pretty run down. So we got the train back to downtown Calgary an walked around a bit.

The first thing I noticed when arriving in Canada is the lack of people.
It's insane! It's empty!
Being in the middle of a city on a 'high street' with only 4 other people surrounding you... Weird.

But yeah, so we just got back from a Neapolitan Pizzeria having shared a Pizza and Salad for some dinner, was delicious and the people are just so lovely! Everyone here has just been so kind, polite and friendly. And talkative may I add..

Anyway. We are a bit sleepy now so will pop off to bed and add the photos tomorrow.

OOPS I forgot to mention that we went inside a mall which on the top floor had gardens, indoors! So the flowery photos were in there, we also managed to grab a frozen yoghurt on the way back. In peach flavour may I add, which was delish!

Jazz