Out & About in Canada, Eh?

We’ve been loving all the flowers that are blooming at the moment. They’re everywhere! And Vancouver, (which was our first point of call since our last blog update), was no exception. Catching up with our good friend Luke gave us a much needed hit of the Aussie accent & found us back into the habit of sinking beers with good company in front of a movie on a large screen TV. Oh how I have missed that! We did also manage to get out and see a few of the sites of Vancouver – Nathan found heaven in Stanley Park (rugby and cricket being played at the same time!) and thanks Jacqui for the sushi tip.

At Luke's place

After a short stay in Vancouver we started heading inland towards the Rockies, via the Okanagan Valley. Mmmm, wine tasting region again. This time, the local specialty was fruit wines and ice wines. If you’ve never tried a Canadian Ice Wine, don’t, cause you’ll be instantly addicted and they are rather expensive. They wait until the middle of winter when the grapes are at least -8 Celcius before harvesting. This results in a yield 1/12 of normal wine, hence a high sugar saturation & price!

We’ve been enjoying the cultural similarities in Canada, especially the warm hospitality. None more so than in Osoyoos where we accidentally made some new friends. While searching for a free camping space near the lake, we found ourselves being offered to camp in a lovely older couple’s driveway, which included beers & cheese in the evening, breakfast spread in the morning, and long hot showers!

Thanks John & Elaine!

The Canadian Rockies – were not short of spectacular. I think this has been our favourite destination so far. The problem with hiking in this region, is that it is inevitably uphill, or upmountain should I say. But the views were worth it – here’s a few to tempt you to include the Rockies in your next Canadian holiday. Roger's Pass

Emerald Lake

Bow Lake

Valley of the Five Lakes

Lake Morraine

When we heard that our trip would coincide with the Calgary Stampede (aka the "greatest outdoor show on earth"), we made a quick detour to check it out. And managed to score free platinum tickets from some nice people on the train – bonus! I must say though I have never seen so many cowboy hats in one place before. The big feature was the rodeo - they had the works: from little kids trying (and failing) to catch a pony to bull riding. The other main event was the country music bar – our taste in music none withstanding, we skipped this one, as the queue to get in was over 6 hours.

Yeehah! Bull riding rodeo

Where cowboy hats are the fashion...

Only 6 hours from here (and this wasn't the end of the queue...)

Having declined to purchase kitsch cowboy hats for ourselves, we headed back into national parks – this time to USA’s Yellowstone and Grand Titans. Being on the site of a “super-volcano”, Yellowstone provided a very different experience to the other national parks we’ve visited in USA & Canada thus far. With soaring geysers, boiling mudholes, fossil forests, and geothermal areas, Yellowstone is a geology lesson in action. This combined with a concentration of free-roaming wildlife (picture several hundred head of bison blackening the green valleys) made for a very interesting few days!

Mammoth Springs (smell the sulphur!)

Grand Prismatic Pool

Old Faithful Geyser

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

Speaking of wildlife, in these past few weeks, we’ve been delighted at every turn with an abundance of animals we’d previously only seen on TV. Black & grizzly bears, elk fjording rivers, herds of bison migrating across the road in front of our RV, hoary marmot popping their heads up along the hiking trails, bald-headed eagles soaring overhead, big horn sheep herds with lambs, white mountain goats blending in with the snow, as well as all the usual critters that we’ve now come to take for granted - like deer, squirrels, gofers, prairie dogs, chipmunks, etc. We’ve gotten into a pattern of “animal-hunting” with our camera after dinner...

Racoon in Stanley Park, Vancouver

Big Horn Sheep on the Wilcox Pass hike in the Canadian Rockies

Roadside Elk in the Canadian Rockies

Fawn in the town of Waterton, Waterton National Park

Camping with bison, Norris Campground at Yellowstone National Park

Migrating bison, Hayden Valley at Yellowstone National Park

Here's a map of this leg of the trip:

Next stop – we’re heading east along the northern plains (Plains Indian / Custer’s Last Stand territory) via Chicago & the Great Lakes, before heading back into Canada again to check out Niagara Falls, Montreal and Quebec…