We spent all last week in the mountains, Anne hadn't seen them before and was very impressed. We did some hiking, went in the hot springs, did lots of sight-seeing, and generally ran around like tourists. It was a ton of fun and something I would highly recommend visiting the Rockies to anyone. We spent most of our time in the Jasper region.
In Vacouver we climbed Grouse mountain (ibuprofin and a hot tub enabled me to be able to walk today) and wandered around Stanley Park and the Aquarium. The aquarium was really really good, we caught a few of the shows which were great and very interesting. Maya loved it was well and was hyper the whole time we were there. I don't thing she has laughed so much in one day before. People loved her.
Today we caught the ferry to Vancouver Island plan to tour this week before we start on our way home again.
Monday, July 19, 2004
Monday, July 12, 2004
A Close Call
We left the Elk Island National park Saturday around noon and headed toward Edmonton. After hunting down the Visitor Centre we tracked down a campground which ended up being half-way between Edmonton and the park! The park sucked as well, with crappy camp sites, no water, only 2 bathrooms, and pay showers it was and probably will be the most pathetic camp site we use this whole trip.
That evening we headed downtown to check out the Street Performers festival. We were pretty impressed by everyone we saw there, especially the robotic guy. He even did sound effects to his movements.
The camp stay was uneventful and we left the grounds in the morning and headed for the West Edmonton Mall. I thought it was pretty good but it didn't totally meet Anne's expectations. We were waiting until 3pm to go in the waterpark to save a fair bit of money but Anne was still too excited to check out any of the cool stuff in the Mall, so we mostly just wandered around. At 3 we finally went in and had a great time for about an hour and a half. While Anne was going down slides and I was wandering around with Maya I noticed that the drains at the entrance to the change rooms had a very large amount of water coming up from them. In fact ALL the drains in that lower area did. Shortly after that we were evacuated from the waterpark. The changerooms had about 3 inches of raw sewage in them, so I took Maya to the closest bathroom and changed her. Anne stood in line and got a refund which will be mailed to us (hopefully). On the way back to meet her I heard the mall was being evacuated. So there went out plans for supper at hooters (best wings EVER). One guy said the water was knee deep in some parts of the parking lot. We wandered around a bit and took some pictures and then went to find the van. Fortunately the water was only up to rims of the tires, however a minivan about 20 feet awat had water up past the bottoms of the doors and a Mini close to it was half submerged. We got out of there and consoled ourselves with a night at the Hilton and supper at East Side Marios. We had gone through all the flooded underpasses just a couple of hours before they got flooded. We only saw a bit of the hail.
Certainly made this portion of our trip interesting!!!
That evening we headed downtown to check out the Street Performers festival. We were pretty impressed by everyone we saw there, especially the robotic guy. He even did sound effects to his movements.
The camp stay was uneventful and we left the grounds in the morning and headed for the West Edmonton Mall. I thought it was pretty good but it didn't totally meet Anne's expectations. We were waiting until 3pm to go in the waterpark to save a fair bit of money but Anne was still too excited to check out any of the cool stuff in the Mall, so we mostly just wandered around. At 3 we finally went in and had a great time for about an hour and a half. While Anne was going down slides and I was wandering around with Maya I noticed that the drains at the entrance to the change rooms had a very large amount of water coming up from them. In fact ALL the drains in that lower area did. Shortly after that we were evacuated from the waterpark. The changerooms had about 3 inches of raw sewage in them, so I took Maya to the closest bathroom and changed her. Anne stood in line and got a refund which will be mailed to us (hopefully). On the way back to meet her I heard the mall was being evacuated. So there went out plans for supper at hooters (best wings EVER). One guy said the water was knee deep in some parts of the parking lot. We wandered around a bit and took some pictures and then went to find the van. Fortunately the water was only up to rims of the tires, however a minivan about 20 feet awat had water up past the bottoms of the doors and a Mini close to it was half submerged. We got out of there and consoled ourselves with a night at the Hilton and supper at East Side Marios. We had gone through all the flooded underpasses just a couple of hours before they got flooded. We only saw a bit of the hail.
Certainly made this portion of our trip interesting!!!
Three more weeks of this stuff!
So what have we seen since last time:
- inumerable bison, 1 was 4 feet from the van
- many elk, no wild ones though, only on elk farms.
- one wolf waiting to cross the highway
- one beaver trying to cross the highway
- very many prarie dogs, man are they small and very cute
- a few deer
Not to much exciting has happened other than in Edmonton. We have mostly just been touring around, checking out parks and other areas, done some hiking and walking. The driving has been good and the roads pretty quiet. The speed limit for highway past manitoba has been 100km/h which would be great except that we are sticking to 100km/h to keep our gas mileage bearable.
We are just heading into Jasper now which we are quite looking forward to hiking aroud. We will probably spend a couple of days in the Jasper and Banff area, then onto the coast and Vancouver after that.
- inumerable bison, 1 was 4 feet from the van
- many elk, no wild ones though, only on elk farms.
- one wolf waiting to cross the highway
- one beaver trying to cross the highway
- very many prarie dogs, man are they small and very cute
- a few deer
Not to much exciting has happened other than in Edmonton. We have mostly just been touring around, checking out parks and other areas, done some hiking and walking. The driving has been good and the roads pretty quiet. The speed limit for highway past manitoba has been 100km/h which would be great except that we are sticking to 100km/h to keep our gas mileage bearable.
We are just heading into Jasper now which we are quite looking forward to hiking aroud. We will probably spend a couple of days in the Jasper and Banff area, then onto the coast and Vancouver after that.
Happy Anniversary!
Yesterday was our 6th anniversary! Holy Crap! In a few days we will have been "together" for 8 years!! Crazy.
Certainly was an interesting day for one...
Certainly was an interesting day for one...
Terror in the Mall
Here is a post that Anne tried to make from the Hilton last night that didn't work:
Today was our exciting day at the West Edmonton Mall. I was super excited to go
into the water park (I LOVE WATERPARKS), and just too basically see it. I know
I know materisitic but I grew up poor and it was one of my dreams to go. So we
get there when it opens at noon, look around a bit, go into odd stores, and
price the water park. It is $30 regular but $20 if you go for the last three
hours - which is what we decide to do (Still am poor), we happily play for an
hour noting that it is really raining outside- infact it is hailing. Then we
note there is bit of excitement near the change rooms. It seems that the sewer
has backed up, oh well we aren't leaving yet. Then we hear the park is closing.
So we wade though raw sewage to get our things from the change room, and
attempt to leave the mall because now it is being evacuated. It seems that the
rain was a little to much for the aging mall (I did think it was rather shappy
in appearance). Along the way we could see water running down walls and the ice
rink melting because the power went out. We also talked to an Edmonton Journal
reporter about our expenernce. We get to the van which was parked in about a
foot of water. We were lucky; other cars were up to the tire wells and soaked
inside.
The really sad thing about this is it is our sixth anniversary, so to console
ourselves we checked into the Hilton for the night- Thanks for the anniversary
present Paul!
Today was our exciting day at the West Edmonton Mall. I was super excited to go
into the water park (I LOVE WATERPARKS), and just too basically see it. I know
I know materisitic but I grew up poor and it was one of my dreams to go. So we
get there when it opens at noon, look around a bit, go into odd stores, and
price the water park. It is $30 regular but $20 if you go for the last three
hours - which is what we decide to do (Still am poor), we happily play for an
hour noting that it is really raining outside- infact it is hailing. Then we
note there is bit of excitement near the change rooms. It seems that the sewer
has backed up, oh well we aren't leaving yet. Then we hear the park is closing.
So we wade though raw sewage to get our things from the change room, and
attempt to leave the mall because now it is being evacuated. It seems that the
rain was a little to much for the aging mall (I did think it was rather shappy
in appearance). Along the way we could see water running down walls and the ice
rink melting because the power went out. We also talked to an Edmonton Journal
reporter about our expenernce. We get to the van which was parked in about a
foot of water. We were lucky; other cars were up to the tire wells and soaked
inside.
The really sad thing about this is it is our sixth anniversary, so to console
ourselves we checked into the Hilton for the night- Thanks for the anniversary
present Paul!
Wednesday, July 07, 2004
So what we have seen so far..
Well its day five of our trip and so far we have seen so much its hard to quantify well. So I will so a quick run down of what I remember anyway:
That about sums things up right now. I know there is stuff I have forgotten, but Ann will remember later. Maya is actually really have a very good time aside from the intense hate for her car seat. We will have to buy a new one in Edmonton for sure.
- 2 Moose, one with big Antlers
- Anne saw a Lynx run and kill a squirrel 10 feet from our camp site.
- 1 Parade in Wawa, it was for the 50 year the Highschool reunion. We didn't' catch any candy
- Many big animal statues: 1 goose, 1 sheep, 1 happy rock (don't ask), couple of others)
- the ferry ride Saturday morning was incredibly beautiful
- some of the views heading across the top of lake superior are breath taking, granted you don't drive a off a cliff looking.
- the sunset over the prairie is very nice, its amazing the difference in the colours from the sunsets back home. It really is amazing how flat the prairie is.
- 1 sculpture garden in Winnipeg, it was actually a lot of fun.
That about sums things up right now. I know there is stuff I have forgotten, but Ann will remember later. Maya is actually really have a very good time aside from the intense hate for her car seat. We will have to buy a new one in Edmonton for sure.
Friday, July 02, 2004
And They're Off...
We are just heading out now. I think Anne has got the Van packed, and we got everything we need so off we go.
If anyone wishes to get a hold of us while we are gone, please e-mail us at luke.bellamy@sympatico.ca. And don't forget we will be updating our blog as we go.
I think I hear the west coast calling to me........
If anyone wishes to get a hold of us while we are gone, please e-mail us at luke.bellamy@sympatico.ca. And don't forget we will be updating our blog as we go.
I think I hear the west coast calling to me........
Thursday, July 01, 2004
2 more days...
I am at work today and tomorrow and then we are off!!! We leave friday night for Tobermory to catch the Chi-Cheemaun to Manitoulin Island Satuday morning.
I think I have everything documented and organized for work. I know they have enought information that they can figure things out while I am gone at least. I just have too many things to finish up before I am gone, I just can't wait till I am outta here. I really need a vacation I think.
I think I have everything documented and organized for work. I know they have enought information that they can figure things out while I am gone at least. I just have too many things to finish up before I am gone, I just can't wait till I am outta here. I really need a vacation I think.
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