7-9th November - Calgary, AB – Vancouver, BC

A lazy morning and after yesterday most of the snow laying around had almost disappeared, quite a contrast to when we arrived where there was abundant snow. We walked around Elbow River and found some squirrels to play with. The big black squirrels like Toronto are here as well. We ended up on 4th St and 17th Ave in the Mission district. Along these streets are some great sculptures. We finally got to the airport and jumped on WestJet to Vancouver. Leaving Calgary was pretty good as we got to fly over where we had walked this morning, the downtown complex and even the Olympic Park complete with man made snow and bob sled track. On arrival in Vancouver, it was raining but surprisingly warm (8 – 12 degrees is warm isn’t it?). The fall colours were still in the trees where the place we have just visited were bare. The Urban Hideaway, where we arrived on our first day in Vancouver in June which seems so long ago, was our choice of accommodation. Feels like we have come full circle!

One thing that was weird is that at 5pm it is already dark. A little miserable when it is raining and quite odd. Our body clock was telling us to go to bed at 8pm.

The next two days we have been re-acquainting ourselves with Vancouver and some of our previous top spots. We could’ve went to Seattle with Brendo and Lesley but it was a touch short notice. Oh well, next time!!

6th November - Calgary, AB

Today we headed off to the Canada Olympic Park in Calgary where the 1988 Winter Olympics were held. There were specifically two things that we wanted to do. One was catch the zip line (or flying fox) from the 90m ski jump and the other was to participate in a bobsleigh ride down the track with a professional driver. Much to our disappointment both these things were closed…. Bugger!! Never mind, there was plenty of stuff to see and do at the park. First up, as there was nobody working at the ticket stand we helped ourselves in and started looking through all of the memorabilia. We got to try out some of the equipment donated by athletes and used in the Olympics such as the luge and skeleton and participate in a simulated downhill skiing run. Aheemm, it is safe to say I shall not be giving up my day job anytime soon (oh that’s right I don’t have one…hehe). We finally got nabbed by a lovely volunteer who insisted we watch a DVD of the games and the facility and told us about the park. Quite interesting. After the video we headed back to have our photo taken on the podium with our flag, posy and a torch from the 88 Olympics. The torch isn’t a replica either so we were very careful with it! Dan demonstrated how a bronze v’s gold medal winner feels on the podium!
We also got to see the bobsleigh that was used in the filming of the Movie “Cool Runnings” which was based on the Jamaican Olympic Bobsleigh Team from the 88 Olympics and part of the movie was also filmed at the park.
The park is also home to an enormous amount of memorabilia and a listing of every winner from every event from the winter Olympics. We had to seek out one Steven Bradbury and have a good giggle. Also in the museum of the memorabilia was a game that you could practice scoring in hockey. Dan was pretty good sneaking a few past the goalie! I on the other hand struggled to even hit the puck. We then headed up to the 90m ski jump slope which was awesome as well as the view of the Rockies and Calgary city. It was so high and amazing to think that the athletes left on a such a thin run. We will never see it quite in the same light again on TV. The 88 Olympics also hosted the infamous “Eddie the Eagle”. The Olympic jumper with no coach, no high jump experience and not much form. But in typical fashion, because he was so crap, became everyone’s favourite. His helmet with a crudely written eagle (that he himself put on there) adorned the museum.
We gave it a shot trying our form for jumping. I’m sure Eddie could do a better job than either of us! Bruce would of said it was special. We then went to the luge and bobsleigh tracks. Both were being prepared for the World Cup to be held shortly. The track was smooth and slippery (we found out after trying to stand on it). But we still walked the length down part of it, still disappointed about the fact we missed out on a go. Oh well!! Whilst the ski season here is a short way off opening, there was still snow on the ground and Dan took a seat in this ice sculpture. We wandered over to the indoor track that the athletes come to prepare for the most important part of the luge and bobsleigh, the take off. When you see the money invested in the facilities for the athletes it really makes you realize how hard a Aussie athlete must have to work to make it here. Go Bradbury we say!




Dan checked out the equipment was all in working order.
We bid adieu to the Olympic Park late in the day and went to find some food having missed lunch. We stopped at the casino near where the Calgary Stampede is held. It stunk of smoke and we had to leave after about two minutes. It was quite bizarre because the non smokers were stuck in a little glass area with hardly any machines whilst the smokers had the lot. Bizarre in Canada because just about everything else is non smoking. We headed out for out last meal in Calgary at Earls – very nice.

5th November, Banff- Calgary, AB

We awoke this morning in our upgraded room to pull back the curtains and see the sun rising over the Canadian Rockies. The clouds had mainly cleared and we packed up and headed out to catch the eight minute ride to the 2285m summit of Sulpher Mountain. The view heading up the gondola amazing and once we arrived at the summit we would feel the temperature had dropped a number of degrees already. There weren’t too many tourists and we headed up the walk to the historic weather station. Whilst prints were in the snow everywhere, we didn't see any large wildlife. The view here was simply breath taking. We are very lucky that we have traveled a reasonable amount of the world and we both agreed that the views from here would be some of the best we have ever seen in the world. The pictures here will never be able to do justice to just how beautiful this part of the world is. So rather than go on, here are some photo's and a video.

The photo above we could barely keep our eyes open to have taken. It was so sunny yet so windly the cold was hurting our eyes.

We’ve both agreed that we would love to see it again in summer and the dead of winter (although probably without the tourists).

Whilst the views were beautiful it was freezing with the wind chill. Dan had pins and needles on his fingers. We headed back for a hot chocolate. Who could resist with this view out of the window.

Sadly we left the summit, catching the gondola down. We had about a ninety minute drive to head into Calgary, watching the Rockies disappear in the rearview mirror. Calgary, unfortunately, looked rather flat and boring driving into it after being in the Rockies for a number of days. We would of liked to stay in Banff for another night but we had a reason for being in Calgary. We had booked concert tickets. However, we had a quick stop in the nearby town of Canmore at the Bear Paw Brewing Company for lunch.

Now, not many people would share my enthusiasm here (other than you Az) but we had organized tickets to see Billy Joel. Dan, whilst not a fan, came along with me. I had missed seeing him the last couple of times he had come to Perth so this opportunity was too good to pass up. His concert was sold out and it was great, although we would have been some of the youngest people there, we didn’t care, we had great seats.
We headed home after the concert to invite Whitey in (the B&B cat), who made himself at home in about two seconds.

8th July - Vancouver - Calgary - Saskatoon

Today was really quiet. Getting all of my gear ready for the field trip ahead was a highlight. I hooked up with Brendo and we caught a cab to the airport to fly to Saskatoon, a large city in Saskatchewan. I was surprised at how much gear we had. We both had three lap tops each, one personal and two work ones so we looked like we were going for a long time. The first cab said we had too much gear (check the photo) but second, an Indian, was fully into getting the fare.

The flight to Calgary was really good. Flying out looking a snow capped mountains of the Rockies, some foothills and then the mountains just west of Calgary were marvellous. Tan and I will be there soon, checking them out properly.

Calgary had the "stampede" on, a 10 day festivities for cowboys and cow girls. The airport was full of people in check shirts and cowboy hats. Oh well.. another year maybe. The city is set on the prairies / foothills of mountains. There was a lot of housing construction going on but all of the houses looked very similar and had next to no back yard.

The next flight on trusty Westjet to Saskatoon was a bit cloudy but once we got below the infamous prairies this province of Saskatchewan were clearly visible. The fields were green, ours at home would have dried off by mid summer and the canola was in full flower. The green and yellow checkerboard from the air was picturesque.

On arrival we picked up our truck. A Dodge, twin cab with a 8 foot tray, a bit bigger than a Ford F150. This thing was friggin huge. We drew straws and Brendo drove to the hotel, not far a way but in traffic with this big puppy was a bit different.

We got into our hotel and ordered a taxi. It was 9:45pm and Brendo wanted a steak from "The Keg", a local steak house chain which he said would be rockin'. We had the taxi driver call ahead so they knew we were coming. We arrived with minutes to spare and the place was rockin' like an empty barn. The atmosphere was a bit slow but the steak was good. Fillet with blue cheese crust. Not bad at all. Good choice!