Tag Archives: Road Trip

HOW. THE. HECK. DOES. ONE. CONSTRUCT. A. BLOG. FROM. THE. SEVEN THOUSAAAAAND. PHOTOS. TAKEN. IN. JUST. 3. WEEKS, in just the ONEEEE Country?!!! … HOWWWWWW?! …

500 photos edited.
Narrowed down to 220 odd photos.
…Tooooo…  A. Hold your attention and B. Try and fit as many photos as possible in without boring the pants off you!!! (If I do bore the pants off you, please at least have some decency to put some shorts on! ;-)

Oh gosh, I want to show you them ALLLLLLL. But even if I was the one coming to this website and there were never ending photos… knowing my attention span I’d skim through a few and before you know it… I’m back on Facebook! (darn you Facebook.. but uh, also Facebook I love you!).  So I’m going to assume the same of you for the sake of showing you Canada!
Because I have an aim. I have a goal. It’s to make you fall head over heels in love with Canada the way we did… so if the reason for leaving this website half way through is not because of boredom (obviously that IS my aim!! ha!) but you’ve just blinked and caught yourself on an airline website looking up flights to Canada… Then all is forgiven and my job here is done.

But enough of my babbling, blabbering and flabbering on… You want to see some photos!!! You want to fall in love with Canada!
Let me take you on a photographic journey of one of the most beautiful places in the world…

A long trip to Canada had us arrive after 35 hours of travel at 1 in the morning. We drive an hour and half from Calgary airport to Canmore in the pitch black of the night. We.can’t. see. a. thing.
We wake the next day with a bit of sleep under our belts to a doorstep view of the most glorious mountains I could ever see.
Door. step. view. I. repeat.
On my doorstep right now… I have a fence. It’s not a baaaaad looking fence. But it’s a FENCE! … Our friends, The Borrowman Family… have a freaking MOUNTAIN on their door step!

Oh Canadaaaaaa. The place of dandelions almost bigger than our heads! …Almost!

And deer that pass through the back yard!

And MOUNTAINS!! Soooo many mountains!

BANFF! … We’ve hit the road baby!!! Road Tripping across British Columbia… here we come!!!
Doug has a photo with a Mounty… but don’t you agree that MY Mounty is just so much cooler??!!

Lake Louise. A place photographed more than Brangelina! Or so I read in Lonely Planet!

We are pretty freaking excited to be here!!!

We’re heading towards a lake side camp ground in the Shuswap… And dark blue skies are looming…

…there be a storm approaching!

3 Hours of driving with ice cream settling in our bellies. Rain drops the size of golf balls splat on our window screen and I sit with my nose pressed against the glass Oooohhhhh-ing and Arrrrrr-ing at every lightning bolt that illuminates the sky.
It’s getting closer by the minute!

We reach Salmon Arm. Stopping outside the pure Canadian road side restaurant, Tim Horton’s. Pulling out our tripod, Doug mans the camera, I hold a thin flimsy t-shirt over his head and every second that shutter is open.. the rain drops are grooving nicely into our backs giving us marks resembling welts!
But… surely it’s the lightening we should we worried about you might ask?!

So many ‘pencil trees’ (as Doug calls them) to look up at!

I’ve found my sign!!!

Hello The Okanagan!

…And your beautiful weather! I completely underestimated you… Here I am with a suitcase full of jeans and long tops!!! But that’s ok… I like shopping! ;-)

Closing in on the United States Border… it’s getting hotter people!… I better eat that ‘Kazoodadoodle’ (or whatever you call it) ice block soon otherwise it’ll be a puddle on the floor! And nobody wants to see me licking it off the concrete! (I’ll burn my tongue!)

Peachland and Summerland are exactly that too! Peachy and Summery!

Ohhhhhh Doug’s got his serious ‘This means business’ face on… Must mean we are on the hunt for Beavers!!!

If only someone has told us sooner that Beaver’s only come out at night!!! .. Oh look.. a pretty flower!!

Back in the land of pencil trees. We’ve made it to Manning Provincial Park just before dark after driving 30 km’s in the wrong direction… Isn’t it beautiful.

We’re getting into dense bear country now too!… So when you hear a noise in the lake… bear or not (it could be a Sasquatch for goodness sake) …

…You run like hell!!!!

Our Canadian Dreams are coming true…. WE LOVE YOU CANADA!!!

And uh… don’t trust every sign you read. 1.5km walk?? HA! Make that 15km’s, 3 hours later… in Jeans?!!! (Spot the city kids!) and no water.. but that’s alright… at least we’ve remembered our cameras!!! lol

An epic handheld shot by Doug!
Thanks for a great dehydrated time Manning Provincial….

And du du duhhhhh, Helllllooooooo the big city of Vancouverrrr…

This is my only photo of Vancouver. True story. I mean… it’s a pretty crap city… we didn’t enjoy it at all… in fact we went over this bridge and then just drove straight out… This is where my blog ends.

JUST KIDDING!!!!!!

We are just getting started. And heck, how can I leave you without showing you the little cuddly creature we bumped into in the village of Whistler…
So…Unless you’re booking your tickets…
FOLLOW ME TO PART 2

Missed us entering Canada and frolicking in the wilderness?? TAKE ME BACK TO PART ONE!!

We’re in the city! Loving the city life. And we’ve finally found an appropriate place to wear our jeans! … Uh..actually… I take that back… why did we even pack jeans?! It’s freaking 28 degrees!!! So here we are… READY.TO.SHOP!!!

We’ve got our walking legs on… Granville and the surrounding areas has so much to offer. So with plenty of Starbucks refreshments (cough cough.. I mean Tim Horton’s of course) we’re off to explore this colourful city!!

We’re dedicating a FULL day to ONE street!!! Granville Street and Granville Island is a photographer’s dream. It’s a photographers dream for a photographer who doesn’t have a lot of urban back home!!!

All that walking makes Doug a thirsty man!

I really like this girls sign!!!

REFRESHMENT TIME!!! … Thank goodness we’ve decided to stay another night in Van City… had our lovely waitress not mentioned what was happening in the Harbour later in the night…

…We would of missed this!!!

The most spectacular firework show ever! I’ve taken all my 150 odd photos and I still have time to enjoy 10 minutes of the display!!!
Vancouver . outdoes . itself!

This is for you my foxy friend! No names needed!!

I may have gone a little fire hydrant crazy!!! Pretty huh?!

On a serious note. A serious note with a seriously cute picture.
Bears are magnificent animals. A magnificent part of the wild. But that is where they should stay. In the wild.
We saw many signs around and read articles such as this one, where tourists are attracting bears closer with food. Just so they can get a closer shot.
This isn’t good!!! Not good at all. Because if you start attracting the bears into the towns, they think they can get food there. And where there is food, the bears will go!
Canmore put an act in place several years ago. They removed all berry bushes that the bears love so much and secured heavy durable metal bins with latches in place of all rubbish bins. The bears have no reason to come into the town now… and they haven’t seen a bear pass through in years!
But a bear that can’t take a hint or is tempted, gets 3 strikes. If it is caught coming into a township… they are captured and released back into the wild.  On the 3rd strike. The bear is a goner.

The signs we saw around read… “A fed bear… is a dead bear!”. Nobody wants that! Imagine no more Winnie the Pooh!? (Unimaginable isn’t it!!)

Now that’s the sad factual stuff out of the way… Welcome tooooo BEAR COUNTRY!!! Also known as Whistler!!! Happy to be here!

We like Whistler a lot!!!

Not a bad way to spend a day!

And not a bad way to spend a night!
Some will disagree (you know who you are) but most will agree… that a Caeser is the most delightful and unique Canadian alcoholic beverage there is. I’m not going to tell you what’s in it…  it’s just one of those things you’ll just have to try when you go! ;-) Let me know what you think!!!

Whistler… we like you so much! That we’re going to spend another night with you… with this view… and this for dinner!! That’s right people…. RJ’s, that are only found in NZ… are found in Canaada (imported of course)!!! I’ve got my fix!! Nom Nom!

Now remember the facts I gave you above… but also remember I went on to say that this is Bear Country! In other words… the bears were here first! It’s 1am and we are on a snack attack at Macca’s, and then we stumble across this little fella on the outskirts of the village. Our first bear sighting!!! YUSSSS!!!

Nooooo?!!! Is 10 days up already??!! But we just arrived here?? … Back to Canmore we go. 12 hours in one wack!

As if my Canadian dream hadn’t already come true. This is my cherry on top.

Thanks for the best time ever British Columbia!! We WILL be back!!

Hello again Canmore. I appreciate your mountains that encompass the town. No matter where I look… I see a spectacular view.
I think it’s about time we climb one of you…

Ha Ling, you make us feel on top of the world…. literally!

I made a friend. Let’s call him Chuck!

Ha Ling one day… and in a Helicopter the next. We are flying over Banff National Park. First time in a Helicopter!

The Ice Fields are melting fast… So we’re on the road to see them near Jasper National Park. (But not so fast that we won’t get there in time!!)

And whatta ya know… Yogi Bear and friends thought they oughta make us smile. We’ve just seen 3 more bears! That makes a grand total of 4 bears people!!! STOKED!

And half the reason why we are here!!! … Is to capture the beautifulness of this amazing couple… Sarah & Graham’s, Canmore Wedding!

Mounty’s, Poutine (gross), the landscapes and mountains… not to mention the good people who’ve taken care of us. Canada is a dream come true.

And now… I am wondering why on earth you are still sitting here reading? … … Oh… …  you’ve already booked your flights?! … And … you’ve come back to finish the blog?! …. Noooo wayyyy!!!!  You. are. a. star!!! :o)

Until next time… because.. there will be a next time! …

Good Night Canmore…

Good Night Canada…
Thanks for making our hearts grow so much bigger! xoxo