GrannyRant

CANADA 2010 – THE FINAL EPISODE

Good morning, Granny Calling. The final day has arrived, we are flying home today and everyone is a tad subdued. We have had a whirlwind tour of some beautiful places in Canada, met some wonderful people and seen sights we shall never forget. The bears, the wine tour, the dreaded raft…..We have stayed in some beautiful hotels, eaten some fabulous food and laughed, cried and gazed in awe at some of the most incredible scenery.

As we ate breakfast on the morning of the flight, we talked about how difficult the journey is and the fact that we don’t actually like flying but you have to do it, if you want to experience some of the world’s wonders. Robyn talked about how she hates to go to the airport and say goodbye to people and I agreed, saying that I always cry like a baby. Martin and I were all packed and struggled to shuffle stuff about in bags to make sure we didn’t exceed the 20kg weight allowance. This was difficult especially as we both had a Calgary Stampede cowboy hat to get in the case and pack it in a way that kept it’s shape. We had breakable presents to bring and rolled them up in clothes to help keep them whole.

Our flight is at 3.40pm and we need to be at the airport by 12.40. The airport is about 20 minutes from Robyn’s house so by 12.15 we were on the way and we were all quiet on the journey, I think in anticipation of the tears that would soon flow. Uncle talked about how happy he was that we had made it and was telling us which members of the family had made it over to see them. He was thanking us and we had just been treated like royalty for almost a month, “we should be the thankful ones” I said.

We arrived at the airport, got the cases out onto the pavement and took turns to hug each other, say how much we loved each other and cried like babies, even Martin was brought to tears and Robyn was so tearful she said Adam would have to drive home. I hugged Uncle and told him to say goodbye to all the people we had met and who had made our holiday special and gave him kisses to take back for Aunty and Katy, then we turned and walked towards Departures and waved as they drove off, Martin and me still wiping our tears away. We wasted away the couple of hours before the flight and bought last minute souvenirs, got Tim Horton’s coffee for the last time and pretty soon, we were boarding the plane.

The flight was as you would expect, we watched rubbish TV, ate horrible in flight meals and drank vodka and tonic thinking it would encourage sleep but it was to no avail as neither of us slept throughout the entire 9 hour flight. We arrived at Manchester airport exhausted, hot and felling ropey as you do after that length of time in a tin can with 300 other people breathing recycled air. It took 2 hours to get clear of the airport, wait for the minibus to shuttle us to the car-park and load the car and start the 4 hour drive home.

Martin drove the first 100 miles or so and then we stopped and had breakfast, which was very welcome. We had been travelling for 12 hours and in our heads it was 12 o clock midnight, while it was 11 o clock UK. We stopped near Birmingham, I bought water and when I got back to the car, Martin was asleep in the drivers seat. I swapped places and drove the last 78 miles home.

When we arrived at the house, there was a mountain of mail, no bread or milk and I had to shop for food. We managed to stay awake until 12 midnight by talking to neighbours outside on the patio and that enabled us to get a full night sleep. The perfect end to a perfect holiday. I hope you have all enjoyed reading my escapades. I wasn’t sure if I could keep up this blog as we travelled but judging by the amount of ‘hits’ and comments it has received it has been well-read. The Canada adventure has ended but the blog will continue, please come back a visit again……..Granny xx

Granny Calling……we left Kelowna at 10.30am and drove out of the city and into the countryside. The smell of burning wood is strong and burns your throat. According to this morning’s TV news there are now 370 fires burning and that’s just in British Columbia. As we approached Kamloops, the terrain changes and the fields are dry and yellow. There are burned pine trees dotted about, which look like cocktail sticks poking out of the ground, I would not like to live in such a dry climate and it’s such a contrast to our wet Wales. It actually looks like a scene from a prehistoric film, ‘the land that time forgot’. The river has etched a lifeline which looks like a huge vein down the centre of the valley floor and either side of the river houses have sprung up all over the place.

We stopped for petrol and to use the toilet as it was going to be 8 hours or more before we got to Jasper, our next destination. Kamploops too, is hazy from the smoke and apparently the inhabitants have to keep all windows and doors closed and use the air conditioning to filter the air. I am having problems with my asthma from the air conditioning and it is causing a dry cough, I am so glad we have it though, especially now.

As we hurtled along the highway, we ate crisps and drank water and listened to silly country songs, they are so funny and have such weird lyrics. Like, pound sign, forward slash, tick exclamation mark? Then a song called ticks, where some man is hoping to get his girl naked and check her for ticks! Then there is the one about, ‘if I die before I wake, feed Jake, he’s been a good dog to me’. Country music, you have to love it, it‘s so comically morbid. The landscape further on is still recovering from fires over the last few years and as we passed a sign for Chinook Cove, I can’t help feel sad that these lovely trees are now reduced to charred tooth-picks.

We wound our way for hours, always with the North Thompson River to our right, this river is so long and we have now been following it for over 4 hours. No sign of a service station anywhere. We saw a sign that says Jasper 243 km, it is 2.06 in the afternoon, Adam is driving and Robyn sleeping and then from nowhere there is a 30 second rain shower, there it was and then it’s gone. Like we drove under a hose pipe. Head Waters, Wells Gray country, Vavenby, Mad River, Little Hells Gate, whiz by town after town as we continue on. We pass Mount Robson and at 3954 metres it’s the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies, it is enormous and the snow covered top of the mountain is in the clouds and out of sight.

We crossed the border into Alberta at 5.29, we made good time and the whole journey to Jasper took around 7 hours, We checked into our Hotel and made a plan to meet in 30 minutes to walk into Jasper and eat. Jasper is pretty and it’s bear country, although all we saw there was a couple of red squirrels. The town is nestled in the shadow of some really big mountains and the temperature is quite cool as we walk along. We ate at a Greek place and then strolled the four blocks back to our hotel to get a drink at the bar there, we are all tired, but especially our drivers and got our heads down early.

Day 27, started with an enormous breakfast skillet, we were going exploring today and the plan was to work our way back to Calgary via some tourist destinations. I failed to eat all my food, as did Adam and the waiter said, you even beat your Mom (thinking I was Adam’s Mother), Adam said, how does he know I beat my mom? We all laughed for ages, the waiter was a little dense we decided.

We piled into our Van and left Jasper, first stop Athabasca Falls. The falls were amazing and made a great backdrop for pictures, it was really interesting reading about how the power of the water had created potholes and strange lines in the rocks. We decided to video some short films as we didn’t think Pictures would capture the atmosphere. I got my usual bite, but this one was not a mosquito, more like a horse fly and I have now got a hand like a blown up kitchen glove and this is not going to go down any time soon. On we go, to the Columbian Ice fields, a huge glacier, which is receding far too quickly due to global warming, the glacier stands at 2,000 metres and it is cold near the ice. We walked up the hill and a sign said, people with breathing problems should make other arrangements before going up to that altitude, too late we are already up here, and breathless! It was fascinating and well worth the visit.

We came along the road to a beautiful still lake, where you could see the reflections of the mountains and pine trees in the water, this is Bow Lake and you can see the origin of the Bow river on the mountain. There is a traditional lodge there called Num-Ti-Jah and some pretty birds with orange breasts, I must try and find out what they are? We took some lovely pictures and Martin tried to skim stones on the water, unsuccessfully. On the way out, Adam spotted a place called Mosquito Creek and suggested we should go…are you kidding, mozzies find me easily, I don’t want to go looking for them!

Next stop Lake Louise, which was every bit as stunning, there were lots of people about and we fed a young bird as we ate enormous ice cream cones, I asked for one scoop, I swear there were six scoops at least! We wandered back to the van, talking about the day and decided that the falls were the highlight, we piled into the van for the last leg of our journey back to the house in Calgary. We slowly drove out of the grounds surrounding the lake and started to wind our way down the hill towards home. We hadn’t seen a bear, even though we were told we would and despite the fact that we had kept the camera on standby all day, ‘just in case’. Then as we rounded a bend, Adam said “what’s that?” and there she was, a young female grizzly bear, peeping over the wall looking directly at us and we could not get the camera ready before she turned and went back down the slope. She was about 6 foot tall and was tagged as they are disappearing and there is research being done and they are all tagged with a number. Adam spun the van around and we went back to the spot, but it was too late. How lucky are we, we have seen two black bears and a grizzly on this trip.

We got home about half an hour before Uncle arrived with Robyn’s car, we had Chinese and beer and drank every spirit in the house as well as oceans of home made red wine. Robyn and Martin got to bed at about 2.30 am, me at 3.45 and Uncle and Adam at 06.00.…why do we do it to ourselves, we have felt like crap all day, but better then than tomorrow night as we have to fly home the next day……Granny…to be continued…

Good evening, Granny Calling…..Day 16 is the first day of our road trip. Robyn and Adam have been planning where they would take us for months. They are two of the best, a great couple who have kindly given up their holiday time to drive us to some special destinations and we only found out a few days before we left the UK that we would be going into the USA for a couple of nights. How exciting, and how lucky are we to have such special people looking after us.

Due to us losing all our stuff on the raft escapade, we have to sort a few things out before we leave. Robyn said “There is no way I am going on a road trip without a cell phone”, I have to agree, sometimes you are driving for over an hour here without seeing a house, farm, or Service station. Adam’s phone was also water damaged so he was going to get a Blackberry which he has wanted for some time. I think falling in the river did him a favour as his old phone was a bit of a Dinosaur!

I was up a 6am as I had to call the UK to report my phone missing, my debit cards and find out how to sort out money, I lost all my money and my cards to the Bow River. 6am here is 1pm UK, so that seemed to be a good time to ring as I didn’t get held up on hold as you usually do. They said I could get an emergency money fund but it would cost. I decided to go to my online banking page, transfer money to Martin and he could access it from his account. No extra cost…simples ttch!

Blackberry were great, it’s insured they said, ring us when you are back across the pond and we’ll send you a new one within 48 hours, doesn’t it just make your day when something is sorted easily, hassle free…..we didn’t need anymore hassle after yesterday.

We went to a Mall and bought a new camera. Robyn and Adam are going to share it for now, I am going to keep the camera when we go home. Martin has Nikon insurance so he should be able to get his replaced easily. Phew…so much to think about. We got some crutches for Adam from the pharmacy, got a huge filled pita for lunch and piled into van and left Calgary. We were heading south towards the Rocky mountains.

It was a gorgeous day, clear blue sky, warm breeze and around 25 degrees. Everything looks so nice in the sun and we were all in good spirits as we headed out of town. We drove through Banff National Park and into Kootenay National Park and Adam and Robyn described points of interest as we travelled. In the mountain, the roads start to twist and turn, a change from the mile after mile of straight roads in the cities and on the outskirts. We climbed up and down hills as we went further into Kootenay, Robyn driving as Adam’s foot was painful. As we drove along we got our first sight of some wildlife, four deer, two standing and two young ones laid down in the grass, they are really pretty and we all oohed and aahed at the sight. A little further on the road split into two lanes our side and Robyn managed to overtake some slow vehicles as we climbed a hill, she squeezed the van back in between two cars and suddenly, the vehicles ahead started braking and slowing down. What’s going on now we wondered, more road-works maybe? As we slowly rounded the bend a Female Black Bear and cub, were casually crossing the road, I struggled to get the camera, still wanted to look at this amazing sight but by the time I switched the camera on and pressed the button, the delay meant that they had gone over the bank and disappeared into the trees. I am disappointed that we never got a picture, but I still have goose bumps thinking of how close we were to them, I’m not good at distance, but I reckon we were about 4 car lengths away…amazing. Some people I have spoken to have lived here all their lives and never seen a Bear and Adam said it was the closest he has been to one. We were really lucky. Further on we saw some wild Canadian Mountain goats, just lurking in a parking space, like they owned the place. What a great way to start a road trip and there was more great stuff to come.

We drove on towards Moose Lake and Radium and as we turned left into the mountain road (well dirt track really), Robyn swapped seats with Adam for the drive up the mountain. Wow! What a scary drive, Gravel road, very high and narrow in places. I am not happy at height and I hate height and movement, makes me feel nauseous but if you want to see things you just have to grit your teeth and go for it. On the way up to Moose Lake we saw, black squirrels, chipmunks and cows! Yes cows, now that is really wild! At the lake, which is really pretty, we stopped and ate the watermelon we had in the cool box and finished off the ham, salami and cucumbers that we brought from the fridge. We didn’t stay too long as the flies are like bumble bees and they BITE! Martin got bitten and so did I, these bugs like British flesh.

On the way down the mountain, we stopped at a natural hot spring, we paddled in water that was hotter than bath water, the smell of the sulphur wafting all around. Martin tried the cold pool too, not for me though, I have had my fill of cold water for a while. We decided not to get right into the water as we had to go on further and didn’t want to get the van wet or our clothes. What a great day and we have some brilliant pictures.

We got back to the van and drove on to Kimberley, our hotel was fantastic, in fact it was more than that. Kimberley is quiet in Summer as it’s a Ski resort, so we got a great suite, 2 en suite bedrooms, balcony, fantastic living room complete with cooking facilities and the beds were so big, it felt like I was sleeping on my own! You can view the resort at www.mountainspirit.ca What a great place. We ate supper across the road at Kelsey’s which is similar to Brewer’s Fayre at home and the waiter (David) was kind enough to sell us a bottle of wine to take back to our room and he even loaned us a corkscrew, even though it was officially against the rules. When we went back to the hotel, we sat at the high table in our suite, drank the wine, took pictures with our new camera with the self-timer and had high jinks taking pictures, even one of Robyn, fully clothed in the bath-tub! We all fell into bed exhausted, what a day, I love holidays …..

Monday morning and we woke in the huge bed which could easily sleep 8. I was first up, I usually am, I think I’ve been second up twice……. What a woman! I switched on the net-book, we have complimentary wi-fi here and I wanted to message people on Face book, I am now without my usual way of contact (my deceased Blackberry). I messaged Joanne, transferred money to Martin’s account and phaffed about, I also made a pot of coffee, there is no kettle for tea. Adam and Robyn got up and hobbled around sorting out their sore feet and got straight down to finding us a Hotel in CouerD’Alane IDAHO we were going to be in America today, earlier than we expected.

We wound our way through mountain roads, past huge green fields and ranches, over railway bridges and through small towns with just a few houses. The scenery is stunning in this part of the World with huge lakes and rivers that wind through the valleys like big blue veins. We counted down the Kilometres to the border and got passports ready. We all laughed at our passport photos and Robyn and Adam thought it was funny that I said Martin looked like an escaped convict in his!

We passed through Cranberra and we all agreed that it looked a bit dodgy, one of those places you didn’t really want to stop at. Maybe it’s a nice place, but it looked dirty and run down. We passed by Elizabeth lake, went through Moyie, where the lake is enormous and the deepest blue and a little place called Yahk, the saloon there was called ‘The Horny Owl’ I’m curious to know where that came from.

We arrived at the border at 1.15pm local time and we had to put our watches back one hour. When you live in little old GB it seems strange to go through time zones while your still in the same country! The Border Policeman was really surly and snapped off questions really quickly. Have you been convicted of anything are you carrying any firearms, drugs, food and so on. I had difficulty understanding him and he instructed Robyn to take off her sunglasses as he checked the passports. Some people just have such an attitude, welcome to America! He told us to park around the corner, go inside and sign up for our I-94 permits to enter the US. We had to fill in paper work, get our fingerprints taken and get mug shots done. It cost us $12 and he asked for it in America, thank God Robyn had the sense to pick up some dollars at the bank and she could lend us some. By the time we got back to the Dodge we felt like criminals. I’m sure we don’t cause the Americans so much stress when they visit the UK, maybe we’re too soft!

About 3 miles over the border in Idaho, we stopped on a hill to take in the view, our first real look at the US, the expanse of land in front of us is immense and you just can’t quite describe the feeling you get. The way you feel like a dot, in a huge world, insignificant and tiny, as they say in America…Awesome! We drove on and passed small towns, with lovely place names like, Songbird lane, Dusty Lane and Silhouette Drive, stirs the imagination and you start to wonder where the names came from? As we drove on, we came to a huge lake in a place called Sandpoint. This was almost a small ocean and there were boats and jet-skis screaming up and down at break-neck speed. Near Sandpoint Lodge, there is a small ‘beach’ with sun beds, chairs and tables, just like the seaside at Blackpool, but with a lake where the sea should be. It was breathtakingly beautiful. The temperature outside was 32 degrees, so the people on the sun beds must be frying!

We finally arrived at CouerD’Alane at around 3.15pm and found the hotel, it’s not as nice as yesterdays ‘suite’ but the room is pleasant and clean. It has a microwave, fridge and coffee maker and a huge Queen size bed. The air conditioning is really cranky and hums constantly but it’s a muggy 32 degrees outside, so you need it on.

We chilled out for a couple of hours and then went out to ‘The Olive Tree’ restaurant for supper. I had Parmesan sirloin with garlic mash, Martin and Adam had a seafood dish with scallops and shrimp and Robyn had Chicken Marsala, with fried potatoes. They brought us hot bread, coated in garlic butter and a huge bowl of salad before we started and I sampled their signature wine, a Rose blush which was gorgeous. Robyn ordered a cocktail, Long Island Ice tea, but she didn’t like it, so Adam drank it, along with his beer and was just a bit squiffy! He and Martin also had 2 pints of Budweiser and Robyn had a strawberry Dachari which looked like a milk shake with whipped cream! At the end of it we were stuffed and made our way back to book a Hotel for tomorrow night.

We have just left the ‘young people’. Hotel booked for tomorrow, we will be staying in Seattle, but that’s day 18 and another blog post, so for now goodnight….Granny….to be continued………..