Our first stop was Vancouver to explore Canada as most of you know...Once we got off the bus in Whistler, my cousin Paul made us yummy breakfast and whipped us off to the 2010 Winter Olympic Games site for Cross country skiing, biathlon and the ski jumping area. Neither of us had cross country skied so it was great fun learning and experiencing the Olympic tracks. The next week was spent exploring the slopes of Whistler and Blackcomb mountains which was great with awesome views and so many runs to choose from! We were spoilt rotten by my cousins, their hospitality was just amazing and was so lovely spending time with them. Paul was a brilliant tour guide, showing us all the views, neighbourhoods, parks and iced over lakes in the Valley. We even had the chance to use snow shoes and go into the woods which was great fun! A totally different world out there for summer with mountain biking, hiking and fishing galore - beautiful!
After our time in Whistler we headed back down to Vancouver where we spent the weekend with the Nash's who have also been so so amazingly to us!! so generous! and sent us on our roadtrip with most of their house! hehe. We did some exploring downtown and also went to China Town, did a long walk in Stanley Park (saw the Totem Poles of course!) and also around the dyke's on the Fraser River near their house - all so beautiful, especially with the snow-capped mountains in the backdrop of every view!
After the weekend we headed off on our roadtrip around BC (British Columbia) and some of Alberta following the National Parks as we went. We saw the most amazing amazing views and scenery of mountains, rivers, canyons, glaciers, iced over lakes etc and most of the areas under THICK snow which was beautiful! We did just over 3000km in the 12 days and loved it...especially exploring Banff and up to the Icefields Parkway which is a highway through the Rockies...viewing glaciers and icefields on top of these enormous mountains. MIND BLOWINGLY beautiful!!! "WOW", "Gosh", "Awesome", "Look there" and "Oh my word" were things flung around sooooooo much more than we can count. We stayed in Banff longer so as to get the sunny day for this section of the trip and it was the most amazingly blue sky day with no clouds so we were so blessed. We hadn't and haven't had as clear a day since so was incredible all in all. Most of the lakes were still frozen with snow all over the ice and the mountains...and the waterfalls were flowing but amazing ice formations all around them and snow on the banks etc. Totally different environment to what we are used to thats for sure!
On the way back down to Vancouver we stayed another two nights in Whistler with my cousins in almost a different town...the lakes had defrosted, the snow melted, the roads and sidewalks were clear and one of the resort mountains was closed for skiing...We enjoyed some bike riding along the Valley Trail system and even had to navigate some snow around one lake that wasn't melted...Bicycles on snow don't go too well so a lot of pushing was done after attempting to go as far as we could on the snow...sliding all over...
Now that we are back in Vancouver we have just been chilling out, did some wine tastings nearby and also went up to Harrison Lake to do some fishing and have a braai...another blue day with sun - we like that! We are now getting ready for our next leg...New York, New York. And then onto Philedelphia for a few days before our US roadtrip.
Here are some links to photo's we have uploaded for you to see...
Whistler: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=110287&l=5846c&id=639785606
Vancouver and some of the roadtrip: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=110298&l=2c90d&id=639785606
