Canada

So as most of you probably know, the family split up for different adventures over the month of September. My mother and sister flew to South Africa whilst my brother, my dad and I went to Canada. My mother went to surprise her mother for her 70^th birthday and my sister went on a trip to Ireland with our nana. Canada was absolutely breathtaking, a beautiful country with so much to offer. You cannot be far from God in a place like that. We did so much, and saw so much, yet we haven’t even scratched the surface.

On the ferry

We arrived at Vancouver airport and were fetched by Robert (our Canadian friend who we sailed with at the beginning of the year). Naturally, here I was leaving the airport in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, needless to say I definitely underestimated Canadian weather as it wasn’t long before I was covered in goose bumps. We took the ferry to Vancouver Island, where Robert’s place was. Despite the cold, I was up top on the ferry in awe of the beauty around me. There simply are no words to describe how spectacular the scenery was. Once on Vancouver Island, Robert took us to his place in Craig Bay in Parksville, Nanaimo. We had drinks and caught up on all the lost time since we had seen him last. Our previous encounter was upon our boats, yet we meet again upon solid ground. We went for dinner at Boston Pizza and soon after, we decided to close our tired eyes for the night.

Drinks at Robert's place.

Favourite spot at Robert's place

The next morning was running once again. It had been months since my last run with my crazy running partner. It was obvious that I hadn’t run in a while but as usual he pushed me forward. We came to a beautiful river and to this day I’m still not sure why, but we took off our shoes and walked across this river. The water felt like ice and I soon lost feeling in my toes. As usual, being my clumsy self, down I fell and got drenched in this freezing water up to my waist. Haha, there was nothing else to do but laugh at myself as I shot out of that water at the speed of a bullet. The next stop was to a market, whose roof was covered in grass and there were goats walking around and eating the grass! We walked around the little shops and got the biggest ice-cream scoops in the history of mankind! I also found a little shop where I picked up a few more records (yes, I know I have to cart them through the airport eventually but I just couldn’t resist.). We went out for dinner to a beautiful lodge and had the bubbliest waitress; it was a real pleasure being served by her. Only our second day in Canada and I was completely in love with the place.

Goats on the roof

Butterfly park

The next morning Robert left for Edmonton, and we were on the island for a few days before we began our road trip to Edmonton to meet up with him again. By Robert’s house is a small yoga studio which I enjoyed doing hot yoga at. I also went for a walk on the same trail Robert and I had run, this time though, I dared myself to swim in the river. So I did . . . I came out feeling refreshed and similar to an ice cube. Once the sun thawed me out a bit, it was back to the condo. In case you were wondering where the other two were in this occasion, they were strapped to the television watching the American Open tennis. On a day that I could finally drag them (with many complaints) away from the television screen, we went to a little museum. The museum showed old buildings and told us a bit about Vancouver Island. The most memorable part of the museum was the man we bought our tickets from. We had a very long, very interesting conversation with him. Just for me, my dad and my brother took me to the butterfly sanctuary. I was in another world as I walked around this place where these magnificent creatures flew around with such an elegant beauty. I never wanted to leave, but I eventually had to.

Craig Heritage Park Museum

Just over a week in Vancouver Island and it was already time to pack up the car and begin our road trip to Edmonton. We boarded the early ferry to Horshoe Bay and drove to our first destination, Whistler. We stopped at  Lion Bay, Shannon Falls and the Brandywine Falls along the way . . . we were constantly being struck by awe as we saw these magnificent creations, one after the other. We got so lost in the scenery that before we knew it, we were arriving in Whistler. Once in our little hotel, we walked around the little town and had dinner.

Shannon Falls

Scenery on the drive

Brandywine Falls

'Strolling In Paris' - Kal Gajoum

We spent the next day in Whistler. We went up the gondola to the top of the ski slopes. We were greeted by a stunning view once again. There were a few monks at the top, sitting and soaking up the view, meditating upon life I suppose. With a place so beautiful it’s impossibly to believe that a God does not exist. We took the Peak to Peak Gondola to the other peak and what can I say . . . the views once again! There was a cycle race on in Whistler where people cycled from Vancouver all the way to Whistler. We met a lady whose husband was doing the race and he had recently had hip surgery, his friend was also doing it in sandals as he broke his toe and couldn’t fit his foot into his shoe!!!! Due to the race, they had a concert at the Whistler Olympic Stadium. I sat and watched that for a while and then decided to venture into the art gallery I had been eyeing for a while. I walked in an instantly fell in love with an artist called Kal Gajoum. He uses oils and paints only with a palette knife. He paints city scenes but he uses strong vivid colours in a few parts of the painting and as you lower the light on the painting it darkens, but the vivid colours come to life making the day scene turn into a night scene . . . it was spectacular!

Monks meditating

The next morning we said farewell to Whistler and started our drive to Jasper. We had planned to stop half way but the scenery was so spectacular that time kept on flying by and eventually we were driving into Jasper National Park. I had been banned from liquids in the car however, as the two men in the car were hating the frequent bathroom stops. We spent the night at the Athabasca hotel, a quaint place with lots of character. It was filled with old antique furniture.

Whistler mountain

When I stepped outside the following morning, I froze. We had to go and buy a jacket for me that was actually warm. Once I had the jacket and a pair of gloves, we went up the Jasper Tramway to the top of Whistler Mountain. It was snowing when we reached the top. We walked out across the snow-covered ground . . . and then the snowballs started flying. I turned to pick up snow (not thinking) and wham! One hit me right in the butt! I retaliated with a great shot, hitting my brother right on target. Eventually we were both too cold to even pick up snow and the wind began, freezing us inside out. We went inside for lunch and had a nice warm vegetable soup. After our snow trip we drove to Medicine Lake where it started snowing again! The lake was called Medicine Lake as it disappeared completely during the summertime so the natives believed it was magic. We drove to Maligne Canyon and then Maligne Lake, also both breathtaking. The Lake was like glass as it reflected the mountains around it. As we were driving back to the hotel, we saw what we had all been hoping for. . . a black bear. It came right next to our car, eating berries off of a plant before walking across the road back into the bushes somewhere. We were all stoked that we had finally seen a bear!

Snowball Fight

Medicine Lake

Maligne Lake

Black bear

Miette Hot Springs

The next morning on our way out of Jasper, we stopped at the Miette Hot springs. We all climbed in a hot pool heated to 40 degrees and then followed that by taking a very QUICK dip into the 10 degree pool and then back into the hot pool. It made your skin feel like it was on fire as we switched from hot to cold and back to hot again. We drove the last leg of the road trip and arrived in Edmonton around 5pm. We went to Robert’s office (Weinrich Contracting Limited) and were greeted by a friendly face that belonged to Robert’s mom, Sheila. She took us to her house for drinks and we all caught up until it was time to meet up with Robert and Jodie for dinner at the Thai restaurant. It was a great dinner, and the smiles of every face at that table are imprinted in my mind as well as my heart. It was a happy moment . . . I can’t describe it any other way. Robert took Joshua and my dad to his place to sleep, whilst I went back to Sheila’s house as she had kindly offered for me to stay in her spare room. We sat up chatting for a while; it was great getting to know Sheila on a new level. Her two beautiful dogs, Duchess and Scooter, also eventually warmed up to me.

There is still so much to tell you about our time in Canada, and I will, so look out for the next blog post, it will be coming shortly.