Canada ... eh
So here I am, back at work from visiting my brother in Canada. I'll post pics later when I have access to my own PC. But for now, I just wanted to do a run-down of what I did during my vacation for posterity's sake.
After working until 2 pm Wednesday afternoon, the fam (minus my dad) flew to Seattle where my sister-in-law picked us up to drive us to Vancouver. It's cheaper to fly to Seatlle and then either have family members pick you up or ride the QuikCoach to cross the Canadian border to get to Vancouver. Got a couple of snapshots with the Space Needle, then drove 2 hours to New Westminster where my bro lives.
The next day, my brother drove us to see where the Winter Olympics will be held next year (which is in a spot close to Whistler). To get there, we took the Sea to Sky Highway. The views along this highway remind me of the landscape/aerial shots in "Twilight". Which makes sense, actually, since it is in the general vicinity. So of course I plug on the iPod and cheesily listen to the movie soundtrack while we drive along. What I love about Canadian highways are that they always have pull-out / viewpoint sections where one can safely pull off the road and take pictures of the awesome scenery. So our family gets a few shots with said scenery (huge tall evergreens along the banks of crystal blue waters with snow-capped mountains in the background).
Afterwards, we go visit Lighthouse Park. Specifically, we hike to Juniper Point. The view once we got there was spectacular! (http://www.trailpeak.com/trail-Lighthouse-Park-Juniper-Point-near-Vancouver-BC-2483). The hike to get there is not too troublesome since it is on a downslope. But the walk back took a bit of a toll on my mom. Little did I know that this was just a taste of things to come. Once we get home, we start packing for two nights at Jasper National Park, which is a 9 hour drive inland from Vancouver.
So the next day, we start our LONG drive. All I can say is that I am glad my bro and I have well-behaved kids. They only went into a "are-we-there-yet" fit once. As soon as we get there, we leave our bags at the lodge, then get back in the van to go on the gondola ride at the summit of Whistler's Mountain. (http://jasperjournal.com/jasper-tramway-experience/the-jasper-tramway-experience-gondola-ride-hiking-and-scenery). So the gondola takes you way up near the summit, but to really get to the peak, you'll have to hike up. The article said that it is not a difficult hike to the top. YEAH RIGHT! The high altitude, which makes it harder for me to breathe, combined with climbing up when my lab rat legs are not used to strenuous activity almost killed me on the way to the top! But amazingly, my mom and I were able to make it! It felt so good to have such an achievement! And the view was well worth it! Oh, and we "illegally" got to feed a golden-tailed squirrel near the peak. We couldn't help it, it was soo cute!
Of course, since we were with my outdoorsman brother, guess what we did the next day? Climb another friggin mountain! Only this time, we climbed into an ACTUAL glacier! (http://www.terragalleria.com/north-america/canada/jasper/jasper.5.html) It is dangerous to actually step on the glacier. So what did we do? Friggin climb up the side of the glacier! The way up was OK, the way down was scary, since we would slip and slide on the ice once in a while.
After lunch, we drove to see Maligne Lake (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maligne_Lake). On the way there, we got to see Medicine Lake (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicine_Lake_(Alberta)), so called because its water level suddenly changes without any regard for the seasons, making people from the First Nations believe it is a magical lake. Ironically, seeing Maligne Lake was sort of anti-climatic because we saw 4 black bears, moose, a family of goats that knew how to "beg" people in cars for food, and white tailed deer on the drive to the lake. But what was more scary were that people were getting out of their cars to take pics of the black bears. All over the highways and even in the brochure they give you upon entering the national park, it specifically says that if you see a black bear, you shouldn't even stop the car and take pictures, let alone get OUT of the car, coz these bears can MAUL YOU! We even backtracked to tell some of the people out on the road to SLOWLY get in their cars since a bear can sprint up to 35 kph as soon as its on attack mode. But they didn't listen. Oh well, people are STUBBORN!
On our final day in Jasper, my sister-in-law wanted to see Mount Edith Cavell (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Edith_Cavell). So again, we hiked onto a trail until we got to see the glacier lake formed by the water from the Angel Glacier on this mountain. I even collected some glacier water to take home. And my bro and I were privy again to the stupidity of some tourists. Underneath the glacier were glacier caves. People were taking pics under the overhang and basically inside these caves ... that had cracks near the top of the caves and had water pouring out (basically melting) of the top. Any small disturbance could cause these caves to collapse and bury them alive (or knock them out since being hit with solid ice is similar to being hit by solid rock. They both bloody hurt and can cause damage!). This time, we let them be. So that afternoon, we drove back to Vancouver.
The next day, we were torn between doing the Grouse Grind (http://www.vancouvertrails.com/trails/grouse-grind/), a 3 km climb to the top of Grouse mountain, or watching the latest Harry Potter. Since I've done the Grind in a previous trip to Vancouver, my husband felt like he sprained his ankle, and my sister-in-law was concerned about being too tired since she had to go to work the next day, HP won. Needless to say, HP was awesome. To make up for the Grind, we decided to go to a MEC store (Mountain Equipment Co-op) instead where I bought relatively cheap hiking gear. I am seriously going to try to do nature hikes more often, especially after this trip. Missouri has a lot of nice nature hike trails. I'll just have to look at reviews to see (1) where they are, (2) how pretty the views are on the trail, and (3) how hard they are since my daughter and I both have to build up our endurance. If I go on more vacations with my brother, which I know I will, I need to build up some stamina since I know he'll want to do similar things again.
Next vaca might be Mt. Rainier or Yellowstone Park. God, who thought the lab rat had an inner outdoorsman in her?
ETA: Forgot to mention that we ate at an all-you-can-eat sushi place on our last night in Vancouver. Our party basically ate like 350 dollars worth of sushi (there were 13 of us, 3 kids). It was AWESOME! This is one of the reasons I miss living by the coast.
After working until 2 pm Wednesday afternoon, the fam (minus my dad) flew to Seattle where my sister-in-law picked us up to drive us to Vancouver. It's cheaper to fly to Seatlle and then either have family members pick you up or ride the QuikCoach to cross the Canadian border to get to Vancouver. Got a couple of snapshots with the Space Needle, then drove 2 hours to New Westminster where my bro lives.
The next day, my brother drove us to see where the Winter Olympics will be held next year (which is in a spot close to Whistler). To get there, we took the Sea to Sky Highway. The views along this highway remind me of the landscape/aerial shots in "Twilight". Which makes sense, actually, since it is in the general vicinity. So of course I plug on the iPod and cheesily listen to the movie soundtrack while we drive along. What I love about Canadian highways are that they always have pull-out / viewpoint sections where one can safely pull off the road and take pictures of the awesome scenery. So our family gets a few shots with said scenery (huge tall evergreens along the banks of crystal blue waters with snow-capped mountains in the background).
Afterwards, we go visit Lighthouse Park. Specifically, we hike to Juniper Point. The view once we got there was spectacular! (http://www.trailpeak.com/trail-Lighthouse-Park-Juniper-Point-near-Vancouver-BC-2483). The hike to get there is not too troublesome since it is on a downslope. But the walk back took a bit of a toll on my mom. Little did I know that this was just a taste of things to come. Once we get home, we start packing for two nights at Jasper National Park, which is a 9 hour drive inland from Vancouver.
So the next day, we start our LONG drive. All I can say is that I am glad my bro and I have well-behaved kids. They only went into a "are-we-there-yet" fit once. As soon as we get there, we leave our bags at the lodge, then get back in the van to go on the gondola ride at the summit of Whistler's Mountain. (http://jasperjournal.com/jasper-tramway-experience/the-jasper-tramway-experience-gondola-ride-hiking-and-scenery). So the gondola takes you way up near the summit, but to really get to the peak, you'll have to hike up. The article said that it is not a difficult hike to the top. YEAH RIGHT! The high altitude, which makes it harder for me to breathe, combined with climbing up when my lab rat legs are not used to strenuous activity almost killed me on the way to the top! But amazingly, my mom and I were able to make it! It felt so good to have such an achievement! And the view was well worth it! Oh, and we "illegally" got to feed a golden-tailed squirrel near the peak. We couldn't help it, it was soo cute!
Of course, since we were with my outdoorsman brother, guess what we did the next day? Climb another friggin mountain! Only this time, we climbed into an ACTUAL glacier! (http://www.terragalleria.com/north-america/canada/jasper/jasper.5.html) It is dangerous to actually step on the glacier. So what did we do? Friggin climb up the side of the glacier! The way up was OK, the way down was scary, since we would slip and slide on the ice once in a while.
After lunch, we drove to see Maligne Lake (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maligne_Lake). On the way there, we got to see Medicine Lake (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicine_Lake_(Alberta)), so called because its water level suddenly changes without any regard for the seasons, making people from the First Nations believe it is a magical lake. Ironically, seeing Maligne Lake was sort of anti-climatic because we saw 4 black bears, moose, a family of goats that knew how to "beg" people in cars for food, and white tailed deer on the drive to the lake. But what was more scary were that people were getting out of their cars to take pics of the black bears. All over the highways and even in the brochure they give you upon entering the national park, it specifically says that if you see a black bear, you shouldn't even stop the car and take pictures, let alone get OUT of the car, coz these bears can MAUL YOU! We even backtracked to tell some of the people out on the road to SLOWLY get in their cars since a bear can sprint up to 35 kph as soon as its on attack mode. But they didn't listen. Oh well, people are STUBBORN!
On our final day in Jasper, my sister-in-law wanted to see Mount Edith Cavell (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Edith_Cavell). So again, we hiked onto a trail until we got to see the glacier lake formed by the water from the Angel Glacier on this mountain. I even collected some glacier water to take home. And my bro and I were privy again to the stupidity of some tourists. Underneath the glacier were glacier caves. People were taking pics under the overhang and basically inside these caves ... that had cracks near the top of the caves and had water pouring out (basically melting) of the top. Any small disturbance could cause these caves to collapse and bury them alive (or knock them out since being hit with solid ice is similar to being hit by solid rock. They both bloody hurt and can cause damage!). This time, we let them be. So that afternoon, we drove back to Vancouver.
The next day, we were torn between doing the Grouse Grind (http://www.vancouvertrails.com/trails/grouse-grind/), a 3 km climb to the top of Grouse mountain, or watching the latest Harry Potter. Since I've done the Grind in a previous trip to Vancouver, my husband felt like he sprained his ankle, and my sister-in-law was concerned about being too tired since she had to go to work the next day, HP won. Needless to say, HP was awesome. To make up for the Grind, we decided to go to a MEC store (Mountain Equipment Co-op) instead where I bought relatively cheap hiking gear. I am seriously going to try to do nature hikes more often, especially after this trip. Missouri has a lot of nice nature hike trails. I'll just have to look at reviews to see (1) where they are, (2) how pretty the views are on the trail, and (3) how hard they are since my daughter and I both have to build up our endurance. If I go on more vacations with my brother, which I know I will, I need to build up some stamina since I know he'll want to do similar things again.
Next vaca might be Mt. Rainier or Yellowstone Park. God, who thought the lab rat had an inner outdoorsman in her?
ETA: Forgot to mention that we ate at an all-you-can-eat sushi place on our last night in Vancouver. Our party basically ate like 350 dollars worth of sushi (there were 13 of us, 3 kids). It was AWESOME! This is one of the reasons I miss living by the coast.