Three Valley Chateau Revelstoke

... in a small town, joining the locals in a sports bar, and had a great feed of nachos, hamburgers, and a salad. We continued on, following highway 97A, which wound along beside narrow lakes until reaching Revelstoke around sunset. I took a swim in the Super 8 motel pool, and soaked for a while in the hot tub to get rejuvenated. What a day. Googoo did well. She might not look like much, but she's got it where it counts.

... about Karelian Dogs which they are starting to use to teach bears the boundaries of 'human territory' which they shouldn't cross. Bears are a bit of a problem in Canada, once people start feeding them they then get dehumanised, then start getting aggressive, at which time they are shot. So a lot of work is now going into finding other ways of controlling this problem. Everywhere ...

... By the time that we returned to our car, we were hungry for lunch. We returned down part of the mountain to the Monashee Mountains Overlook that we had seen on the way up. Talk about a table with a view, do not miss the picture of Jim enjoying lunch.

On the way back to our campground, we stopped to walk the Skunk Cabbage Boardwalk. This 1.2 meter interpretive loop goes through Columbia ...

... efforts through the pass.

Along with all of the railroad history, Glacier National Park contains more than 400 glaciers. These make the mountaintops so spectacular. Avalanches are still a problem. They use howitzer shells to set off small avalanches to prevent large ones. Trans Canada Highway 1 is partially protected by snow sheds. The snowfall is much heavier on the western side of the continental divide.

... water was pretty cold but I managed a swim at both 9pm and 7am.

It was also the night for getting to know my fellow travellers on the Moose bus. I'm trying a lot harder to remember names so I don't end up with the situation I had in Vancouver, where I couldn't remember the names of half the people I met.

Later we head on to the rockies, which is what we've all been waiting for really.

... of the hotel, and to the back car park. It was getting a little tight for the Castle to turn around so a three (or was it 4) point turn, and head away from this old landmark (at least to Earnie and Rick it was!). Back out the driveway and down towards the golf course to execute another Castle special 3 or 4 or 5 point turn, to find a car park to observe the nice waterfall behind the hotel. Ok enough of Banff, lets hit the road, as we retraced our steps to find the exit road ...

... herbs at the Carp Farmers Market in the Ottawa Valley. And hiking the local trails in spite of the seemingly endless rainy weather made us appreciate all the more the cozy wood-stove warmth back in the cottage. Yves wasn't alone in extending unbelievable hospitality to complete strangers. Mary & Carl, having travelled extensively overland in a campervan to China as well as throughout South America, found our website almost a year ago and invited us to spend time with them ...

... stuck up high in the mountains with little else to do other than ski, bike and play golf, so maybe I'll be going back there one day, who knows? In the end I stayed here for 3 nights but quite easily could have stayed more... Again words only go so far, see the pictures for more, unfortunately I didn't get that many pics here, mainly cause the weather was *****, but the few I did get should sell the place. Next on to Kelowna....

... Exhausting, yet inspiring; frustrating, yet a joyous release. Two year olds can really teach us old folks a thing or two. I was forever stopping and becoming present to the lessons she was teaching me in every moment. Kids really live in the present, in a way that we as adults have completely lost the ability to do, even when we say we want to "be present". And they have a wonderful way (albeit frustrating at times) of showing their exact ...

... with even more amazing views. After what we have seen today and looking back at the photos of Whistler (which we thought had great views) they now seem almost mediocre. After exploring downtown, we took a short trip to Lake Minnewanka, yes that is it's name...ha..ha..(simple things). Then we came upon a little recreation ...