The Kootenay run, and hot springs testing.

Back to the Kootenays! Bring on the Hot springs!

As I may have mentioned in my  last post, we first began our hot springs adventures, ( addictions may be a better word for it here... ) at the Fairmont hot springs resort. A very nice place indeed, with the resort hot springs pool , and then a path down to a natural hot springs with a nice view  ( the natural hot springs being our favourite of the two choices, though not as hot as the resorts  hot springs pool .. ) Once we managed to drag ourselves out of there, we were off to Cranbrook for a leaky tire change, and then onward to Garland Bay for a night of camping before descending on Nelson for a week of visitation and fun with friends. ( and more hot springs... did I mention we may have become addicted to this habit?... )

Nelson is a very pretty town, lots of artists and musicians reside in the area , so it has a great culture in  that fashion, as well as some pretty excellent coffee.. ( Sidewinders, and Oso Negro coffee... Yummmmmmmm....)  Our week here has been well spent, catching up with friends, musical jamming, ( Rob, ) reading, ( Me ) , lunch dates, walks and naps, and of course, more hot springs!!

We tried out two different hot springs while we were here, the first being Halcien hot springs, ( nice, quiet, pretty views, ) But our all time favourite hands down, is the hot springs at Ainsworth. They have the two hot springs pools, and the requisite cold plunge, but the thing that stole my heart about this place, is the caves....

I think I see now, where the artistic directors for alien movies get their ideas from. The caves are like a natural sauna, the steam from the water rising, the calcium covered rock walls dripping water, and from that water comes the beautiful carved shapes in the white , grey and rust colored stones. In here, you can just lounge and relax in the semi dark, sitting on a stone carved bench in the water, I didn't want to leave..

All in all, our week in Nelson has been relaxing and fun, thanks to Nelson, for as always opening his home to us, to Brenda, for amazing dinner, to Robbie and Beth, for fantastic dinner and drinks, and to everyone, for your brilliant company, conversations and hugs.

Off again and nearing home....

 Until the next blog, C, R, and Sir Vanagon.

Jasper and the ice fields highway, and back to beautiful B.C.!

Getting closer to home... and currently tucked into the wilds of the Jasper ice field highway. Its gorgeous here... epic , really. Driving down a winding highway with a glacier beside you is really something worth seeing.

 We didn't spend a long time in Jasper, just one night at Whistles campsite, where we had our first wolf sighting on this trip, and had a mellow morning wandering around the town of Jasper itself, coffee's in hand. We did spend one  more night of camping , at Wilcox creek campsite, and had a pretty awsome view of the mountains and their glacier caps that night, along with about 10, 000 ,000 stars.... cold nights, but pretty perfect for watching the universe pass by.

Once past the ice fields, we are on our merry way back to beautiful B.C. ...  with a stop in at Yoho national park for two days of relaxation, hiking up to Takakawa falls, ( Some of the largest falls in Canada reside here. ) , rock slide watching, ( a small one across the river from our campsite, but the noise it made was still quite impressive! ) , and general sun soaking. From there its down to the Fairmont hot springs, where we spent an evening in the resorts hot springs, before trying out the natural hot springs down a trail from the resort. Rather nice to have the spot all to ourselves there, and though not as warm as the resorts springs themselves, they definately had a nicer view.

Off to the Kootneys next, another hotspring dip at Ainsworth hot springs, camping at Garland recreation site, facing fabulous Garland bay, and off to Nelson B.C. for visiting friends, and catching the last summer rays before the frost...

Until the next post...

               C & R.

North West Territories!! The wild and the wooly...

We have arrived! Sticker achievement!! ( High fives!!! ) The Northwest territories are as beautiful as they are remote... seems a long way to go for a sticker, but very well worth it.

 Our first passing into NWT, was the 60th parallel!! :)  A brief stop in at the visitors center to get our bearings, and then its off to Hay river for a couple nights of camping and aurora borealis scouting.... not much luck there unfortunately, we arrived during its "quiet" time, but we still did manage to glimpse the pale greens streaking across the sky like ghosts. Not a bad place for star watching though, and had some pretty epic moon through the clouds looking too. Hay river is a nice town, bigger than we had imagined, and kind of odd as well, they have one lonely highrise sprouting up amongst the smaller buildings in the town.

From there, we made our way to Yellowknife, home to many highrises and a small city with a population of about 20,000 people. We treated ourselves to lunch, and then we were off to Prelude lake for a couple nights of relaxation and entertainment. ( Bruce, a local who runs the campsite during the summer, gave us a good rundown on the nightlife, scenery, and the aurora borealis. ) We lounged, built grand campfires, and even had an evening visit with a rather surprised fox.  The lake itself is quite nice, with a pretty excellent hiking trail with odd meandering steps and tilted walkways that lead up the rocks to an overlook of the lake. Pretty, and cold.... the nights are definately getting chilly up here.....

Back down from Yellowknife we go, to Twin Falls, for  one more night of camping before we trek back down this bison filled highway... Twin falls is  pretty stunning in itself, you can follow a few trails to lookout points and pathways to various falls that traverse their way down the river gorge. Its neat too, how you can see where the treeline and the cliff meet so perfectly on  the opposite side of the river. We got some pretty good photos, some of which I will post to this blog to share.

All in all, NWT was well worth the trek, we saw a tonne of bison and their calves running along the side of the highway, plenty of eagles, our lone fox, and more squirrels than you could shake a stick at. The aurora borealis may have been elusive, but we'll catch it in its full glory one of these days!

 Jasper and the ice fields bound! Until the next trip,

                                   C & R.

A pictoral post of Saskatchewan and Alberta...

We are burning our way across these provinces quickly in an effort to make it up to the Northwest territories sooner than later... so there is not much to report here, with the exception of two lovely campsites we quite like, and I think they deserve a little attention.

 The first campsite, is Buffalo pound provincial park. A very pleasant surprise in the praries,  I had gotten so used to the flat landscape here, that this park came as a complete surprise! Travelling across the flat wheat filled lands, only to suddenly be driving down a hill into a gorge, where the river twists and turns beside hills and trees....

The second campsite to mention here, is Elk Island national park. Be on the lookout for bison here, they are plentiful, and don't shy away from walking alongside or across the road at any given time. It also has a beautiful  lake and day area, and some of the most amazing sunsets we've seen on this trip so far.

Onward north!!!!

                     C & R.

Ottawa, our nations capital!!

Back to Ontario we go!! And this time around, we head first for Ottawa. ...

It's a beautiful city here, as it should be, being the nations capital and all!! Seriously, we arrived here on a very sunny day, which was perfect for setting off the beauty of this city. We made our way to the Parliment buildings to kick off our tour, and they did not dissapoint. Huge, gothic, highly impressive, with large spreading grounds, the architecture of the buildings is lovely.( Makes me think of Scotland...) From there, we meandered our way around the Byward market, perusing the spread of various fruits, vegetables, and handmade jewlery and clothing goods before grabbing a bite of lunch and making our way over to the space and science museum. If you have kids, or are like a kid  yourself, this is a great museum to visit. Lots of interactive displays, and its free after 4pm! :)

 Later in the evening, we found our way to friends of Robs, Colin and Julie, for dinner, samplings of their delicious ( and should be famous , we think! ) home brewed beer, and the amusing antics of their two little girls. Rob even gave an impromptu guitar lesson to the older of the two, much to her delight. Thanks again guys, for great company and conversation!!!

Leaving Ottawa, we head North! ( We are trying not to drive the same roads or ways twice if we can help it on this trip, gives us a good view of each province as a whole. ) So, its off to the Kettle Lakes for an evening of camping and hiking up to the falls there, before making our way to Timmons, ( home of Shania Twain...) , Moonbeam, ( yes, they have a small alien spacecraft at their visitors center, how could you not stop there???) , and off into the wild logging back roads for a couple nights of free camping. ( Blissfully mosquito free this time!!! ) Crown land camping comes in handy when one is travelling through Ontario, we have discovered, as the campsites can be quite expensive. ...

 Off we go again, just a quick trip through Ontario this time, ( quick being a relative term... Ontario is HUGE!!!!! ) as we gradually make our way back towards Manitoba and  Saskatchewan... we are headed towards the Northwest Territories next.... ( Gotta get that sticker!!!! )

Until the next post..... C & R.

Bonjour , Quebec!

Its a funny thing...

 Before we left on this journey, when people found out we would be travelling through Quebec, they would say " but you hardly know any french! "  Even in New  Brunswick, a few people there were mildly surprised we would be travelling the roads less travelled through the province, before hitting up some of the bigger cities. This, I admit, made me slightly nervous. Which, in hindsight, is incredibly silly. I've travelled through Paris and Belgium and managed fine on my limited grasp of the french language... why should Quebec be any different?

Much to our collective relief, it isn't, and perhaps even better. There are some places in Quebec, along the Gaspe peninsula for instance, where english is hard to come by, and one campsite in particular where we struggled through my french to find enough words to enquire about the price and availability of a campsite, ( quel est le prix du camping pour un nuit? )  only to be told at the end of the conversation, " your french is good. "  The test has been passed, the fear abated. Welcome, to Quebec.

We spent our first few days in Quebec exploring the Gaspe peninsula, a myriad of small towns dotting an extensive and very nice shoreline, before slowly making our way up to Baie St Paul. It's lovely here, a beautiful town full of galleries, a huge church in the center, ( Rob played a gig here last year with his bandmates.) and a most excellent microbrewery. The campsite we stayed at here, Balcon Verte, offered a fantastic hilltop view of the city, and thanks to the offerings of a fellow camper, some really good croissants for breakfast!

From Baie St Paul, we meandered oour way up through Taddossac to Saguenay national park, through Stoneham and into Quebec city.

Quebec city, is amazing. Huge , historical, and very beautiful. We toured through old town for one very hot afternoon, perusing the shops and admiring the architecture before stopping in at Sacrilege bar, for a pint of Cheval Blanc and a rest on one of the nicest patios in Canada. We also stopped in to visit Bernard, the proprieter of a jazz bar that Rob met through one of his bandmates last year, and caught up on some of the stories and tales of Quebec city, and the jazz bar itself. ( Bernard has owned this establlishment for the last 40 years... )

Onward from Quebec city, we stopped to catch our breath and do some hiking through La Mauricie national park, and then it was off to Montreal for a couple days of exploration, shopping, viewtop lookouts, and catch up with our friend William, whom we would like to thank along with his lovely lady Marie, for the excellent dinner and fabulous company!!!!!

Montreal is a really great blend of old and new, with some amazing galleries, and spectacular views. We both are rather enamoured with the architecture here, and I especially love the winding metal staircases that lead up to so many of the apartments around the city...

One thing for certain, Quebec has made us want to become fluent in our french, and most defiinately come back for a visit!!!

  And so, our adventure continues, onward to Ottawa, and a completion of our tour of Ontario!

                 Until the next post, C & R.

Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and revisiting New Brunswick.

A small confession here, we did spend the better part of  three days in Cape Breton before our journey to Newfoundland, and continued our travels through Cape Breton and the Cabot trail upon our return, but I thought I would do the whole of this part of Nova Scotia in one uninterrupted blog.

 So! We managed to get a fair amount done in those first three days before our break to Newfoundland. Spending our first evening at Battery provincial park, overlooking the Atlantic coastline and Bras d'Or lake, was a good way to relax before our business needs the next day.

Business needs , you say? In a manner of speaking, yes. We have, up to this point, traveled some rather rough roads, and in anticipation of Newfoundlands roads, ( they did not disappoint! )we decided to head off into Sydney for a much needed tire alignment, rotation, and oil change...

During this time while we awaited the completion of Sir Vanagons spa treatment, we took advantage of the loaner car the company gave  us and set off in search  of lunch and used book stores, both of which were aquired in short and satisfying order!

 Sir Vanagons spa day completed, we were off to do a trip through  Glace bay, and then off to Mira park for a few nights of camping and stray cat friend making, ( Rob had to restrain himself from smuggling him in the van with him, it made such an impression! ) before we were off on our 16 hour ferry ride to Newfoundland!

Returning from Newfoundland to Cape Breton was a much shorter affair, only a 6 hour ride, and at our 4am departure time, allowed us leave for a short nap and some dolphin watching  along the trip. Arriving once again in Sydney, we made our way to the nearest picnic park for a much needed 2 hour nap before starting our tour of the Cabot Trail.

We began our tour with a trip into the town of Ingonish, for groceries and various supplies before heading to Broad Cove for an evenings worth of camping, and continued on through the next morning, stopping in at Neils harbour, Pleasant bay, Cheticamp, and lastly Mabou, ( home of the Red Shoe pub, owned by the famous Rankin family. ) all along the way admiring the views and calm weather.

 Back out of the park, we camped out for an evening at Caribou - Munroes provincial park, before heading into Amherst for more supplies, and making our way back into New Brunswick and Kouchibouguac national park.Here, we found a most excellent, ( and cheap! ) campspot, nestled in the trees and right on the ocean, and being that we arrived on the first day of lobster season here... found myself wishing desperately for a big enough pot!!! Two glorious nights, two most excellent thunderstorms, ( there is something to be said for washing your hair in the rain... ) and we're off again. .. back to the Fundy coast to explore the Hopewell rocks. A beautiful hike, a sunshiney day, and a walk on the ocean floor... where once there was 46 meters of water, when the tide goes out, the island bases are exposed, and you are free to wander amongst them until the tide comes back to claim them 6 hours later. ( A very cool experience! )

Fredericton was our last big town stop in New Brunswick, a quaint university town full of culture, good  breakfast, scenic views, and good bookstores... and as I type this we are very near the Quebec border, at Sugarloaf provincial park. ( Mountain bikers take note... you should come to this park!!!!! Its defiinately catering to you... lifts up the mountain, killer trails and jumps... you know you wanna.... )

 And so, until the  next blog...

                     Carla, Rob, and Sir V.