• 2 Ikea folding chairs
• Plates, cups, cookware and cutlery (donated to clubhouse downstairs)
• Really old foam mattress and the sheets on it
• Whole bunch of toiletries, paper towels and that kind of stuff
• A lot of food, we left this outside our door with a note asking people to take what they wanted, or donate the remainder to charity

After an hour of packing on Monday morning, the car was finally filled to the max. We couldn’t open the rear doors because things that we stuffed in there would fall out if we did! The car weighed down with the weight of 8 months of living, we set off for Vancouver. Good bye Calgary!

The weather report didn’t look too promising the night before, and we encountered rain by the time we reached Revelstoke. We stopped for lunch at Denny’s, which was crowded and served fairly substandard food. Getting back on the road, the rain wasn’t too heavy until we reached Kamloops. We decided to stop at Tim Horton’s and got 2 Ice Caps and a box of Timbits. Once we were on the Coquihalla the rain got much heavier; visibility was down to a minimum and standing water was everywhere on the road. Despite the weather, we kept pressing on and kept pace with some other cars, including a Nissan Murano that was maintaining a good 140 km/h in the rain! After some hairy moments, we emerged from the rain into a typical cloudy Vancouver evening. Traffic was heavy (as always) coming in on Hwy 1, but we managed to make it back to Richmond in good time for dinner.

We’ve been spending the past few days unpacking and just catching up on things. One of the things we missed most about Vancouver was the excellent sushi available at low low prices. We succummbed to the desire the very next day we were back and hit up Samurai Sushi for lunch. Esther got the always massive California rolls while I loaded on nigiri sushi as usual. I tried toro (tuna belly) for the first time, and I love it! The fat and the tender fish meat go perfectly. It’s as good as salmon IMHO.

The rest of the week will be spent on getting Esther’s new computer up and running, rearranging her room, and working on some other random stuff. I had an interview this morning, so I am eagerly waiting to hear back from them!

Anyway back to the hike. Since Esther had a day off, we decided to make the most of our last week in Calgary. We drove out to Banff in the morning and headed to Tunnel Mountain. The initial first few minutes were quite steep, especially for hiking neophytes like us, but it soon levelled out and we were going at a steady pace. The views were nice down below, but as we moved further up, the views became more and more spectacular, allowing us to see the downtown area of Banff, the Banff Springs Hotel and Banff Hot Springs easily. Near the top, the trail looped around to the other side of the mountain, showing us a view of a golf course way down below and beautiful vistas stretching for miles.

Banff Springs Hotel in the distance

Staring into the distance… think this was about the halfway point

Round the other side of the mountain… it was a sheer cliff down from here! Thank goodness for the railing!

The drive up there from Calgary was uneventful; there is no major highway leading to Drumheller, so driving there consists of travelling on farm access roads. These dual carraigeways have a speed limit of 100km/h, so it only took an hour or so to get there.

Our first stop was the Royal Tyrell Museum. Here’s a little blurb about the place from the website.

There’s been life on Earth for more than 3.5 billion years, so we have a lot to show you: ten signature galleries and feature exhibitions that celebrate the spectacular history and diversity of life on Earth, and the palaeontologists who bring the story to life. Learn about the projects and passions of our scientists. Watch our technicians carefully removing the rock from fossils that may hold new clues to the past. Tour our Discoveries Hall to see some of our prize specimens.

Then, begin your journey through geological time. With every step, you’ll experience the evolution of life. From sea dwellers to the Tyrrell’s BIG attraction, the dinosaurs; to the rise of those furry little mammals and many of Earth’s inhabitants in between. It’s all here. Dozens of skeletons and hundreds of fossils that tell the story of ancient Alberta.

Opened in 1985, the Royal Tyrrell Museum is known the world over as an outstanding palaeontology museum and research facility. The Government of Alberta under the ministry of Community Development operates the Museum. Our mandate is to collect, conserve, research, display and interpret palaeontological history with special reference to Alberta’s fossil heritage.

The museum was beautiful, with lots of real fossils, and mockups of dinosaurs. Seeing a life size Tyrannosaurus rex is pretty scary, you can just imagine how they could grab you up with those massive jaws and crush you into dinner in seconds! Photography was difficult in the musuem; tripods were not allowed so I had to make do with shaky hands and blurry pictures.

After touring the Museum, we grabbed a quick lunch at the cafeteria and then headed out to explore further. It was a HOT day, probably in the 30s, so we were both suffering from the intense sunlight, thus the squinting in the pictures!

Feeding a drink to the dinosaur… he must be hot out there!

Having viewed the Museum, we then embarked on a driving tour of the area, following the 48km long Dinosaur Trail. There are many scenic viewpoints along the way, which allows visitors to truly experience the weirdness of the surrounding lands.

The Bleriot Ferry marks the halfway point of the Dinosaur Trail. It is one of the last cable operated ferries remaining in Alberta.

After completing the drive, we headed south towards another minor attraction in the region; the Hoodoos. These are some weird rock formations that have been carved out of the rock over thousands of years.

Escaping the heat of the sun!

Our final destination was the Rosedale Suspension Bridge. It’s a 117m long suspension bridge over a murky river that was used by miners to cross the river to a coal mine over 40 years ago. It’s peanuts compared to Capilano Suspension Bridge but it’s a piece of Alberta history.

After that, we were hot and tired so we decided to head for home. Turning the air con in the car up to max sure helped!

Having never seen a rodeo (or a horse up close for that matter), Esther and I decided to head down to the rodeo on a Saturday to see what all the fuss was about. We bought tickets online and headed down on the C-Train to Stampede Park!

Although it rained the night before, Stampede Park was packed with people determined to enjoy their day. The park itself is like a very big PNE/Playlandfun fair, with a multitude of food & game stalls. They even have beer gardens for adults to enjoy a nice cool one and soak in the atmosphere.

The rodeo itself was pretty cool, especially for a first timer. I’ll let the pictures do the talking.

Waiting for the rodeo to begin

The rodeo itself.

Cow milking demonstration haha!

Plan:
Friday – Banff and Lake Louise
Saturday – Columbia Icefields, then the drive up to Jasper
Sunday – Drive back to Calgary
The Icefields Parkway is one of the most scenic drives I have ever driven. Stretching from just north of Lake Louise to Jasper, it threads its way through the Rocky Mountains for hundreds of kilometers. The entire route is packed with scenic viewpoints, wildlife and amazing vistas.

Check out this lake!

Locked out of the car in the middle of nowhere! Luckily we found a mechanic who was able to unlock the car for us (on a sunday too!)

Back on the road… curves galore!

Welcome to Alberta!

Alberta Beef! The steak really is amazing, so tender and juicy, I can’t wait to have more!

Red Lobster… seafood madness!

West Edmonton Mall… big but kinda boring really. Besides the waterpark and amusement park it’s just the same old mall again.

Hwy 1 leading out of Calgary… heading home! The temperature was much much lower than when we first got to Calgary. We arrived there amidst warm air and summer like sunshine. Unfortunately the weather decided to turn against us and drop to freezing within 4 days, good thing everyone brought a jacket!

Banff Springs Hotel

Lake Louise, too bad it was all frozen over