Road Trippin - Part 3 - Big Bigger Biggest!

Yep - we got more snow overnight!!! 

With Big White a bit of a distant memory (sort of!!) we headed to West Edmonton Mall on our third day.  This shopping mall if compared to a dinosaur would be the father of all Tyrannosaurous Rex’s. Look up the word “big” in the thesaurus and I am sure you would find that West Edmonton Mall is listed as a synonym. Apart from the usual myriad of specialty stores it houses a waterpark, amuzement park (complete with 3 loop rollercoaster), aquarium, ice-skating rink, seal show, three themed 'streets' and until July a collection of memorabilia celebrating the life and charity work of Princess Diana.  Mum, Dad and I walked through this beautiful display whilst Bren and the boys went on a few more rides at the amuzement  park.  One could easily spend a few days at this mall.  It really is phenomenal and certainly not the type of shop you’d pop into for a litre of milk and a loaf of bread on the way home from work.

Tempting - but we did not purchase a handbag!!! 

The mall is that big that Dad decided to explore
 it via scooter power.

Tempting - but we didn't buy this either...

Our little maestro - conducting the fountains in the centre of the mall.

We took our weary legs and bodies back to our accommodation before deciding to go for a drive east to Elk Island National Park.  This national park is renowned for its abundance of wildlife, in particular Bison.  The sun made its presence known once more and just as it dipped below the horizon we saw some Bison grazing in the snowcovered fields. They are huge, hairy beasts and look quite at home (not to mention warm) standing around in the cold.

With the weather now in our favour Bren and I eagerly logged onto softserve news to find out how active the northern lights would be in the area.  Our excitement built as we found out that there would be a 30-40% chance of seeing them tonight.  After dinner Mum, Bren and I rugged ourselves up as warmly as possible.  We dressed the kids the same way and bundled them into the car with warm blankets and pillows so they could sleep whilst we watched and waited for the Northern lights to put on a show.  Unfortunately as much as we wanted to see them, we did not.  Atmospheric conditions just did not allow us the good fortune to see this wonderful meteorological display.  We stayed out until well past midnight driving to the darkest place we could find outside Edmonton but gave up when we both got too tired to try any more.  Thankfully the kids slept the whole time so unlike Bren, Mum and I they were not sleep deprived. We were all very appreciative of  our warm comfortable bed when we finally hit the pillows. 

zzzzzzzz

Road Trippin - Part 2 - A large Serve of Winter Please

Part 2

Mum and Dad were keen to experience wintery conditions and on this trip to Canada they certainly got what they ordered. The temperature on day two in Lake Louise was a  cold -11c and about 14cm of snow had fallen overnight.  Our first stop on day two of our road trip was to see Lake Louise and Mount Victoria in all their wintery glory. 

There's a chair in there.....

As fortune would have it not long after we arrived the clouds parted and the sun shone gently down on us.  The opportunity to view a frozen waterfall at the end of the lake beckoned us to walk along a snowy trail.  Here the boys collected icicles, trudged through thick mounds of fluffy snow and asked “are we there yet?” more than a few times.  After about an hour or so we did  “get to” the end of the lake only to be disappointed that the frozen waterfall wasn’t there.  That was until we turned around and there it was; a massive body of blueish water frozen in time.  It loomed above us and the urge to climb up the steep hill at its base to get a little bit closer was too difficult to resist.   It was not an easy climb in the least.  It took a lot of physical effort to inch our way up by digging footholds into the snow.  At the top we were afforded not only close up views of the frozen water but tremendous views of the surrounding area.  Climbing to the top was fun but sliding down was even better!  It was like sliding down a very long, very steep, very frozen and very cold slippery slide.  Although fun the desire to do it again was non-existant.  Instead we made our way back to the Chateau for a warm drink and rest. 

Seth hitched a ride for a short time on the back
of another visitor's cross country skis.  

Leaving Calgary

After leaving Lake Louise we drove South to Banff, only stopping for a quick bite to eat then headed out of the Rocky Mountains towards Calgary.  Nifty navigation on my part allowed us to avoid this monstrous city.  





Our destination today was the badland city of Drumheller on the Eastern side of Alberta.  Brendan, Caleb and I visited Drumheller in the summer time during our last exchange in 2004 and it intrigued us so much that we vowed to return at some point. This time around winter gave the landscape a duller hue. However the eroded mudstone hills with their layers of coloured sediment still contrasted magnificently with the white, flat, almost endless plains that bordered the town. 

A random click of my camera and I get this funny
photo of Caleb and Seth in from of
Horseshoe Canyon near Drumheller.

Drumheller was cold.  Chillingly cold.  Getting out of the car to take photos of various landmarks like the hoodoos, or Horshoe Canyon required rugging completely up (except for the boys who don't seem to feel the cold anymore!!)

Thankfully the main reason for our visit here apart from the eerie landscape was to go to the Royal Tyrell Museum which was delightfully warm.  This museum is well worth a visit.  It features superb displays featuring life size versions of dinosaurs and fossils.  We even watched as two paleontologists went about their work in a lab.  As with all things scientific Caleb marveled at it all.  He read everything he could and played with all the hands on displays.  Seth too enjoyed the museum and with camera in hand snapped pictures of the things that intrigued him.  Having just finished a unit of work on dinosaurs at school meant that he too got a great deal out of his visit.

Sitting on the World's Largest Dinosaur
in Drumheller

A lot of the roads in Alberta seem to go on
forever and ever.  

We left Drumheller and ascended up onto the flat plains of Alberta in the direction of Edmonton.  All we saw apart from the black bitument of the road and occasional fence line was white snow.  The further north we headed the whiter and colder  it got.  As we entered Edmonton conditions became even more treacherous.  Roads that would normally be clear of snow were covered in about 15cm of the stuff.  Dad as our driver took extra caution with his driving unlike a few Edmonton locals who slid around corners or skidded to a stop just in time. Navigating without a local area map also proved to be difficult but we eventually got to the safety of our accommodation, a good meal and a warm comfortable bed. 

Edmonton Roads

Road Trippin - Part 1 - Snow, snow and more snow.....

Tuesday March 12th 

After waking to a 10cm dump of snow it took all my powers of persuasion to convince Brendan that we should begin our road trip into the Rocky Mountains.  I had to make sure that he did not log on to Big White's website to check out how much snow the mountain had had overnight.  Battering my eyelids didn't hurt either.

The first part of our journey took us north through some fairly heavy snowfall and blustery winds to Revelstoke.   Unlike three semi-trailers whose drivers drove their trucks off the slick icy highway we arrived safely.  It was a good reminder to take things slowly in conditions that were less than favourable.  Although there was much fog and snow hampering the view, it was not hard to tell that the area was beautiful with rugged mountains on one side falling away to lakes and rivers on the other. 

Our chauffeur - looking happy and relaxed for the first part of the journey.  He did really well navigating us through some nasty road conditions. 

No way I'm getting out to photograph the roads - hence the fuzzy pic.
It was taken through the windscreen which has been scratched from dodgy windscreen wipers.

Not sure what the outcome of this accident was.
This was one of three that we saw on the short journey from Revelstoke to Golden.

 At Revelstoke we ate lunch at a funky little spot called the Nomad Cafe and ate delicious, freshly made burgers.  The Aussie burger that Brendan ordered even had beetroot and pineapple on it!!! Beetroot on a burger is basically unheard of in Canada. Canada - you don't know what you are missing.

With snow still falling heavily we made our way slowly and carefully through Glacier National Park into Golden.  Here we travelled forward in time one hour as once you pass the great divide in an easterly direction the time zone becomes mountain time.  A short drive on from Golden we entered Yoho National Park and got our first glimpse of the magnificent, grand, spectacularly beautiful Rocky Mountains.  They were shrouded in a blanket of heavy white snow with a thin veil of fog covering their peaks.

Finally after a long 9 hour drive from Kelowna we arrived at Lake Louise.  Here we stayed at Deer Lodge  a lovely historic hotel a short drive from Lake Louise itself.   And yes it was still snowing.  And yes Brendan was still longing to snowboard!!!

 

Big White Weekend

After this past weekend Big White has officially spoilt us for any other ski/snowboarding resort by a long shot.  Not that we aren't willing to test the competition to compare snow base, ski runs, weather, facilities etc etc.  No we would be more than willing to do that - I'd even write a thorough analysis and review.  To be fair one must not judge without direct comparison after all.

Mum and Dad were able to experience one of the loveliest weather weekends we've seen this season.  Warm weather and blue skies greeted them outside of the 2 bedroom condo at Winter Ridge that we bunked down in for two nights.  The view was fantastic to say the least and its location enabled Bren, the boys and I to ski in and ski out.  A five minute walk was all that was needed to get to the village centre for one of the best coffees and hot chocolates we've had since being in Canada (I am not kidding!!!)

Our condo is at the top second from the right.  (That's me boarding out the front)

Just a sec - I have to go outside and photograph the 8cm of snow we've had overnight!!! So sorry to bore you with those details but its just too pretty and the sky is actually a lilac colour.  I'll be back in a little while............

Click
Click
Click
Click
et al.........

Now back to our weekend.  Mum and Dad, while not the snowboarding, skiing type, do enjoy the snow and how pretty it makes everything look.  They took Seth with them on a horse drawn sleigh ride one afternoon, watched the slopes from our condo windows, took strolls through the village and just revelled in the sunny but wintery conditions.  Just as they wished for, on Saturday night it snowed a few centimetres.  I don't think they could have wanted for much more.

Watching the fireworks on Saturday night

Photo by Gaz

Watch out world - Seth is driving.... (Photo by Gaz)

Caleb standing on the summit - 2.319km above sea level!!!

Pretending that he is 21 again!!!

Bren's first tracks off the summit......

Getting a bit of Nanny love.

The three bears - baby bear, mama bear and papa bear

Being spoilt with a sumptuous high tea

Big White Sunset

Having them with us is wonderful.  Sharing our experiences via a blog is great but having people actually with us and to hear their oohs and aaah's is even better.

We are just about to head off on another excursion - this time to Alberta and the Rocky Mountains.  So I'd best be off to eat my warm oats, pack my winter woolies and check that I've got all my camera gear.