Thursday, September 30, 2010

Day 6 - Jasper to Smithers, BC



After our leisurely morning at the Jasper lodge and a wonderful breakfast, we continued on our journey to our final destination...we crossed the Great Continental Divide and one last time zone as we crossed the pass through the Rockies into BC...the last 150km of the Yellowhead Highway before Prince George was probably the emptiest stretch of road either of us had ever seen...nothing but rolling valleys and mountain basins and yellow, yellow, yellow trees studded into the evergreen mountain landscape...rolling into Smithers we saw many deer and a bear along the highway, and a big ass buck and its mate (?) on the side of the highway that scared the crap out of me...
but we made it! (albeit a couple of days ago)...don't have access to the internet at our temporary home for now, and as we write this are sitting in the parking lot of the Safeway scamming on their wifi, ha!...i suspect it'll be getting too chilly to do this soon enough...rode my bike to the hospital this morning before the sun was up over the mountain and wow, a bit brisk! But there is nothing like that thin, clean mountain air to wake you up for the early morning shifts...and the view! oh the view!
(photos to come soon)
-mand.


view from the hospital entrance (seriously, who wouldn't want to work here?)

a few pics from the Jasper Park lodge
*thanks again to Aunt Carol & Uncle Rob*...what a treat!


the view from our cabin


Lac Beauvert




Jon at Lac Beauvert


us at Lac Beauvert walking off the crazy ass big breakfast...i think i look a little chubbier in this pic after dinner and breakfast at the lodge! wow, so delicious...


honeymoon dessert at the lodge

Day 5 - Brooks AB to Jasper AB


our first glimpse of the mountains to come
(heading out of Calgary)



the start of the Icefields Parkway


fall lunch spot: a look up from the picnic bench

As soon as you pass Calgary the scenery changes dramatically. The fall colours were incredible, although out here they pretty much consist of yellow, yellow and Amanda's new favourite colour, yellow. There was frost on the car for the first time, but we got the gizmobile (a.k.a. the uhaul truck) up to warp speed and defrosted it in no time.

from this...

to this...


The next few hours were spent giving the transmission a workout on the Icefields Parkway. I'd highly recommend this drive to anyone, except for people driving 17 foot uhaul trucks with their own car in tow. Also saw our first Rocky Mountain traffic jam (cars and tour buses stopped for mountain goats on the road).


rocky mountain traffic jam

Finally made it to Jasper, and as we pulled into the Jasper Mountain Lodge, a mom and two bear cubs ran across the road in front of us (we were going slow). Video is coming soonish. We then apparently missed a bull elk chasing a potential mate by a matter of seconds, walking from our room to the lodge (after swimming in the heated outdoor saltwater pool).

Speaking of rooms: thank you again Aunt Carol and Uncle Rob. We even had our own robes. Again, video tour coming soon.

-Jon

a few of my favourite shots of the Icefields Parkway--by me (a)...i'm sure jon's will kick mine out of the water, but until then, enjoy these...











Athabasca Glacier (Columbia Icefields)




Jon being funny with his new ring at Bridal Veil falls

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Day 4 - Brandon, MB to Brooks, AB


the welcome centre in Saskatchewan...it was closed, so we took a pic with the giant wheat and then left the province


pee break somewhere flat...


but flat means big sky. look at that! i did find a certain beauty in the flat farm fields, gentle, rolling hills and huge skies.


bug splattered sunrise (view through the windshield)

beautiful sunrise over hay bales in Brandon, Manitoba
Saskatchewan was closed, so we decided to push through to Alberta instead.
after hours of wheat fields, we started to see pump jacks and rolling hills.
as we made our way past Medicine Hat, we dodged a tornado in the Badlands.
settled in Brooks for the night, up for an early start through Calgary.
looking forward to the Icefields Parkway up to Jasper, for our night at the Fairmont (thanks to Aunt Carol & Uncle Rob!)
-j & a-

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Day 3 - Thunder Bay ON to Brandon MB


amazing sunset in the flat (but friendly!) province of Manitoba


the view out of the motel window in Brandon...a lonely hay bale and a whole lotta flat

So, once again, no video. I'll tell you one thing, a moving truck (in both senses of the term) is no place to learn to edit video. So I guess videos will come later. As will photos, because after gloating that I remembered to keep Manny's camera charger out of the packing process, I realized I packed the hardware that transfers her photos to her computer. Ditto my camera's proprietary usb cable.

Anyway, Thunder Bay to Dryden was pretty gorgeous. Lots of yellow leaves, lots of hills, winding road, good tunes and much car singing ensued. After lunch, we eased into Manitoba, which began with a 15 minute delay due to construction. After that, lots of long, straight and very, very flat road. After one amazing sunset, one bland dinner, and one more trip to the hot tub, here we are in the hotel room. And with that, it's time to repeat last night's early sleep.

-Jon

Friday, September 24, 2010

Day 2 - The Soo to T-Bay


the vastness of Lake Superior

okay, so this blogging isn't going as we had planned...i say this as i'm sitting in a hotel room in Thunder Bay and jon is snoring away beside me...
we have been taking video, as promised, and some photos as well, but have been too exhausted to really get this going...
we would have had time tonight but this days inn has a pool that beckoned and a hot tub that eased jon's aching back...
it's been raining for two days now and today we were discussing the fact that it was probably a good thing we aren't moving to the coast as originally planned if the constant rain was already cumbersome after only 2 days, ha!


trying to get Lake Superior in the background....we missed but got half of Jackson's Superior Provincial Park fuzzy moose


got the lake this time, but only half our heads. these are our favourite shots. haha.

the only ray of pseudo sunshine was taking a quick tourist photo with the giant Winnie the Pooh statue in White River--the birthplace of Winnie! (Mel, will have some pics for you soon!)

pics for MEL!



(jon was trying to steal pooh's honey)

Thunder Bay is cold...it's going down to -1 tonight (!!)...i'm a tad worried about the herbs in the front seat of the Rav, and especially the bean from lil' Jackson, which was sprouting this morning!
the sun is supposed to be shining tomorrow...off to bed in anticipation of blue skies...will try to update a bit more tomorrow--and upload some photos.
-a.

Day 1 - Bramptonia to the Soo


(photo courtesy of Sue)

hello!
so we had meant to start up our video blog last night, but after our delay(...s) on the road yesterday, we didn't make it to Aunt Carol & Uncle Rob's house until after 10pm (!!)...we were exhausted and hungry--as I'm sure they were waiting for us!--but of course Uncle Rob cooked up a fabulous dinner and Aunt Carol served up a deeeelicious dessert, coupled with some tasty wine and great conversation, we went directly to sleep (in the awesome RV no less!)

soooo, we don't plan on doing any more drives after dark, so hopefully tonight we will update you on the day yesterday and fill you in on today's drive north of Superior...hopefully with some beautiful pics....the colours on the leaves are just beautiful and some are falling already!

-a.