J&M got Maui'd!

On the first (and for me) only full day in Calgary, we all headed out to Drumheller to visit the Royal Tyrrell Museum and check out the hoodoos in the area. The first stop was the Royal Tyrrell Museum, which I had visited thirteen years prior. I do not recall all too much from that last trip, but I do remember many of the exhibits being the same.  I am standing in front of a dinosaur that was here the last time I visited thirteen years ago. One of Maggie's favourite dinosaurs is the Stegosaurus .  Maggie standing in front of a Stegosauru s. The weather was a little warm and sunny that day, so we did not do too much hiking. We did however head down to the hoodoos .  Me at the lookout over the Royal Tyrrell Museum. Now I do not recall checking out the hoodoos when we visited last time. I am pretty sure we did not. It would explain how underwhelmed I was when I finally got to see the ones that were on display. They were a lot smaller than I had expected th

Bob and Caroline came to join us on our last day out in the Rockies. We met up at the condo before heading out to the Spiral Tunnels . The Spiral Tunnels were so named because of the way the railroad spiraled in and out of the mountain so that the grade of the track was not too steep. Normally it was pretty boring to look at, but when a train was moving through, one could watch as the train entered in one tunnel and exited out from the other. We had passed a train on the way to the tunnels, and heard it enter and exit the far tunnel (which was not viewable from the lookout point), but waited for the better part of an hour before deciding that it was not worth waiting for. I have no idea where the train went, perhaps it had to really slow down to go through this section of track? As such, we had no good pictures of the tunnels. Afterward, we headed to Emerald Lake where we hiked a bit around the lake and had a nice lunch. Emerald Lake. Our next stop was at Takakkaw Falls ,

We earmarked the day to spend at Lake Louise and Banff. After we got to the lake, Maggie and I decided to try out the Teahouse Hike, which was about a 3.5 kilometer hike (one way). Me and Maggie at Lake Louise. The hike itself was long, but not too intense. After the Grouse Grind, I think Maggie was confident she could tackle any hiking trail we might come across, and I was more than willing to take a hike! Maggie at Mirror Lake. As we worked our way up the trail, we came across a small lake partway up the mountian. We also noticed that part of the trail crossed with a horse trail and spent a lot of time avoiding horse droppings and holding our noses on other parts which were a little smelly. Maggie next to Lake Agnes. We made it to the Tea House that was next to Lake Agnes, but we were both feeling extremely hot even though the temperatures at the Tea House were close to single digits. We spent some time at the Tea House before heading back down the Lake Louise. I

We got up at a respectable time. We had to since we were planning on driving all the way to the Columbia Ice Fields and back, ideally before it got too late. Along the way, there were many scenic lookouts and we took advantage of many of them. The first stop was at Bow Lake where we took a number of photos. Me and Maggie at Bow Lake. The next stop was at Peyto Lake, which required a bit of a hike from the parking lot to reach the lookout over the lake. Maggie overlooking Peyto Lake. We eventually reached the Columbia Ice Field, but by the time we got there, the skies became overcast and it was raining heavily. Viewing a glacier when it is cold and raining is not the best weather that one would like to be in, but we had little choice, as we had already bought the tickets and this was the only window of opportunity for us. Luckily enough for us, the rain gave way to snow when we got on the glacier, and eventually the skies cleared up and we were able to enjoy our time on the

We left moderately early this morning and headed straight to Revelstoke National Park after a quick stop in Vernon for breakfast. We went up the Meadows in the Sky Parkway and checked out a number of the lookouts on the way up and down the mountain. We also took the shuttle to the top to take a look at the Historic Firetower and the views from the summit. Maggie and I overlooking the city of Revelstoke in Revelstoke National Park. Maggie and I having lunch at Nomad. After lunch at Nomad in Revelstoke, we checked out the Skunk Cabbage and Giant Cedars trails. We were originally planning on stopping at the Rogers Pass Discovery Centre, but due to time constraints, we just took a few photos where they completed the Trans-Canada Highway. Maggie and I at the Skunk Cabbage trail. Between two trees on the Giant Cedars trail. We then drove into Canmore for dinner at Rocky Mountain Flatbread Co. before making it to the lodge. Me and Maggie near Rogers Pass where they

Today was our day to leave Vancouver. We first had breakfast at De Dutch with Brad, Nancy, Adrian, Ka and the kids. The food was good and quite filling, especially since I had half of Maggie's dish. My Pannekoeken (The Canadian) at De Dutch. We headed out to the Airport Coffee Shop at Chilliwack Airport. We were told to try out their pies, so we picked up a few (German, Blueberry-Raspberry, and Blackberry-Peach) for eating later since we were still stuffed from breakfast. We took a moderately short break at the Othello Tunnels at Coquihalla Canyon Provincial Park. It was interesting to see and the view was very nice. Trying to stop those entering the Othello Tunnels. Afterward, we headed out past Hope, through Kelowna and towards Vernon to stay at the Predator Ridge Golf Resort. Along the way we came across some lady who was lying down on the highway and wailing very loudly. I told us to stop, in case there was anything we could do, but there were a number of other driver

I had to return the car today at the airport. Fortunately, Adrian and Ka were staying near the airport so the plan was for us to drop off the car, and then they would pick us up from the airport and the six of us would head out to Stanley Park. Maggie and I on the south end of Stanley Park during low tide. We spent most of the afternoon out at Stanley Park but only saw a small portion of the park and did not find any of the food trucks that we wanted to try out. We did manage to find some tasty fish and chips, but realized that the food trucks probably were not able to peddle their wares within the park.. View from Burnaby Mountain. In any case, after hanging around the park for a few hours, we headed back to town where we all had dinner with Brad and Nancy at Banana Leaf , a very tasty Malaysian restaurant. The Japanese Totem Poles during sunset. After finishing our meal, Bran and Nancy drove us up Burnaby Mountain to see the views from up top, admire the Japanese totem

On this last full day on our own, Maggie and I first had dim sum with Brad, Nancy, and some of Nancy's family. The food was pretty tasty and we were both stuffed after the meal. Maggie managed to snag the bill before everyone else, which was a bit of a coup after we lost the bill to the Tangs the night before. After dim sum, we headed out to Deep Cove to enjoy some donuts, fish and chips, and enjoy whatever recreational activities were available there. I was hoping for a fairly relaxing afternoon, but when we got there we discovered that the area was already pretty busy with vacationers who were enjoying the sun and water during the Labour Day long weekend. It took us a long time and quite a bit of back tracking to find a place to park, and we had to hike back to the town before we could even start looking at things to do. Since dim sum was so filling, neither of us really felt like eating any fish and chips. However, Brad did talk about the donuts, so I was compelled to at lea