pretty pictures

this post is going to be mostly pictorial. i stayed over at Dan's Calgary house and then went and picked up a rental car and headed toward the Canadian Rockies. it is about an hour and a half to Banff from Calgary. this here is where you enter Banff National Park. you have to pay per day you are going to be there.

before Banff township is Canmore where i stopped briefly for a coffee. here are some pics from there.

 

there was quite a bit of low cloud and it was drizzly in the area. i booked into the HI hostel in Banff where the first night I shared a 6 bed dorm with 2 others, a young Japanese girl and a young English girl who went out that night and I didn't see her again till the next day wandering through the common area with a coffee and looking rather seedy. it snowed a little that night which was neat for someone who comes from somewhere where it never snows. the following are pics from my afternoon and following morning in Banff.

 

pretty much all of the streets in Banff are named after animals. there's also Wolf, Moose, Otter.... every second store is a souvenir shop or one selling outdoor gear and i heard many different accents including NZ ones. a girl who served me in Starbucks was from Te Puke. after pretty thoroughly exploring Banff town I drove about 45 minutes north to Lake Louise. it's very beautiful and very touristy. you go, you walk to the other end of it and back, you take loads of pictures and you tick it off your list.

i love this bird. i've no idea what it is but it's pretty

drove back to Banff, went to see The Town, had a bison burger for dinner then went to bed. got woken up really early by some woman's alarm which was under her pillow, right above my head. did she wake up? no. it went off a few more times. she still didn't wake up. eventually i got up and got out of there as soon as i could. i hate sharing. 

back in Calgary, Dan was there. we went driving and dropped a friend of his home then went back to the house. a bit later we went out again to an English pub where some other friends of his were playing in a band. went to Tubby Dogs. went back to the house. Janice arrived. we then went out for dinner and then back downtown to the Palomino to see some surf rock band. went home. slept. woke up. drove 3 hours to Edmonton airport. flight was delayed by an hour. met a fabulous Irish/Canadian woman called Teresa in the check-in line. she bought me lunch and a couple of Coronas. then we flew to San Francisco. San Francisco!

edmontON

when I mentioned to some woman that I was going to Edmonton she looked mildly horrified and said "you must have friends there". bit like Hamilton huh. there are similarities. both are flat, landlocked, and have rivers running through them, but I'd rather live in Hamilton any day. although I may like to swap public libraries... the mighty Waikato is much more appealing too and Hamilton's 40 minutes from a beach as opposed to 14 hours. even skiable mountains are closer.

the airport is a good half hour south of downtown, which we (my friend Dan and Teo and Mike picked me up) drove through. admittedly it was dreary Sunday afternoon but it was still  a little depressing. it's just one colour and an ugly one at that, kind of tan. everything looks the same. we then headed east past the oil refineries to Sherwood Park, the world's largest hamlet. Dan (and beagle Teo) recently moved up from Calgary to move in with Janice (and bishon Mike). Dan made a lovely dinner, burgers made from Portobello mushrooms, pancetta, and buffalo mozzarella. I slept on an inflatable mattress which deflated overnight but the carpet was thick and comfy so it was cool. I slept till 10am so it must've been ok. which meant I didn't have a lot of time to go explore exciting Edmonton. I figured out the 2 buses needed to get there. the art gallery is the coolest building in the city but it was closed Mondays so all I did was look at the gift shop. I also visited the public library which, while not as funky as Seattle's, was well organized, signposted, resourced and comfortable. I didn't do much else, happened upon a mall that you would never know was there, and then went to meet Dan for a ride back to the hamlet. he finishes at 4. that night we had elk sausages which, as they are a member of the deer family, tasted a lot like venison. 

the next day I slept late again, this time because my alarm clock was on B.C. time. Janice suggested I go to Whyte Avenue, the cool street on the south side of the river which i did and it was pretty cool in that it had some interesting shops. had lunch at a New Orleans style diner called Da De O. the blackened catfish po' boy i had was yummy.  before i had that they gave me a tiny scone with a bright green jelly thing. i ate it. it was a little sweet and a little spicy. after the meal i asked what it was and it was jalapeno jelly!  eventually i had to get back to downtown to meet Dan again but i couldn't figure out the right bus and a pay phone took my money and wouldn't give it back or make the call so i had to get a taxi. for dinner we had yak steaks! really good. then Janice went to see Aerosmith with her sister and Dan and i went to the West Edmonton Mall. this mall is the biggest in the world (and it's not even in the US), mostly because it has various theme parks attached. i took a few pics but they're on my other camera which i forgot to bring the cord for so i will add them at a later date. then we checked out a couple of bars on Whyte Avenue and that was it. the next day i caught the bus to Calgary, a 3 hour journey. more on Calgary and the other places i've been soon.

a hot dog place on Whyte Avenue...

over the hedge

not much excitement since Grouse Mountain. my last couple of days in Vancouver involved exploring some more neighborhoods and cycling around Stanley Park. oh and I went to hear some music at a little venue, The Media Club, which conveniently was just around the corner from the Y. the main billing was a guy called AA Bondy from Alabama who used to be in a band called Verbena (not heard of them either). he was fantastic and seemed genuinely surprised by the enthusiasm of the crowd which included Amanda Seyfried (Mama Mia, Big Love).

so this is public art in Library Square

these next two I thought might interest Adrienne especially. a sustainable garden right in the middle of the city

playing cricket in Stanley Park

Totems in Stanley Park

looking towards the West End from Stanley Park

looking toward Grouse Mountain from Stanley Park

a raccoon I spotted by Beaver Lake

the groovy bike I hired to ride around Stanley Park. it was a one speed which is fine for the flat but after I detoured off to Beaver Lake I got lost and ended up going uphill, which was hard work but the downhill run was worth it.

following this I went and had Mongolian BBQ where you choose your meats and veggies and sauces and they cook it on this large round flat plate. delicious.

it's a long way down

thursday was not nearly as nice and i wasn't feeling great but i thought some fresh mountain air might help so decided to head for Grouse Mountain. breakfast was some stuff i'd picked up at a supermarket the night before and a waffle and espressos at Medina cafe. then it was down to the waterfront to catch the Sea Bus over to North Vancouver before taking a bus to the base of Grouse Mountain. to get to the top you can either hike the 2.9km Grouse Grind, (nicknamed Mother Nature's stairmaster) or take the Skyride. i took the second option.

after watching some of a cheesy lumberjack show i went to see Grinder and Coola, the two orphaned Grizzly Bears. Coola's mother was hit by a car : (  . they don't know what happened to Grinder's mother. they are gorgeous and remind me of my kittens the way they play together. they seem to be pretty happy and love the water.

as you can see it was pretty foggy but every now and then it cleared and something else was revealed. since i had come all this way i decide i might as well go zip lining, which is basically like going on a flying fox. the first one was very tame and basically a practice run to see if you could brake. the second run was short, steep and fast and was awesome. this is some of my group on the 3rd run.

this is a deer at the bottom of the 3rd run

there were 5 runs in total. the 4th and 5th are 1200m and 1500m respectively and while they are longer and considerably higher above the ground than the 2nd, they were less frightening despite (or maybe because of) half the ride being in fog.

here i am getting ready for the last run. the helmets are purely so you don't hurt yourself when you hit your head on the equipment above, which you do frequently

back down via the ski lift

dorky photo of me and our guides

after that it was off to something a little less exciting, another show for the tourists. this one was much better than the lumberjack one, and was also educational. it was called Birds in Motion. all of the birds were bred in captivity. we saw a red-tailed hawk, a peregrine falcon, and a golden eagle. i think this one's the hawk

and i think this is the eagle (shows how much attention i paid)

and then it was back down the mountain

grabbed dinner on the way back at a Mexican place i read about in one of the many free papers they hand out daily (or weekly). it was called La Taqueria and was predominantly tacos. i went for the meat ones

clockwise from top left is Al Pastor (pork marinated in achiote, chili and pineapple), Pollo Con Mole (chicken with chocolate mole sauce), a grilled beef one with peppers and onions, and Pescado (grilled fish with pico de gallo). yum. then i came here to VPL (Vancouver Public Library - not the other thing) to write the last 2 posts. 

canuck country

as you can see i arrived in Vancouver on a beautiful day. checked in at the Y which is where my parents stayed when they visited last year. an excellent option. my room looks out east over the under construction BC stadium. it's getting a new roof.

it was lunchtime so i went lookng for food. got a bit distracted walking down the bustling Granville Street Mall. but eventually made it down to False Creek and found the little Aqua Buses which transport people to Granville Island. they are very cute. there are blue ones, and purple ones, and... the ride is shorter than the one from Cooks Beach to Whitianga, which is short. 

the main attraction on the island is the Granville Public Market, an indoor farmers-like market with a food hall. there are also a number of theatres and right now the International Fringe Festival is on so I'm going to try to see something.

this is a floating dining room made with 1700 recycled plastic bottles. pretty cool huh. i think it's part of a cooking school

more public art

after wandering around a bit to try and get orientated (seems to be taking me longer than usual in this city) i went and had dinner at a diner called Acme. being a little tired from an early start i was in need of comfort food so went for the mac n cheese followed by pumpkin pie. so good.