Humph, us Puppies were left home alone (again). This time for a whole 3 weeks as mummy and daddy went to explore Canada in July 2002. Here's mummy to tell the story...Home | Who's Who? | Short Walkies - Out and About| Meet Family and Friends | Wedding Bells in Florida | Special Events | Very Long Walkies - Holidays | Puppy Pawtraits | How to Contact Us
Humph, us Puppies were left home alone (again). This time for a whole 3 weeks as mummy and daddy went to explore Canada in July 2002. Here's mummy to tell the story...
Adam and I arrived in Toronto, Canada, along with our luggage which is always a relief. As I'm the sort of person who likes everything sorted before taking to the skies to enjoy a holiday I'd insisted on having absolutely everything booked before hand including the transfers from the airport. Words of Wisdom number one, this is not necessary! It would have been much easier and cheaper to work our own way from the airport to the hotel. Nevermind I'll know next time. Our holiday voucher stated stop number 7 for our transfer. After waiting for a while Adam had the good sense to ask a rival holiday rep if we were doing the right thing. Apart from not having changed our voucher for a bus ticket in the airport and standing at the wrong bus stop, nothing was wrong at all. We were sorted out with just seconds to spare as the bus pulled up and after several hotel stops we arrived at our destination - The Toronto Colony Hotel. We had began our journey through Canada...
Waving goodbye to our suitcases we headed off into the city and spotted our first glimpse of the famous CN Tower. We saw a few shops on route but not many. Toronto wasn't the hussling and bustling city I had imagined and made us think we were missing something. Later we were to discover that we were!
After a bit of a wander we headed into the cinema to see Scooby Doo. Forgetting our experience of the cinema visit in Florida where we near froze to death due to the air conditioning we watched Scooby Doo huddled for warmth (we were not scared of the ghosts and ghoulies at all!).
Today we decided to visit the famous CN Tower, afterall where ever we went in Toronto we could always see it! We went for the 'Total Tower Experience' which took us a good 4 to 5 hours. (Technical Details of the Tower.)
First stop was the sky pod (1,465 feet up). The views were breathtaking. Next we headed for the glass floor, very scarey, standing on glass and looking down on the street below over 1,000 feet down. Next was the observation deck which didn't seem very impressive after the sky pod with lots of wire netting blocking the views. Finally we got to see a short film about the construction of the Tower (not very exciting) and go on two simulator rides - Wings and Firewall (much more exciting). After the Tower we stopped in at the Tourist Information (we were tourists after all) and they gave us some valuable advice saying that the real city was beneath our feet. All the shops were underground and we had to look for the secret sign 'PATH'. They seemed to be well hidden for the humble tourist but once we'd got the hang of it we saw Toronto in a whole new light. We found the Eathan Centre which was full of people and shops and virtually next door to our hotel - we'd just been going out of the hotel door and walking in the opposite direction to civilisation!
First and only panic attack of the holiday when we realised that in just a couple more days we had to get to the airport within 26 minutes. Now that we were in Toronto we knew this would be impossible so we spent some time in the Thomas Cook Travel Agents. They were fantastic and phoned the office back home and got us switched to a later flight, hurrah. Panic attack over, back to enjoying our jollies...
We spent some time exploring the city now that we had found it was underground, walked along the harbour which was very pretty and then decided to go on The Hippo Tour.
This is a great way to see the city. The tour was by road and the lake! Our hippo turned from a land lover to a water lover and we didn't even get our feet wet.
We were up early and headed for the railway station to board the train for Niagara Falls. I'd seen the Falls in films and books but being there was something else, they take your breath away. We were staying at the Sheraton Fallsview Hotel (with a Falls view) which was a wonderful hotel and the view of the falls from our hotel window was unbelieveable. We could have just sat in our hotel room and looked out of the window for hours.
So what do you do in Niagara Falls... travel on the Maid of the Mist of course. We went on the famous boat trip the 'Maid of the Mist' (in our very sexy blue poncho's) and went right up to the Falls, it was great.
We had only booked one night in Niagara as we thought it would be a case of just looking at the Falls. How wrong we were and we wished we'd had more time. Still we managed to fit in quite a lot and visited Ripley's Believe it or Not museum, two 4D rides and walked many miles. After a lovely buffet meal at the hotel restaurant with a fantastic view of the Falls we headed back down the hill to the Falls by the Incline Tramway. This time we put on sexy yellow poncho's and headed behind the Falls. By this time it was nightfall and the Falls were lit up by many different coloured lights and gave a totally different view.
Today was a travel day as we left Niagara Falls by train and headed back to Toronto. We then headed for the airport and caught our plane to Calgary that took 4 hours and crossed another time zone.
If you ever visit Calgary make sure you go at Stampede time, the atmosphere is fantastic and not to be missed. Today we visited one of the many office blocks providing breakfast and entertainment to celebrate Stampede week. We had a fantastic (free!) breakfast of eggs, sausages, potatoes, ham, pancakes and orange juice. With our bellies full we headed off to the Stampede Stadium which was huge. We went to our first Rodeo in the afternoon and watched bucking horses, bulls and had some good 'ole cowboy fun. Later we went to see the Superdogs show which was fantastic fun. The atmosphere was buzzing and the stars of the show - the dogs - were amazing. There was also a sky ride, lots of wonderful (fattening) things to eat, craft stalls and rides. There were 108,000 people at the Stampede that day and it was a cool 36 degrees centrigrade. It was hot, hot, hot!
We were still in Calgary and it was still hot, hot, hot. We headed for Rope Square. Fantastic entertainment, free pancakes (or flapjacks as the locals call them), and Adam the Hat Stomper! Adam, my hubby, was chosen to take part in the Hat Stomping Competition where he had to destroy a cowboy hat. All good fun! Next it was off back to the Stampede Stadium for chuck wagon racing and the Grandstand show with jugglars, comedians, dancing, singing and fireworks. We headed back to the hotel tired but happy.
Time to pick up the hire car which turned out to be a huge Cherokee Jeep. I was dumbstruck! After a bit of a shakey start - I felt like a learner driver all over again - we headed off to Highway 1 and The Rockies. First stop was the Caribou Lodge in Banff. Banff is lovely. A row of shops without being too commercialised surrounded by the Rocky Mountains. Some of the shops sold artwork by local Canadian artists. We fell in love with the stone bears by Ted Griffiths and wished we didn't live so far away (and were a little bit richer!).
Time to take in some of the breathtaking scenery as we took the Gondola up Mount Sulphur. (Technical Details of the Gondola.)The Gondola ride had some great views and took 8 minutes to get to the top. We then went along the boardwalk to an old weather station. There were the cutest Chipmunks (or were they Ground Squirrels) around. They had learnt that tourists meant food and despite lots of signs around saying 'Do not feed the Wild Animals' they were getting their regular supply of peanuts. The mountain air had made us hungry so it was back down to the main street to Joe Btfsplk's diner - a 50's style diner with wonderful burgers, apple pie and milk shakes.
We left Banff and headed for Lake Louise which didn't take long at all. Lake Louise was stunning and very beautiful. The water was a wonderful turquoise colour (due to the glacier silt) and around the lake were the impressive Rocky Mountains. The mountains on either side of the lake were covered in fir trees and at the far end bare rock still covered in snow in places even though it was over 30 degrees centrigrade. We went on a lovely walk around the lake and through the mountains even though we were typical tourists and not serious hikers or rock climbers. The scenery was breathtaking and the water icy cold. We were staying for one night at the Chateau Lake Louise and had booked a meal at The Walliser Stube Wine Bar (one of 5 restaurants at the hotel) purely for the fondue dessert. We had a lovely meal with cocktails followed by the Toblerone Fondue with a plate of fresh fruit to share. Soooo romantic...
We drove on through the Rockies and our next stop was Jasper. On the way we stopped at a few places to admire the local wildlife and scenery - Crowfoot Glacier, Sunwapta Falls. We had a long stop at the Athabaska Glacier flowing from the Columbia Icefield. We went on a tour in a Snowcoach onto the glacier which was very impressive.
Also had an ice cream when we arrived in Jasper!
We decided to have a lie in. In the afternoon we went exploring in Jasper. We went to the Mountie gift shop where you were able to dress-up as a Canadian Mountie
Later on in the day we went to the Jasper Tramway. It took 7 minutes to get to the top and then we walked up The Whistlers Mountain. It was a bit chilly at the top but the views were spectacular and we saw lots of mountains for miles around. The only draw back was queuing for over an hour to get the tramway back down the mountain. We were very hungry by then so headed for the hotel restaurant, we were the only ones there but the food was delicious. We finished by having a wonderful pudding called Rocky Mountain Mud Pie and a Ski-Jump (hot chocolate and mint schnapps). It was a lovely way to end our time in Jasper.
We were up and about early ready for our two day trip on the Rocky Mountaineer Train through the Rockies to Vancouver. We dropped off our Jeep just as I was beginning to enjoy driving it and continued our journey by train. We had opted for the Goldleaf service (well worth the extra cost). We got to sit in a glass bubble at the top of the train so we could see out, we ate wonderful 3 course meals in the restaurant car below us. We got to see some stunning scenery along with local wildlife such as Bald Eagles, Ospreys and Deer. One of the best parts of the journey was standing on the platform at the back of the train outside. It was just like being in a film with the wind blowing in your hair. Magical!
We stayed overnight in Kamloops. Enough said about that.
The coach picked us up from the hotel at 6.15am! and took us to the station to board The Rocky Mountaineer for the final part of our journey. Again the food and scenery were fantastic. As we approached our final destination of Vancouver we were given a thank you letter from the staff, a souvenir keyring, a chocolate and a souvenir video. It had been a wonderful two days but it was a relief to be able to leave the train.
We were met in Vancouver by Adam's Sister Sally and her family (husband Ralph, and daughters Rhiannon and Faye - The Jones Family). They live about a one and half hours drive away from Vancouver in Chilliwack. The final week of our holiday was spent with The Jones Family with a trip to Vancouver and Whistler in the middle.
Sunday was Llama day! Sally had adopted a Llama called Muriel Melody so we were taken to Sonata Farm at Pitt Meadows to visit her. When we arrived at the farm Richard, the owner, was covered in blood has he had just helped to deliver a baby llama. He was only 2 hours old when we saw the llama and he was very, very cute. After Adam and Faye had taken Muriel Melody for a walk we were invited to a fantastic barbeque where we experienced an amazing sun set.
We had arranged to go on a two day tour to Whistler. The coach was setting off from Vancouver early in the morning so we decided to spend a day in Vancouver and stay overnight ready for our trip. Sally booked us in at Rosedale on Robson. Vancouver was a great city and we were ecstatic when we found the 'Death by Chocolate' Shop, a chocoholics/pudding lovers dream. Just our kind of place. We had a 'Multitude of Sins' to share between us which tasted divine. We felt sick afterwards but it was well worth it!
The GreyLine coach picked us up from our hotel and took us to the League of Nations to meet our coach that would take us to Whistler. We toured across Vancouver and Stanley Park before heading out of Vancouver. It's a pity we didn't have more time here. We stopped for a break at an old copper mine along the Sea to Sky Highway and also for a view of the Tantalus Mountains. We were dropped off in Whistler at the Chateau Whistler which is a fantastic hotel and much better than Chateau Lake Louise. Whistler was wonderful with loads of activites - mountain biking, ski ing, rollar skating, snow boarding etc... and for the not quite so adventurous, lots of shops including the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Shop!
We took the Gondola up the Whistler Mountain and walked most of the way to the top before we ran out of time and had to head back down. On the way down in the gondola I caught a glimpse of a Black Bear. It was a dream come true. I had been desperate to see a Bear all the time we were in the Rockies and I had managed to catch a fleeting glimpse of one on the very last day before heading back to the City. It was an amazing sight if not brief.
Outside of the hotel we played mini golf and fitted in a luge ride before it was time for the coach to pick us up to take us back to Vancouver with a brief stop on route to look at the Brandywine Falls.
It was Faye's 16th Birthday! We went shopping in Abbotsford and then in the evening we went for a Chinese meal at the Canton Gardens. Then it was back home to watch 'The Time Machine' on video and eat Ice Cream Birthday Cake!
Our last day! We went to the collossus cinema in Abbotsford for Faye's birthday treat to see Goldmember which was very funny. Adam had his last taste of Poutine ('orrid stuff - chips, gravy and cheese curds!) which he loved. We also met Sally and Ralph's friend, Henry.
We were up early with the Jones's who took us to Vancouver airport for our journey home. The first leg of our journey was from Vancouver to Toronto. The flight was delayed a hour and there was no in-flight entertainment. We arrived in Toronto with very little time to spare before our connection but we needn't have worried as there had been a storm in Toronto which meant all the flights were delayed. We finally arrived at Manchester airport after travelling for over 24 hours. We were exhausted but we had had a memorable holiday.
Patrick and P.J were very pleased to see us back home in Leeds. We'd brought home a few Canadian visitors...
Humph, mummy...
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