Second Anniversary - Iceline Trail

 

Tom and I on the Iceline Trail.

With Tom returning from Norway on Wednesday, and then leaving for Fort Mac on Monday, we decided that we would celebrate our second wedding anniversary with a weekend in Yoho National Park at the Cathedral Mountain Lodge. We did not know that this lodge existed until we hiked to the Burgess Shale in 2010, and camped beside the lodge.

The lodge is a really beautiful place, set beside the Kicking Horse River. They offer cookies and tea in the afternoon, and s'mores by the fire at night. The lodge is ideally located for hiking, and has close access to multiple trails.

Our only complaint about the hotel was that our bathroom seemed to be attracting a lot of spider activity. After our first night, we woke up to find six spiders trapped in our bathtub. When we came back from our hike, there was another spider stuck in our sink. And the following morning, there was another spider in our bathtub. But... We were staying in a cabin in the woods. If there are going to be spiders, it's going to be there.

Six spiders hanging out in our bathtub.

On Saturday, Tom and I hiked 12-14km of the Iceline Trail. The trail starts near the base of Takakkaw Falls, and heads up a set of winding switchbacks.

Takakkaw Falls.

For the first few kilometers you find yourself mainly enclosed in trees, with an occasional glimpse of the falls when there are breaks in the foliage. As you climb higher, the trees become more sparse-- until the tree line is behind you.

A backwards glance at the thinning trees.

You emerge from around a bend in the trail, and BAM! You are faced with views of glacier after glacier. Some of the terraced rocks reminded me of the travertine terraces at Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park. 

First view of a glacier.

From there, we wound up and down over lateral moraines of glacial till for more views of glaciers. We passed over glacier fed streams, and ate lunch by a small (freezing cold) glacial lake.

Melt water draining from a glacier.

A small glacial lake.

Tom and I enjoyed the sights of the twisted and deformed peaks of neighboring mountains.

Glacier moraine and folded mountain top.

We could see more moraines in the distance, and after three, "We'll just go over this last ridge and see what's on the other side," we decided it was time to turn back.

Although the descent was not technically challenging, it was all downhill, and very hard on the knees! I was glad that I wasn't carrying a heavy overnight pack as I would be during one of our backpacking trips.

The weekend getaway was a nice way to spend our anniversary. We look forward to repeating this kind of weekend in the future!

I'd also like to point out, as an aside, that I am less than 200 page views away from 10,000 views. Maybe I'll hit 10,000 by the end of the month?

Thanks for reading!

Velkommen til Norge

Welcome to Norway!

On September 8, Tom left for a ten day business trip in Stavanger, Norway. This was his fourth trip, and also the first time he was in Norway for an entire weekend-- so this time he was able to get out into the country and do some sightseeing.

In Stavanger, Tom noticed a few things that were very different from Canada. For starters, there are barely any traffic lights. For the most part, intersections are governed by traffic circles that Norwegians maneuver through aggressively. Second, pedestrians will walk into the street without looking both ways for traffic-- they expect drivers to stop for them.

Another difference is that many Norwegians have weekend cottages outside the city. The cabins might be small or large, but they are very common. Statoil even owns a set of beachside cottages.

Statoil beachside cottages.

One of Tom's co-workers, Rainer, recently moved to Stavanger, so he was happy to have someone to hang out with during the week and on the weekend. One evening, they went to check out some of the beaches in the area. I don't know about you, but I really didn't imagine Norwegian beaches would look as pictured below. I thought they would be rocky and storm-blown looking.

Norwegian beach.

One of the interesting sights Tom saw was a World War II bunker in the side of a hill. You could go inside the bunker, and also see the remnants of bedrock trenches that connected bunker to bunker.

World War II bunker.

World War II trenches connecting bunkers.

On Saturday, Tom took a short hike where he encountered some "stupid sheep" and break in the rainy weather. He also took a seven kilometer walk through the Jattaflaten area.

Jattaflaten area.

Norwegian sheep.

On Sunday, Tom and Rainer took a ferry so they could hike up to Preikestolen, which translates to Preacher's Pulpit or Pulpit Rock. It is one of the most visited Norwegian tourist attractions, and is basically a giant cliff over the Lysefjord.

Foggy view from the ferry.

Normally I really hate it when Tom takes pictures of signs. I wonder, "Will either of us ever read this sign again?" But in this case, I was happy to see an elevation map of his hike, with distances and landmarks. I also noticed that the sign says (in English), "Remember proper footwear, warm clothes, food and something to drink, 2 hours walk each way. Have a nice walk."

Preikestolen information sign.

It was another dreary and rainy day, but there were plenty of people out hiking. Tom said he noticed that there was no apparent hiking etiquette. People would pass you and cut you off without a second thought. 

Forest vegetation.

Preikestolen scenery.

 More scenery.

Sweeping views.

The Preacher's Pulpit.

Tom has never been a fan of heights, so he didn't get to close to the edge of the cliff-- but he said there were people who were getting down on their bellies and crawling out to the edge to snap a few pictures.

A view down on Preikestolen.

Tom at Preikestolen.

Tom is home now, safe and sound. No sooner is he home and back on Mountain Standard Time, he's now heading out of town for another work field trip! He's become a real jetsetter...

Reliving My Youth

On the last weekend in August, I relived some of my glory days by heading out to Calaway Park. I'm pretty sure the last time I went to Calaway Park was when I graduated from high school in 2002, so it's been a good ten years since I've been to the theme park. In the last ten years, my tolerance for rides that spin, surge and plunge has decreased dramatically.

Warner Bros. Movie World entrance, circa 2007. 

When I was at Warner Brothers Movie World in Australia, I thought I got a concussion from their Lethal Weapon rollercoaster. When I was at the Stampede with Tom on the ride I know only as "The Big Boat," I thought I was going to lose my lunch. So what would Calaway Park have in store for me?

The Vortex Rollercoaster.

We started with the classic rollercoaster ride. The main highlight of this ride was when Billy yelled, "HOORAY G-FORCES" (or something equivalent) as we entered an upside-down loop.

The Storm.

Another of my favourites is "The Storm." Basically, the big wheel starts in a horizontal position, and slowly speeds up and moves into a vertical position. What I didn't remember (or enjoy) was that your cart makes this weird whipping motion where the wheel is attached to the ground. Also, there were rocks in the base of the individual carts, and you could hear them rolling around every time you went upside-down. I kept waiting for one to fall out and hit my in the eye.

The Mind Blaster.

I don't remember the Mind Blaster from previous visits, so I think it must be new (and by new, I mean it has been added in the last ten years). One look at it, and I knew it would not be a ride for me. The platform rocks up and down in a boat-like motion, and the seats on the platform simultaneously spin. Jeff and I chickened out, preferring to lose our dignity by sitting out, rather than by hurling all over everyone. But the others still looked at us disdainfully.

The others judge us for wussing out (except Billy-- he seems blissfully happy).

At lunch time, we ate sub-par burgers and hot dogs from a giant BBQ shaped like a train. We decided we'd take a bit of a breather before we went on any more rides, so we took a docile train ride through the east side of the park.

Gill, Steve, Ashley and Jeff ride the train.

My favourite ride of the day is (and has always been) the giant swings-- called "The Dream Machine" at Calaway. Two of my favourite photos of the day also came from our ride on the Dream Machine.

Ashley on the Dream Machine.

Billy, Man of Mystery.

At the end of the day, I concluded the following things:

1) My tolerance for rides is still not that good.

2) Calaway Park is a lot smaller than I remember from my youth.

And finally...

3) I probably don't need to go back to Calaway Park for another ten years.

But regardless, it was still fun!

It's the China Countdown

Some of you may or may not know... Tom and I are going to China!

We leave in exactly one month, on October 13.

Air Canada: Charms of China

We are touring through Air Canada Vacations on the Charms of China tour.  We begin in Beijing where we'll see the Great Wall of China, the Ming Tombs, Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, the Hongqiao Pearl Market and a tour of the Summer Palace.

Next we fly to Xi'an to see the terracotta warriors and check out the Muslim Quarter.

Then we fly to Guilin where we will get our first glimpse of karst topography, as well as terraced rice fields and a cruise down the Li River.

Our tour ends in Shanghai with the Jade Buddha Temple, the Yuyuan Garden and the Bund district.

Tom and I also added three days in Hong Kong at the end of our trip, for a total of 15 days overseas.

I don't see how it can be anything other than amazing.

Vancouver Island Weekend

Late on Friday night, Tom and I boarded a flight for a few days in Victoria, BC. We arrived at around 10:30pm, and drove our rental car into the downtown where we checked in to the Fairmont Empress. I love the Fairmont Empress. This is the third time we have stayed at the hotel, and I always enjoy the service, the history and the beautiful facade of the building.

Vines growing up the side of the Fairmont Empress.

In the morning we woke up late, and walked to the Blue Fox Cafe. Tom had found the restaurant by googling for breakfast venues-- it is ranked the fourth most popular restaurant in Victoria on Trip Advisor.  

We waited about 45 minutes for a table at the Blue Fox. We chatted with two gentlemen in line behind us who were from Seattle, who told us they came to the Blue Fox every time they were in Victoria. They said the last time they had eaten both breakfast and lunch there on the same day, and it was definitely worth the wait.

Breakfast joint.

I ordered the Eggs Pico Benedict, with fresh avocado, salsa fresca, chipotle aioli and feta. Tom ordered the Eggs in Hell Benedict with fresh avocado, spicy chorizo, grilled tomato and chipotle.

My God... It was SO GOOD. There are no words to describe how delicious this breakfast was. Afterward, I felt like I was going to burst!

Eggs Pico Benedict.

After breakfast, Tom and I waddled (this is the only word to describe how we moved when so full of eggs benedict) to Beacon Hill Park, overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca. We walked along the shoreline and enjoyed the sunshine.

Shoreline at Beacon Hill Park.

Our next stop was back at the hotel so we could get ready for my cousin's wedding. 

I admit, my family has not been very good at keeping in touch with this side of the family. Although it has only been about two years since I saw Laura, the years between seeing some of my other relatives is a bit embarrassing!

Laura and her fiance, David, got married at Hatley Castle on the Royal Roads University Campus. Hatley Castle was built by Laura and James Dunsmuir, and was completed in 1908. The ballroom alone was over 1200 sq. ft-- larger than the condo that Tom and I have lived in for four years. Hatley Castle served us a home for the Dunsmuir family until 1937, when it was sold to the government at the rock bottom price of $75,000.

Hatley Castle.

 Laura and David had perfect weather for their ceremony, and they both looked radiant and happy. While the wedding party had photos taken, we ate appetizers on the veranda, and had a tour of the main floor of the castle. Hatley Castle has been used in several Hollywood movies, most recently as Xavier's School for Gifted Young People, in X-Men 2 and 3.

Laura and David pose for photos.

When I was younger, I always used to think of the two ladies below as my Auntie Jean (Laura's mom) and Auntie Donna, but the truth is that they're actually my cousins. Over the years, I had also forgotten how petite they are! I felt like some sort of giant standing next to them!

Jean, myself and Donna at the wedding reception.

Laura and David listening to their wedding guests sing.

On our final day in Victoria, Tom and I had Afternoon Tea at the Empress. We drank Empress blend tea (again.. SO DELICIOUS), and ate from a three-tiered platter containing delicate pastries, soft pillowy scones, finger sandwiches and other tea sweets. By the end we were both stuffed, and buzzing with a sugar overload.

Afternoon tea and the Empress.

Following tea, we went on another GPS-related wild goose chase before we found our way to the famed Butchart Gardens. We wandered through the gardens for just under two hours. It must have been a peak weekend for tourists, because there were people everywhere you looked!

Butchart Gardens.

The Sunken Garden.

A brilliant array of flowers.

 To wind up our trip, we headed to the wharf for a seafood dinner before we caught our flight home. Tom and I decided on Red Fish Blue Fish, an outdoor restaurant made of an up-cycled cargo container on the pier. Red Fish Blue Fish specializes in fish 'n' chips, with a focus on sustainable Ocean-Wise seafood.

Tom and I had high hopes for Red Fish Blue Fish-- we thought that it might rival the fish tacos we had consumed at Jaws Tacos on Maui. After all, Red Fish Blue Fish is ranked the number nine restaurant in Victoria! But unfortunately, our 'tacones' (tacos that are cone-shaped), did not live up to our expectations. Our dinner was tasty and enjoyable, but probably not worth the 35 minute wait in line.

And with that, we headed to the airport for an uneventful flight home.

And that concluded our Vancouver Island weekend.

Back to work!