We are getting used to having a French translation here in Canada and it’s perfect to refresh my memory of all those high school French classes and teach Sean “Goldfish” O’Neill a few words, over and over again. I think he remembers “bonjour” now but who knows, he make think he’s saying “thank you”.
Anyhoo, enough Sean teasing (I’m truly an O’Neill now, that family has no teasing boundaries!) and back to our tour. By this point in the tour, we were getting used to Joey’s country music fetish, Sarah talking even in her sleep (to the point she got laryngitis but kept going even with a husky voice hehe love your work Sarah!) and many pees in outhouse toilets (my nose may never recover). Where were we location wise? On our way to Banff!
Our trip from Jasper to Banff was one I loaded up on coffee for. Everyone told us it was the most incredible drive with mindblowing views and I didn’t want to miss a minute. Joey blasted the air-con (nothing like a hot van to welcome the sandman, right?) and we had lots of photo stops. Here is Sean at the first waterfall, Athabasca Falls.
He is smiling because he's imagining our whitewafter rafting on rapids like this... sicko
And here’s me getting a breath of fresh air amid the exquisite scenery…
Must. Stay. Awake.
Our next stop was Colombia Icefield which I had completely underdressed for. Shorts and a cardigan doesn’t cut it while walking over ice apparently. So i decided to forfeit going on the glacier tour and let Sean go in the promise he would take lots of pics and describe it in details. I did walk over with a lovely lady from the tour, Nadine, who had done it before and we took some snaps on her camera (as Sean had ours). There’s a good one on facebook if you have a yearning to see me rather than Sean at the glacier (don’t feel bad, everyone else is migrating to facebook too right now, you’re only human).
Sean on the glacier, missing me so bad (he's only human too)
After the tour, Sean managed to spot an avalanche with Joey and snapped a pic. He claimed this was way cooler than the tour (man loves danger, a recurring theme in this blog and my life unfortunately).
Apparently it sounded like massive lightning as the snow crashed down to earth!
Another lake (oops should have written down its name) on the way to Banff, the colour of the water was so gorgeous.
Check out that aquamarine... and look at Sean cuddling me so tight - i told you he missed me!
That night we checked into Banff which was a very pretty town. Sean ran up a mountain (duh, what else would he do?!) while I went exploring the town and before we parted ways we checked out the beautiful Fairmont hotel. Wow.
Despite the hotel at Lake Louise having far more recognition, we both loved this hotel more which was modelled off a Scottish castle
It was a very quick turnaround and the next morning we were off to see Lake Moraine and Lake Louise which were both gorgeous. Sean kept looking at his watch though because that afternoon we had whitewater rafting!
The intrepid team (minus Joey) at lake Moraine... same pic (minus us) is on the Canadian $20 note. With us, surely it'd be the 100.
And just us... $1000 note for sure if there was one.
Lake Louise and Lisa... so little time there, but very beautiful place
The coffee there was delicious and most of the bus bought cookies the size of their heads…
Which looks more delicious? I can't decide...
And finally, we reached Golden where whitewater rafting awaited us. I felt pretty confident after totally dominating Jackson Hole’s Snake River but then the instructor started listing all the things that could go wrong. She was a LOT more explicit than our friend in Jackson about getting caught under rocks, swallowed by the river and many gruesome ways of dying if we didn’t paddle hard. My stomach was literally churning as we got into our wetsuits. Our Intrepid team was all together which I was grateful for as not only were they a fun bunch, but we all trusted each other. We did get a Japanese girl on our boat who had NO idea and I was scared for my safety as she sat in front of me. “Paddle FORWARD” i yelled at her as we went over a ridiculously massive rapid that could kill us. She mimicked my words “Paddle forward”, she sang, all the while paddling backwards through thin air. I nearly pushed her overboard, but instead dug deeper and paddled my heart out… forwards.
After surviving the rapids, which turned out to be way scarier than Jackson, i was on a high (funny how the biggest highs come from surviving life threatening situations) and when we had an opportunity to jump in the 2 degree water – i did it! last time it was only Sean, this time i jumped in and Sean was deeee-lighted. His face lit up as he saw me bobbing next to him with a big grin. I don’t know who was prouder – me or him?!
The crew in our sexy jumpers. Wasn't Sean's lovely? Mine had shark bites through it - hardcore.
And then, our tour guide Joey arranged something I will eternally be grateful for. It was June 30 and it was time for Eclipse to arrive in the cinemas! Joey arranged for us to go to the teeny tiny Golden cinemas and I was first in line. Unbelievably, Sean accompanied me as I told him this was the Twilight with the most action scenes. And he enjoyed it! Not as much as me, I loved it! We had dinner before at an American diner which was really cool. Hehe sorry, another food pic… all part of the experience!
Sean, pumped for his all-American burger on its way
Me, pumped for Edward Cullen (above).
The next day was our final on our tour and it was awesome. We started off at a wolf enclosure just outside of Golden which was sooo interesting. Wolves are such incredible creatures and I found our talk so fascinating, I wanted to get in there and pet them but apparently they don’t care for petting from anyone but their owners, who have their complete trust. I did get to pet the Bear dog though, sturdy little guy whose breed instinctively goes nuts at bears and scares them away. He lapped up a belly rub though!
Then it was on to Kelowna where we celebrated Canada Day! They get right into it, just like us Aussies. We had dinner at the fair (tried the poutine fries and seriously don’t get what the fuss is about, yeuch!), had drinks at an Irish pub (there weren’t any Canadian ones!) and watched the fireworks. Very fun evening!
Getting into the spirit, with maple leaf tattoos on our cheeks
And getting merry at the pub… the two drinks I had knocked me for six! Lots of funny jokes and Sean’s impression of “what would happen if you wrestled a bear’ was priceless. And why he said it and then did the impression, we’ll never know. Only the rum will.
What a great night to finish the tour on... fun times!
And then we headed back to Vancouver and bade our new friends goodbye. What an amazing trip we had and we’d highly recommend Intrepid to anyone, but you must put in a special request for Joey. He’s the ultimate tour guide!!
Adios, next post is of Vancouver and Whistler but for now, we’ve got to catch a plane to New York City where my darling Vive awaits! Wooohooooo!!!
Lisa and Sean xoxo
Love the Canada Tour pics round 2 – the colours are fantastic especially of the lakes. Val Burman’s mother, Margaret, told me that Lake Louise was her favourite place in the world – it certainly is very beautiful.
Your Intrepid Tour group looks fun – enjoy New York and give our love to Vivo.
The blog has been a great way of us experiencing your journey with you as the photos add another dimension.
Lots of love
Mama and Paul