Lake Louise

From Banff we made the beautiful drive up to Lake Louise, James happy as Larry in our new truck and me happy to see some beautiful sights along the way. We arrived at Lake Louise along with the hundreds of others tourists eager to see the well talked up Lake Louise, and it certainly didn't disappoint. The day was a little bit cloudy but the pics still manage to capture the natural beauty that is Lake Louise.

About to explore the infamous Fairmont

We decided to be ambitious, so set off on a short hike to one of the tea houses that are renown for their ability to serve a tasty beverage after a well earned walk. After a forested 3.5km walk and an elevation gain of about 400m we were treated to these pretty amazing sites. Also just a quick note that there are no roads up to the Tea House so everything that is served on the menu has to be either hiked or brought up by horse back!

Enjoying the walk up the hill (and posing for the camera...ok so the walk wasn't that hard!)

One of the beehives you can walk to.

Lake Agnes

View from Lake Agnes Tea House

Lake Agnes Tea House

DC in Lake Louise

After our hike we headed back to our camp ground which we had set up nicely earlier in the day and enjoyed a toasty Marshmallow (or ten!).

Our camp ground set up

Toasting Marshmallows

Beautiful Banff

After purchasing our new ride (Ford F-150) we got organised to make the mission to see the much anticipated Banff. Making plans to live there for the winter, we were more than eager to explore Banff and the surrounds and find out whether we wanted to call the place home for a few short months. On our arrival (slightly delayed after I forgot to tell James to make the turnoff!) we were greeted by breathtaking mountain ranges which encapsulated the small and quaint town.

Our arrival into Banff

Once arrived we organised accommodation at the Banff HI Alpine Centre. Not too bad perhaps on the slightly expensive side for a hostel but after what I've been told about Banff that didn't actually surprise me too much! We set out to explore the shops and the sights and ended up in a beautiful rooftop pub the 'Elk and Oarsman' for dinner (recommended by one of the locals) which much to our pleasant surprise only set us back about $30 for dinner and drinks. 

My view from the dinner table....what a lucky lady I am :)

The next morning we set out to explore Johnston Canyon, just a short drive from Banff. Over the years rushing water has carved a path through the limestone and potholes have been formed by the ever present waterfalls. It was such a beautiful walk, we managed to get out there quite early so we didn't have to contend with the overwhelming crowds of tourists (pretty much unavoidable around Banff, but if you can get up early then you will be rewarded!) The walk was incredible and as always there were our ever present friends the squirrels and chipmunks - love them! Here are some the pictures we captured during our walk.

Taken at the entrance to Johnston Canyon

One of my wee little friends

Feeling the waterfall spray!

 

A cave right next to one of the waterfalls

Feeling good after our beautiful walk

Kananaskis

After Stampede week Janice and Jim took us for a wee tiki-tour of the Kananaskis. The Kananaskis are over 4,000 square kilometres of mountain parks and foothills found southwest of Calgary.  Jim is an avid hunter/fisherman so his knowledge of the mountain area is amazing. The area is open to the public and you can even get permission to run your stock through the area (so long as you realise there are plenty of bears and cougars about!) We kept our eyes peeled for any sign of a bear (ideal viewing point is from a car...as opposed to in person I've been told). Unfortunately we didn't see any bears or elks but we did see about a million squirrels and chipmunks - love them! - a few mountain sheep and some beautiful landscape. Oh and I almost forgot...Jim introduced us to Tim Hortons and to 'Tim Bits'...all I can say is YUM and I will try my best to keep them to a special treat. Here are some of the pics we took :)

YUM!

Big Horn Sheep/Ewes (losing their winter hair...not so attractive!)

With Janice and Jim

Spot the Squirrel...or is it a chipmunk?? I can never tell!

Licking the salt off the road

Upper Kananaskis Lake

Calgary Stampede

We arrived in Calgary Sunday the 8th to the open arms of our Canadian 'parents' Jim and Janice. We instantly felt at home and we couldn't have asked for a better start to our arrival in Canada. Jim took James and I for a drive around Calgary to get a feel for the place and Janice cooked us the best home made meal which beat everything our San Fran trip had produced! Monday we were straight into the formalities and we managed to open a bank account, get a phone number (403 401 0139) and this was all without visa's. Unfortunately James visa still hasn't arrived so it looks like we will be making a trip to the border as soon as they manage to get their A into G!!! A couple of James mates from back in the day were here in Calgary to check out the stampede so we ended up meeting up for a couple of beers and watched the evening show... and the Chuck wagon races...pretty crazy stuff if you ask me, in fact on the Wednesday there was a crash and three of the horses died...that's how dangerous it is!! The show was pretty epic, they had a group of Chinese girls...similar to circ de soleil style biking around on stage with three girl doing spins on top of each bike!! This was all followed by some pretty sweet fireworks.good times.

Wednesday we spent the day at the stampede with Janice. Here are some pics of some of the cool stuff we saw.

Cutting Horse Competition

Riding a Bison

At the Rodeo

Charge!

Bucking Bronco

Barrel Racing

Bull Riding

Kids trying to ride the wild ponies

Janice and I checking out the Native tents

First stop...San Francisco

First stop...San Francisco. After our 12 hour flight (I reckon I got about 3 hours sleep and James at least 7...) we arrived at 12.30pm-ish and decided to adjust to the time straight away, I've heard it helps and haven't collapsed yet!. We were greeted by our friendly beefeater at our quaint hotel, the Sir Francis Drake, and we even managed to get a room upgrade...must have been the kiwi accents ;) We wandered down to the water and after checking out a few of the wharfs and Pier 39, we made our way back UP and DOWN the hills to our hotel and nearly got blown away! No one mentioned how windy San Fran gets!

Thursday morning we hopped on the 'hop on hop off' and did a quick tour of Golden Gate Park where James begrudgingly walked through the California Science museum with me which is more for the kids, however seeing as James calls me a little kid it seems quite appropriate that I really enjoyed myself!

We also got to check out Haight Ashbury (think 'Full House') & snapped a pic of the famour painted ladies.

Thursday arvo we headed to Alcatraz...spoooky.....ok not so much but the audio tour was pretty cool and seeing the place makes you realise how Alcatraz got it's reputation, i.e. it's a sh*t hole of a place!

After a late start on Friday (I may have had a drink or two too many on Thursday night...however the place we went too, 'Park Tavern' owned by a kiwi girl was really swanky!) we set off a mission to conquer the Golden Gate Bridge by bike. Apart from the fact that the bridge can get pretty packed at times (one lady yelled at me "you're on the wrong side of the path!!!" ....whatever it's not the wrong side where I come from lady!) it is a spectacular bike and one I would definitely recommend. We biked over to Saulsalito, a quaint and historic township on the other side of the bridge and indulged ourselves with pizza, taffy and 'Lapperts Ice Cream'. I definitely deserved those two scoops of cookie dough! After a bit of coaxing, James convinced me that it was a good idea to bike back over the bridge to union square and I guess it was lucky we did because the fog had cleared and we got some nice cheesy pics :)

Saturday was the Fillmore Jazz Festival so we wandered the streets and listened to a dance jazz band called the Cosmo Alleycats while dining on some of San Fran's finest :)

We headed down to Fishermans wharf and Ghirardelli Square on Saturday arvo to finish off the trip and enjoyed some delicious sourdough Boudin bread. YUM! All in all I think I can sum up our trip with this pic...

Happy Flying :)

Back home in New Zealand...what a busy last few days! Friday night James and I both had farewell drinks at work, mine reasonably tame but James was paying for his night out on Saturday morning...all part of the journey thou :) Saturday and Sunday were spent cleaning the flat from head to toe, and man that was a FULL TIME JOB! We managed to get the flat looking pretty schmick, slightly regretting not hiring cleaners thou after the state of my poor hands on Sunday night!! Alarm went off just after 4am on Monday morning (James I'm still questioning why you booked such a early flight!!) In the taxi by 5am with our 8 massive suitcases between us (plus waaaaaaaaaaay to much hand luggage!! This pic is just James's luggage!!

Seeing as James was using up his frequent flyer points (by booking business to chch) he was able to get me into the Qantas lounge as well. Such a nice way to travel!! The Qantas lounge lady was asking us about our trip and upon finding out we were moving countries (and leaving each other for a couple of weeks) she decided we needed a champagne to celebrate...but it wasn't just any champagne, we enjoyed a glass of Bollinger at 6.30 in the morning!! Now the standard of flying is so high it will be interesting to see how the rest match up!! Happy Flying :)

Changing Address

Second to last day at work and only 4 more nights until we fly back to New Zealand! I am TOTALLY excited but also TOTALLY exhausted. It turns out moving is a lot more involved than I first thought!! Packing is going ok, I've somehow managed to pack - correction 'stuff' - the last 5 and a half years into about 4 suitcases. I even bought some of those nifty space saver packing things where you vacuum all the air out of  the bag, who knew such things existed!
Anyway the real time consumer is all the stores I've become a member of and all the clubs, banks, etc etc I've joined over the years...everything from Witchery to Myer to Woolworths somehow sends me things in the post!! I can hear James now...'Katie it's your fault that you're such a shopaholic'...Ok I'm not going to lie, I have been partial to a spot of shopping here and there over the years. But I wonder if he thinks this will stop in America...has he not heard it's supposed to be the cheapest shopping in the world!! NYC here I come!!