From Banff to Revelstoke
We set off early in the morning for Revelstoke.
Our car situation is fairly interesting. 5 adults in one Toyota Camry is not the most comfortable searing arrangement, but at least we all fit. Apparently all of Calgary (where we rented the car from) was completely out of anything bigger. I blame the stampede.
Either way we piled in the car and started our tour West, our first stop at Johnston Canyon. I have a feeling we will see several stops like Johnston Canyon, plenty of big rocks, big trees and big water, but it was fairly impressive as the walkways werebuilt out from the rock edge.
Next up was Lake Louise! Always a tourist hot spot which was obviously as everyone crowded around the one tiny deck at the bottom of the stairs instead of walking the 20 steps to the right to the empty portion of the Lake edge. I sent my mum a text ( mum= Louise, named after such lake) and said hello to my grandpa who loved Lake Louise and we were off toasted Revelstoke through Kicking Horse, Yoho National Park and Glacier National. There were thousands of Glaciers and tall mountains throughout the drive.
We arrived in Revelstoke and stayed in a suite in the new Revelstoke ski resort. It was sort of like The Shining, with reversed seasons. It was practically empty. I don't think I saw another person except at dinner. It was very strange to see a ski resort in the middle of summer too, especially one that isn't complete.
Revelstoke is a small town. I don't quite understand the draw to it really. I mean it's pretty and on the railroad but it's not very accessible and really far from everything. Something tells me the ski resort is going to have difficulty selling their condos....
We packed up this morning and headed off toasted Osoyoos, Canada's desert! From the chilly rocky mountains to the hot dry desert! Who knew?! On the way we stopped and saw the spot where they hammered in the last spike on the railroad....great. You can even buy spike key chains if you were so inclined!
We arrived in OSoyoos after a quick stop at WhiteSpot for a fantastic milkshake!
Osoyoos is Vineyard country, which I don't quite understand.... We're in the desert... Yet there are rows and rows of grapes and cherries. Strange.
Also sofar the entire town has been built with pueblo architectural design. Ikon the hunt for Taco Bell. It's quite a change from tall Banff mountains to brown hillsides.
Imnot sure what the plan is for our two days here but I'll update a little later!
Off to explore the desert!
Have a great day!
Kate
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
I Know the Trail Hop Along....
Welcome to the West....again
So, I'm back out West, this time with an entourage. National Lampoon's Horseback riding Vacation has made it to Banff, AB!
Our trip started on the 5th as four, we flew to Calgary and hopped on the Brewster bus to Banff. By the way, Brewster owns everything.
We wandered around town and it was a million degrees! But the scenery is great! Water, rocks, trees, your classic rocky mountain image. I won't attempt to describe it, you'll just have to wait until I post some photos.
Later, we met up with my aunt and uncle and cousin who had driven down from Victoria and we had a very traditional Banff meal of Cheese fondue!
So have you ever been up a mountain on a gondola? Terrifying. Day 2 we went up Sulphur mountain on a gondola....all the way up. It's pretty fantastic up there with views for miles!
Day three brought the first day of our horse ack adventure.... I had no idea what I was in for.
We started at the Holiday on Horseback trail riding store in town and drove out to the stables where we were saddled up and given only four directions. 1. Pulling back will make the horse stop.
2. Pull right to go right, left to go left
3. Pull back harder and he'll back up
4. Kick to start!
And we were off! Our group was made up of 17 amazing people and horses and two guides, Amber and Larry. My horse, Cedar was great, he loved to munch and got spooked by a hat once on the second day, but other than that we had a great time. I miss him now!
Our first day was hot hot hot and we made our way up the mountain with a lunch stop. We learned quickly that you need to show your horse who's boss, but let's be honest the horse knows who's boss and it was not me, Cedar was going to munch whether I told him too or not.
I was pretty impressed with all these horses. They walked over and across anything and everything, rocks, stumps, streams. They really are amazing.
We finally made it to Sundance Lodge, our home for the next three days. The lodge was an amazing! A HUGE log cabin out inthe middle of nowhere, literally nowhere, no roads. The only way in or out was by horse or emergency helicopter. The 17 guests and our four guides ( two cooks plus Amber and Larry) got along famously! Everyone was so friendly and fun! Great things happen when you're sitting in a log cabin in the middle of nowhere with nothing else to do but drink river-chilled beers and have good conversation.
Day two and the sun disappeared and the hail came down. No one was quite prepared for the cold but we carried on. The horses shuffled along cliff edges and creeks and nimbly walked down steep steep steep rocky hills.
Have you ever rose a galloping horse? Terrifying... Again. Here's the story. While walking along a cliff edge, the rider in front lost their hat which landed on the ground which is apparently extremely scary to Cedar. He turned around and refused to walk past the hat. When I finally turned him around he brokeout into a full gallop and turned a corner where I lost a stirrup and was convinced I was going to fall off and be trampled to death. (I later learned that a horse will do everything to NoT step on a human) plus Cedar would never step on me... :)
However, I didn't fall off, my waterbottle did fall off my bag and drained itself down my leg, which in the wind and the dropping temperatures was just great. We stopped for lunch and I was pretty spooked and contemplated hiking back, but reconsidered when I thought about the horse thigh high river we crossed on the way up...
So I decided to stick with Cedar and we made our way back. The lodge was fantastic! It was a huge log cabin with 33 beds, two bathrooms and a little kitchen. Dawn and Katie cooked all our meals and we all sat around and ate together. The only people there were our rising group and two cyclists, so it wasn't really that busy. The nice part about the lodge well, beside it being beautiful, was, that once we finished riding each day we just hung out at the lodge. There was nothing to do but hang out with everyone and we had a great time. At night we played a stressful game of bananagrams and possibly the funniest game of headbands I've ever played in my life. Some highlights:
"Am I in finance?"
"Am I Asian?" " how many famous dead recognisable Asian politicians do you know?!"
" of what he did, he was the MOST famous!" Academy AWARD winning!!!!
Riding sadly came to an end and we rode our way back down to the lodge. We said goodbye to our new friends and had to wash the horse and fire smell out :(
I'll post again after our next section! This post is a little long.
Until next time, and a little further West!
Have a great day!
Kate
So, I'm back out West, this time with an entourage. National Lampoon's Horseback riding Vacation has made it to Banff, AB!
Our trip started on the 5th as four, we flew to Calgary and hopped on the Brewster bus to Banff. By the way, Brewster owns everything.
We wandered around town and it was a million degrees! But the scenery is great! Water, rocks, trees, your classic rocky mountain image. I won't attempt to describe it, you'll just have to wait until I post some photos.
Later, we met up with my aunt and uncle and cousin who had driven down from Victoria and we had a very traditional Banff meal of Cheese fondue!
So have you ever been up a mountain on a gondola? Terrifying. Day 2 we went up Sulphur mountain on a gondola....all the way up. It's pretty fantastic up there with views for miles!
Day three brought the first day of our horse ack adventure.... I had no idea what I was in for.
We started at the Holiday on Horseback trail riding store in town and drove out to the stables where we were saddled up and given only four directions. 1. Pulling back will make the horse stop.
2. Pull right to go right, left to go left
3. Pull back harder and he'll back up
4. Kick to start!
And we were off! Our group was made up of 17 amazing people and horses and two guides, Amber and Larry. My horse, Cedar was great, he loved to munch and got spooked by a hat once on the second day, but other than that we had a great time. I miss him now!
Our first day was hot hot hot and we made our way up the mountain with a lunch stop. We learned quickly that you need to show your horse who's boss, but let's be honest the horse knows who's boss and it was not me, Cedar was going to munch whether I told him too or not.
I was pretty impressed with all these horses. They walked over and across anything and everything, rocks, stumps, streams. They really are amazing.
We finally made it to Sundance Lodge, our home for the next three days. The lodge was an amazing! A HUGE log cabin out inthe middle of nowhere, literally nowhere, no roads. The only way in or out was by horse or emergency helicopter. The 17 guests and our four guides ( two cooks plus Amber and Larry) got along famously! Everyone was so friendly and fun! Great things happen when you're sitting in a log cabin in the middle of nowhere with nothing else to do but drink river-chilled beers and have good conversation.
Day two and the sun disappeared and the hail came down. No one was quite prepared for the cold but we carried on. The horses shuffled along cliff edges and creeks and nimbly walked down steep steep steep rocky hills.
Have you ever rose a galloping horse? Terrifying... Again. Here's the story. While walking along a cliff edge, the rider in front lost their hat which landed on the ground which is apparently extremely scary to Cedar. He turned around and refused to walk past the hat. When I finally turned him around he brokeout into a full gallop and turned a corner where I lost a stirrup and was convinced I was going to fall off and be trampled to death. (I later learned that a horse will do everything to NoT step on a human) plus Cedar would never step on me... :)
However, I didn't fall off, my waterbottle did fall off my bag and drained itself down my leg, which in the wind and the dropping temperatures was just great. We stopped for lunch and I was pretty spooked and contemplated hiking back, but reconsidered when I thought about the horse thigh high river we crossed on the way up...
So I decided to stick with Cedar and we made our way back. The lodge was fantastic! It was a huge log cabin with 33 beds, two bathrooms and a little kitchen. Dawn and Katie cooked all our meals and we all sat around and ate together. The only people there were our rising group and two cyclists, so it wasn't really that busy. The nice part about the lodge well, beside it being beautiful, was, that once we finished riding each day we just hung out at the lodge. There was nothing to do but hang out with everyone and we had a great time. At night we played a stressful game of bananagrams and possibly the funniest game of headbands I've ever played in my life. Some highlights:
"Am I in finance?"
"Am I Asian?" " how many famous dead recognisable Asian politicians do you know?!"
" of what he did, he was the MOST famous!" Academy AWARD winning!!!!
Riding sadly came to an end and we rode our way back down to the lodge. We said goodbye to our new friends and had to wash the horse and fire smell out :(
I'll post again after our next section! This post is a little long.
Until next time, and a little further West!
Have a great day!
Kate
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