Sunday, June 30, 2013

Kicking horse kicks

Kicking Horse kicks @.... it really does!

You can choose to pay to ride one, or two chairlifts. The short one goes up 532m. The long ones goes up 1260m to an elevation of 2450m which is Canada's highest ski run. We chose to pay for both and so glad we did.
 
 The lower bike park has lots of bermy goodness and jumps and wooden features hidden among the trees. Plenty here to keep you happy all day.

 
 BUT!....ride the Golden Eagle to the top of the mountain and there are stunning views in all directions!  Jill was so excited to see the views that she fell over trying to get Gloria out of the gondola at the top. There were lots of people up there hiking and sightseeing as well as riding.

 
 First you ride down the road in this picture below into the alpine bowl and then you choose from numerous single track trails ...

 
 Here is Joel about half way down the road, looking back up to where we started and Canada's highest restaurant.


On the way down we worn torn between looking at the views and


watching the track, which was kind of important as it was a very long way down if you went off the edge


It took about an hour to ride all the way down (1260m of vertical drop) Gloria really wanted to do it again but Jill's hands and legs were beginning to hurt so we called it a day - and what a wonderful day of riding it was!  BTW - 30 degrees!

Saturday, June 29, 2013

Fernie goodness and bears

Fernie is fantastically awesome!!  And there are bears...

The Fernie town and ski resort are surrounded by xc and dh trails in a lush green goodness that could keep you happy for days, if not weeks. Alas, we only had one day. Gloria did have fun! She got a little muddy but did not care at all as these trails flow really well!

There were views:
 
And queues with views: (which Gloria didn't mind as she was complemented by the bloke who lifted her up on to the hook on the chair "Nice bike!")
 
There was rooty forested goodness
 
 And fun on berms (check out the little fellas - startin em young in Canada, ay!)
 
 And wooden features of course (They run 2 lifts for mountain bikes - we didn't get time to check this one out - in fact we only rode 5 of the over 30 trails)
 
 And - Look! There's a bear down there!

Gloria thought the guys on the chairlift were being smart and yelling at her to go hard in to the berm, so she did, but then she realised they were yelling "BEAR!" so thought it wise to stop and wait for the bear cross the track below, just after Joel had ridden around the corner unaware that he was probably being watched from the forest edge.

Seriously, if we had more time we would have stayed longer. Definitely worth the effort to get down to Fernie if you are ever in Canada.



Gloria and mud at Panorama

Gloria did have some fun today but she also got a bit fed up with some pedally sections and the mud!

Panorama Mountain was a bit of a mixed bag – some fun, some a bit pedally, some nice technical single track, a fair bit of water damage and numerous mud patches on the lower sections from torrential flood rains a week ago, so I guess we were lucky to riding at all. Several track sections were closed due to the mud and one called "Insanity" was completely closed as it will be used for the Canadian National Downhill Championships in about 2 weeks. Hope they can get it ready in time. We did have about a dozen trails (or parts of trails) to choose from ranging in length from 3 – 7 kms. Good number of riders for their opening day but no queues for the lift. Not a bad day of play for Gloria.

 
Gloria enjoyed her shower at the bike wash at the end of the day. (Jill was very pleased not to have to deal with all that mud inside the van!)

 

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Gloria

Gloria spends most of her time stuck in the back of the van or chained up to a picnic table outside. Tonight's picnic table is in a lovely spot, one of the best so far. Some have been rather drab. Most have been pretty good.

BUT - tomorrow Gloria gets to go out and have some fun! She is pretty excited! Jill has been doing too much driving and sightseeing so far on this trip and has only let Gloria out to play half a dozen times. Tomorrow marks the start of the real holiday fun as far as Gloria is concerned.
Tomorrow we hit up the first of five Canadian bike parks with chair lifts, before heading back to Whistler for the last week. I do hope Gloria can sleep tonight. She'll be feeling a bit excited about her big day out tomorrow.

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Books, internet and tea - what more do you need?

Rest day in the Brady's RV looks like this:

Found a real book store in Cranbrook called Pages Book Emporium which sells second hand books - LOTS to choose from - and new magazines. 4 books for me and 3 magazines for Joel, internet access and as many cups of tea/coffee as I want to make - sounds like a recipe for a very relaxing day.

Monday, June 24, 2013

Waterton National Park

Waterton National Park - on the Canadian side of the border - yet another national park with a hotel on a lake. Waterton is by far the biggest most impressive of the lakes but perhaps because is it not on a train line like Banff and lake Louise, it is not as developed. Its town is smaller and quieter but still beautiful.

Chief Mountain. Indians believe it is the chief of all the mountains and they still hold spiritual seeking ceremonies there.
Waterton Lake with the wind howling down the valley and us a steep bank to the front of the hotel.
 Prince of Wales Hotel
 Mountains and wildflowers and waterfalls



 Red Rock Canyon


This Wild Spirit: Reading Road Trips

I finished reading "On the Road" by Jack Kerouac - in which his characters drive across the US half a dozen times, not really stopping, just driving. His descriptions depict America as mostly grimy and dismal, and sorry America, but I think I might agree for the most part especially regarding rural prairie towns.

I have seen lots of mobile homes, where the not so well off live, sometimes in mobile home parks, sometimes outside towns on rural blocks - looking sad, forlorn, tired.

And lots of casinos - but not casinos as we think on them in Australia. These are not luxury complexes where the rich go to play and the middle class go to pretend they are rich. Not - these are tin sheds with no windows where the desperate go to turn their backs briefly on the hardships of life only to end up in more hardship by losing what little money they have left. Very depressing.

And - you can buys guns in Walmart!  But I couldn't find curry anywhere.

Back in Canada now!

And I just finished reading "Banff" - a history of the first national park in Canada. In this book, Eleanor Luxton covers the geologic and early exploration history of the area first, and it occurred to me that it too was a road trip book. The original native peoples were nomadic, constantly moving with the changing seasons and the hunting. The first European explorers where road trippers without roads to guide them - searching for furs, minerals, road and rail routes. Banff was a town established by the Pacific Railroad Company as it built the first rail line across Canada, and it was established as a tourist town to service the needs of the tourists the rail company hoped would come to see the beauty of the Rocky Mountains and to soak in the healthy sulphur hot springs.



"Banff" is also a celebration of the beauty of the Rockies. In the introduction, Luxton writes:

"Nature is the constant reality for those who live in the mountains. The mountains with their many moods draw our eyes to their majesty; the forests show us life being renewed even after devastating fires. Most of us have laughed at the antics of wild animals. We have been happy or sad at some of the things nature had done to us, but we would not give up any part of it."
 
 
Just started reading this book: 
I am pretty sure I am going to love this one!

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Half way

So Friday 21st was the half way point of our travels - our epic wayward road trip through Canada (and the US).

6025 kms driven!   But check out this map below. It shows most of Canada and just the top row of states in the US. 6025 kms doesn't look very far. Canada and the US are a bit like mainland Australia - BIG!

Many Glaciers

Two days in Glacier National Park - started out rainy but improved to be fine and cool and windy. Would have liked more time here but Joel was not up for day hikes and we could not drive the RV through the middle of the park on the Going to the Sun Road as it was just a little over the size limit for the road, so we had to do a little sightseeing on one side of the park, and then drive around the southern edge and do some sightseeing in the eastern side. Here are a few photos:

WESTERN SIDE
Lake McDonald - there's mountains under them clouds somewhere I'm sure. Joel decided conditions were perfect for skipping stones and skipped so many he ended up with a sore arm!
 Bear grass flowering is large patches among the pine trees. Apparently bears do not like to eat it, but elk do. No one is quite sure why it is called bear grass. Smells like honey.


EASTERN SIDE
 Lake St Mary - reminded me a little of Lake St Clair back home - maybe it was the cold wind blowing across the long blue lake, or the bare pointy mountain on the other side.
 Evening view from our campsite at St Mary
 heading in Many Glacier

 The old late 19th century grand hotel on the lake at Many Glacier
 Glacier National Park had 150 glaciers in the mid 1800s. Now there are only 25.

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Miracle of America

What do you do on a rainy day? Go to a museum, of course! Didn't really expect too much from this museum http://www.miracleofamericamuseum.org/ but ended up spending almost 2 hours there - yes - Joel spent 2 hours quite happily in a museum!
 It is true that aliens have landed in America and the government has been hiding the evidence.
Huge collection of war stuff from the American War of Independence all the way through to the Vietnam war.

All sorts of stuff covering all aspects of life over the last 200+ years including farm machinery, snow machinery, medical and dental equipment, toys, household stuff, musical instruments, tools, mowers, cars and trucks etc etc.
 
A complete 1950s diner! Sheryl - there's your fridge - it's a General Electric with a freezer and it works!

 And here is your new tiny house:

 One room for everything - no bathroom though

And here is your Vespa

Dad - a display case of cameras for you.



 
 
Tanya - this one's for Neil and the boys
 A boat for the Oate's
 And one for Shem and/or Jacob
 
Harleys and Indians for Les and Kurt and Sheryl's Dad






 It has a Harley badge so it must be a Harley scooter

For all my biking friends - just a few of the many many bicycles
 Armed and dangerous - ready for war


 telegram for you!
 1897 tandem bicyle
 1890 chainless or shaft drive
 Pretty - this would be considered very trendy around town at the moment!

 
One last thing - my next campervan -  made from parts of several vehicles: 1947 Spartan caravan, front was a GMC truck with grill and bumper from a Pontiac and tail lights from a 1959 Ford, 1966 Old Toronado engine, and a bell crank to solve the steering problem being that when you steered right it went left!