Driving across Canada

When I first had the idea of driving across Canada and flying from Halifax, I knew it would be exciting but I also thought large portions would be long and very boring. However, now that it is finished and I look back I must say I found absolutely every part to be great and not one time did I feel bored. Seeing as there is so much to blog about I'm going to do a short write-up on each province and perhaps get into detail more at a later date.

British Columbia: We drove through 100 Mile House to visit family and then to Kamloops before we left all of our family and jobs behind. Our first official stop on our trip was to Castlegar in the Kootneys. It was gorgeous! So much forest and mountains and we spent most of our time camping on the Arrow Lakes. Very cold but refreshing. The weather was nice and we were able to finally get those hours in the sun.
We also stopped on our way to Banff at a natural hot springs for the night called White Swan Provincial Park. It was quite the drive down into the campground! It included switchbacks, gravel and steep cliffs and would not be a road I would want to drive down in the dark. The campground was very remote and the springs were amazing. The water was not hot unfortunately due to a large run off this year I think, but nonetheless it was relaxing and the minerals felt great.

It is a stop I would definitely recommend, its well worth the 20 minute drive off the main highway.

Alberta: The Rockies were breathtaking as I had expected, and really made you realize just how spectacular Canada is. We stopped in Banff and seen Lake Louise. The colour was unreal, almost like a swimming pool. You could rent a canoe for the day which looked so relaxing and something I would consider coming back to do one day. There are paths to walk around the lake and surprisingly enough its still peaceful even with all the tourists. We took a tour through the Fairmont Hotel as well, and the interior is so Canadian and beautiful.

We stayed in the campsite just outside of Banff that evening in a very generic campground. It was overpriced and felt like "pretend" camping, void of all trees and had so many people jammed into it. On the bright side it was still much less than all three of us staying in a hotel in Banff. The town of Banff was picturesque but very touristy and reminded me of Whister with lots of souvenir shops and restaurants.

Our last stop in Alberta was to Edmonton. We stayed in the HI Hostel for the night after visiting the West Edmonton Mall for hours. We wandered through the stores and found some cheap clothing, admired the pirate ship then went to the Water Park. The wave pool was intense and if you were in the front you were tossed backwards 15 Meters! There were so many water slides to choose from and we soon realized that many were beyond us. We took one expert slide and soon realized that we were not cut out for that intensity anymore so we stuck to the intermediate levels. There was one slide where you actually stand in a tube and they take the floor out from under you and drop you 90 degrees!! By the end of the evening we had been spun,tossed,dropped and splashed to our hearts content!

As much as I always hope to quickly write about everything and get up to date, I realize that there is so much I want to talk about and it never happens fast. So, I will fire up the computer tomorrow and start on Saskatchewan as it is getting late and I need some sleep. Goodnight.