The Final Roadtrip Part I
Calgary, The Rockies, Northern BC, Vancouver Island, Vancouver and your chance to WIN!!!
Introduction
Welcome to the penultimate instalment of your favourite blog. In the spirit of world-wide sporting competitions currently occurring, scattered throughout this post are 5 quiz questions. Feel free to look, cover, write, check and mark your answers. Once you’ve finished, send me your score out of five. If you send me your score, and if you are the highest scoring reader, you will not win a gold medal. You will however win a special shoutout in my final blog post. If you don’t tell send me your score then you won’t have the opportunity to win this prestigious prize. The choice is yours.
Part 1: Calgary Stampede
I’d like to say upon arriving in Calgary I tumbled out of bed and stumbled to the kitchen and poured myself a cup of ambition but the fact is when sleeping in the back of a ute, a tumble is more of a climb and the kitchen is actually just a tailgate. If I’ve lost you, check out the link in the quiz answers. If you’re with me, then you may have guessed that was THE song of the Calgary Stampede. We spent two days at the Stampede and heard it:
At the Calgary Stampede pancake breakfast we attended on day one - the local community line dancing club danced to it.
At the opening gates getting the crowed hyped before entering the event.
Played by the show band with accompanying circus acts.
The speakers blaring it from what seemed like every sideshow game and ride we walked past
Whilst collecting our cowboy hats from the Stampede booth
The Calgary Stampede show riders doing a choreographed dance on horse back to it as the opening act of the rodeo.
The Calgary Stampede show riders doing a choreographed dance on horse back to it as a standalone act.
Approximately 300 singer/dancer performing it alongside a fireworks/drone display during the Night Show.
At the Calgary Stampede pancake breakfast we attended on day two - a local band did a cover.
By the busker at the train station on the way home.
We also attended some Stampede events where we didn’t hear it. These were:
The International livestock auctioneering finals
In the livestock pavilion
During Benson Boone’s act
All in all it was a great couple of days - even if we’ll never listen to that song the same again.
Quiz Question 1: “Tumble out of bed and I stumble to the kitchen, pour myself a cup of ambition and yawn and stretch and try to come to life” are lyrics from which song?
Part 2: The Rockies
From Calgary we packed away our cowboy hats and belts and replaced them with hiking boots and Patagonia fleeces - we were headed to the Rockies! Our first stop was Canmore. We loved Canmore and it was made even better because our friend Monique had lived there last year so gave us lots of recommendations on where to go and what to do. We hiked to the summit of a mountain (Ha Ling Peak), hit some good mountain bike tracks, had a few dips in glacial lakes (very cold) and ate delicious bagels from Rocky Mountain Bagel Company.
From Canmore we drove 30 minutes north to Banff and wowee is Banff picturesque. Again, we were super fortunate to have recommendations from our friend Nicolette who lived in Banff a few years ago. It was on her advice that we bypassed the $90 gondola ride to the top of mount Sulpher and instead hiked to the top. It was a beautiful hike and we were rewarded at the end with a stunning sunset and a free gondola back down.
The next day we woke early and continued on to Lake Louise. Not for the first time, we hadn’t booked anything in advance and arriving at Lake Louise we soon learned that the town had become so populated in tourist season that the roads to a couple of the attractions where shuttle bus only and had to be booked in advance. Never fear though, we had our bikes primed and proper and explored Lake Louise on two wheels and two feet. 30km cycled, 20km hiked and 10 thousand photos later we left Lake Louise content as could be.
Our final stop in our Rockies exploration was the ice field highway and Jasper National Park. From rugged mountains ranges, to deserted blue glacier lakes, to massive ominous glaciers receding year by year, by this point we had experienced probably the best, most continually awe-inspiring scenery to date. We decided to visit one more lake - Maligne Lake . The lake itself was nice but the highlight was the 45 minute drive out to it from Jasper town centre. The incredible views where surpassed only by the wildlife - we saw our first moose grazing on the side of the road, we saw an elk and we slowed down to watch a mumma bear and her two tiny cubs crossing right in front of our car.
Quiz Question 2: Jonty or Kirsten, who is who in the following exchange:
Person 1: “Can you please pour some cereal into a bowl for me whilst you make yours”
Person 2: “Morning cereal is more of a journey of self discovery than a couples retreat”
Part 3: Northern(ish) BC to Northern Vancouver Island
From the Rockies we continued north west aiming for the coast. Our first stop was Valemont which had been recommended as a good mountain biking destination (it was), through Prince George and into Smithers (good coffee shop, bad mosquito problem). We finally made it to Prince Rupert and spent the afternoon/ night in Prince Rupert where we enjoyed freshly caught halibut from a small fish and chips sea container on the port and a beer at the local brewery.
The next day we woke before the sun to drive onto a 16h ferry headed to Vancouver Island. The ferry wove through narrow inlets between mainland Canada and mountainous islands and had spectacular scenery. We enjoyed learning about the indigenous Canadian’s history, customs and traditions through the ferry’s information system and were also treated to some whale sightings.
Quiz Question 3: On our longest day of the trip the sun rose at 5:53am. To the nearest whole hour, what time did it set?
Part 4: Vancouver Island
We spent 6 days total on Vancouver island. We landed in the north eastern town of Port Hardy and made our way down that coastline popping in and out of small fishing towns (Parksville and Union Bay), wandering through beautiful “old growth” forests (Sayward, Campbell River and Cameron Lake) and finding bike parks (Cumberland and Nanaimo). We took a two day detour and cut across the island to reach Tofino on the opposite coast. Tofino is Canada’s most famous surf beach and is the birthplace / home of Canadian Surfer Sanoa Dempfle-Olin. We were fortunate to be in Tofino on the first day of the Olympic Surfing heats and so enjoyed joining the locals watching Sanoa on the big screen in the local park (even though she was against an Australian!)
Our final day on Vancouver Island was spent exploring the picturesque harbour side city of Victoria. Despite being only 15% of the population of Vancouver, Victoria is actually the capital of British Columbia. We enjoyed walking along the water front, admiring the 1890s built Parliament Buildings, and visiting china town to walk through the narrowest commercial street in North America. The highlight of Victoria was “fisherman’s wharf” - a lively bustling community of colourful houses and local businesses all floating on a wharf. From Victoria we caught the 2h ferry over to mainland Canada just out of Vancouver.
Quiz Question 4: Sanoa Dempfle-Olin was the only Canadian to qualify for the 2024 Olympics in surfing. Name either of the two Australian Women to qualify in surfing.
Part 5: Vancouver
In Vancouver we were fortunate to be able to stay with some family friends - the Robinsons. Unfortunately only their youngest daughter, Danielle was in town however it was lovely to see her and she was a great host. Danielle helped us plan a fantastic day in Vancouver including a ride around Stanley Park, lunch near Englishman’s bay beach, more riding to Granville Island, beer and snacks watching the buskers at Granville Market, a window shop through downtown Robson Street and finally sushi and wine enjoyed with Danielle back home.
Quiz Question 5: Place the following inner city parks in order from smallest to largest by area: Central Park (New York), Stanley Park (Vancouver), Kings Park (Perth).
Conclusion
By this point we had reached the half way point of our road trip and it was time to cross the border from Canada to USA. We’ve also reached the end of this blog post so I’ll give you the answers to the quiz questions:
9-5 - Dolly Parton
Person 1: Kirsten, Person 2: Jonty
10:00pm (10:03pm)
Tyler Wright and/or Molly Picklum
Central Park (340 ha), Stanley Park (405 ha), Kings Park (406 ha)