We escaped the heat in FL for a couple weeks, by traveling to Canada. We flew into Vancouver to start the trip. This trip was on our own, but we had scheduled small group tours along the way. This was setup with CanadaRailVacations.ca, and I have to say they did a great job.
First day out was a trip to Victoria and of course Butchart Gardens.
While not part of Canada, the skies were clear enough to see Mt Baker in Washington state from many parts of Vancouver and Victoria. The wildfires in Canada were far to the east, and also the week before we got there the Canadian Rockies got 2 feet of snow with heavy rains through much else of Canada.
Next day we visited Capilano Cable bridge with a few thousand friends on Canada day (didn't get a picture of the bridge as it was packed with people, including us) Below is a stock foto of the bridge without all the people.
The park also hosts some rescued raptors. We learned the strongest of the birds is the owl, even more powerful than any eagle.
After that we headed to Grouse Mountain, a ski resort just outside of Vancouver.
Besides the great views all around, they had a lumberjack show there. Sawing, chopping and log rolling.
And the pole climb, which this guy got to the top and down in under 8 seconds!
One of the highlights of the trip occurred the next day, when we took a foodie tour of Richmond neighboring Vancouver. Richmond is now mostly a mixed Asian community with Chinese, Korean, Japanese and other groups living there. We started with dim sum, followed by a Chinese bakery, then a food mall for a couple stops and ending with a bubble tea. Wow, this was some amazing food, and it was just us and a guide moving between 2 elevated train stops, where we passed literally hundreds of small restaurants. Since moving to FL, we have been trying to find good Chinese food, well this satisfied that. BTW FL does have good sushi.
Next onto the train heading for Jasper. An overnight trip passing through lots of mountains, waterfalls, mostly following the rivers. Below is the White Canyon, all limestone, with train tracks on the other side of the river, with an avalanche shed (reminds us of Donner Pass).
This is Mt Robson, the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies. We were quite lucky as they told us it was in clouds almost all the time.
We were greeted in Jasper by a young black bear who hangs out at the train station, who they chased off before we disembarked.
From Jasper we visited Maligne Lake, where we took a boat out to spirit island, where the lake was surrounded by peaks (we were on the big boat, not the canoe)
Maligne is one of a series of lakes connected by falls and "potholes" than flow underground between them.
Along this road
We came along a couple animal traffic jams, an elk who didn't want to be photographed.
And a black bear too busy eating to bother noticing us.
What the bear was eating were Buffalo Berries, over 100K per day to get 20K calories.
Next day onto Lake Louise, with a stop by the Columbia Icefields and Athabasca Glacier
We took one of these custom ice busses down a 34% slope road out onto the icefield.
After the glacier you can walk out on a glass floor walkway to view the valley.
Still on the way to Lake Louise, we stopped at a couple alpine lakes. These lakes are glacier fed which contain a lot of rock "flour" which are fine ground rock that stays suspended in the water and yields the color.
Did you spot the fox head outline in Bow Lake?
We got to the old grand hotel at Lake Louise, we were told we were upgraded and walked into a room with this view.
Not too shabby.
The next day we headed onto Calgary with stops along the way. One unscheduled stop right on the highway were a mom and daughter grizzly foraging just outside the game fence.
Stopped by more lakes, falls
and Takakkaw Falls. To get to the falls the bus actually had to back up one of the switchbacks.
Here the road follows the original railway line, that was so steep there were too many derailments and they finally installed a couple of spiral tunnels.
Next stop was Banff
We stayed downtown, not in the grand old hotel this time. But the town of Banff is really worth a visit, a cute little town with restaurants, bars, shops, and a distillery. We could easily spend a week there.
We did take a trip to the gondola and had lunch on top.
On that road we stopped to see some hoodoos (sandstone towers) along the way.
Then a quick bus stop, some animals out across the field. At least a hundred yards away looked like deer at first, then a head came up. What, well after looking at the pictures my camera took, a couple sand hill cranes. Lots of them in FL, I guess they were on vacation too.
Had dinner with another couple to celebrate my birthday and their anniversary. A great dinner at the Maple Leaf restaurant.
Time to leave the peaks for the foothills and Calgary. In Calgary we caught a couple days of the Stampede, as well as some great Korean food, and Chinese food.
The Calgary Stampede is a huge rodeo, livestock show and provincial fair all rolled into one.
Draft horse show
Team cow cutting
And the chuck wagon races
Next day working dogs herding sheep
And one sheep having none of it, standing its ground and stamping its foot.
And demo team riders.
Bronco busting
Barrel racing
Calf roping
And something I had never seen, 3 kids and a pony on a lead, with the object is to get one of the kids on the pony. Lots of dragging, mud flying and ponies running away.
Dancers from the First Nation
And finally the bull riding (not many made the 8 seconds that day).
OK time to return to reality. Our flight out of Calgary was delayed due to weather in Chicago. Then when approaching Chicago we were diverted to Rockford IL, as the tower had been evacuated due to a possible tornado. After refueling we made it into Chicago for our connection 3 hours late. Luckily our connection was the plane we were on heading back to Tampa. Finally home at 3:30 AM
All in all a great trip, I would definitely recommend.