Travelog for: Dean

Hi Mum,

This couple of weeks we are in Vancouver again with smaug, so this morning we visited downtown. This is the same spot where we took a picture last time we were here...yes, there should be some mountains somewhere in those clouds .



While this is Stanley Park seen from downtown.



From here we could also have a look at downtown skyscrapers. That strange thing in the middle of the square is the 2010 Winter Olympic cauldron .



Later, when the rain occasionally stopped we managed to take a couple of more pictures. This is BC Place, the stadium where the Olympic ceremonies were held. They must be working at the roof, so it looked a bit a mess.



And smaug told us that the steel globe back there must be part of the World of Science. Not sure if he’s right, but it looked cool, so we took a picture of it .

Hi Mum,

Today we met up with AbbyB and her TV guests for coffee and also went visiting Chinatown . First we came across this nice gate.



Then we took a group photo in this lovely garden.



Later we found this war memorial.



And eventually Abby showed us this giant abacus with beads made of jade . It might not be the handiest one to tally up numbers , but it’s nice looking .

Hi Mum,

today the weather was very surprisingly nice and warm, albeit just a touch windy , so we went for a nice walk in the mountains . We left the car at Barrier Lake where, after a few minutes of struggle , smaug found a way to hold my head still...ish in the wind and take a couple of photos.




From here we headed towards Barrier Lake Lookout. On the way we could hear the wind battering the treetops above us, or we were just battered ourselves when we came out of the trees . Still we found a few spots where we could take some photos. Here we could see Kananaskis Valley in the distance.



While a bit higher up we had nice views of Barrier Lake ...



...and of the prairies.



Eventually we reached the lookout, from where we had a nice view over the Rockies .




On the way back smaug said that he had enough of being pushed and pulled by the wind at every step, so we took a longer route through a nicely sheltered little valley. The view wasn’t that good in there, but there were lovely autumn colours all the way .

Hi Mum,

Today smaug came home with a parcel saying it was a surprise for us TVs .



As we opened it a new guest came out: Penny a nice cat from the US just like me . And she brought over chocolate and a lovely card from Russia .



We wanted to hear everything about her travelling but she was a bit tired after the long trip so we’ll have to wait until tomorrow.

Hi Mum,

Today it is my birthday and, this morning the TVs and toys sang happy birthday for me .



Later sammino wanted to get me a typical horse meal, but being short of fresh hay in the house he settled for some delicious chocolate biscuits .



Later we spent the afternoon chatting and checking TV updates....with the occasional bite at those biscuits .

Hi Mum,

Today it was nice and warm so we went for a nice hike on the mountains . We spent a couple of hours between the trees but at one point we could see this little peak and thought that it might have been our destination, but smaug said that it was just about halfway to where we wanted to go .



A bit higher up the view became quite nice .





Some sections were a bit steep .



Eventually we had a glimpse of our destination in the distance and, guess what, there was snow at the top .



Once we reached the top we found a survey point...



...but we forgot quickly about it and looked at the landscape.




We could see the ridge that we walked up from and far down the valley where we left the car.



Back in the distance we saw the Bow Valley...



....and Kananaskis Valley on the opposite side of the mountain.



What a nice day !

Hi Mum,

Today was warm again , although not exactly sunny , and smaug said that we had to make the most of this nice weather before it starts snowing around here , so he took us again up the mountains. The first challenge of the day was fording the Elbow river which is fairly wide but at this location flows mostly underground (at least at this time of the year), so I got my hoofs only a bit wet .



Later we headed into the trees and didn’t see much for a while. But we occasionally had views of the valley from where we started.



A  bit further on we saw where we were going.



Once we reached the top the view was nice as always .



We could see the Elbow Valley both west...



...and east.



Someone built this massive cairn right at the top of the trail. It seemed about to collapse any time soon, but probably it was faring much better than we did in the wind .



Eventually smaug pointed out that those clouds looked like trouble so we hastily made our way downhill.

Hi Mum,

Today it was a nice sunny day, so we went for short walk along the river . No mountains this week: I think that, with winter approaching, smaug’s getting a bit lazy and, just like bears, he’d be ready for spending a few months sleeping .



At one point, getting very close to the shore we could almost see downtown.



By crossing the river (luckily we didn’t need to wade through it ) we gained a better viewpoint, before going back home to warm up a bit.

Hi Mum,

Over the whole month we have been several times in Vancouver with smaug for short working trip and he never took a single picture of us , so this week we made it clear that, no matter how busy he was, we wanted the camera to be used .



Well, I can’t say that we have been very successful: we just got a few out of focus shots tonight at Vancouver Airport . In the international departures hall...



...and later waiting to board the plane.




Still it was kind of an improvement

Hi Mum,

We have seen very little of smaug over the last couple of weeks as he was always busy at work. But it doesn’t mean I have been idle: in his absence the task of keeping the house habitable fell on us TVs and the responsibility for all the chores were on our shoulders. We had to take care of sweeping the dust...



...ironing...



...and doing the washing up.



We even had to cook our own meals...but, considering the type of supplies available, that wasn’t a very challenging task .

Hi Mum,

Look what came to Calgary this week!



Can’t see anything, can you ? Well, that was a window covered with ice! Let’s try with this one. It’s snow ! It’s been snowing all week and temperatures have been consistently deep in the minus teens or even twenties since Tuesday .



sammino told us that he had been waiting for this kind of weather eagerly as he wanted us to experience some proper Canadian winter, so I put on my most enthusiastic face and prayed that it didn’t betray the fact that I didn’t really share the same eagerness on the matter . Anyway, today we went out for a walk to enjoy this true Canadian experience. Unsurprisingly (I dare say) there was hardly anyone on this footpath.



As you can see the river here wasn’t frozen yet. Apparently it hasn’t been cold long enough yet , so here there was just a sludgy mix of water and ice.



While here the current is much slower, so there was already plenty of ice around.



Luckily this exploration tour didn’t last long enough to turn my hoofs into ice blocks themselves and, even better, once home we got a nice hot chocolate to warm us up .

Hi Mum,

Today we said goodbye and wished a safe trip to Penny who is travelling to her next host in Brazil .

Hi Mum,

Today it was much warmer than earlier in the week (well, -10C is way better than -30C ) so we decided to go out for a walk and enjoy the snowfall. As usual the footpath was pretty much empty.




We kept walking up to the river.



Later sammino and I decided to play a bit in the snow.



But we soon got cold and decided to keep moving towards downtown...



...where, on our way home, we met this funny fellow . He didn’t seem to be too fazed either by the snow, or by us paying him a visit .

Hi Mum,

Today I was skiing ! We went to Lake Louise, a ski area that calls itself “The Rockies’ Biggest, Canada’s Best” ....something that some other resorts would probably argue with , but the place is impressive indeed.
Here we were ready to start the day on a gondola called Grizzly..which unfortunately didn’t mean that a friendly grizzly bear was waiting for skiers at the top .



The day was a bit foggy, and the windows were even foggier...



...so we decided to open one of them and look outside.



Alas, smaug wasn’t really inclined to go all the way up with an open window but we could still have a glimpse at the slopes.



There was plenty of fresh snow on the trees.



Later we managed to get take a few pictures out of the fog. That white area above my head is the actual lake (frozen solid at this time of the year) that gives the name to both the village and the ski area.



While here we were running in fresh snow ...



...and having a look at the back side of the ski area.



Throughout the day sammino and I enjoyed special “seats” . My legs are sore for holding on to the ski all day and I got so much snow on my nose...but it was great fun .

Hi Mum,

Merry Christmas! Today a visitor arrived here: no, not Santa , just Sigfrido the moose, who I met already last summer ! And he brought us a present, one of sammino’s favourite chocolate sweets, a Mozartkugel !



Actually he got us a whole box, how nice !



He even taught us some of the history of this sweet .



Later in the evening we helped out in opening the Christmas presents...



...but we were soon distracted by dinner. We found this big pandoro and decided to claim it for ourselves .



Alas, smaug said that it was too big for us and that we were going to get indigestion with it, so he gave us a TV-size one, better than nothing .



Hope you had a wonderful Christmas !