Now that we are on the west coast, we get to spend a few days that don’t begin early and end after a 500 km (or more) road trip. We are staying with one of my cousins for a few days whose home is located in a beautifully quiet waterfront community in North Saaniich. We arrived Thursday afternoon but spent the remainder of the afternoon and evening catching up so this is the first opportunity to write some of my thoughts.
Continue Reading →British Columbia Has Mountains
We are nearing the end of our westbound travels and the halfway point to the drive. Some how it seems longer than we remember it. Perhaps it is that we were younger when we last mode this trip, 14 years younger. We have been in Vancouver more recently but travelled by air. There is something special about road trips. We talk to almost everyone, some local and some travellers, like us. We met a man in the hotel elevator this morning whose job is to count mountain sheep. Yes that is a thing.
Continue Reading →First look at the Rockies
This was to be a short day with lots of stops so I decided to make the fuel stop this morning rather than last night. Well I apologize for the nasty things I have said about Burlington traffic (some of them anyway). Calgary traffic is INSANE! The fuel stop was about 800 metres from the hotel and it took 45 minutes to get back. The only good news was the $1.36 per litre price. After a leisurely breakfast and an appropriate time for the traffic to calm, we started west again.
Our first coffee stop was the once sleepy little town of Canmore. Let me assure you it is no longer sleepy or little. It is still pretty and clearly a popular tourist destination. There is considerable new construction and I’m betting a million dollars won’t buy you much in this town. There is less and less building space in the town so new construction is increasing upon the north side of Highway #1.
Continue Reading →Across the Prairies to Calgary
As we travel across Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta the terrain changes from scrub forrest to flatland to rolling hills. Grain farms dominate the flatlands which, moving westward, transforms into cattle ranches. Oil rigs and pumps become visible in western Saskatchewan and common in Alberta. Wind farms are sprinkled across terrain and several solar collection systems become evident.
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