2010 Adventure: Souvenir

On day 2 of our 2010 adventure, MH changed our lives. After we ate our dinner, we took a stroll along the lake, and MH surprised me with the best souvenir ever.

We have not made any wedding plans yet and are just enjoying the moment. I hope you share my excitement!

2010 Adventure: Day 10

The last day of our adventure went by with a flash. Once we arrived in Seattle, we took the monorail over to the Space Needle and the Experience Music Project (on the right).

Unfortunately, the Experience Music Project was closed by time we got there so we ran over to the Olympic Sculpture Garden to check it out.

There are all sorts of sculptures throughout the garden and I liked some much better than others. I thought this one was fun. It reminded me of dominoes falling.

As the sun set, we took the monorail back to our hotel and stopped off in Pike's Market for dinner at the Pink Door.

We'll have to visit Seattle again. Our 16 hours in the city definitely was not enough for me.

2010 Adventure: Day 9

In the morning, we took the BC Ferry from Vancouver to Victoria Island in hopes of catching the first ferry out of Victoria Island to Port Angeles. However, when we arrived at the Victoria Island port, the first ferry to Port Angeles was already full. We bought tickets for the second ferry, and since we had some time to kill, we wandered around Victoria Island and saw the Parliament building.

Once we arrived in Port Angeles, we drove to Olympic National Park and checked out the beaches and rain forests.

Since it was a typical cloudy day in Washington, visiting the beaches wasn't as exciting as I had hoped but they were interesting to see. In the bottom left hand corner you can see MH taking a picture of this crazy tree.

One of the "must do" things in Olympic National park is to drive up to Hurricane Ridge. I suspect the view is more exciting when there are less clouds so I didn't even bother sharing my picture from while we were there. This picture was taken our way back from the Ridge.

2010 Adventure: Days 7 & 8

We arrived in Vancouver in the late afternoon. Our hotel was right next to Canada Place, so we checked in and then wandered around to see the sights.

In the guide book, the steam clock is marked as a "must see" and perhaps I am a jaded American, but when we saw the steam clock, I was a little disappointed. Don't get me wrong, it is cool and all, but the hearing the clock "toot" and release steam isn't very exciting.

The Dr. Sun Yet Sen Chinese Garden is really cool though. Although the Huntington Garden in San Marino is larger, the Dr. Sun Yet Sen Chinese Garden has more architectural details and is more authentic considering fifty-two craftsmen from Suzhou China, worked with Canadians to construct the garden with precise joinery without the use of nails, screws or glue.

The next day, we continued our Vancouver sightseeing adventures and visited Granville Island. I got the impression that Granville Island is a giant tourist trap, but maybe I would go there because of my love for farmer's markets if I were a resident of Vancouver, who knows.

I would definitely visit Stanley Park regularly if I lived in Vancouver. The park is spacious and offers art, a variety of nature trails, and much more to it's visitors.

There are lots of totem poles in Vancouver so I felt the need to include at least one picture of them from our trip.

2010 Adventure: Day 6

We started the next day early in the morning and stopped at the Peyto Lake Viewpoint. It was lightly snowing while we got there and MH and I crunched the freshly fallen snow as we trekked out to the viewpoint. The Lake is glacially-fed which makes it a brilliant turquoise.

Our next stop was the Columbia Icefield. At the Icefield Center, we took the Brewster Ice Explorer tour.

The tour takes you out onto Athabasca glacier, one of the six principal 'toes' of the Columbia Icefield. We were told that if you drink water from the glacier it makes you 10 years younger. MH and I both tried the glacier water and it tasted like extremely cold filtered water. We'll have to wait and see about the alleged side effects.

After the tour, we continued up the road to Jasper National Park. We stopped to see Athabasca falls and then headed into town for lunch.

After lunch, we drove to Mount Edith Cavell, but when we arrived it started to rain. There is a trail that I wanted to take to see Angel Glacier, but after a few minutes in the rain we decided to head back to the car and start our long drive to Vancouver.

2010 Adventure: Day 5

In the morning we drove to Banff National Park. Once we arrived, we took the Lake Minnewanka scenic drive and were greeted by a herd of big horn sheep that had little horns.

Our next stop was Johnston Canyon for a 1.1km hike to the Lower Falls. You can hike another 1.6km to the Upper Falls, but MH and I were tired, and it started to rain, so we thought seeing the Lower Falls were good enough for us.

When we got back to the car, we were drenched. It was a good thing that everything in Banff is so far apart because it gave us time to dry our clothes before we arrived at our next destination, Moraine Lake. At Moraine Lake, there is a large rockpile on the left-hand side that you can climb up. When you get to the top of the rockpile, this is what the lake looks like.

We ended our day at Lake Louise. The area is very touristy and reminded me of when MH and I visited the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. Large buses unloaded tourists of all sorts and there were people all over the place.

Just before we left, we saw a bride and groom taking photos at the edge of the lake. I'm sure those were going to be amazing wedding shots! When the clouds cleared and the sun light shined through the reflection on the lake was gorgeous.

2010 Adventure: Day 4

The morning wind woke us up early, so we packed up, and as we left the park, a grizzly bear mother and her two cubs greeted us roadside. Unfortunately, I couldn't pull my camera out fast enough to get a picture of them scamper across the road but perhaps it is for the better that our visit with them was brief.

Our next stop was Calgary, Alberta. In Calgary, we visited the Glenbow Museum. At the museum, we learned about Alberta's history and saw a wonderful Botero exhibit.

The rest of the day we relaxed and made sure we got to sample Alberta's famous beef. MH and I both agreed that Alberta definitely know what it is doing when it comes to beef and recommend trying it if you ever have the chance.

2010 Adventure: Day 3

In the morning, we hiked the Trail of the Cedars and then stopped to admire Wild Goose Island at St. Mary Lake.

Then, we headed over to Many Glacier and took the Swift Current and Josephine Lake boat tours. When we arrived at the other side of Josephine Lake a moose mother and baby were enjoying the lake too.

MH and I hiked to Grinnel Glacier. The sights during the hike were nothing short of breathtaking. Grinnel Glacier is amazing. Even though the hike is a tough one, it is well worth it when you get to the top.

On our Swift Current boat tour return, we saw a grizzly bear mother and her two cubs.

We set up camp at Many Glacier and enjoyed our camp-side dinner to another beautiful sunset.

2010 Adventure: Days 1 & 2

On Wednesday evening, MH and I flew into Spokane, Washington, picked up our rental car (a cute looking bean car aka a Toyota Yaris), and drove to Kalispell, Montana.

The next morning, we picked up some groceries, and drove to Glacier National Park. We stopped at Lake McDonald and enjoyed our lunch lakeside. Then, we drove the Going-To-The-Sun Road and enjoyed the scenery.

We stopped at Logan Pass and hiked to Hidden Lake. During our hike, we came across a bunch of mountain goats and they were so close to us we could have touched them if we wanted to.

After our hike, we headed back to Lake McDonald so we could set up camp, prepare dinner, and eat lakeside as the sun went down.