Jasper 2.2 - Canoe and Hike

As is always the case, the last day of any trip is never a full day. There is always driving or check-outs or waiting for planes. 

Today we had to get up early, unset our camp and make the most of our afternoon before driving home. 

Our number one plan for this trip to Jasper was canoeing. I told R that I wouldn't get back in the car to go home unless that happened, and I meant it!

We had looked up a few places that offer canoe rentals before we came so we could check prices and locations. Our first choice was Maligne Lake but since that didn't happen we settled for Pyramid Lake. 

To be clear, Pyramid Lake is by no means a 'settlement.' It is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful lakes in the park and I'm really pleased that this is where we ended up going. 

When we arrived the rental desk told us we would need to wait for someone to return a canoe so we could take it, but first-come-first-served so don't go far. 

It was only about 15 minutes before we were suiting up in our life jackets and getting in the water. 

$35 got us 1 hour in the canoe. 1 perfect blissful hour of paddling in the sunshine and appreciating the mountains towering above us. We had so much fun exploring the area from a different vantage point. 

I could have happily stayed out there for several more hours, though my fair skin would pay the consequences. 

When our time was up and the canoe returned we made the short drive to the next lake over. Patricia Lake is cold, like all the other mountain lakes, but it made for a nice swim anyways. 

Our friends were already at the lake so we joined them for some fun. Somebody brought blow-up boats and almost everyone took a turn in them. The boys took them out to float in the middle of the lake, I pulled the little ones around near the shore and then I took my turn to get pulled around by R. 

During my ride a bee was flying around and my natural instinct is to lose my cool. I just freak out. Anyway, it landed on me so I freaked out more and when R brushed it off me it fell into the little bit of water in the bottom and went under my foot where it proceeded to sting me. 

Let me just say, I haven't been stung in years but it still hurts like hell, just like I remember it. 

Partly because it really hurt and partly because I was flailing around anyways, I ended up falling out of the boat and into the freezing water. As it turns out, that water was also very shallow and I hit my knee on a big rock at the bottom. Not a great moment for me, but I'm sure it was amusing for other people to watch. 

After I scooped my dignity up out of the water and made it to the beach I had to get R to go find my Benadryl. I'm extremely paranoid that I might be allergic to stings, even though there is plenty of evidence to the contrary. 

Anyway, I wasn't in much of a swimming mood anymore so we dried off, said good-bye to everyone and headed in the direction of the weekends final adventure. 

Just like canoeing was a must do, hiking was necessary as well. 

We found a few trails online but they were all too far in the wrong direction, we didn't want to make our drive home any longer than necessary. 

In the end we decided on Maligne Canyon. I've been there twice before, once with R in the winter and once with my family last summer but this time was different than both of those. In the winter we only made it 5 minutes down the trail before we had to turn around because it was pure ice and in the summer I had a 4 year old with me so we did one of the shorter loops. 

I'm not sure how long the longest loop is but I know that it would take several hours. We didn't really plan anything, just to go until we didn't want to anymore. I was secretly taking R as far as possible before he quit though. He said he nearly died, but in all fairness it was scorching hot outside. 

We guesstimate that we were out for around 2 hours and probably went around 8km. 

Some points had us way high up looking into a deep narrow canyon and other areas are low enough that we could put our hands and hats in the water to cool off. 

The canyon is such a beautiful place to hike, I highly recommend it to anyone. The trail has challenging parts, but it also has a clear path the whole way and hand rails for a good amount so it is pretty friendly to any level. 

Having survived the whole round trip we made our way to the car, air conditioning and eventually home. 

Jasper 2.1 - Lake life

There is something about sleeping in a tent that I just love. The hard ground doesn't bother me at all and I have the best strategy to stay warm. Sleep naked. No one believes me when I tell them it's the best way to go but your own body heat will keep you warmer than clothes. I promise. 

Beyond that, the crisp air in the morning and the dew that has settled on ever surface, the sounds of nature and the lingering smell of camp fire. I can't get enough. 

The group got together again in the morning to make breakfast in one site. Oatmeal, coffee, sausage, eggs, bacon.. All the good stuff. 

Having finished eating and cleaning the dishes we set off for our first lake of the day. 

Lake Annette is a small freshwater body near Jasper Park Lodge, not far from the town of Jasper. As we would soon discover, the water is absolutely freezing even on a beautiful hot day. 

Most of the adults went in the water to some degree. A bit of swimming, some floating on inflatable boats and a lot of standing around while our bodies adjusted to the temperature, inch by frigid inch. In the end R and I both dunked ourselves and lived to tell the tale. 

The little ones splashed around in the shallows for a bit but mostly spent their time on the shore making sand castles. 

When we had enough of the icy lake and the scorching sun we took our leave from the group again and headed for another lake. 

From Lake Annette to Maligne lake is only approximately 45km, but it takes quite a while to get there. Narrow winding roads keep the speed limit fairly low. And as lovely as the scenery is there was nothing I could do to keep my eyes open. I have vague memories of doing the horrible vehicle-sleeping head bob, but after a while even that faded out and I was dead to the world. I guess it took all my energy to reheat my body after getting out of the lake. 

As it would turn out, the reason my head stopped bobbing was because R was holding my face with one hand and driving with the other. 

Seemingly 100 years later we finally made it to our destination. We got ourselves all ready and walked down to the water in search of the canoe rentals. They weren't hard to find. 

We probably should have expected it going in, but it was absolutely crazy in the boathouse. Packed wall-to-wall with families of tourists wanting to explore the lake and capture the perfect photos. 

It took us about 1 minute to decide that we weren't willing to wait in the madness and then we left. I was a bit disappointed considering that was the whole reason we came and we both really wanted to canoe. 

Aiming to make the best of the situation we decided to explore the area. Maligne Lake is a really beautiful place, the little sister of Lake Louise in Banff National Park. Both have stunning views and hoards of tourists. 

On the first trail we took a deer walked right out in front of us and couldn't have cared less that we were there. She went about her business of frolicking and munching and very kindly stuck around for some pictures. 

We explored a little ways around the lake but didn't go terribly far because our friends would be wanting supper before to long and we still needed to drive at least an hour to get back to the camp. 

It turns out that the drive is really lovely, I stayed awake for the whole way back. We got to see where a large forest fire had recently been put out and it was a pretty bizarre sight, not something you come across everyday. 

Back at the camp, fire-grilled kabobs in hand and ready to relax for the evening. The fire masters got a big blaze going to sit around and chat and when everyone finished eating we played games too. 

We have one afternoon left before returning home and we will make the very most of it!

{East Coast 13+14}

It seems like the trip just started and somehow also like we've been in Nova Scotia forever, either way, it's almost time to go home! 

For our second last full day R took me to a place that he used to spend time when he was younger. 

We drove to Brass Hill, parked and trudged out into a peninsula in the bay. It's a large area that is partly tree'd or covered in tall grass and partly rocky shoreline. 

The tall grass freaked me out a bit because I have an unreasonable fear of ticks even though I've never seen one. Despite that, we made the long trek through, flip flops and all. 

R mentioned before hand that we might spot some deer in the area and we actually did! 

We stepped in wet sinky holes in the grass, avoided thorn bushes and eventually hopped from rock to rock along the shore until we hit the very top of the peninsula. 

From the tip we could see a small island and I was convinced that there were dogs on it, but Ryan pointed out that it has no connections to the mainland and that would mean it has a self sufficient pack of dogs that live there permanently. Or they're really good swimmers... Any which way, I've been convinced that the "barking" I heard must have been something else. 

Our little adventure took us a little over an hour round trip and I came out with no ticks!! Ryan on the other hand did find one, but it was only on his pant leg. I can now say that I have seen a tick, and I never want to again. 

With the excitement of our day over we picked up pizza and went home to watch old movies on Netflix before bed. In our combined times in Barrington we watched Sabrina, Catch me if you can, Jumanji and Cheaper by the Dozen. 

In the morning on our last day we packed up the rental car and hit the road headed for Halifax. This time R's little sister came with us. 

Along the way we made our third stop at the LaHave Bakery. I'm a bit obsessed if you can't tell. You would be too if you had any idea how delicious it was. We had scones and muffins and brownies and tea and I loved every bite. We did eventually have to say our last farewell and get back on the road. 

Straight on to Halifax, through the crazy traffic and weird roads and down to the waterfront. 

The Halifax harbour is a buzzing, lively place packed to the edges with tourists. Ice cream, museums, shops and restaurants are a few of the things that you'll stumble upon. Also, art installations. 

We saw the harbour hopper tour "bus" and Theodore Tugboat, people partying on tied up sailboats and street entertainers playing their music. 

After stopping for food at one of the many vendors we headed back to the car to make our way to our hotel. I know I said this was our last day, but we have one more sleep before an early morning flight. 

The hotel we got is right next to the airport for a convenient early morning checkout and 6 of us shared the two bed room to keep it inexpensive. This meant that R and I were sleeping on the floor, not really a problem for us though. 

To kill some time in the evening R, his 2 sisters and myself all went swimming. We had silly competitions for who could swim the fastest or hold their breath longer, and had a ton of fun doing it. Eventually we all got tired and headed upstairs for showers. 

Clean and ready for bed we all made a quick trip to the store downstairs to stock up on junk food. Just because. 

After a very short sleep we drove to the airport and returned our Jeep. 

During this trip we drove 3300km through 2 provinces and had an amazing time! I honestly want to stay in Nova Scotia permanently. I've wanted to move here since I visited the first time and this trip just reiterated that feeling for me. 

Due to some crazy thick fog our flight was delayed about 3 hours. That time in the airport wasn't much fun but we made it through and eventually touched back down in Alberta. 

En route to Oahu! {Hawaii 1}

The day finally arrived!!! I've been waiting to go to Hawaii for 13 years now and I couldn't be more excited to get there!

 

Our first day of vacation was a full travel day. We left for the airport at 9:30am Edmonton time so we could be 3 hours early for our international flight. We all got checked in and everyone else dropped off their baggage. I only brought carry-on's so they had to come everywhere with me. 

I've typically always been an over-packer and I decided that this time I would resist the urge to bring everything I own. On top of that I also avoided the checked baggage cost and waiting at the carousel, not to mention the fact that I had no chance of lost bags.
 

As any traveler will know, the first step on an journey involving flight is getting through security. One of the girls has never flown before and she was the one that got separated into another line up. I think the man working saw that she had no idea what was happening and he let her come back to us. 

On the other side of security we found a lounge to kill some time in and made a shop stop to get some food. I'm a snack-y traveller so I made sure to buy lots of snacks before getting on the plane. Hunger is irrelevant, as soon as I'm buckled in for a road trip or set in my seat in the plane all I want to do is snack.

                                     

                                     

The first flight was short and easy. About an hour and a half to Vancouver. Unfortunately once we got there we had to go through security again and through customs. Not that either are difficult, mostly I find them tedious and time consuming. Customs does have potential to be pretty intimidating though. 

                                     

Any which way things go, I love the airport. It such a magical place for me. If you are one of the majority of people that find it to be a crazy hectic place with no joy, think of it this way. This building can take you anywhere in the world, it's ALMOST as good as the wardrobe to Narnia. Go up to any counter, any airline.. everywhere will lead you somewhere new, to a different adventure. And as you arrive at other airports new destinations become available to you. I love it!!!

Both flights were uneventful, I get a bit bored when I can't move around though so I had to make use of all the gadgets I had in my carry-on. In these scenarios nothing holds my attention for very long so I would take out my iPad for a bit, put it away, get something else, put it away... I'm sure my seat mate would have liked for me to sit still for a while. 

It was night by the time we arrived in Oahu and we were all losing our minds a bit. We had to find friend #5 who was joining us from a New Zealand trip and then it was off to start the actual adventure.

                                   

It took us a good while to collect everyone's luggage and find the bus that would take us to the rental car place, but we got there eventually. 

The car we got was a Nissan Altima and the vehicle I drive at home is a van. For more than just the obvious reasons, this made for an interesting drive.  I was at the point where I really should have been sleeping already and I was a tiny bit loopy. I also had no idea where I was going, had to adjust to a new car, it was raining, we couldn't stop laughing and the roads are crazy. 

At one point while driving down the freeway I realized I was driving in miles/hour instead of kilometres/hour like I'm used to. I may have freaked out a tiny bit. And then I realized that everything still works the same, the signs just have smaller numbers on them....

Anyway, after a quick food stop we eventually made it to our rental house with the help of our 'landlord' leading the way. The house is on the side of a mountain and all the roads are steep and winding, I actually shouted, and I quote: "We're barely not moving forwarder!" ...  as I sped up the hill. My lack of proper speaking skills is always a sure sign that it's past my bedtime. 

Our driveway was extremely steep and I didn't have the necessary brain function to back into it without killing everyone so we decided to let the landlord do it. He promptly bottomed out the car, and that was the last time the car ever went into the driveway. 

Part of the rental agreement was that we have quiet hours after 9pm. Let me just say, putting 5 over-tired, over-excited girls in a house together at 3am doesn't make for a quiet time. Especially me. When I get really tired I have a tendency to be a bit crazy and I laugh at EVERYTHING, loudly. 

Fear not, we didn't get kicked out. Everyone passed out eventually.

xoxo