Last Day

Checked out of the hotel and went to Van Dusen Botanical Gardens before the flight home later in the afternoon. Lovely gardens - not as pristeen as Butchart but more interesting.

More Bikes

After a long lie in Colin, Max and Hannah went for a cycle going all the way round False Creek and back over the Burrard Bridge. Cherry went to the Chinese Garden. Nice dinner at the Market at the Shangrila Hotel across the road from our own.

The Ultimate Day Tour

Set off at 9am on the Prince of Whales boat to do some whale watching. Saw some seals and bald eagle and then lots orcas. Arrived in Victoria at 1 pm with just a short time to look around before getting a coach to the beautiful Butchart Gardens. The return boat left at 5.15 arriving back in Vancouver 7.45. Saw some of the killer variety of orca having some seals for dinner !

Bikes round Stanley Park

With the weather looking a bit better we hired some bikes at Canada Place and went round the Stanley Park seawall. About 2 1/2 hours with some lengthy stops. Harry Potter at the cinema in the evening.

Trolley Tour of Vancouver

Another wet day with heavy rain. We took the city Trolley bus tour and spent most of the day going round the city with pretty good commentary from the driver.

Sky to Sea Highway

Headed on to Vancouver. Short stop en-route at Horseshoe Bay and a visit to Stanley Park. Evening stroll around Canada Place.

Whistler Day 2

Max and Hannah went for a mountain biking lesson and enjoyed a generous 1 1/2 hrs of tuition.

Whistler Day 1

Our first day in Whistler saw heavy rain in the morning. We wandered around a soggy village and checked out the sights. With the sky clearing a little we hired bikes in the afternoon and had a pleasant cycle around the Valley trail with Max and Colin doing an extra hour on the easy single tracks around Lost Lake.

Kamloops to Whistler

Another long drive arriving at the lovely Whistler on Tuesday evening. Max and Colin went out for a run and we all went for a swim at the hotel pool.

Kamloops

A long drive today from Jasper to Kamloops. Beautiful mountain scenery first with the giant peaks like Mount Robson and then lower rolling pine covered hills. Arrived at Kamloops late afternoon and had a walk down to the park and the giant Thomson river.

Jasper Day 2

With the weather looking slightly better we rented bikes and spent 3 hours around the flat bits of town. Went for a walk near Pyramid lake in the afternoon.

Jasper Day 1

The sky remained overcast all day. We headed off to the local leisure centre and to our surprise found it almost empty. We all enjoyed a game of squash. After a bit of shopping when Hannah bough a wooden bear we headed off for a short walk along the spectacular Maligne Canyon with a 50m deep gorge and as little as 2 m wide in places. Excellent dinner at Caruso's.

Icefields Parkway

Drive from Banff to Jasper. Stopped at Johnson Canyon for a 2 mile walk along the river to the lower falls. Visited the Athabaska glacier at the Columbia Icefields and the Athabaska Falls.

Banff Day 3

We headed out to Lake Louise and went for a long hike to the Plain of the Six Glaciers. Fantastic weathers and views taking us from sunny lakeside up into the snow. A nice tearoom at the highest point.

Banff Day 2

In the morning we headed off for a cable car ride to Sulpher Mountain. From there we all walked to the peak at Samson's Peak. Colin and Max headed off in the other direction as well for some scrambling up another peak.

In the afternoon we went to the outdoor hot-tub at the hotel and in the evening went for a boat trip on Lake Minnewanka and for wildlife tour which was somewhat disappointing.

Banff

We travelled today from Calgary to Banff. A bit of trouble to start with getting used to the automatic car but fine once I got the hang of it. Beautiful scenery amongst the Rockies at Banff. Spent the afternoon in the village of Banff and at the Cascade gardens. The Hidden Ridge hotel and apartments was really excellent with a spacious and very well equipped flat in a very pleasant hill top location. Short drive round Vermillion Lakes in the early evening.

Calgary Zoo

With body clocks now getting into sync with local time we headed out on the tram to the zoo. Large and attractive zoo kept us busy from around 10 am through to 4 pm. Some nice gardens as well within the zoo grounds.

Calgary

After a very long flight we arrived in Calgary on Saturday evening and had a walk round the deserted streets of downtown. The area immediately around the Sandman Hotel wasn't particularly appealing so we made do with a quick meal at MacDonalds before getting to bed around 7 pm.

We were all up early the next day- body clocks waking us at 2 am but making efforts to lie in as long as possible. We had an enormous breakfast at the hotel with some incredibly large portions North American style. We walking into the very central area of Calgary which is very pleasant amidst the many gleaming skyscapers. Headed up the Calgary Tower for great views over the city and surrounding plains and onward towards the Rockies. The Tower included a very scary glass floor to stand on just blow the 191 m top.

We then went to the Glenbow Museum for a look at the exhibition on the First Nations in Canada and the US. Also looked at the modern art and the children and Cherry had a go at producing some modern materpieces.

In the evening we had a pleasant stroll to Princes Island and a nice meal out before getting back for bed at 9 pm.