Our Canada Trip: From West to East Canada

We left Vancouver Island in our faithful Pontiac and drove over 400o km east from mountains, through prairies to lake country . Along the way we breezed through Whistler and stopped off for a night in Revelstoke. Tragedy struck when teddy was left behind in the change room of a shop in downtown Revelstoke. Luckily, we were able to track him down and the kind people from the shop posted him to meet us in Calgary - it would have been a hard journey without teddy. We spent a week in Calgary with Jen's family - Ron, Shirley and Geoff. With our local tour guides we explored the spectacular Kananaskis Country, the Drumheller dinosaur country and the city of Calgary. The Bonds spoilt us with some amazing Canadian cooking and a pre-thanksgiving dinner complete with a flashing jack-o-lantern on the table. Maya enjoyed haning out with Smokey the cat, Smokey was less keen on Maya. We were also spoilt with the use of a house in Canmore, this allowed us to explore the Rockies in more comfortable style than our usual tent style. Walking on a glacier, gazing at the Rockies from the jacuzzi and being on the look out for grizzlies were the highlights of the Rockies. We then hit the road - through Alberta, past the worlds largest Tee Pee in Medicine Hat and into the prairies of Saskatchewan. While some describe the prairies as a whole lot of nothing, we found the colours and the wide open spaces to be beautiful, we enjoyed spotting the iconic barns and grain silos along the way. Our first night in the prairies was spent in the thriving metropolis of Herbert. We camped between the highway and the railway and soon learned that the trains run every hour all through the night and honk their horns rights through town - all night long. Not our best night sleep ever.... We pushed on into Manitoba, through Winnipeg and into Ontario. The change from prairie to rocky lake country was spectacular, the lakes are so huge they look like the ocean and the autumn leaves were just starting to change. Highlight - smoked river trout just outside of Sault Ste Marie. Nine days after leaving Calgary we reached our destination of Ottawa, our car made it (only one flat tire and an almost lost set of keys), Maya made it ( 1045 readings of Olga the Brolga) and we made it still together despite the almost lost set of car keys. Ottawa looks interesting with some great old buildings, Quebec just over the river and some neighborhoods to explore.