She'll be coming over the mountains when she comes!

 WARNING!!! TOO MANY MOUNTAIN PICTURES ARE IN THIS BLOG POST!!!! Right off the bat I will tell you that it was stupid how many pictures of the Rockies I took but it couldn't be helped. They are the definition of the word awesome (awe....inspiring!!). So here is the route I took from Victoria B.C. to Calgary A.B.
It took me from June 3rd to June 7th.

 Canada: The great north. Famous for it's mountains, trains, parries, oceans, animals, and winters. Perhaps more as I will soon discover. On my drive I encountered four trains along the way, they seem to go on for miles filled with wood, oil and all the essentials for the government to sell for money. I haven't seen a passenger train yet. even though it is supposed to be the way to travel Canada.

Another classic thing Canada is known for is the wild life. I have to say that I most definitely encountered a fair bit of wild life and I am only in the second province. So far I have seen four bears total, this one was a brown bear near the road on my way from Whistler to Lillooet. I also saw a mama and baby black bear and a grizzly. I have doubbed this guy George since he turned around to have a curious look at us when we stopped, though I think that's because he didn't like that we stopped and was giving us the eye.

As we drove through the Coastal Mountain Range I felt like I was Pinocchio driving down the whales esophagus being swallowed up by the mountains walls on all sides of me. This meant the temperature rose quickly.....

Since Victoria is Victoria and I am not use to lots of sun at this time of the year, I began to overheat.






The temperature in Lillooet was 31!!
In Lillooet there is a glacier run off that collects at this wonderful lake. It was very cold but a relief to walk into this clean and clear beach after the long drive. You can see this lake below.  

Literally a HOTspot!!

And I thought I had a large load!!!

This was the first glimpse I got of the Rockies. It felt as though these silent giants peered out at me from their cozy thick blankets but I didn't get a true look at them until the next day when the clouds cleared.

 Even through the sky wasn't clear my breath was taken away by the impressive size and natural beauty of these mountains. I am so very proud to be part of this country.

 Ok so I thought that Hawaii had lots of waterfalls but it turns out we have a ton of impressive powerful glacial waterfalls. Emphasis of the powerful!

Reargaurd Falls

I decided I'd try to take a swim......

  Tadaaaaaaaa Jess presents to you......Mount Robson

 Below are the four mountains that are clustered together and began my journey through to Alberta.

Of course I got lost in the midst of all the signs. I have to get lost every few days or so or else my life doesn't seem complete.

The crushing beauty of the mountains got to me. 

 GOOOOOOODBYYYYYEEEE BRITISH COLUMBIA!!!!

 HEEEEELLLLLLOOO ALBERTA!!!!

 So right beside the sign for Alberta there was bear scat. It was a strong sign of what was to come......

After 6 hours of driving our destination was upon us. The weather was not as hot as it was in Lillooet. We came into the town Jasper and it was extremely cloudy and poured torrential rain for 30 minutes. I thought long and hard about getting a hotel room but the rain settled. I would rather stay in a campground than a hotel so I can really experience the local area better.

 It wasn't our first stop in Jasper but it was great to have my gift card to grab a snack for when we set up camp.
So I forgot to take a picture of our campground but it was big and very equipped for wildlife. Good thing it was because there were Cariboo and bears living IN the campground. I have proof of this near the end of the blog. :D

 We continued the drive the and I just put these following pictures in because I couldn't get over the mountains and these pictures were very Canadian picturesque.

 The Athabasca Falls were breath taking. They were only 30 minutes from my campsite so we checked it out before settling for the night. I took a few pictures of it since it was just lovely. It runs off the Athabasca pass glacier which you will see in my pictures below.

 

This was a grizzly bear we meet at the size of the road about 5 Kilimeters from my campsite.

Our camp group's local residents.

More waterfalls. Take that Hawaii!!! 

Our country is just amazing.

We made our way across the Ice Field Parkway towards Lake Louise and Baniff. There is a picture below of Jeff, Mia and I near Lake Louise. Though it is a beautiful spot I found it really over touristy and kinda sad to see such a large ugly hotel next to it. I didn't stay long here and mosied my way to Baniff.

 In Baniff... need your fix..... Whaaaaat?




Finally here is the proof that life was in our campsite that you have been waiting for. We discovered this the next day. A bear had climbed up on top of my car and back down again. The prints you see below are the size of my hand.

So now Jeff and I have parted ways and I headed for Calgary. I will post again when I have left Alberta. I am currently in Edmonton after checking out Calgary for a couple days. Hope you enjoyed the post and it wasn't too scatterbrained or overwhelming with pictures for you. Thanks for reading!!

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang we love you!!!

It has begun.... I have moved out of my home and into my car, Andy is his name. He is my Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. He and I will be good friends soon enough. It’s kind of strange to think everything I need is in my car. This makes me a little nervous because it also makes me a little vulnerable. In venice I had my camera stolen out of a locked cabinet in a locked room, so my car seems much less challenging to break into. So I have kept this in mind when I packed my car full of the least valuable stuff I could. As a side note, beware villains for I am equipt with my swiss army knife and a positive attitude! I am getting very excited for the experience that is a head of me. 

Before heading on my trip I was living out at Goldstream Park, while my show Oliver finished up on Sunday. Because I sold the most vouchers for my play I got a couple gift cards to Tims, so I have made it my goal to take pictures of all the Tim's I go to across Canada as I use those gifts up. Thanks Four Seasons!

Sadly when I moved to Goldstream I got lost getting to my campsite. I get lost pretty easily. Sometimes I think getting lost is a good thing since I seem to find that fun or interesting things happen when I do. I finally did make camp in the forest at Goldstream after a long day of work and errands. Here's my cousin and I saying goodbye at my campsite!!

I finally left for my trip today and waved so long to Goldstream. I began writing this entry sitting in my car on the 9 am ferry (one the left is my goodbye picture from the ferry) and finished it sitting in my room in Whistler (to the right you can see me pretending to be more athletic than I am beside the Olympic rings). Andy, Jeff, Zoey -his car-, Mia- his dog- and I will be checking out the village. I have never been even though it’s super close. 

On our way to Whistler we stopped in Stanley park for a picnic lunch from my cooler. Then we headed up the Sea to Sky highway and checked out the local sights! I had no idea there were such powerful waterfalls along the road. I got thirsty after seeing them all so I decided to take a drink while I was there. 

As we climbed the mountain we got a more and more amazing views. Seeing my own province from high heights was pretty fantastic! I will miss B.C. 

After Whistler our plan is to head north towards Jasper, then Baniff and Lake Louise, perhaps I'll catch a ride on the train and become a freight jumper :D I will do a B.C. post after I reach Calgary where Jeff and I will part ways and I truly begin this solo Journey to explore my own county. Until then happy beginning of June!!

Where I call home.....

Can you believe it has been two years since my last post and my last big adventure! Have you ever found yourself being asked about where you're from when you are travelling other countries? I was, my response was always Canada (I wasn't sure if they would know much about Canadian geography) and they always  tried to guess which city I lived in such as Vancouver or Toronto or Montreal.... and that's about where their knowledge of Canada ended. Occasionally I would meet a fellow traveller who was so excited to talk to me, because they had been to Canada. They would question me and tell me all about the places they had been. I began to realize that they would know a boat load more about my own country than I did. So when I got back I promised myself that in two years time I would set off to explore the country I call home. So here I am two months away from departure across a distance that is equivalent to driving to mexico. This time around I am travelling with myself and Andy- my Toyota Matrix. We just met and have been getting to know one another. We plan on going across Canada and back through the states from the beginning of June to mid August. My saving began two years ago and my planning is slowly coming together, but I want to let things flow and change as I let the miles (yes miles- Andy is American) run beneath his wheels. So my blogs are being resurrected as my trip draws nearer. Please keep checking for future posts coming within the next couple months.

Fiji

Alright everyone so this is extremely late but I am going to post it anyway so you know what I got up to in the Fijian islands then I amgoing to post about the first week of Europe. I flew intoNadi on the 19^thof April late in the evening. We caught acomplementary cab ride to our hostel. The ride was a bit scary as the Fijian peoples seem to drive with a lot of enthusiasm and assertive skills. The hostel that we stayed at called the Blue Water Lodge was very nice and I would recommend it as a friendly clean and welcoming place though it rests a bit out of town though there is a shuttle. The day after we arrived in Nadi we headed into Deneau port where the ferries run out to the over 300 islands. Though the actual accommodation at Beachcomber island is reasonable the ferry to the island is whopping $88 FJ each way, make sure to have that in your budget. The island itself is great. Food is included in your stay and extras aren’t that expensive either. There are many activities available for all ages including scuba diving, snorkeling, paragliding, jet skiing, swimming, walking, tanning andjust hanging around in a hammock. I spent three wonderful days here meeting people from England, New Zealand, Canada, Ireland and many other places from around the world. I went tanning, snorkeling, play beach volleyball. The sunrises and sun sets were absolutely amazing and I enjoyed getting up and going for a swim as the water turned to gold around me. After Beachcomer island I went to the Weston in the Denarau area. It was a beautiful room and a beautiful area to finish of the south pacific though food was extremely costly. We did learn about how to open coconuts demonstrated below and how to scale a coconut tree as well!! We explored the area a bit but basically just took it easy.

After the five peaceful and beautiful days I flew home for a great week with my close friends and family. Thank you so much Peter and Steph for letting me stay with you it was wonderful and thank you to my family for sharing such a wonderful evening with me as well.