I have been scarce on the blog over the past few weeks. It was time for a REAL VACATION!
It had been 6 years since our last real one, and it was time to head out to the west coast for a true refresh for my hubby and I.
This post is not about beads for a change, just some fun vacation photos from our trip!
We kicked off the vacation with a great weekend in Calgary. Enjoyed our visit with our daughter and we took in a couple of day trips.
Sunday was Calgary Zoo visit, below are a couple of photos of my favourites:
Lowlands Gorilla.
I got down at floor level with him as he was eating. He looked up 2 times, but seemed very comfortable with me watching him.
Timon! The Meerkat!
Sadly, this hippo is in mourning. There were 2 hippos until Aug 22 when one had to be put to sleep due to health issues at the age of 45. So this one was pretty lonesome but spent a bit of time in the water.
Mom and her cubs that were born this year having a snooze in the sun!
This is my FAVORITE from the visit. A SMILING TIGER! He made me smile too!
The view from our front door, first day in the mountains and the sun is just coming up.
Before we checked into the hotel, we took in a Banff Lake Cruise at Lake Minnewanka. This lake is glacier fed, so the water is a beautiful blue green.
In the distance is the "u-shaped" opening that points to Calgary.
There was a lightning strike that started a fire on the mountain, but later that day, the rain was working at putting it out .
As we entered the valley before the town of Cache Creek, the terrain completely changed. It felt like we were in Arizona desert.
We pulled over to one of the rest stops and were met with this caution sign!
Can you spot the moose in this photo? He was standing in the ditch and another car frightened him, so he hid behind a bush and pretended to be INVISIBLE! LOL.. I spoke to him and thanked him for the photo!
We arrived in Wells, BC and met this car on the main street!
Welcome to the town of Barkerville. This is the historic town that gave birth to the Gold Rush, named after Billy Barker who struck it rich in gold!
We arrived early so the town was just waking up.
Woodstoves were starting up for the day and the general store owner was out chopping wood to warm up his place!
In one of the houses, they had a treadle sewing machine set up. I have the exact same one at home, it was my grandmothers and mine is in much better shape too!
Need dental work done? Not sure if they are covered by our dental plan, but the promise of no pain seems a bit scary.
Here is the BC Stage Coach company.
It was a good tour of the town, but takes a lot of coordination to get up and settled in to the coach and I was in comfortable jeans!
Can't imagine climbing into this with a Victorian full skirt and bustle!
We bid adieu to the Gold Rush trail and headed toward the coast for week two of our trip.
A stop at a 3000 foot waterfall in Yoho National Park was breathtaking!
If you look close, you can almost see a dragon face emerging from within the waterfall's centre!
A couple day trips to Vancouver were on the agenda!
Palm trees growing in Vancouver, I had no idea the climate was that warm!
A visit to Stanley Park and the Vancouver Aquarium!
A ride through Stanley Park with the enormous trees and over the famous Lion's Gate bridge completed the day!
We made our way back through the mountains and spent our final weekend in Calgary, refreshed and with lots of memories.
Hopefully it won't be another 5 years before our next BIG ADVENTURE!
I will be back in the studio this weekend and new beads will be coming up over the next few weeks!
