Vancouver & Seattle

We arrived back in Vancouver on Saturday 20th September. After an amazing time in the Rockies we had a couple of days left in Canada, and we were determined to make the most of it. We had jumped off the bus at Jericho Beach Hostel with our new found friends Kevin and Maren - it was nice to spend the first evening reminiscing over the last twelve days.

After a long lie in we set off for a day in Stanley Park. To reach the park we walked along the waterfront and through the harbour. This was definitely a rich part of Vancouver as there were plenty of big yachts and sailboats. We walked the ten kilometre circumference of the park along the seawall, passing the totem poles (see below) and some lovely beaches.

Our final day in Canada was spent walking through some of the districts in the city that we had yet to see, including Robson Street, Burrard Street and Davie Street. We felt like we knew Vancouver quite well by this stage, and to cap off another great day we took our favourite sunset walk along Kitlsilano Beach back to the hostel.

The next day we set off for Seattle, a brief stop to break up the huge journey to San Francisco. We stayed in a great hostel called the Green Tortoise and were lucky enough to arrive on the night that they offer free dinner - its surprising how many people seem to appear when free food is on offer! Seattle seemed like a friendly and vibrant city with lots to do, but we will have to wait until next time! Next stop, a 25-hour train ride to San Francisco...

Banff - Revelstoke - Kelowna

Now on day nine of our trip and another new Moose bus we started our three day journey back towards Vancouver. We were really sad to leave the Rockies but our spirits were buoyed by a great new group and some interesting stops along the way. First stop was Johnston Canyon (below).

We also visited a wolf sanctuary where we learnt all about the animals and got to howl with the wolves! The highlight of day nine was a three hour kayaking expedition on Revelstoke Lake, where we crewed a handmade two-man kayak expertly made by Terry our guide.

After the kayaking we were all feeling really tired, so we headed back to our log cabin for take-out pizza and tales of creepy crawlies from the Ozzie girls from our bus.

The last two days of the trip were driving days similar to the first two, however we did experience the biggest ice cream in the world, swimming in Kalamalka Lake, and a gorgeous salmon dinner cooked by our guide in the SameSun hostel in Kelowna. We had an absolutely fantastic time on the Moose tour and were sad to leave it behind.

Athabasca Falls - Banff

After leaving HI Athabasca Falls we boarded a new Moose bus and headed back down the Icefields Parkway towards Banff. First stop of the day was an early morning walk to Athabasca Falls, which was very nice but also very cold. Next stop was Parker Ridge, where we took an hour hike up to the summit. There were some great views from the summit looking over the glacier and surrounding peaks (below).

This was to be our shortest day on the Moose bus, but we managed to see another beautiful lake before it was over. Moraine Lake was nestled in between some gorgeous mountains and a huge pile of glacial moraine (nobody knows how it got there).

We arrived back in Banff early evening and booked into the SameSun hostel. We cooked some dinner and then took the opportunity to explore the town at night. We jumped off the bus here for one extra night and decided to spend our extra day climbing Tunnel Mountain and visiting Bow Falls. It was nice to have a lie in and relax from the rigours of travelling every day!

Banff - Jasper - Athabasca Falls

Day three started off as day two had finished, with a beautiful glacial lake. Lake Louise is probably the most famous lake in the Rockies, and it certainly lived up to its reputation. We were lucky enough to get here early before the tourist coaches arrived, so we had the opportunity to experience the serenity and beauty of our surroundings.

As we drove along the Icefields Parkway towards Jasper, we stopped off at a number of 'beauty spots' including Mistaya Canyon (below), the Columbia Icefield, and Bow Summit/Peyto Lake. In between stops we were kept busy marvelling at the scenery and hunting for bears. By this time we had got to know the people on our bus quite well, so we'd like to say a big hello to Jason (our Essex-boy tour guide), Patricia, Keiko, and the singing Irish sisters!

The highlight of day three was our unplanned stop at Bow Summit as the clouds broke away, giving us the best views of the Rockies so far. Peyto Lake (below) was an unbelieveable 'block of colour' (J.P. '08) and in hindsight definitely one of our favourite stops in the Rockies.

After an hour long bear-hunt detour to Maligne Lake (on which Joe was adamant he had seen a bear - it was a black bush) we finally arrived at our rustic hostel at Athabasca Falls. We instantly fell in love with the place, although it did take some time to get used to pumping water from a well, not showering, and relieving ourselves in a 'long-drop' outhouse. We had planned to jump off the bus for one extra night, but this soon turned into four extra nights as we were lucky enough to meet up with Jamie, Rachel, and Bjorn who invited us to join them for the rest of their stay. Once you enter our host Sasha's house its quite hard to leave!

We had two great days of hiking with our new friends including the Sulphur Ridge and Bald Hills. Both walks rewarded us with incredible 360 deg. views of the best Jasper National Park has to offer. In between these great hikes we indulged in a rest day and cooked a Sunday roast - the taste of home! We also shared stories and Bjorn shared his 'German' jokes in front of the log burner during several evenings.

A big thanks to Jamie, Rachel, Bjorn, and Sasha for a great few days in which we learnt that the Germans' nickname for the English translates to 'Island Monkeys' - bloody Wagon Counters!

Vancouver - Shuswap Lake - Banff

We arrived in Vancouver via Dallas on Monday 8th September (happy b'day mummy P!) and settled into HI Jericho Hostel, which is situated right on the beach west of Vancouver. We had one day before we left for our tour of the Rockies so we wanted to make the most of it. It was a brilliant day spent discovering the coastline, downtown area, and Granville Island. As we walked back to the hostel we witnessed a beautiful sunset (below) which we sat and watched from a log on the beach! We immediately loved Vancouver and were in good spirits for our impending adventure...

Day one and two of our Moose tour were primarily travelling days. We clocked up several hundred miles but got the chance to get off and stretch our legs at some interesting spots. These included Bridal Falls, the town of Hope, and Craigellachie (The Last Spike) where the transcontinental railroad was completed. Having spent most of the day on the bus with two seventy-year-olds from Ireland and several snoozing Japanese girls, Jen was just about ready to kill someone...

As we got closer to the Rockies the scenery became more and more spectacular, and we knew we had definitely arrived when we came to Emerald Lake at the end of day two. This was one of our favourite lakes in the Rockies, the reflections were amazing and we can both vouch for the 'glacial' temperature of the water!

We spent day two at HI Banff knowing that day three towards Jasper was going to be one of the most spectacular days of the tour (maybe the whole year), so we got to bed early after cooking the whole bus a beef stir fry.

Kentucky

We have had a great time over the last week staying with Dan and Chantell in Springfield, Kentucky. A large part of our time was spent taking in the luxuries of staying under a solid roof, with soft beds, warm showers and good food! In addition to enjoying our comfortable surroundings we also took some time to explore Kentucky.

On our first day out we headed for Willisburg Lake, but missed the lake and went for a two hour drive to Harodsburg instead. However, this gave Joe a chance to get used to Dan's left hand drive automatic as well as driving on the right hand side of the road.

The next day we actually made it to Willisburg Lake and hired out a pontoon. It was really peaceful to explore the lake and soak up some sun. We then fished and picnicked on the lake side before heading back for a few beers. Unfortunately the waters of Willisburg Lake weren't as fruitful as our favourite mackerel spot at Herne Bay.

On Friday we ventured out to Bernheim Forest which is a few miles past Bardstown. It was a typical English rainy day (that fine stuff that soaks you through) but it didn't spoil the brilliant scenery. There was a gorgeous lake to walk round as well as many trails through the forest. One of the highlights was spotting a white tailed deer feeding by the forest path.

At this point it must be said that we took advantage of Dan's massive TV and watched a fair bit of the US Open - come on Muzza! Hence, most of Saturday was spent watching the semi-finals. Once we'd finally got dressed (around 6pm) we headed into Lexington to experience some nightlife and country music. We had a great night, especially at Redmon's Bar where there was live acoustic; he even sang Cotton Eyed Joe!

Sunday was the highlight of the week as we spent it with Dan and Chantell, who had been at a horse show in Indiana for a large part of the week. After another fatboys breakfast we filled the 'eskie' with plenty of beers and drove out to Taylorsville Lake State Park. We rented a pontoon for a half day and Captain Dan navigated his way to a good swimming spot. We spent the afternoon diving off the boat, drinking beer and generally chilling out.

We rounded off the week with a sunset trail ride, Joe's first time on a horse (donkeys at Bridlington do not count as horses!) and Jen facing a fear. We both really enjoyed riding 'Buffalo' and 'Hippo'; really good fun! We then went back for nachos, huge steaks and some interesting shots served up by our hosts.

By the way, we also found a Black Widow in Dan's garage - the most poisonous spider in the world...

Thanks to Dan and Chantell for having us over the last week, we had a great time.

New York City

After an early start we arrived at 'Jazz On The City' youth hostel on West 96th Street, Uptown Manhatten at 11am. Check-in was at 3pm so we dumped our bags and headed straight for our first experience of an American 'fatboy' breakfast - we weren't disappointed!

We then walked off our fatboys breakfast with a long stroll through Central Park which amazed us with its greenery, natural beauty, and sheer size. From the relative tranquility of the park we were hit with the immensely big, busy and bustling Times Square on West 42nd Street with its electric billboards and honking taxis. We escaped to the grandiose Grand Central Station, which is the most impressive looking station we have ever seen. After taking refuge in New York library and then our hostel, we headed out for pizza, and therefore headed for Little Italy. Friday was over, first impressions were mixed, and we were glad to get our heads down.

We woke quite late on Saturday but headed straight downtown (after a ham and egg bagel of course) to the Staten Island Ferry Port. This gave us some great views of the Statue of Liberty and the Manhatten skyline, which looked very impressive when the sun came out on the journey back. We then wandered through the financial district, past Wall Street, and came to Ground Zero. It was a very humbling yet inspiring experience to see it first hand, especially their positive attitude towards the future.

Tired of sightseeing, we thought that we could not be in New York on the week of the US Open without visiting Flushing Meadows. We expected to just walk the grounds and soak up the atmosphere, so we were thrilled when we managed to get a pair of centre court tickets for the evening session, including the all American tie between James Blake and Mardy Fish. What an experience! We had great seats and the two matches we witnessed didn't let us down; one of the highlights so far.

We woke up on Sunday to gorgeous blue skies, so decided there was no better time to visit the Empire State Building. Having pre-booked our tickets (thanks Keith P.) we skipped all of the queues and soon found ourselves on the 86th floor observatory with 360 degree views around the city. There couldn't have been a better day for it, as we could see for miles; quite spectacular.

After a great start to the day we ventured uptown to East 71st Street to take in some culture at the Frick Collection (thanks again Keith P.). This made a nice change from the mainstream attractions and there was some fantastic artwork on display. As soon as the sun went down we took a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge to look back on the bright lights of New York City. To complete our three day experience of New York we ate at an authentic American steak house on Times Square, again, we weren't disappointed!

After a really hectic few days we were really looking forward to getting lucky down in Kentucky!