Internationals Experience Canada
I am finding it difficult to fathom that it's been a full month since I left New Zealand.
Not because a month seems like an extensive amount of time (because it is) but because I feel like I've been away from home for at least 3 months rather than only one.
And I think that's got a lot to do with the amount of travelling we've got through in the last 2 weeks - but I feel like I've said this before? Am I repeating myself?
Anyway, Laura only joined Kieran and I two weeks ago, on the 8th May. Her flight arrived just before 7PM on Wednesday evening, so Kieran and I took the bright red Jeep Wrangler we hired down to the airport to pick her up. Seeing Laura was the one and only time since arriving that I've shed a few tears; it was so good seeing a familiar face, and I think it made me realize how much I actually was missing my friends and family back home.
Once back home in our little airbnb in Bridgelands we got Laura somewhat settled then headed out a couple of blocks to 320 Burger joint. The entire building itself was about as big as our bathroom in my old flat, if we didn't have google maps up we would've missed it completely. The place is run by 2 of the loveliest and quirkiest ladies I have ever met - and even though I am not a burger fan I'd go back just for them. They call you by name and chat and joke with you while they make your orders. There is a single bench that runs all the way along one wall with a couple of tables so you can dine in, but I was having Subway for dinner so Kieran and Laura got their dinner take away and we headed home to eat and start pre-drinking - as per Laura's request we were getting 'lit' and hitting the town.
In my youth I was an avid partyer back in Auckland. I would go out Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. But somewhere around the age 22 mark it kinda got all a bit monotonous and I stopped heading out. Also, a lot of my friends stopped having house parties, deciding town was an easier option and I really wasn't about all of that hassle, trying to find a sober driver then paying an unnecessary amount to get into a club to listen to shitty music and pay even more for alcohol so I just settled for staying home. That being said it'd been a while since I'd been out and we'd settled enough into the timezone that we weren't too jetlagged so I was excited to go out.
But Alas - Calgary night life was just not for us. We headed out with all the enthusiasm of freshly turned 18 year olds and headed straight for Twisted Element - one of Calgary's gay bars. The place was quite empty but I bought a whiskey and ginger ale - which only set me back $6.50 - looked for the bathroom and headed downstairs where we found the rest of the patrons; the upstairs was completely empty because a Drag show was happening downstairs. We thoroughly enjoyed it and vowed to come back for another drag show. We went back upstairs for a bit of a dance and then decided at 11pm that we should try out some other clubs. We headed down to Knoxville which looked packed but also packed with highschool students and I'm already a grandmother as it is, plus, the line was ridiculously long and the door charge was $20 each which we were not willing to pay. We headed towards another club - the name of which slips my mind - but upon seeing the line decided it was time to just call it a night and head home - it was midnight by this point anyway, we tried.
Sunday was spent mostly in bed catching up on The Walking Dead and repacking our bags for our road trip the next day.
Monday, 14th May, started early as we needed to check out of our Airbnb by 11am but we also wanted to make a good start as we were heading to Jasper and the drive was about 5 hours. Kieran parked the Jeep out front, we squeezed our bags in as best we could, I played Tetris with the bags on the back seet and settled in the for the long drive; hoping to catch some much needed sleep (i'd stayed up longer than intended watching The Walking Dead the night before). Thus our road trip had begun.
I honestly don't think I was prepared for the scenery. The mountains
especially. I mean sure, I've seen Table Mountain before. It's gigantic but I guess I got so accustomed to rolling hills and uninterrupted skies that the monumental size of the mountains didn't really hit me until we were driving towards them.
The rest of the scenery was breathtaking. Calgary had just experienced the longest winter in a very long time so everything was still lush and green. I hadn't really felt like I was IN Canada until that point. The highway was lined with Lodgepole pines, all different hues of green, that seemed to stretch on forever; besides the road that was all I glimpsed as I drifted in and out of sleep.
We had to drive through Banff National Park and unbeknownst to us you needed to pay to do so. So at one point I felt the car pull over. I only opened my eyes for a split second before drifting back off to sleep. Laura and Kieran had been gone from the car a good 10 to 15 minutes before I felt the doors being opened again and they both climbed back in. They'd purchased a year pass ($300 odd dollars) as it was cheaper than the day pass (somewhere around the $100 mark), especially since we'd be driving through more national parks on our trip. I drifted back off to sleep for a while longer. Not to far into the national park, on one of the occasions I was actually awake, We saw cars pulled over on both sides of the road with their hazard lights on. We had no idea what was going on so pulled over too just in case. I made a snarky "It's probably a bear or something" comment as a joke and lay my head back on the pillow leaning up against the window until Laura goes excitedly, "Oh my God, it is a bear!" And there, just ahead to the right of our car is a bear, about medium size, rummaging in the bushes and turning over rocks looking for food. Some idiot tourist across the street thought getting out of their cars to take pictures was a good idea - until a local yelled at them to get back in their cars. After taking copious amounts of photos and videos we pulled back into the traffic and continued our journey to Jasper.
About 2 and half hours into the trip I heard Laura exclaim "Oh my God!" and my eyes flew open, I was expecting another wildlife sighting. We were pulling over to our left, in front of us the most unreal and unexpected sight.
Keep in mind we're about a month into Spring now - temperature is roughly around the 25 degree mark but right in front of us is Bow Lake - frozen over, with snow still covering the surrounding mountains.
Not because a month seems like an extensive amount of time (because it is) but because I feel like I've been away from home for at least 3 months rather than only one.
And I think that's got a lot to do with the amount of travelling we've got through in the last 2 weeks - but I feel like I've said this before? Am I repeating myself?
Anyway, Laura only joined Kieran and I two weeks ago, on the 8th May. Her flight arrived just before 7PM on Wednesday evening, so Kieran and I took the bright red Jeep Wrangler we hired down to the airport to pick her up. Seeing Laura was the one and only time since arriving that I've shed a few tears; it was so good seeing a familiar face, and I think it made me realize how much I actually was missing my friends and family back home.
Once back home in our little airbnb in Bridgelands we got Laura somewhat settled then headed out a couple of blocks to 320 Burger joint. The entire building itself was about as big as our bathroom in my old flat, if we didn't have google maps up we would've missed it completely. The place is run by 2 of the loveliest and quirkiest ladies I have ever met - and even though I am not a burger fan I'd go back just for them. They call you by name and chat and joke with you while they make your orders. There is a single bench that runs all the way along one wall with a couple of tables so you can dine in, but I was having Subway for dinner so Kieran and Laura got their dinner take away and we headed home to eat and start pre-drinking - as per Laura's request we were getting 'lit' and hitting the town.
In my youth I was an avid partyer back in Auckland. I would go out Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. But somewhere around the age 22 mark it kinda got all a bit monotonous and I stopped heading out. Also, a lot of my friends stopped having house parties, deciding town was an easier option and I really wasn't about all of that hassle, trying to find a sober driver then paying an unnecessary amount to get into a club to listen to shitty music and pay even more for alcohol so I just settled for staying home. That being said it'd been a while since I'd been out and we'd settled enough into the timezone that we weren't too jetlagged so I was excited to go out.
But Alas - Calgary night life was just not for us. We headed out with all the enthusiasm of freshly turned 18 year olds and headed straight for Twisted Element - one of Calgary's gay bars. The place was quite empty but I bought a whiskey and ginger ale - which only set me back $6.50 - looked for the bathroom and headed downstairs where we found the rest of the patrons; the upstairs was completely empty because a Drag show was happening downstairs. We thoroughly enjoyed it and vowed to come back for another drag show. We went back upstairs for a bit of a dance and then decided at 11pm that we should try out some other clubs. We headed down to Knoxville which looked packed but also packed with highschool students and I'm already a grandmother as it is, plus, the line was ridiculously long and the door charge was $20 each which we were not willing to pay. We headed towards another club - the name of which slips my mind - but upon seeing the line decided it was time to just call it a night and head home - it was midnight by this point anyway, we tried.
Sunday was spent mostly in bed catching up on The Walking Dead and repacking our bags for our road trip the next day.
Monday, 14th May, started early as we needed to check out of our Airbnb by 11am but we also wanted to make a good start as we were heading to Jasper and the drive was about 5 hours. Kieran parked the Jeep out front, we squeezed our bags in as best we could, I played Tetris with the bags on the back seet and settled in the for the long drive; hoping to catch some much needed sleep (i'd stayed up longer than intended watching The Walking Dead the night before). Thus our road trip had begun.
I honestly don't think I was prepared for the scenery. The mountains
The rest of the scenery was breathtaking. Calgary had just experienced the longest winter in a very long time so everything was still lush and green. I hadn't really felt like I was IN Canada until that point. The highway was lined with Lodgepole pines, all different hues of green, that seemed to stretch on forever; besides the road that was all I glimpsed as I drifted in and out of sleep.
We had to drive through Banff National Park and unbeknownst to us you needed to pay to do so. So at one point I felt the car pull over. I only opened my eyes for a split second before drifting back off to sleep. Laura and Kieran had been gone from the car a good 10 to 15 minutes before I felt the doors being opened again and they both climbed back in. They'd purchased a year pass ($300 odd dollars) as it was cheaper than the day pass (somewhere around the $100 mark), especially since we'd be driving through more national parks on our trip. I drifted back off to sleep for a while longer. Not to far into the national park, on one of the occasions I was actually awake, We saw cars pulled over on both sides of the road with their hazard lights on. We had no idea what was going on so pulled over too just in case. I made a snarky "It's probably a bear or something" comment as a joke and lay my head back on the pillow leaning up against the window until Laura goes excitedly, "Oh my God, it is a bear!" And there, just ahead to the right of our car is a bear, about medium size, rummaging in the bushes and turning over rocks looking for food. Some idiot tourist across the street thought getting out of their cars to take pictures was a good idea - until a local yelled at them to get back in their cars. After taking copious amounts of photos and videos we pulled back into the traffic and continued our journey to Jasper.
About 2 and half hours into the trip I heard Laura exclaim "Oh my God!" and my eyes flew open, I was expecting another wildlife sighting. We were pulling over to our left, in front of us the most unreal and unexpected sight.
Keep in mind we're about a month into Spring now - temperature is roughly around the 25 degree mark but right in front of us is Bow Lake - frozen over, with snow still covering the surrounding mountains.
It was the most bizarre thing, Laura, Kieran and I clad in shorts and singlets, dresses and jandals and then this lake that's still frozen. We fooled around taking a few pictures, made comment on how the rest of the tourists pulling over were actually dressed for the occasion (puffer jackets, hiking boots and jeans) and then jumped back in the car. The more inland we got the more snow there was on the ground. It's still to this day the most snow I've seen - especially considering the season. About 3 hours in we found a truck stop and pulled in - we were all getting a little bit hangry and needed to use the bathroom and stretch our legs. I got fries and an ice cream. We all piled back into the car and continued on.
About an hour outside of Jasper we saw another set of cars pulled over so we assumed wildlife. Again on our right there was a black bear - bigger than the last one and much closer to the road this time. We took some more photos, watched as he wandered ever closer to the cars on his quest for food then hit the road again, inching closer to our destination. We couldn't believe it. Been in Canada for just over a week and we'd seen more wildlife than most Calgarians have seen in their entire life time. Canada was treating us well.
About an hour outside of Jasper we saw another set of cars pulled over so we assumed wildlife. Again on our right there was a black bear - bigger than the last one and much closer to the road this time. We took some more photos, watched as he wandered ever closer to the cars on his quest for food then hit the road again, inching closer to our destination. We couldn't believe it. Been in Canada for just over a week and we'd seen more wildlife than most Calgarians have seen in their entire life time. Canada was treating us well.
Comments
Post a Comment