Lethbridge, Alberta: September 26-28

Paula and James also have a new baby. At least, she's equally demanding of attention as a baby would require. Marley is a new puppy they acquired in July and she is very much the centre of attention.

The Japanese Gardens in Lethbridge, a gift from the government to the Japanese people for atrocities suffered following the attack on Pearl Harbour, is a peaceful symbol in the heart of Lethbridge. The gardens are directly beside Henderson Lake where we walked and had lunch. 

If you'd like to buy a puppy, the two little Bishon-Shitsu puppies pictured with Paula are the last two of the litter and the owner would like to find a good home for them.

On Sunday afternoon, it's back to Calgary for our flight to Toronto and home to Bradford.

Avery Bonus: Brooks: September 26, 2008

Grandpa Andrew, Trevor's brother arrived in Brooks after a late night flight into Calgary from Toronto. We had a chance to drop by for lunch and some more photo ops before hitting the road for Lethbridge.

Check out the videos of Avery.

En Route To Calgary & Brooks, Alberta: September 24-25, 2008

After returning on the ferry to the mainland, it was off to Vancouver Airport to return our car rental. En route to Calgary, we had a bit of success taking a couple of photos from the airplane. The aerial shots of Vancouver and the Rocky Mountains are somewhat presentable, so you see them here. While we met Stephane Dion's brother in guise of a legislature guide in Victoria, we saw the real Jack Layton's Air Canada charter jet taking off from Calgary airport just seconds after our own plane landed. 

We were off to Brooks, Alberta, a city of about 14,000 people, one-and-a-half hours southwest of Calgary. Brooks is a booming Alberta oil town. And as you see, we met up with Trevor's niece Sharon and her husband Nathan who live in Brooks. Not to mention that this was our first time meeting the new addition to our family, Avery who was born on March 4.

The Brooks Aqueduct, an engineering feat which has been preserved as a historic monument, is pictured here. This structure carried water from Lake Newell to the farms of the region and was built by CP Rail. It was a great idea but there were some unforeseen problems with the aqueduct and it didn't work quite as well as they'd hoped. However, it is quite a dramatic structure and a good discussion piece. We were also quite excited to spot a group of pronghorns on the prairie just outside of brooks.

As you see, there were many great photo ops with Avery. We're off to Lethbridge to see Paula, James and their new puppy before returning to Ontario on Sunday. More soon from Lethbridge.

Victoria British Columbia: September 18-20, 2008

Lorraine has stayed at the Chateau Frontenac and the Chateau Laurier in Ottawa. The only Chateau Trevor has stayed is the Chateau Boudreau together with Lorraine; a seedy motel in the town of Tracadie-Sheila, New Brunswick. Ah well! 'Tis the Chateau Victoria, this time around; a fine establishment in downtown Victoria, half a block away from the Fairmont Empress Hotel. We had thought about staying there but the $569 a night price tag scared us away.

The British Columbia Legislature, the Fairmont Empress Hotel and the Royal London Wax Museum are all central structures at the Victoria Harbourfront and we visited them all. We only took a five minute look around the front lobby of the Empress while we did the full tour of the legislature and took in all of the wax museum. All three buildings were designed by architect, Francis Rattenbury when he was in his 20s. At night, the legislature is a dramatic sight as it is lit up with over 3600 lights (all replaced by fluorescent lights one year ago according to the legislature's guide who very closely resembled Stefan Dion).

And how can we describe the Butshart Gardens? Incredible! Awesome! Inspiring! Unbelievable! We endured the Japanese tourists in the morning and went back through the gardens again after lunch and were able to actually take pictures without anyone breathing down our necks. We highly recommend visiting these gardens in the afternoon when the tours have left.

It's off to Alberta tomorrow. We're up early to catch the ferry back to Vancouver to drop off our car and fly off to Calgary. More soon from Alberta!

Ferry To Vancouver Island: Tsawwassen (Vancouver) to Swartz Bay (Victoria): September 21, 2008

The clouds persisted en route to the ferry dock at Tsawwassen, just south of Vancouver. BOO CLOUDS! But the sun shockingly appeared as we were waiting for the ferry at the docks. And things got even better as we crossed the water.

Yes, there were those bored locals who were sitting reading books. And there were those that slept for the entire crossing. Then there were the tourists such as us who were spellbound by the incredible British Columbia scenery.

Trevor had his picture taken at the front of the ferry by a retired highway patrolman from California (now living in Denver, Colorado). Then a few other shots and videos along the way including meeting some car ferries going in the opposite direction.

After eating our packed lunches at a marina in Sidney (just past Swartz Bay) we were greeted by the Canadian forces Snowbirds as we drove into Victoria.

Vancouver: September 18-20, 2008

We arrived in Vancouver on Thursday, September 18 and stayed at the Holiday Inn, North Vancouver. It was a fantastic hotel in a very convenient location close to downtown Vancouver. As a point of interest, Shania Twain and Clint Eastwood have both stayed there.

The weather was quite dull and gray while we were in Vancouver. We weren't too impressed with the Weather Network's forecasts which kept promising some sun. Ah well! Weather is what is is! For the most part, we were able to see a lot of the city and rain was fairly minimal on Saturday.

As you see, we stopped to have our photo taken with the Vancouver skyline behind us. We really enjoyed the horse drawn carriage tour of Stanley Park and would highly recommend that to anyone. These are fully accessible for wheelchairs and the operators are extremely accommodating. The positive side of taking these tours, apparently is that if the work horses weren't used for a purpose such as these tours then they are destined for the glue factory. Stanley Park is indeed a treasure and the totem poles are most dramatic.

As you can see, we spent the rainy time on Saturday at the Vancouver Aquarium where we spotted these awesome jellyfish. We wouldn't recommend going to the aquarium on a rainy weekend day though, as it was incredibly busy. Lots of screaming kids and an endless array of baby strollers!

Stay tuned for photos of our ferry crossing to Vancouver Island and photos from Victoria.