I'm back... within a couple days of updating, I'm back to do even more!! Can't promise that it'll go well tho... but sure, I bet you're all sick of reading this now, after like 7 months!!! Here we go again.....

Monday 12th August HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!!

Up for a final Birthday breakfast in the Two Parrots and it was the nicest Two Parrots breakfast ever! We then hit the road and went to Whistler! The Sea to Sky Highway was beautiful, sea on one side and mountains on the other. It was well worth the endurance of the construction!! They're improving the highway for the 2010 Winter Olympics. Anyway we got to Whistler to find... a small ski resort! But it was pretty nice, I wud love to have seen it in winter! While we were there there was a BMX competition going on so we watched that for a little while and wandered around the town for a bit before heading on to Kamloops. On the way we stopped off at the Terry Fox rest stop... Terry Fox was a young Canadian who suffered from cancer, had a leg amputated, and pledged to run across Canada to raise money for cancer research. Unfortunately he died of cancer a short way into his race. He's pretty much a national hero. We had a hotdog at the rest stop then continued on to Kamloops where we just stayed in the hotel and ate in the hotel restaurant. Then it was early to bed after a drink in another Irish bar!!

Wednesday 13th August

We got up, ate breakfast, and hit the road. We were heading to Jasper today! The roads were twisty and small, and a lot of fun... well for Dad anyway!! We stopped off at a hydroplant for a stretch of the legs and all that jazz then it was back into the car for another bout of driving. The scenery was spectacular!! It was unreal, but so so cool. As we were driving along we saw a crowd at the side of the road and decided to go investigate... turns out there was a huge elk there!! So I took a couple pictures of it then hopped back into the car again! It was great!! It was a quick roll from there to Jasper National Park. We had to pay to get in but it was all good and the little town was sooo cute!! We found our hotel, got settled in, then headed out for a walk around town and dinner. We went to this amazing Greek restaurant, and the food was unbelievable!! We were well stuffed again!! So we continued our walk around town, ending up in a bar, and I was sipping a frozen strawberry daquari! Yummy! Then we just headed back to the hotel room, and chilled... preparing for our busy day 2moro!

Thursday 14th August

We made ourself a breakfast in the hotel room, yep we had a little kitchen! Then it was off to start our day of sightseeing! Our first stop was Maligne Canyon, a deep narrow canyon which was pretty spectacular! We had a good walk around the canyon then went up to the gift shop and then the cafe for a snack and a drink! Since we were down at Maligne Canyon we decided to go to Maligne Lake too so off we went! I drove part of the way which was cool! I've missed driving, and it was fun to drive on the wrong side of the road!! We made it there safely which was great, and we got out and had a look around. It was stunning!!Here goes with the description... crystal clear blue water meets gey snow capped peaks and trees all blanketed by a cornflower blue sky! Tada! Anyway, we spotted a boathouse on the other side of the lake so we headed over to investigate, to Mum's dismay! We found out it wasn't possible to hire a canoe out today which sucked, but Mum was delighted! So off we went on our next adventure, the Jasper Tramway! It was an extreme cable car, it went up a lot!! But once we got to the top the views were spectacular!! We were lucky, we had a really clear day so we could see the top of Mount Robson, the tallest peak in the Rockies! That was an added bonus!! Once we got up tho we realised there wasn't much to do after absorbing the views, so we headed to the cafe then made our way back down and headed for a relaxing dip in the Hot Pools!! The water was a toasty 40 degrees! It did get a little hot for me so I sat out on the edge a couple times but it was so relaxing!! Once we had boiled ourselves enough we went to the Jasper Brewing Co. for dinner. Another great meal!! Then we headed to Earls where we had a few drinks. I managed to score myself a double frozen strawberry daquari which was huge and very very good!! After our drinks (mum and dad had 2 in the time it took me to have one!) we walked back to the hotel after interrupting a couple of deer in the park!!

Friday 15th August

Today we were off to Banff... apparently its a little bigger than Jasper, well that wouldn't really be too hard! The drive was spectacular, the Icefields Parkway. Around every corner there was another breathtaking view! We also got to see a black bear which was really cool but it was just a little too quick for me to get a picture!! On the way to Banff we stopped at the Athabasca Falls to stretch our legs. It was pretty cool, a small drop but tonnes of water flowing over them!! Once we finished up at the falls we headed to the Columbia Ice Field and decided to go up onto the Athabasca Glacier in a 6 wheel drive vehicle. It was sooo much fun!! Once we got up onto the glacier we had a little time to explore. Dad got some water from the glacial springs and we carefully walked about for a bit. Dad even helped a young girl walk about and climb up a steep bit! When our time was up we headed back down to the relative heat of the information centre and continued to Banff! We stopped off at Lake Louise for a looksie and it was beautiful! But the canoe hire was way expensive so again mum dodged it for another day! One we got to Banff and settled in our hotel we headed to Tony Romas for dinner! It was amazing, and it was our waiters last night so he gave us our drinks and my dessert for free! So cool!! And across from us there was the spitting image of the girl that dad had helped on the glacier... small world!!

Saturday 16th August

We headed out for brunch after a pretty sweaty nights sleep (our hotel room didn't have A/C). Once we finished brunch we headed down to the river where we went canoeing!! Mum was very nervous but she got in, I was very proud of her! I was at the frontof the canoe, mum in the middle and dad steering at the back. We headed off in search of the Vermillion Lakes and it took us a while to get the hang of the paddling... let me tell you its harder than it looks! We almost hit a low hanging branch and we almost capsized coz mum decided to dive outta the way... it was hilarious! We eventually got the hang of it and ended up in this tiny creek. Mum was getting nervous, we turned a corner and all I could smell was animal. My first thought was grizzly bears so I was like OK lets get outta here!! So after a 16 point turn in a canoe (a funny sight for any grizzly watching) we made it safely back into the big wide river! We enjoyed ourselves here until mum decided to help with the rowing, her chair collapsed underneath her coz she was leaning over to paddle, and we almost capsized again!! I got a classic panicked mum shot in my pics! So much fun! We got back and headed into town again for a bit of window shopping then headed for dinner to Chilis which was great!

Sunday 17th August

We were up and outta Banff pretty early and decided to stop off in Canmore for some brunch. Could we find anywhere that was open? Well, eventually we did lol. A little bar in the main hotel of Canmore. The breakfasts were excellent though, and so cheap too which was a great little bonus! Once we had fuelled up (and I had caught a glimpse of my first Tim Hortons of the Rockies) we headed for Calgary. The first thing we saw there was the 1988 Olympic Park which was pretty nice! We stayed there long enough to figure out wot we were gonna do in Calgary then we hit the city centre. It took us a while to find a parking space, and our first weirdo since Vancouver. We headed for the Calgary Tower which claims to have the worlds highest obervation deck! Even though the tower itself isn't as tall as the CN Tower. We headed up to the top and the views were great, we could even see the Rockies in the far distance! Once we had enough of the heights we headed for Main Street, after a failed attempt at using the elevated walkways! We popped into another Irish bar for a drink and spotted a serious number of weirdos, I guarantee atleast one was smacked out on crystal meth! It was crazy, so needless to say it was a very quick drink!! Then we did a little drive through tour of the city before heading to Kensington which was recommended to me by Shannon, a girl from Calgary that I met in Oz. It was beautiful, so we went for a drink there then to a Mexican restaurant for dinner which was sooo good! We got back to our car just as the heavens opened and a big storm started! That explained my massive headache then! We got to the hotel and checked in then went for a drink to an English pub (makes a change) for a drink before retiring for the night.