Highlights of Alberta

So my journey begins.....for my first week, I hung out in Alberta - here are a few of the best bits:

Driving from Banff to Lake Louise in a blizzard, parking and wondering if I'd be able to find the rental car again in all the snow.

$8 steak sandwiches at in The Elk and Oarsman in Banff.

Bow Lake – surrounded by snow, and so peaceful and still.

Seeing a wolf and a big horned sheep on the drive to Radium Hot Springs….and then getting in the hot springs.....aaaaaahhhh.

Reminiscing with a friend in Banff about the good times we both had when we lived in London a few years ago.

Eating a bear claw – chocolate, nuts and caramel – oh yeah.

Hiking the 2.3 kms up Tunnel Mountain on a gorgeous clear day and looking at the view over Banff and the mountains.

The bus ride from Banff to Calgary – the mountains in the pink light of the morning, against a clear blue sky.

Doing a ghost walking tour of Calgary – freezing, but fun - and cheap!

Walking around Calgary and seeing random pieces of street art and so many cool posters.

Spending an afternoon in the Glenbow Museum in Calgary looking at stuff like a giant fiberglass replica of a baby and an exhibition on war brides in Canada. They even had a Maori warrior!

Sitting in Broken City on a Saturday afternoon with a glass of red wine, listening to some jazz guys jamming.

Meeting up with the sister of a friend, and her tell me she was jealous of my life and all the travelling I've done - it's nice to be reminded sometimes, especially when it gets hard to say goodbye to people and you have to carry everything you own on your back.

Stay tuned for highlights from the east coast of Canada!

Halloween

So Halloween....it's kind of a big deal around here. Growing up in New Zealand, Halloween was not really observed. I remember trying to go trick or treating once with my neighbour when we were about 11 and not really getting a lot out of it. We did make a pretty good trick though - a paper bag filled with assorted pantry items including flour, vinegar and green food colouring. No-one had any candy to give us but no-one wanted to put their hand in the bag either so we put it on the road for a car to run over. It stained the road pretty good. So that's my experience of Halloween up till now pretty much. As our culture has become more Americanised, Halloween has become more prolific, with it becoming more popular to go begging for candy - or lollies in New Zealand - around your neighbourhood and to get dressed up for Halloween parties. Living in Vancouver, it was great to be able to participate in a real North American Halloween. People decorate their houses, there are carved jack o' lanterns everywhere (something I'd only seen in movies up till now - I wish I'd had a go at carving one) and trick or treating is commonplace. At work, many people decorated their work areas and, best of all, there was candy everywhere. People had bowls of the stuff on their desks. Awesome. It would've been pretty fun to have been home that night so I could have given out candy to the kids, but I went to a party in a recently renovated theatre in Castlegar, a small town about 8 hours drive north-east of Vancouver. It was a great night - so many interesting costumes, including a guy dressed as toast and an entire dead bridal party. People really went all out. I dressed as Pizzazz from The Misfits (any fans of the 80s cartoon Jem out there?) and my cosutme was totally rad. Yes, that's right - rad.


One thing that's strange however - as soon as October 31st is over, Halloween is done, just like that - BAM! No more decorations, candy is all half price and......the Christmas decorations go up - yes, already - one holiday over, next one please.