Week Thirty Seven.

Well this week it was finalised. We are officially leaving Banff. Come the 14th of August we shall begin to make the journey home, via a fun little (actually quite large) three week trip around the States. When our visas first got rejected, not only was I upset about not getting to spend another winter in Banff, I was absolutely devastated that we wouldn't be able to do the road trip around America that we had planned for next Summer. After a couple of weeks Danny suggested that we just work our arses off over the next few weeks, save up as much money as possible and just do it. It's something that we would never be able to afford to do from the UK and as we are here, we may as well make the most of the opportunity.

So as it stands, our trip will begin in Vancouver and continue onto Seattle, Toronto, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington DC and then back home to England to be reunited with all our family and friends which I cannot even begin to explain to you how excited I am about. We are going to be mainly using the Greyhound bus system. It is ridiculously cheap, we can sleep on the bus rather than have to worry about driving ourselves, AND it's just so convenient. To save some money on accommodation, as lets face it most of the cities we are visiting are insanely pricey, we are using airbnb - which if you haven't heard of and you are looking to do some travelling or even just go on holiday, then you should definitely check it out! It is a website/app where people rent out their holiday homes, or spare rooms in their houses for a hell of a lot cheaper than hotels and are usually ten times nicer than a hostel. We used airbnb when we went to Paris and to Venice so I did not hesitate to check the availability for this trip and we have been pretty lucky.

There are so many sites that I cannot wait to visit and it will be so much fun to experience something new and fun and exciting with Danny after settling into work life here in Banff. It's going to be amazing and I am so so excited. The countdown has officially begun.

Aside from that, there was a big sale this week at Patagonia, and with the ridiculously cheap prices I had to snap some things up! I got myself a waterproof jacket to begin with. That's right, I actually bought something at a reasonable price, that is practical and I will get a lot of use out of. Danny is certainly a good influence on me! Speaking of whom, the lovely lovely man got me a synchilla which is the cosiest fleece I have ever bought in my life. He also bought Libby a cool little book about two cats that go exploring in the Canadian Rockies which the little bookworm will absolutely LOVE, and we also got her her own little synchilla with the cutest little polar bear pattern. We missed out on Christmas and her Birthday this year so we have a lot to make up for. God knows how we are going to fit everything in our suitcases!

But right now I am cosied up in bed, getting really excited about America and going home, so I am going to love you and leave you and continue researching fun things to do on our trip. 39 days and we will be back on home turf, cannot wait to see you all...

Week Thirty Six.

We were very lucky with the weather this week and had such a great time on our days off! The weekend was super busy at work so we made the most of having a lie in on Monday morning. We had an appointment with the bank to make a joint account (it's getting serious...) and had a beer on the balcony in the sunshine at Banff brew pub. On a Monday all of their pints are $4, and their muscles from brussels wheat beer it so good that is would be rude not to take advantage of that offer!

We then popped into Patagonia and one of Danny's colleagues told us about this place in Canmore where they have converted a double decker bus into a restaurant. Fine dining on the top floor, and an asian street food truck on the ground floor. Danny being such a foodie, we jumped in the car straight away and headed for Canmore. It is such a cool concept. God only knows how much it cost for them to convert the bus but it is brilliant and looks so incredible. We had the asian food from downstairs which was delicious, but they let us have a look around the upstairs restaurant before it opened and it really is amazing what they have done. The roof raises off, the sides come down for if it rains and there are heaters for if it is cold - it's just super cool. I want to make one myself, maybe if I ever win the lottery...

On Tuesday we took a little trip to British Columbia and visited Emerald Lake and Takakkaw Falls. The Lake is so beautiful, I can't explain how blue and bright the water is here in the sunshine - the pictures as stunning as they are still don't quite show off the beauty. We walked around the entire Lake, taking pictures and enjoying the sunshine, and then took the trail up to Hamilton Falls which is a pretty cool little waterfall. We then popped to see the Natural Bridge on the way down which spans across Kicking Horse River. The Natural Bridge is a natural rock formation which has been sculpted by the erosive forces of water which had once been a waterfall. It looks pretty damn cool, if only it wasn't completely blocked off and we could have actually walked over it.

The last stop on our trip was Takakkaw Falls. We had been recommended to go here ages ago by a friend and work and we finally found time to go and do it, and man am I glad we did. It was so much fun. At just over 380m it is Canada's second highest waterfall and boy is it powerful. We were getting sprayed by the water before we were anywhere close to it, and of course Danny climbed up on the rock below it and got both himself and me as the photographer absolutely soaked. It was such a cool experience though, and another thing to tick off of our Banff bucket list.

When we got back we chilled out, watched a movie and then headed down to Mel's to see one of Danny's friends sing. Live music at Mel's is always pretty fun and draws in a good crowd and it was nice to watch someone that we knew. After a couple of glasses of wine though I was more than ready for bed, it had been a busy day and of course tomorrow is our Monday so time to get some shut eye before the horror that is the rest of the week begins. Goodnight all...

Week Thirty Five.

This week we have certainly jumped straight into what I mentioned in my last post in making the very most of every single second we have left in Banff! Danny and I actually had a couple of extra days off this week so we took advantage of the nice weather and went on some hikes. Yes that's right, I exercised out of choice!

On Thursday we ventured over to Lake Louise to do the hike up to the Plain of Six Glaciers Tea Shop. Our Banff Ambassador Passport gave us 2 for 1 for a bowl of soup and a sandwich which we knew we would be looking forward to a bite to eat after a couple of hours hiking. The trail starts off nice and chilled alongside Lake Louise, and only towards the end does it get pretty steep and a bit of a scramble. I imagine in cooler conditions it would be a lovely hike, but I was so hot and uncomfortable for the majority of the time that I really didn't have much fun. The heat was awful. The tea house at the end was a welcome treat and such a cute little place. There is no running water or electricity, everything is prepared daily, on site and on propane stoves. They make their own lemonade and juice and it's just so quaint and lovely.

The walk down was a lot nicer as the weather had cooled off and of course going down is always a lot easier than going up. The views of the Lake and the hotel are beautiful and I would like to do the hike again when it's not so hot. There is also another tea shop in the Lake Louise area so it would be pretty cool to visit there too. It's ran by the Fairmont so I can imagine it's a lot more expensive but it is still a really nice way to spend an afternoon.

On Friday we used the corporate pass from work to go canoeing. We've been meaning to do it for a long time and it's right in town on the Bow Valley River so there is really no excuse, and it was great fun. If you exclude the fact that Danny kept telling me to row harder and to work on my technique and generally just making me work my arse off! That aside, the views were beautiful and it was fun to try something new - especially with my fear of water I'm doing pretty well this month. White water rafting and canoeing. Just stand up paddle boarding to do and I'll have the whole trifecta!

Danny has been doing a lot of climbing recently at the Sally Borden Centre which boasts a really good climbing wall that changes every couple of weeks, so he really enjoys going up there and getting better and better with each visit. Now he has all the gear and is getting up there as often as possible it's something he is getting so good at. Fingers crossed there are some climbing gyms near us for when we go home/onto our next adventure.

On our two days off this week we took a trip to Waterton, which is about four hours south of Banff to go and do a hike at Crypt Lake. Halie and Fabian told us how good it was and we thought it would be nice to get out of Banff for a couple of days and visit somewhere new. Boy is it a funny little town. It's very small, and every business is owned by a family which is lovely, but also makes it seem very much in the past.

The hike itself was great. From what we had been told/how horrible I found the hike to the tea shop I was really dreading it. Luckily the weather was warm but clouded over and we made great time. The views were beautiful and it was so much fun. You start off walking through a thick forested area, climb up a steel ladder, crawl through a naturally formed tunnel and then traverse around a rather steep cliff drop. Way more fun than your standard steep hike, I really enjoyed myself!

But now we are back home and need to get as much sleep as possible before the working week begins. So enjoy the photographs - there are a fair few of them...

Week Thirty Four.

Well this week didn't start of fantastically to say the least. Unfortunately I found out that I have been refused for my visa to stay here next year. My conditional acceptance letter had expired by the time by application was submitted and sadly it is as simple as that. There is no way of appeal, it's a straight up no which puts us in a slightly difficult situation. We still have to wait and see if Danny's visa gets accepted and go from there, but we may well only have three months left in this beautiful town so it's time to put work on the back burner and make the most of everything that Banff has to offer.

That being said, I got myself so worked up and stressed out over this whole visa predicament that I ended up making myself ill and spent the next two days in bed. In the end it turned out that I only had strep throat, but at the time the fevers I was getting and the insane sleepiness was awful. It's pretty much all cleared up now but boy did I have an unhappy weekend, and it only got worse. My boss and one of our good friend's Sarah had issues with her visa too and had to leave Banff this week which was so horrible. She was one of the first people I met when I came to Banff and has always been so lovely to me and a great person to work with so it is so so sad that she has had to leave, it is certainly very strange at work without her. Very strange.

Neil who used to work in the kitchen at Saltlik also left us this week. We went to the park in town and had a few drinks with him on Monday night which was nice. Had a good catch up and spoke about future plans and travelling and the like and then Danny and I headed to the Block for dinner. The food there is so bloody good and different to anything else you can get in Banff, plus they have a nice little outdoor area which was lovely to sit in as the weather was just starting to cool down. We got a few dishes to share between us, and for once did not completely over order. We shared some naan bread with pesto dip, houmous, and baba ganoush; spicy calamari, duck spring rolls and a butter chicken curry - everything was incredible as expected and we went home nice and full and fell asleep watching a movie which is good because the next day was going to be busy!

And that is because we were going to Calgary Stampede with Will and Georgie! None of us had any idea what to expect. All we had been told is that everything was overpriced and there is a lot going on, and they weren't wrong. For the first hour I really was not enjoying myself, it was pretty much like wandering around a HUGE parking lot which was full of food trucks, I couldn't really get my head around what we were supposed to be doing but I went along with it. We went and watched some country music in a little barn which was a pretty strange experience to say the least, and then we went and bought tickets for the rodeo - the real reason we had gone to Stampede.

I'm a bit funny with things like this though because I find it really uncomfortable to watch animals being hurt. I don't watch the Grand National back home, I'm just not into that kind of thing but I gave it a go and it wasn't half as bad as I thought. The bull riding and the horse riding were pretty good to watch and we got quite into it, so much so that Danny placed a bet with a few people we met in the area - AND ended up coming second! Not bad for our first rodeo! It was kinda like watching a real life game of buckaroo, but with people instead of cowboy hats and suitcases. There was one "sport" that I really didn't like where basically a calf was released, someone chased after it on a horse, lassoed the calf around the neck, picked it up, threw it on the ground and tied it's legs up as quickly as physically possible. The calf got up afterwards and ran off and seemed fine, but to me it just seemed unnecessary and I did not enjoy watching it. I'll be sticking to just watching the rodeo I think if we ever go to a similar event in the future.

After the rodeo we went to see a bike show. It was called the evolution of the bike. So they started off in a very cute manner by showing us a toddler and a small child riding around on their bikes, followed by three people doing tricks on BMX, then motorbikes, then quad bikes and then a ski mobile. They then one by one showed us how, despite the fact it was thought to be impossible, all of those bikes can infact do back flips off a jump - it was so bloody cool!!!! After that we grabbed a bite to eat and headed back to Banff all pretty tired after a busy day. It's so nice to hang out with Will and George, especially now we don't live with them, we really did have a great day. But for today, it is our Monday and with five long days of work to get through we better get back to it. So I shall leave you with the photos, and videos (it took me a long time to figure out how to get videos on here so I hope you all appreciate it)...