So here we are again. It's blog time which means that we are unfortunately at the end of our very long and very awesome holiday.
I/We are tired but very, very happy. Happy to be home but sad that Neal and Mary have left and sad that my parents are about to leave (Probably have left by the time I post this). Life is so bittersweet like that! Happily we'll be seeing them all for my brothers wedding in 2 months – Yay!
The last blog finished off in Hawaii so that's probably a good place to start.
Not going to go too much into the rest of Hawaii. Adele and I have travelled a lot in the last year and have worked hard so it was really nice to get up late, go for a snorkel, read, have a relaxed lunch, snorkel some more, read, sleep, read, watch tv, go out for supper etc. This was pretty much a typical day with a bit of exploration mixed in-between – explored some of the Northern beaches which where really pretty.
One of the beaches that we really enjoyed was accessed through a rain forest. Spent a while there and saw another turtle which still makes me giddy.
The weather behaved for the most part. There was a little rain but it usually cleared up and was still warm so we were pretty lucky – no tanned cheeks but enough sun to make us happy.
Really enjoyed walking around Lahaina and trying their restaurants. Had some of the best frozen yogurt I've ever had and we went back twice – OK, 4 times.
Got to spend a bit more time with Mark, Kylie and Ty. They came to our hotel, ate cheese and drank wine, snorkeled near the hotel and made use of the hotels many hot tubs.
Ty is a really cute and independent little dude. I think that this is the first time he has ever been to the sea and he loved playing in the sand and at the edge of the water.
Also enjoyed Tacos on the beach with them and had a super delicious pizza at their rental house. They'd booked a flat on the edge of a mountain with views down over Lahaina – was very cool. Enjoyed Kylies really good cooking, had some wine and had a really, really good time with them.
And that was pretty much the rest of Hawaii- really, really chilled which is what we needed.
Enjoyed Maui!
So we left Maui and flew from Maui to Seattle and then to New York to meet the family.
We got there a bit earlier than them, so we were there to meet them when they came off the plane which was nice.
You know that you're missing people but it doesn't always hit home until you see them and the part of them that's been missing fits neatly back in it's place. I have an awesome family and we clicked back into family mode straight away, ready for the next 3 weeks together.
I love New York. I wouldn't say that it's my favorite city but it's big and busy and exciting.
We had an amazing few days and did a lot in a short time.
We had planned on giving you a long narrative about our trip but we've already been back in Lethbridge for 2 weeks and so far I'm only up to week 2 of a blog that's supposed to cover a month of holiday. So here go the bullet points
- Saw my friends Ryan and Julie and their new baby Dachshund, Misha, in New York. They've been in New York for a few months and are loving it. We had a delicious breakfast in a really groovy diner one morning. We also had a nice, long walk in central park with Julie and Misha. Dachshunds melt my heart and their baby is a cutie.
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| Breakfast with Ryan and Julie |
- Had drinks with Ryan in a bar called Dive bar one night. Quite a small bar but great vibe and an amazing selection of beer. Was really, really good to see them and catch up. Will hopefully see them sooner than later.
- Enjoyed some great New York walking and shopping. NY was incredibly busy when we were there. FAO Schwartz, times square and 5th Avenue were packed. New York received more than 50 million tourists last year. We walked up and down lower Manhattan and central park. Was a little nippy after Hawaii but was lots of fun.
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| View of NY from Central Park |
- Neal has been brewing his own beer. As such he was very keen to go to McSorleys brew pub. McSorleys is New Yorks oldest ale house. I think they served 2 types of beer only and had a small menu. The 2 types of beer are delicious though and the vibe was awesome. Ordered a few beers :) , relaxed and had a really good visit. The furniture in the pub is really rustic but comfortable and the walls are plastered wall-to-wall with articles and stories about McSorleys and the famous patrons who have drunk there. If you like beer or history or great vibey places then I'd strongly recommend it.
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| Delicious beer |
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| McSorleys |
- Travelling with 6 people in New York can be interesting. It's a little like that Douglas Green advert. As I said above, New York was really busy and it's easy to get lost between blocks. That being said, we did really well and had a great time. Caught the subway a bit but I think that one of the really good things that we did was to catch taxis more than a few times. It was also really interesting. We had an Indian, Pakistani, Senegal, Bangladeshi and New York taxi driver. A lot of them had really good jobs in their home countries and it was really interesting to chat to them.
- On one night I went to visit Ryan and have a drink with him without the rest of the family. During Hawaii Adele and I watched a lot of “CSI” and “Special victims unit”. I stood outside in busy New York trying to catch a taxi and kakked myself. Firstly it was near impossible to get a taxi. At one stage a guy pulled up, asked where I was going, looked disgusted and then pulled off without saying anything. I was getting more and more anxious. Had thoughts of myself on a milk carton. There were a lot of people pulling up to me in black taxis but not yellow taxis. I didn't know a lot about the black taxis and wasn't even sure if they were real taxis. My logic (probably flawed) was that an unmarked taxi couldn't be traced if I went missing (yip, silly and neurotic – I know). Anyhow decided to catch a black taxi anyway and he took me to Ryans flat safely- no milk cartons. The taxi driver had scars on his face, talked with a slur and spent 20 minutes telling my about fights he'd been in, the deluge of foreign taxi owners who stole American jobs and all his female conquests, in graphic detail. Was a fun drive!!! I was being a bit silly but I imagine New York could be a bit scary, it kind of felt that it would swallow me whole if I was not watching.
- Anyhow. Back to the tourist stuff. Went to Brooklyn bridge and Empire state building at night. Very pretty – both. At the Empire state we decided to skip the que and did the sky ride – supposedly this helps you skip the Empire state queues and you get to do a ride too. Supposedly this is awesome. NEVER do the sky ride! Firstly I think it was probably created when the whole moving chairs and cinema thing was created. Secondly we went through about 4 stops and I'm sure it took as long as if we'd waited in the standard que. Thirdly you have to listen to Kevin Bacon cracking silly jokes while feeling like you're going to hurl. I'm exaggerating a bit but it wasn't the best. I thought everyone would be polite and say it was awesome but, hell no, everyone felt the same. The view from the top of the Empire State was worth it though. The Sky ride did give us interesting info so we gained some knowledge and had a good laugh, after :)
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| Brooklyn bridge |
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| A view from Empire State |
- We went down to ground zero and to the church nearby. Is quite an emotional place. The church was used as a shelter during 911 and it is something to go to. We walked in and there was a massive, muscular biker type person on our left tying red ribbons, a lady was playing the church organ, there was a Bhuddist monk, school children and tourists. Was quite an interesting scene. Around the walls of the church where examples of the cots used for workers to sleep on and eat between relief attempts. There were also thousands of cranes sent from Japanese school children, letters and photo's to loved ones, peoples stories, memorials, badges from the police and firemen who came to help from all over the States, Canada and the world. Is quite an emotional place. There were also a lot of teddy bears. This was one of my favorite stories. A lady had collected Teddy bears for children who needed them and made deliveries to the Church. However as she delivered Teddy bears the demand became more as a lot of the firefighters and policemen who were working around the clock and sleeping in the church started holding them and using them for comfort. I know a lot of bad things happen all over the world at any given moment but 911 is still crazy, the wounds are still very real for many New Yorkers and Americans and it's a touching place to visit. The memorial pools were also very interesting. I have never been through so many security checks and seen so many policemen for anything other than a festival or at an airport. The pools themselves are big and very pretty with the New York skyline around and the building of the new towers. As you walk around the pools they have the name of each person who passed listed and categorized. In some places there are 10's to 20's of names from one firehouse or police station – must have been very heavy on the survivors. On the sides there are a few computers so that you can look up the name and location of the person you are trying to find. Interesting and worth the visit but remember to book – only limited space every day.
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| Memorial pool |
- Other highlights were visiting Grand central, admiring the giant tree at Rockerfeller centre and watching people skate there. The tree is a giant Norwegian spruce and came from Mifflinville Pennsylvania this year, was 74 foot (22 meters) and was lit by 30000 led lights.
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| Rockerfeller centre |
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| Grand central |
- The Christmas decorations were also awesome, as well as all the shop window decorations – very cool.
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| Giant lights |
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| And balls |
So that was New York. Had great food, wonderful company and an awesome time.
We flew from New York to Minneapolis and then to Calgary.
After a few flights and a drive we arrived in Lethbridge to show off our special little city.
We only had 2 nights in Lethbridge and not a whole lote of time so were very busy showing everyone around town, relaxing and doing laundry, and having some Bagel time (He was happy to see us and got a nice walk at one of the dog runs. He'd also been having a holiday and had an awesome time at our neighbors. Every time we open the front door now he runs across to their door. Caught him using a flashlight and morse coding someone next door the other night – he's up to something!).
On the one night our neighbors cooked us a very delicious supper and we had an awesome visit as always.
On another night we had take-out and Duncan, Gav, Steve and Jess came over to watch some hockey and relax.
I think everyone enjoyed Lethbridge and I'm really glad they got to see where we live and work and play. Was fun!
After Lethbridge we drove up to Fernie for a few days. Luckily Fernie had received some snow the week before and conditions were ok. Not fantastic but was still awesome to spend a few days snowboarding with Adele, Neal, Mary and Dad.
We were luckily to get a good night of snow midway through which made for much better conditions.
Because of the poor snow this winter Fernie was not nearly as busy as it was this time last year. This was awesome – felt at times like we had the whole mountain to ourselves and was not crowded at all.
Apart from the snowboarding we hot tubbed, had delicious meals in town, cooked in our lodge, did a lot of reading and watched a lot of football or hockey.
Stayed in the Lizard Creek lodge which has a fantastic lounge with a giant lounge and fireplace that boasts views of the slopes and mountains. It's a very special place to stay.
It's also right on one of the best ski lifts so you truly are staying at a ski-in and ski-out location.
Gavin joined us for a few nights and we had a very happy and delicious Christmas dinner together in the hotels lounge – prime rib all round.
It's lunch here and the memory of prime rib is making me hungry. Had a great time in Fernie – love this place – will be back with you in a few bites, a full stop, and two strikes of the enter key.
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| Christmas lunch at Lizard creek in our room |
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| Neal and I cooling off after hot tub |
Back again. From Fernie we travelled by car to Calgary. From Calgary we flew to Whitehorse in the Yukon.
The Yukon has about 36000 people with about 26000 people living in the bustling metropolis of Whitehorse.
Is pretty funny. The guy who picked us up from the airport is a German who has been living here for years. He was entertaining and interesting and completely disgusted that Whitehorse has enough people now to have 2 Tim Hortons and 2 McDonalds. Apparently the city is growing at a rate.
Anyhow, back to the bullet points:
- This Winter has not been nearly as cold and as snowy as last year so it was nice to get off the plane to a white Whitehorse. For them it's also been unseasonably warm Winter too. Whitehorse was also a little colder at -15/-16. At times it's gotten to – 50 here – ouch!!!
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| Yukon |
- Whitehorse is a very pretty little town. It kind of feels like a frontier town. There are only a few really old buildings though. One of which is an old log Church and there are 2 old “towers” made of wood that look a bit rickety but which people still rent out. The problem with Whitehorse is that people would burn their fires hot during Winter and a whole lot of soot would build up in the chimney. When there was a few warmer days they would turn the heat down, more soot would build up and then when it got colder they'd burn the fire hotter, the chimney would catch on fire and then . . . . sorry, no more house.
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| Klondike |
- Winter is also problematic in Whitehorse because when it gets to -50 degrees the air sinks and doesn't circulate so the car fumes and smoke from fires settle just above the ground and creates a really toxic layer of smog.
- The reason we went to Whitehorse was mainly for the Northern lights. So that night at 9 pm we were bussed out of town to a clearing on a farm. The whole set up is pretty cool. They have a large cabin which is heated and has all sorts of hot drinks and coffee, they have an outdoor fire with seats around and they have a large heated tee pee. There are numerous spots to sit and look out for the Northern lights. Was really cold but a lot of fun. Cooked wieners on the open fire and just chilled. Unfortunately no Northern lights and a lot of Northern clouds but that's ok. Was still awesome and a great experience up in the great white North. Spent the next night doing the same.
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| Hut, tee pee, fire, northern clouds |
- The day after we arrived we split up. Neal and Mary went dog mushing. Adele, Mom, Dad and myself did a city tour with the German guide. Can not really talk to Neal and Marys experience. This is something that Adele and I have not done yet, but plan to do. From their look of excitement when recounting their experience and their photos – it looked amazing. The dogs are well looked after and get really excited to run and drag the sleigh. Neal and Mary had watched a discovery show on a lady dog mushing in a big competition and winning, and she turned out to be one of their guides. The city tour was awesome. The guide was funny and very informative. Whitehorse became the hub of the Yukon that it is when they discovered gold in the late 1900's. Overnight thousands of people braved some pretty horrific conditions in the Klondike gold rush and headed toward Whitehorse. As far as I understand it Whitehorse became a base for trade and for further exploration and gold mining up North. The pictures of people walking in the snow and getting wiped out by the cold and avalanches are pretty crazy. The name Whitehorse comes from a set of bad rapids that people would need to brave, or get someone else to brave, in order to get boats and supplies up North. The white water looked like the mane of a horse.
- Whitehorse gets 20 hours of sunlight in summer and apparently gets very busy with thousands of tourists. Our tour guide told us that at the darkest hour you can still sit outside and read a newspaper. In Winter it gets pretty dark too. When we were the sun came up and hugged the horizon before going down again.
- Other interesting facts about Whitehorse are 1. that because they are so high North people need to make a clearing around their house and point their satellite dishes towards the ground to pick up the Southern satellites. 2. The mounties send their young cadets up to the North for a far North/real Canadian Winter experience. Because of this they are really brutal with traffic and other fines. Don't break the law in Whitehorse. 3. They have a great hospital with state of the art equipment and a host of multi-national doctors.
- So Whitehorse was a crazy, awesome place! Very happy to have gone even though we didn't see the lights. It was unlike any place I've been and did really feel like you were stepping into a completely different place and way of life.
After Whitehorse we flew down to Vancouver.
Vancouver is my favorite city in the world. Of course I've never lived here but it's a really vibey and easy place. It's big and pretty and a very friendly city.
It's a lot more temperate than most of the rest of Canada – this also means that there are a lot more homeless and crazies on the street. Someone once told me that there is a migration of homeless towards Vancouver in the Winter.
Anyway we arrived and checked into a hotel near Canada place. We had great views of the harbor and was a lekker spot.
Unfortunately it was raining a bit on that first day and night. This didn't stop us from walking around, enjoy street cafe coffee and exploring Robson street and Granville.
We had another great meal and drinks at the Steamworks brewery – delicious – we really did drink a lot of beer.
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| Granville steam clock |
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| View from hotel |
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| 3 lovely ladies |
The next morning we got up early and caught a bus from our hotel up to Whistler. The trip from Vancouver to Whistler was one of the most spectacular drives of my life.
On our left we had see and islands and beautiful homes. On the right we had rock and mountains and snow and waterfalls and forest. Very spectacular. Neal and Mary lusted after the potential rock climbing, apparently in summer people from all over the world come to climb here.
2 hours later we arrived in Whistler.
Whistler:
- Stayed in a great boutique hotel near to the ski lifts. Was an awesome hotel with a kitchen and a great layout. Also had a hot tub on the roof and we enjoyed wine while hot tubbing as it snowed very heavily. Was great!
- Whistler is a fun and very tourist little village. Our hotel was right near the pedestrian village which has a whole lot of boutiques, trinket shops and grocery stores. Spent a while walking up and down looking at some of the remnants of the Winter olympic and Paralympic games.
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| Whistler village |
- Spent a fair amount of time eating out at some really good restaurants. Also had a delicious meal cooked by Neal and Mary – their famous ragout.
- Found another Brew pub in Whistler with more great beer – and a train that goes around the entire restaurant – chooo chooo!
- Whistler had received a whole bucket load of snow and as such we had 2 very awesome days of powder. The first day was particularly powdery and we got covered in snow as we snowboarded. Whistler is a bit like Disney land. It's massive and very busy. There is usually a que for the lifts and it takes you quite a while to get to the top. It was awesome skiing though, with Whistler mountain or Blackcombe to choose from. I think that I prefer the Fernie/Castle mountain vibe but was very cool, with very good snow and lots of trails. It is particularly cool that you can catch a lift between the top of Whistler to Blackcombe and back on the longest unsupported cable car in the world. We caught a cable car with a glass bottom which was particularly terrifying for myself and my fear of heights (Makes me shiver thinking about it).
So Whistler was cool. As you can tell we were crazy busy.
After our second day snowboarding we bussed back to Vancouver.
Had a delicious pub dinner and explored Granville street on New Years eve. Got busier and busier and we retreated back to our hotel for the countdown.
The next few days were wonderful with very little rain.
- We walked around Stanley park enjoying the runners, cyclists, roller bladers and walkers. The views of Stanley park and Vancouver is breathtaking and it was a great day. Also walked through a bit of the forest and just enjoyed chatting and walking. Had a great lunch in Stanley park and some more local brew.
- During the rest of our Vancouver trip Neal and Mary hunted out some rock climbing gear and marvel at the mountain equipment co-op. They saved themselves hundreds of rands shopping here and were pretty excited about it.
- My Mom, Dad, Adele and I walked down to Granville Island and then around to Rogers arena.
- Rogers arena and the Canucks game was one of the best things I've ever done! We lost which sucked but it's so much better watching live hockey than hockey on TV. The crowd oohed and aaaahed with every crosscheck and shot at goal. As it got tighter and tighter we and the crowd grew louder and louder. Everyone really enjoyed it – it was great.
- After and before the game we drank more beer and had fun at the Yaletown brew pub.
- After the game Adele and I spent an hour and a half waiting for autographs as the players cars came out. Most players seemed a bit bleak about losing and didn't stop but managed to get 2 signatures from Hodgson and Weise. Stood with 2 small teenage girls. Both Mason Raymond fans. Between them they had about 30 signatures, a signed hockey stick and an attitude to boot. They be crazy!!! Was a little worried that if I pushed in front of one of them I would feel a knife to my back.
So almost done. Have been typing straight for 3 hours straight. A little bit of crazy is starting to set in.
Going to go kiss my wonderful wife and will be back with you before you can scroll down to the next paragraph.
Back to the blog again. The kiss was very nice, thank you for asking!
We woke up very early in the morning and travelled back to Alberta.
Our flight was at 6 am and as such we had to wake up at 4 am.
I think that this was the first time on the holiday that Adele and I were truly tired.
Arrived in Calgary and drove to Banff, Alberta.
Banff is another great resort town in the rockies in a national park. During summer it goes mad with thousands of international tourists. In Winter it's a winter wonderland with great ski hills, X-C skiing, dog sledding and other awesome activities.
We stopped on the way to Banff in Canmore and had a delicious lunch and some more micro-brewery beer (Thanks Neal, have a new appreciation for beer now).
In Banff we explored the town and did some souvenir shopping. Had some more great food at their many great restaurants.
We also went up to Lake Louise and admired a snow castle, the magnificent hotel there and skated on Lake Louise. Have always wanted to skate on a lake and was one of the highlights of the trip.
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| Skating on Lake Louise |
The next day we went cross country skiing. My mom had really wanted to do this and she was such a great sport with all our snowboarding.
It was a bit slippery and so was not the best conditions for XC skiing but was great scenery and everyone had lots of fun. My Dad got into it pretty quickly and his excitement and happiness was infectious, it was awesome.
And that was the most of it. After Banff and Lake Louise we drove to Calgary, had lunch with Neal and Mary and said goodbye.
My parents came to Lethbridge for another 2 nights and we did some laundry, relaxed and just had some down time.
Had more drinks with our friends next door and had a tasty supper in the Lethbridge water-tower restaurant.
I'm really sad that my family have left but it's also good to get back into work and we'll see them soon.
I think everyone had a great time and it was a wonderful 4 week holiday.
Since we've been back we have worked hard. Have caught up with Jess and Steve, Duncan and Chantal and are about to have dinner with Rick and Shawna.
Being back at work after a long holiday is always tough but I really do love my patients and the staff.
Of news:
- Duncan got a registrar post in anesthetics which is exciting for him. Sad that we won't be working together but happy for him and Chantal. They move to Calgary in July. They will be missed.
- Have decided to do the next MCCQE exam. Will be doing this in May. Not looking forward to another exam but opens doors and will look good on CV.
- Jess and Steve have had a gorgeous baby girl Kaitlyn. Have spent a fair amount of time with them and got to babysit Kaitlyn while Jess got a massage. She is so cute and small and soft and fantastic. They're moving to Chilliwack in April. Will also be very sad when they go.
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| Kaitlyn |
- Adele has given me guitar lessons for Christmas. Starting a band baby. Will be going every week until the wedding.
- Bagel was very excited to see us after the second part of our trip. He has become a lot more cuddly which is nice. He has grown tired of playing Beethoven and has moved onto something harder. Clever dog.
- I have a sexy wife!!!
- Planning to go to Churchill Manitoba to see polar bears later in the year. May also go to Cuba – still deciding. Really want to visit Jenni and Frans in Nova Scotia and Tessa and Marielle in Saskatchewan.
So that is our awesome holiday. It's a bit concise and I'm sure I've missed out a bunch but I'm exhausted so boo hoo.
About to go have supper next door and then will get Adele to proof read this before I attach a few photos and post it.
Love you and miss you.
Looking forward to kuiering with Ma en Pa and friends in SA.
Can't wait for Neal and Marys wedding
Until we chat again. Don't do anything I wouldn't do
All our love
Ryan and Adele
