A week in the life of a traveller!

I told you about my bunjee jump and I was

emailing from Shuswap Lake then, which was a lovely place but kind of reminded me of a town you would see in all the Slasher Films, so you imagine how my

i purchased a rather horrendous blue cosi

nights sleep there was!! On the way to Shuswap Lake we stopped at a beautiful waterfall called

Bridal Falls, and then headed to Banff through Fraser Canyon and heading

into the Thomson Canyon, the scenery there was fantastic, was like Glencoe

on a biggerand better scale!! And the colours are stunning just now with it

being Fall.

Have some pics of me and the girls in Lytton, it was a big town

in the time of the Gold Rush but is really just a few streets with really

silly names!!! The trip to Banff the next day was great, we went Go Karting, well the group

did, I watched with a few other girls since there was a chance you could

stall them, and with my driving ability, it would be a recipe for disaster -

and a few crashes!! We went through Rogers Pass and had our lunch at the summit looking onto

Mount Rogers which was gorgeous aswell, Emma, Sarah and I were all amazed by

how beautiful it was and felt like we had to pinch ourselves!! We then visited a Natural Bridge which was pretty cool, and Emerald Lake

which are both in Yoho National Park, the weather has just been so nice that

it made the sight seeing stunning!! We eventually arrived in Banff National Park later that afternoon and would

you believe, not five minutes after entering Banff National Park, did we see

a big bear by the road side, it was quite far off, got some pictures (just

to prove it!!) so that was well exciting for me!! We stayed in the HI at Banff that night, which was a nice hostel but I was

staying in a room full of smelly boys, so that kind of put me off! (The

hazards of hostelling!!)

Next day we were up (very!!) early to head to Jasper! I was always quite

excited about seeing Jasper, but dont think I was really prepared for what

lay ahead!! We saw some stunning sights on the way - Lake Louise, which is very

impressive! Bow Lake was stunning too, and then went to Mistaya Canyon. We

then headed on to Panther Falls for our lunch, but it was a bit of a hike to

get there and the group had their lunch right at the edge of the falls. Of

course, me being the big woose that I am, realised that Im not invinsible

just cause I can do a bunjee jump and couldnt make it to the edge of the

falls cause my knees started knocking with the height and the roar of the

water, so had to eat lunch on my own round the corner, in the safety of the

trees!! Rather embarrising!! In the afternoon we went to Columbia Glacier, which was great! I dont know

about you guys but I always thought that the glaciers were just snow, but we

got to go and walk on the glacier which is situated on the Icefields Parkway

and it was just this HUGE mass of ice, we were sliding all over the place!!

Was really funny!! But am well chuffed that I can say I walked on a glacier!

Apparently this glacier is so big that everyone in North America could stand

side by side on it!! Thats a lot of people - pretty impressive!! After our wee jont round the glacier we headed to Maligne Canyon which had a

lovely walk through it all, and then we arrived in Jasper!! Now, when I wanted to come to Canada I was all for the great outdoors thing,

but this was not what I was expecting!! We basically were staying in a shed in the woods, which was lovely during

the day, but when we arrived later that night it was pitch black and before

getting off the bus we were warned about not having any food outside or in

the cabins because there are a lot of bears in the area and it will attract

them!! Now, for me, this was serious bear watch!!! Not only that, but they

had drop toilets and no running water! Traumatic! Poor Emma and Sarah had to listen to me all night - I had issues with it all! We woke about 4am, it was absolutely freezing and every noise that I head I was convinced was a bear, that included all the snoring around me since we were in a 16 bed dorm!! So with the spiders, the toilets, the bears and the temperature - I had issues with Jasper!!! (beautiful place though!!) So, after a horrendous night sleep we headed back to Banff (phew!!). On the

way there we stopped at Athabasca Falls, again, another lovely waterfall!!

For lunch we hiked up Parkers Ridge, which took Emma and I a little longer

than the rest and we didnt quite make it to the top where you could see the

Saskatchewan Glacier going into the Saskatchewan River, but we did see some

of it which was good enough for us, since it was freezing, windy as hell and

my ears were about to fall off - it was soooo cold!!! But after that we headed to Peyto Lake which was everything I hoped it would

be, stunning, you just cant get over the colour of the water!! We then headed to Moraine Lake, which is in the Valley of the Ten Peaks,

another beautiful spot, which I didnt get to see too much of as i was a

little homesick and after seeing a million lakes over the past few days. So at last - I arrived in Banff!! Staying at a different hostel to the one

before, which was more in the town and was really nice!! Went out for dinner

that night, and a few drinks! Was very strange to be in the town and going

to a few bars. Yesterday we decided to go to the Hot Springs so had to head into town to busy swimming cosi's, and after I opened my big mouth and invited the boys along, it was pretty stressful trying to find a cheap swim suit that covered all the lumps!!!

Sarah, eventually gave up and couldnt come, Emma after much hyperventilating

bought a bikini and i purchased a rather horrendous blue cosi!! But it was

worth it all to go and sit in the Hot Springs at night, have a laugh and

look at the stars, was a lovely night, after that we headed out for "a few"

drinks, which ended up us getting home at 5am, since we crashed a stag party

at the hostel! Early night tonight though since we are horse riding all day tomorrow, it

has started to get colder today, so hopefully it wont be too bad tomorrow!!