May 22, 2013 - Updates and Changes to our Itinerary

Since my first entry, we have now changed our tour from 20 days, starting in Toronto (flying there from Edmonton and catching the bus there) to actually catching the bus at its first stop in Edmonton. We have added 9 days to our trip with stops across Canada on the way to Toronto and in the US for stops on our way back from Niagara Falls (where were were going to leave the tour) I`ve begun my scrapbook already with maps from Google and pictures of stops (overnights) from the Internet. This will not surprise a few of my friends...ok, many of...

May 2, 2013 - Setting up my Journal

Just over 4 months until we leave on this vacation. As usual I plan, plan, plan. We hope it will be a relaxing holiday as no one will have to drive and everyone can enjoy the scenery. No cooking or cleaning for at least 20 days. Packing might be a challenge, but that's my next site to look up. :)

May 1, 2013 - Leaving on a jet plane

Today, the first day of my vacation, I feel like I won the lottery. I was specially selected (those were the exact words) to receive one of two lovely gifts, a body scan or a pat down. Who knew choices would be so difficult? I could get used to flying business class. After a very enjoyable flight to Toronto, we were met by Mike and Ruth, who helped make the long layover (an unfortunate side effect of using points for tickets) much more bearable. We had some nice R&R at their house. It included a lesson and demonstration of gyroscopic...

Apr 21, 2013 - Lethbridge to Edmonton, a good day!

Date: April 21, 2013 Tonight’s Location: Edmonton, Alberta Mileage: End - 15978 Start - 15628 Total Miles for the day: 350 Weather: intermittent snow showers and sun breaks Temperature: start 26º High 38º Wildlife count: Mule Deer, Elk (lots in a large field in a fence) Year List: 188 Birds: Magpie, House Finch, American Robin, Canada Geese, Crow, Raven, Northern Shoveler, Red-tailed Hawk, Rock Dove, Lesser Scaup, Northern Harrier, European Starling, Broad-winged Hawk It snowed last night in Lethbridge, but not nearly as much as was...

Feb 22, 2013 - The Epic Journey Comes to an End

Well the title kinda explains the contents of this last update, and although this journey has been long and the best year of my life, so I thought this be a good way to end it all off (plus a great excuse to throw in heaps of Kiwi slang in writing, with ample over usage). So yes I'm home, some of you know that, some of you dont, Ive actually been here since thursday and just surprised my family (my mom is still shaking) but I wanted to keep it pretty quiet, as after so many long flights I just wanted to rest. The last few days were filled...

Nov 13, 2012 - Edmonton, Alberta

Flew today from Ottawa to Edmonton. Just here for two nights to unpack my winter clothes and pack summer stuff for my trip to Asia and the South Pacific. One degree Celcius here with snow on the ground. Gas here is one dollar per litre. It was $1.24 in Ottawa. The shuttle to the Ottawa airport was $56.00. From the Edmonton airport to anywhere in the city, even though it was further distance than the Ottawa airport to the city, was $18.00. I waited until I got here to buy some minutes for my cell phone as it is $8 cheaper because there is...

Sep 26, 2012 - Red Arrow - Taxi

Ok, no photos yet. Here we sit at the via rail station in Edmonton. Had an interesting trip. The Red Arrow bus lines is something else again. I have never been on a bus like that. Leather reclining seats that put my recliner at home to shame. Tv albeit small, and the movie was something about a compass and polar bears. A 'kitchen' area with cookies and pop and coffee. How good is that? Oh wireless Internet connection that was pretty good. Nothing like the buses we used to travel on in the army. I think when they finished with them they...

Aug 20, 2012 - Edmonton

Today was a rather trying day. We set out for Edmonton - for the gigantic shopping mall call West Edmonton Mall. There are 800 stores, at least 50 restaurants, an enormous water park, ice skating rink (we're in Canada after all), amusement park, marine park - complete with a sea lion show. God knows what else, but we thought we should stop there - you know, the largest shopping mall in North America. So we did. Being the considerate Americans we are we managed to find an out of the way spot to park our large rig. It was in a corner...

Aug 7, 2012 - Day 77 & 78 Valleyview to Edmonton

Day 77: Valleyview to Shakers Acres campground in Edmonton: 161 miles, hot weather again! Not much to see, we alternated from plains to pine forests. We stopped at the Haestis Demonstration forest and learned that Alberta also lets nature run it's course when it comes to it's forests. Fire and bugs are free to have their way with the forest and the forest will regenerate itself. Only critters we saw were a large dead black bear hit by a vehicle and one lonely mule deer doe romping through the fields. Day 78: We spent the day at the West...

Aug 2, 2012 - Day 34

It rained pretty hard last night and the forecast is for more rain today. We went to the West Edmonton Mall (WEM) and wandered around for about 2 hours and then had lunch at the Spaghetti Factory. Not much has changed from 2 years ago, although I did notice that they have added Ropes Quest, a three level rope course. X Some of you may know what I am talking about. Mall of America (MOA) had one also but WEM is more organized than MOA. When you enter and find the Directory, they have a printed directory that you can pick up and take with you....

Aug 1, 2012 - Day 33

Today was a housekeeping day. Clean the coach, do some laundry, do some grocery shopping, clean the bugs off the windshield and front of the coach. Other than that, a very relaxing day. Our WiFi reception is intermittent at this campground, so have not been trying to update the blog. It seems that when you get connected, it is only with about an 18-40% signal strength and then without warning, it goes to 0. Not good when trying to upload photos. Hopefully our next campground will have better wifi service.

Jul 31, 2012 - Day 32

We departed Fort Macleod heading North on Alberta 2 for Edmonton and Glowing Embers RV Park. We woke to a balmy 67 inside the coach and the temperature has been great all day as was the weather. We passed through Granum, Claresholm, Nanton, High River, Calgary, Crossfield, Carstairs, Didsbury, Olds, Bowden, Innisfair, Red Deer, Ponoka, Wetaskiwin and Leduc before reaching Edmonton. AB 2 is a four-lane divided limited access highway similar to our interstates. It is also known as the Queen Elizabeth II Highway. A lot of wheat and canola...