Car crash

Saturday June 11th
Today we got a tour of the farm B&B we were staying at. They have 5 sheep, 4 horses, 2 dogs and 4 cats. They showed us the sheep and horses and told us that most of their animals are rescue animals who now have a better home. We got to talk to our hosts a bit and had nice conversations. Afterwards we headed out to Fort Langley to shop a bit and get some dinner.

On our way to Fort Langley we got into a pretty bad car crash. We stopped at the stop sign and didn't see any cars so we started driving and at that same moment we got smashed from the side and got spun around a couple of times. I felt so weird during the crash, I was creepily calm and just stared at the airbags and was like "oh, so that's what airbags look like when they come out". Another thought that went through my mind was "alright, when we're done spinning we can get out of the car and we're all fine". Luckily we were all fine and nobody got hurt, but our car was totaled and the other car was done for as wel because the repairs would be more that a new car. We also got lucky that our car had airbags on the door windows as well because Berwout was driving and we got hit from the left side, so his head would've hit the left window.
Once we got out of the car, I saw the other guy run to our car to make sure we were okay, and then he started calling 911 and a towing company. We were all shaken up and didn't really know what to do in this situation because we never experienced one, but the other guy handled everything quite fast. The towing company and the fire department arrived pretty soon after and police didn't come because nobody was hurt. We called our rental company to see what we had to do and they said they would also send a tow truck and that it would take about 15 minutes. After 25 minutes there was still no tow truck so we called again and apparently they sent the tow truck to the wrong address. So then the local tow company took our car after all. When everything was sorted out and the cars were towed we got picked up by our awesome B&B hosts.
The only thing we had left to do was to go to Hertz and fill in an incident report and then we could get a replacement car. Sadly the nearest Hertz establishment was at Vancouver airport which was an hour away from our B&B. We called a taxi to see how much it would cost to get us there and they said it would be 160 dollars. But our B&B hosts were very nice to offer us a ride to the airport so we could handle things with Hertz. We filled in the incident report at got a new car pretty quickly, so we drove back to our B&B and relaxed for the night.

Abbotsford first few days

Thursday June 9th
In the morning we went to the British Columbia Wild Life Park. It was pretty much a zoo but with animals you would find in the wild in this area. The animals that were in the park were only there because they got injured too badly to let back in the wild. Most of the animals they get in are injured and they try to get them healthy enough to send back in the wild, but when they're permanently injured they keep them in the park. We saw two funny and active bears who were digging a tunnel in their enclosure and took turn digging and swimming. It was very cute to see them so active and having fun. We also saw them getting fed and do some tricks for us with the a park employee. Other animals we saw were mountain goats, bighorn sheep, bald eagles, lynxes, and elk. Most of these animals we also actually saw in the wild, but now we got to see them up close.

After the wildlife park we drove to Abbotsford, near Vancouver. This is where out B&B is for the next couple of days. It is a big farm with lots of animals and very nice hosts. They bring us fresh breakfast every day with fresh fruit from local farms.

Friday June 10th
Today was another relaxing day. We sorted out our financials and started sorting out our stuff so we can pack it properly again before we leave. In the evening we went to town to buy me some hair dye to take back home because in the Netherlands we do not have good hair dye for blue hair. We got some dinner afterwards and Berwout headed to Vancouver to have another game night. I stayed in the B&B and started packing my big suitcase and watch some shows.

Kelowna & Kamloops

Monday June 6th

More roadtrip days, we had to drive about 4 hours to reach our next destination Kelowna. On our way we stopped in Nakusp to have some great lunch and a local bakery who also had homemade ice cream we couldn't resist. We arrived in Kelowna around dinner time and Berwout said there was a great restaurant here because the owner of this restaurant used to serve burgers to the prime minister of Canada. The restaurant was called Raudz and that's where we went for dinner. After getting our hopes up by these stories the restaurant was a little disappointing, my food was way too salty and they only had one burger on the menu. At our AirBnb we did some laundry and relaxed for the rest of the night. 

Tuesday June 7th
Today we went to a kangaroo sanctuary! There were a lot of kangaroos on the property together with goats and llamas. At the start we saw little wallaby kangaroos and capybaras and there were chairs you could sit on and then an employee would put a baby kangaroo in your lap to pet it. It was the most adorable thing ever! After having some kangaroo cuddles we headed out to their biggest enclosure where all the adult kangaroos were. You were allowed inside to pet all the kangaroos and feed them as well. You were only allowed to pet the kangaroos on the back because if you pet the anywhere else, they might see it as if you're engaging a fight. We walked around in there for about an hour and kept petting and feeding kangaroos, it was an amazing experience.
After the kangaroo sanctuary we went to a little local coffeeshop and had a nice lunch. We headed back to our AirBnb and our plan was to go to the beach because it was beautiful weather, but instead I fell asleep while waiting for Berwout and then we decided to stay home. We did go out for dinner and a nice romantic place because today we were officially 1,5 years together. We also did go to the beach after dinner to have a nice stroll along the water.

Wednesday June 8th
On to our next destination, Kamloops. We arrived fairly early in our AirBnb and settled in. Our host recommended us to take a park in the park that lies very close to their house, so we did. It was a big sportspark with many soccer and baseball fields. It was a little island as well and we walked along the outside of the island. It was about 2 km and we enjoyed the little walk. The best part was that this island was basically a home to marmots, and we saw loads of them along the trail! They even came up to you to see if you had any food for them. Once they realized you didn't have any food they scattered away again. After our walk we headed into town to get some dinner and get back to our AirBnb in the evening.

Creston & Winlaw

Saturday June 4th
On our way to the next town we stopped along the way to play some minigolf that was advertised along the road. The minigolf place also had some farm animals you were allowed to feed, which we did before playing minigolf. Minigolfing took about 1,5 hours and I won by two points!

After a few more hours of driving we arrived in Creston where we ate some Thai food and headed to our AirBnb. Our AirBnb host, Grietje, was originally from the Netherlands as wel and still knew some Dutch. We joined her in her garden because it was really nice weather and we talked for a few hours before going to bed. She's a lovely lady and it was fun talking to her, especially since we could talk some more about the Netherlands and how she got to Canada.

Waiting for the ferry

Sunday June 5th

On the road again to a little village called Winlaw where our AirBnb was. On our way we had to take a ferry to cross a river and on the other side we went to some amazing hot springs. This hot spring still had the original water source flowing through and you could walk through a little cave to see where it came from. It was really warm inside the cave and you couldn't stay there very long. It was also a really warm day and we got a nice tan from sitting at the hot springs.

Once in Winlaw, way off road and in the forest, we arrived at our AriBnb. We immediately got greeted by Rory the Wonderdog who came up to our car for cuddles. We then got greeted by our host Linda who showed us to our own little house we would stay in. It felt like a jungle house and it even had a bathtub outside on the deck where you could take a bath in the summer. After we got settled in we got some dinner in a nearby restaurant, it was great food in a nice little town. When we got back up to our jungle home we got greeted by Linda again with some desert wine. She shared some with us and we had a lovely conversation until we went to bed.

Jasper National Park

Wednesday June 1st
Today we drove 3 hours to Jasper National Park to enjoy the beautiful scenery and wildlife. We drove straight to their visitor information center to see what they recommended us to do. They gave us a map of the whole park and circled placed with an amazing view. The first place we went was a viewpoint on top of a mountain which was a half an hour hike to the top. After that we headed to pyramid lake which contains a little island called pyramid island. It was a pretty lake and the island provided more views on the lake. On our way to the lake we saw a herd of elk near another lake just eating the grass, so of course we had to stop and take loads of pictures! After sightseeing we went back to Jasper to have some dinner and then head to our Airbnb which was another 1,5 hours further. On our way to our Airbnb we saw our first wild bear near the road! It was next to the highway so we couldn’t stop to take a picture sadly, but it looked like it wanted to cross the road. 

Thursday June 2nd
On our way to Jasper we saw more bears! This time we were able to stop and take pictures, it was a mama black bear with two cubs! We couldn’t get a good picture of the cubs because they were jumping and climbing on everything around them in the tall grass. A little drive further we saw two more bears, but these were two grizzly bears, they were even closer to the road so we could get a better view and better pictures. In Jasper we got some breakfast and bought some souvenirs in the gift shops. Afterwards we drove to Maligne Lake, and again we saw more bears along the road! Two black bears and two more cubs! We got a better picture of the cubs but still not amazing, but we got to see them play which counts the most! When we finally arrived at the lake we walked around the lake and took a small 1 hour hike to Moose Lake which lays close to Maligne Lake. Sadly there were no moose at the lake. On our way back home we saw our last bear of the day which sets our bear counter to 10 bear sightings in one day and 11 in total! This made us keep a counter of all the wildlife we saw on our trip. This counter is at the top right of the blog and will be kept up to date.

Friday June 3rd
Today we’re doing the long trip through the Icefields Parkway, this is a road between Jasper and Banff National Parks and has amazing views of glaciers, waterfalls, mountains and lakes. The first stop was at Athabasca Falls, a waterfall you could walk around and see it from every angle. On our way to the next stop we saw our first mountain goats along the road. They were licking up minerals from the rocks along the road because their digestive systems needs those minerals to work properly. One of the goats was chasing a bird that was bothering him, which was very cute to see!

The next stop were the Sunwapta Falls where you could also walk around and see it from different angles. On our way to the first big glacier we saw more mountain goats with little goats eating more minerals. The big glacier was called the Columbia Glacier and you could walk up very close, but it was very windy and cold near it. Afterwards we had some lunch at a nearby restaurant and headed on to Peyto Lake, a beautiful blue lake. On our way out we saw another grizzly bear munching on some grass and in the end we saw two more grizzly bears, one of them was only a year old. We arrived at our Airbnb at 9 and stayed in for the night.

Drumheller & Edmonton

Monday May 30th
Today we left Calgary and headed to Drumheller which is famous for lots of dinosaur fossil finds. It was a 1,5 hour drive but it was a sad and rainy day. The first thing we did was go to their dinosaur museum, this was the first museum we've been to that was solely dedicated to evolution of dinosaurs and other species in that era. I saw a bunch of dinosaurs I had never heard of and many famous ones. The awesome part was that this museum had a huge amount of original fossils in display.
After the museum we did a scenic drive through Drumheller which has an interesting landscape and rock formations. One of the more famous ones are the so called HooDoos.
At the end of the day we drove 2 more hours to our Airbnb in Edmonton.

Tuesday May 31st
Today we spent the day in the largest mall of North America, the West Edmonton Mall. We arrived around 12 and walked around the mall for about two hours. They had many shops and a lot of attractions inside like an ice skating ring, a sea lion show, mini golf and an indoor waterpark! Around 2 we went to the indoor waterpark which was loads of fun, they had many awesome slides comparable to the slides in Wet ‘N Wild in Florida. One slide was very interesting in particular because this slide goes down really fast and then back up! In the top you obviously slow down and then go down again. It was considered one of the extreme slides because you step in a little launch pad where the floor drops from underneath you and you go sliding down real fast. It is possible to get stuck in the top part if you didn’t have enough speed, then you slide back and have to climb out a little opening in the slide, this made it a little scary but we went for it anyway and it was loads of fun! The waterpark closed at 7 and then we went back into the mall until that closed at 9. We got some dinner afterwards and headed to our Airbnb.

Banff National Park

Thursday May 26th
Time to explore the Banff National Park. Banff is an 1,5 hour drive from our AirBnb in Calgary, so we'll be doing quite some driving the next couple of days. When we arrived in the town Banff we just drove around a little and then decided to drive to Lake Louise which is famous for it's beautiful blue water. When we drove out of the town we saw our first Canadian deer! We took the touristic route called the Bow Valley Parkway which leads you though the mountains and beautiful nature. It was about an hour drive from Banff to Lake Louise but we enjoyed the scenery a lot. We parked next to Lake Louise and the first thing we saw was people canoeing on the lake so we wanted to do that too! We rented a canoe for an hour and enjoyed the water and nature around us. The water was really nice and blue and of course we had to take a lot of pictures.

After canoeing we drove to the little town of Lake Louise and had dinner with a nice view of the mountains. After dinner we headed home which was a 2,5 hour drive back.

Friday May 27th
Today's weather wasn't very good, it rained a lot and was very misty. So we decided to relax in the hot springs in Banff.  It was just like a pool setting though, not much natural that meets the eye. The water was very nice and warm though, and it wasn't too busy. We headed home early because Berwout wanted to join the Friday Night Magic event again in Calgary. I stayed home to sort some pictures and do some blogging.

Saturday May 28th
In the morning we started with a tour through a wolfdog sanctuary. A wolfdog is a dog that was once bred with a dog and a wolf. You can have different degrees of wolf in a wolfdog and we learned a lot about this during the tour. We were allowed to go into two enclosures of wolfdogs, the first was high-content wolfdogs. You could really see the wolf in them by looking at their body structure. We fed them some treats and got to pet some of them if they let you. Most of them were pretty fearful and didn't want to get too close. This is typically a wolf trait.

The second enclosure was low-content wolfdogs. These wolfdogs resemble normal dogs way more by their body structure and behavioral traits. These wolfdogs were very people friendly and loved to be pet if they got to know you a bit better. We also got to feed these dogs treats and pet them if they let you. They were so cute and looked a lot like huskies.

After the tour we headed back to Calgary and did some shopping in the mall. In the evening we had a wildlife safari scheduled in Banff. The safari started at 7:30 pm and it just drove us along some mountain trails hoping to find some wildlife. Sadly we didn't see much wildlife except for some bighorn sheep and a few elk that were pretty far away. The safari ended at 9:30 pm, and we both thought it was not worth the money. Especially because the roads we drove on are accessible to the public so we could've driven it ourselves to spot wildlife. Which we actually did after the safari, we headed back a few roads we passed and were able to find way more elk. I even convinced myself we caught a glimpse of a bear, but it was too far away to be sure. When it got dark we headed home and saw even more elk that were just next to the road. Which was pretty scary because you couldn't see them very well until you're too close. I can understand how it's easy to hit an elk or deer at night. We got home around 12 pm and went straight to bed.

Sunday May 29th
A relax day where we sorted our financials and I blogged a bunch. Also the day when all the pictures we had up till now were put on facebook!

New Brunswick & Nova Scotia

Friday May 20th
This was our big roadtrip day, we had to drive 6 hours to get to our next destination, Fredricton. When we finally arrived we quickly got some food and I dropped Berwout off at a nearby game store so he could join the Friday Night Magic event. I went back to our AirBnb and did some research about things to do in the area. At 11 pm I picked Berwout up again and we went to bed.

Saturday May 21st

In the morning we drove to the Reversing Falls in Saint John. The Reversing Falls is a place in the river where the direction of the water changes during high and low tides. This creates whirlpools and rapid tides. After walking around for a bit we headed to Irving National Park where we hiked through the park for about 3 hours. This national park is a sort of island and we hiked along the entire coast of the island, so we saw some nice beaches and rock formations.

Around 5 pm we headed back to Fredricton because we scheduled horseback riding there at 6 pm. We arrived on time and got saddles in our horses. The ride was only for an hour and sadly it was the same trail we rode on the first and last half hour, we just turned around on the half way mark. The guide also wasn't very talk-active, so I thought it was a very disappointing ride. After the ride we drove to Moncton to be closer to our next attractions!

Sunday May 22nd

Early in the morning we headed to Hopewell Rocks which are beautiful rock formations you can see when it's low-tide. The low-tide also allows you to walk on the bottom on the ocean and walk through the rock formations. We walked around for about an hour until the high-tide came in. 

After that we went to get some lunch in a little fisher town called Alma. They had fresh fish and I had a yummy lobster sandwich. After lunch we went back to the Hopewell Rocks to see the rocks when it's completely high-tide. The bottom of the ocean was completely underwater and the rocks as well.  

In the evening we headed to our AirBnb in Southampton which was a hobby farm with alpacas and chickens. After getting dinner we had some nice conversations with our host Art and talked until midnight. It was a very cozy home and a comfy bed.

Monday May 23rd
Joggins Fossil Centre, 4,5 hour drive, dinner with host, watch GoT

In the morning Art made us frittata for breakfast, which was very good! After breakfast we got to see his alpacas and other animals. They just go a baby alpaca 5 days before we arrived so we were lucky to see the baby as well! 

At noon we left for the Joggins Fossil Center, this is a historic site where many fossils have been found. We got a private tour along the beach and he pointed out some fossils in the rocks and told us what they were. 

After the fossil search we headed to our next AirBnb which was 4,5 hours away up north in Quebec. We arrived around 6 and the host was kind enough to invite us for dinner. We had a lovely dinner and decided to watch Game of Thrones together with the host. It was a nice evening and we headed to bed early.

Tuesday May 24th
Another day for a long drive. We started the day with a drive up the Saint-Joseph mountain where we had a pretty view of quebec and the area. 

After that detour we headed for Quebec City which was a 6 hour drive. 

Wednesday May 25th

Getting up early to return our rental car and catch the plane to Calgary! It was about 6 hours of travel and we arrived at our AirBnb around 10 pm. This is with the two hour time difference. The rental car we got this time is a Toyota Camry. 

Quebec Ctiy

Wednesday May 18th
The next city to explore is Quebec City. After checking out of our AirBnb we drove two hours to Quebec City. Our AirBnb room was in a little town next to Quebec City called Levis. After dropping off our stuff in the AirBnb, we walked around the little town to find a place to have a drink. Sadly most of the little bars were closed at that time, so we headed to Quebec City. We went to a park called the Battlefields Park which was next to a Citadel that originally was built as a military base. While walking around we stumbled into Old Quebec City which had a beautiful city wall and old buildings. We decided to look for a restaurant here but all of them were very expensive, so we decided to go the Three Brewers, which was a little outside of Old Quebec City. We knew the Three Brewers had good food because they’re also settled in Toronto. They brew their own beer and use beer in all of their dishes. 

Thursday May 19th
The plan for today was to go horse riding in the morning and doing via ferrata in the afternoon. But when we arrived at the horse riding place they said they’re not doing rides yet because there’s still snow in the mountains which can be dangerous for us and the horses. Bummed out but understanding we headed to the Chute-Montmorency Falls to try via ferrata. Sadly the season for that hasn’t started yet either because of snow and bad weather. We were stuck in between seasons, because the winter activities stopped and the summer activities start the first of June. We did however enjoy the park and the waterfall.

When we were done at this park we headed to the Canyon Saint-Anne Park which had another waterfall. This park was made that you can hike all around the waterfall and see it from every angle. The total hike was about 1 km. This waterfall is apparently taller than the Niagara Falls but way slimmer. The park closed at 5 and that’s when we headed home. We got some groceries for dinner and had another relaxing night.

Montreal

Monday May 16th
Our time has come to leave Chicoutimi and head back to Montreal to drop of Marion. It was a 4,5 hour drive and we arrived in Montreal around 3:30 pm. After dropping off Marion at her place we headed to our AirBnb to drop off our stuff. After we settled in we headed out to the “Underground City” of Montreal. The Underground City consists of roads underground that connect the things on the surface, it wasn’t a literal city underground. It did have a huge mall which was partially underground and this is where Berwout bought a carry-on bag for in the plane.


Tuesday May 17th
Today we had time to explore Montreal. We went to Old Montreal and the Old Port. Next to it was China Town where we had some lunch and looked at all the cute stores. We walked around in this area for a few hours. After this we went to Mont Royal, a hill in the city with a nice park around it. We hiked up the hill and enjoyed the view. When we headed home we picked up some groceries to make some dinner. We stayed home to relax and watch Game Of Thrones.

Chicoutimi Weekend

Saturday May 14th
In the morning we picked up Berwout's cousin Marion in Montreal and drove to Chicoutimi, where Berwout's other cousin Magali lives. It was a 4,5 hour drive, and the last two hours we had a beautiful few of mountains and lakes. We arrived around 3 pm and picked up Magali to get something to eat. After some food we headed to our AirBnb, which was a house we had all to ourselves. It was very comfortable and we were able to do some laundry as well. Around 6 pm we headed to bar restaurant/bar to have dinner and see a local rock band play live. Some of Magali's friends joined us and the band and the food was very good. Around 10 pm we left the bar and headed to Magali's friend's house where we started a bonfire and drank some beer. It was a lovely night but pretty cold. We headed home around 12 pm and had a good night sleep.

Sunday May 15th
In the morning we drove to a nearby town which lies next to a beautiful lake. We had some breakfast at the local cafe and hiked a little in the hill next to the cafe. It was a rainy day so we didn't hike very long, just to get some nice pictures. When it started to rain harder we headed back home to relax and do our laundry. Marion and Magali had some errands to run so we stayed in our Airbnb for a while. When they were done they headed over to us and we did some groceries together so we could make some dinner. We made vegetable wraps with avocado and many vegetables. After dinner we joined Magali to a LARP (Live Action Role Play) event. Berwout and Marion joined Magali and I watched from the side. It was very entertaining to see, but it's not my thing. Marion and I left early because we were tired and had to pack our bags for the next morning.

Ottawa Day 2

Friday May 13th
Today we went to a bunker that was made during the Cold War. It's a government bunker that was made just in case Canada would be attacked during the Cold War. It had 4 floors with many rooms ranging from decontamination rooms to radio communication rooms and a gold reserve safe. It was very interesting to see and learn what each room was built for. What surprised me was that the bunker only had a food supply for 30 days, for 500 people.

After visiting the bunker we went to visit the Notre Dame Cathedral in Ottawa. It was in he middle of the city but pretty to see. It was a pretty big church and it is still in use every day. After visiting the Notre Dame we drove 2 hours to reach Montreal, where we will meet Berwout's cousin Marion.