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.