This winter vacation, I did something I always said I wouldn't do (because it's cold)...I went back to Canada for a week and a half. A lot of the time I was there, I just stayed at home (trying to get over being sick and jet lag), or went out and did some necessary things, but I did also get up to a few adventures. And I also got to see my family....I believe they were happy about that....
Just a normal field, but I know it's not normal for everyone, so....
One of the first places we went was out to the mountains! They're so close, and so pretty, how could we not? On this particular trip, we went to Canmore and Banff. In Canmore, we went to the ammonite factory, did some looking and buying at some of the shops, and then went to a famous Canmore pizza restaurant. And guess what? My pizza had APPLE! (And mango and chicken), but there was APPLE! And it wasn't even something I made up, it was ON THE MENU! Hahahahaha!!!! Ahem...anyway...
On the way to the mountains! Not so much snow out here...
Mountain sheep
After Canmore, we went on to Banff and went to some of the scenic locations. It was quite windy, but not so cold, but since I'm not used to the cold anymore, it felt a little chilly for me, and I didn't really have proper winter footwear either, so after spending a short time to take pictures, we went on to the next place. We stopped at Bow Falls, the Banff Springs Hotel, and then Banff Hot Springs. The hot springs was the last stop, and I went in (it was actually my first time there!) and got nice and toasty for a couple hours.
The waterfall is frozen! (Bow Falls)
Part of the Banff Springs Hotel...
Miniature Banff Springs Hotel!
View from a terrace at the hotel
Banff Hot Springs (this was when we were leaving, but when it's light, you get a nice view of the mountains from the pool)
One other mandatory Canadian winter holiday activity that I did was decorating gingerbread! My mom made them and I decorated. I did a couple trays nicely (or crazily) depending on your opinion. But she kept giving me more trays and more shapes, and I got tired. I'm not used to doing this kind of thing any more, and also I'm pretty sure I didn't have to decorate all of the cookies either (usually someone else in the family would have helped...)
Christmas display at the mall
One afternoon, a friend of mine drove me out to Lake Louise. We got there just before sunset, and it was absolutely beautiful. There was a lot of snow, and it was slippery and fun! After we looked at the lake for a bit, we went into the hotel and got dinner with a view of the lake. They had also made a skating rink out there and we were also able to watch some people showing off and others just going in circles.
On the way to Lake Louise
There was a lot of snow out there...
It really was pretty!
Lake Louise Hotel
While I had been looking up things to do in Canmore, I happened to find a link to the Yamnuska Wolf dog sanctuary. It was a location where they brought in wolf dogs that had been abandoned or needed new homes. There were different types of wolf dogs but they categorized them as high or low content. (high or low being the amount of wolf that they had). We spent the most time listening to one of the staff talk about these 3 siblings who were high content wolf dogs. There were two boys and a girl. Apparently the girl showed more dog traits than the other two. Also interestingly enough, if a wolf dog is high content they are supposed to show very few to no dog traits. Which means they cannot have blue eyes. But inside the shop there were a couple of very pretty ones with blue eyes. I guess those ones were more dog than wolf. They talked a lot about the differences between wolves, wolf dogs and dogs, and it was really interesting! I could talk about it a lot more, but I don't want to bore you to much...
Since it's been a while since I last posted to my blog, I decided to make a short little post about a day out with my friends yesterday.
We had the day off and decided to meet up for lunch and then go up to the Herb Gardens. Kind of a relax and have fun day after a busy and stressful time at work (not that that's finished quite yet, mind you)
During lunch we were trying to decide if we would walk both ways up or take the cable car one way and walk one way. Of course, I voted for walking both ways, but was out-voted. That's alright though, since the weather had turned a bit cool by the time we finished lunch.
It was really fun going together with them, and a nice change from going by myself. At times it felt like being with a couple tourists since they were taking so many photos! But that was fun too. They kept taking pictures of us too. And they kept making fun of me, "Let's take a picture with our blond friend!" We actually ended up running into another one of our co-workers and one of our students as well. Small world.
1. Takes picture of tree, 2. Takes picture of friend taking picture, 3. Takes picture of friend taking picture of friend taking picture. Yes, we are slightly crazy.
After spending some time wandering around, and enjoying the hammocks that were set up, we headed back down the mountain, and eventually ended up going for dinner together. It was a good day. And since it's around American Thanksgiving: I have to say, I am really thankful for these friends who spend time with me, and are always willing to listen and give an opinion, and give support when it's needed.
