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Family Catch Up

juin – juillet 2025
  • Simon Hillman
  • Annette Eyre
LA to Banff to Toronto En savoir plus
  • Simon Hillman
  • Annette Eyre

Liste des pays

  • Canada Canada
  • États Unis États Unis
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Vélo, Couple, Famille, Nature, Visites touristiques, Sports
  • 10,8kkilomètres parcourus
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  • 47empreintes
  • 45jours
  • 398photos
  • 68j’aime
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  • Family Catch Up

    Up up and away

    8 juin, États Unis ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    Early morning family walk for a coffee, then rhys dropped us off at the airport, approx 25min from his place. We left from LAX domestic terminal, but it also does international flights like Canada, Mexico the Philippines. Huge line up took 45min to get through xray, glad we allowed plenty of time. All travellers had to take off shoes, belts, coats, annies bag got x-rayed twice.

    Annie lashed out and had bought premium economy seats numbers 1A and 1B, it's a 3hr flight. Our very first trip in PE... Very nice roomy comfy seats hot face flannel champers and GTs. Meal was very tasty with a big glass of wine to wash it down. Would be very easy to get used to this but I would need to get a full time job..

    Clear skies after take off, flying over a vast market gardening area as far as the eye could see, then snow capped mountains. Getting worried about my shorts and teen shirts might not cut it, where we are heading.
    Stunning views out of the plane, snow capped mountains, Crystal clear sky. Calgary airport was very very nice large new heaps of passport screens and cameras. So nice getting off the plane first and even nicer...my bag and annies were the very first to come onto the pick up escalator.

    Annies daughter met us in the terminal with a lovely huge welcome card she had made. Very sweet of her. Was then a 2hr drive to Banff and our hotel room for 2 nights. The scenery along the way was breath taking. It was 26c and lovely. Room was large with a fire place and logs and paper all ready to go. The view from rear veranda took our breath away think its Mt Rundle 3200ft tall    En savoir plus

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  • Family Catch Up
    1

    Day 10

    9 juin, Canada ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    Been so busy getting out and about i think i am falling behind with my posts, sorry folks i know how much I used to fret when Brett and Jenny got behind.

    Annie's daughter picked us up from Calgary Airport and drove us to Banff approx 180klm away, where we have a 2 night stay in Banff. Her daughter and partner work in a resort there with a min room cost $1,000 a night. Her daughter couldn't get us a staff room discount as it was booked out, so we stayed in a hotel close to the centre of Banff with a fabulous view from its back veranda of a huge snow covered mountain.

    The scenery around Banff is stunning everywhere u look and the town is packed with tourists and i have never seen so many big RVs before. There is no household rubbish collection here, no one has ANY bins. In its place are strategically placed very large metal bins. So everyone has to take all their rubbish to these, must be a real pain. The town has had to do this due to the wild bear problem. There was a free bus service to take us down into town which was about 2 klm away. The weather has been great 25c clear skies so far no need for all those warm clothes we brought. The days here are very long as it doesn't get dark till 10pm    En savoir plus

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  • Family Catch Up

    Day 11

    9 juin, Canada ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    Mariah took us on a Nice morning drive 120klm to Takakkaw Falls in the Yoyo National Park which are fed from the Daly Glacier, well worth the drive. Next stop arranged by Mariah was the Kicking House wild bear refuge approx 20 acres of high fenced wilderness on the side of a mountain. We had to take a ski lift to get 3/4 of the way up the mountain to the refuge.

    Mariah also booked us to participate in filling Bo special feeding toys. They only have Bo at the moment he was orphaned at 5 mths after some low life killed his mum. Later got fined $9000 for his troubles. Bo is 20yrs old. Unfortunately Bo was too busy snoozing and didn't come out of the bush. The 2 staff there gave us a great talk about bears and answered any questions. Then they showed the ladies how to fill his big feeding toys with carrots grapes sweet potato jam and peanut butter.

    Next stop was Emerald Lake, a freshwater lake in Yoho National Park, is known for its striking emerald green color. The lake's colour comes from glacial flour, a fine rock substance created by melting glaciers that disperses sunlight in the water. The effect is most visible in the summer when the light reflects off the suspended rock flour and glacial silt.

    There was a lovely lake side lodge there and we just got our dinner order in before the 6.40pm cut off. On the way home about 800m from Banff we spotted a brown bear eating grass only 30m away from Annies half marathon course, what a treat and made up for not getting to see Bo    En savoir plus

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  • Family Catch Up

    Day 12 off to Canmore

    10 juin, Canada ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    Have to change locations today, move from Banff to Canmore and share an Air bnb with Mariah's partners parents from the UK. Canmore is approx 25klms from Banff. But before we move, we go and visit the Banff museum which has an excellent exhibition of Indian Art & Heritage, really enjoyed it.

    Next stop was to hire 2 pedal power mountain bikes to recon the half marathon course Annie will do on Sunday. $35 per bike for 3hrs and we did 22klm. Very pretty course but it did have some hilly sections.. puff puff. Then we headed off to our Canmore Air BnN.

    Very nice apartment 2 bedrooms 2 bathrooms very new and tiny. Has a heated outdoor pool and a hot tub pool. The apartment is in a complex of 50 or more others. Early to bed

    Forgot to say we decided to hire a car for the rest of the week a Toyota Camry.    En savoir plus

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  • Family Catch Up
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    Day 13 out and about

    11 juin, Canada ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    Bears and bins, naughty creatures.
    Drive then bus trip today to Lake Moraine and Lake Louise. Two very very popular tourist locations, but well worth putting up with the crowd.

    We went on a backwoods dirt drive to see this area. Unfortunately we werent awhere the Govt have shut down access on heaps of roads for the forth coming G7 Leaders Summit at Kananaski. In the absolute backwoods dirt road we came across a 4 policemen road block who turned us around. Seems Trump is going to attend so security has been ramped up. We across a aheep family on the drive, however Canadians insist these GOATS are really sheep

    Words can't describe how beautiful both lakes are, spell bound . So many stunning places in Canada, going to have to come back    En savoir plus

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  • Family Catch Up

    Day 14 off to Radium Thermal Springs

    12 juin, Canada ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    Time to give the Toyota a bit of a blast so we drove to Radium to try their thermal spring which was approx 140klm away. It was first discovered in 1887 then gradually developed into a modern bathing facility. The main pool temp is 40C all year around and they also have a 25m laned pool which a bit cooler at 32C. Must be brilliant to use in the winter sitting there with snow all around th⁹e area.

    Got a big wild life treat on the way there with a big black bear digging up some plants to eat. He or she was just off the side of the road about 20m away and we were able to stop and Annie filmed as he wandered off into the pine forest.

    We had a good 70min in the main pool and there were only 10 others with us. They had an ice cold plunge pool which Annie braved up to her neck, pussy me could only manage to my arse, far too cold for me. The lady life guard there said some guy set a new record of 10 min up to his neck last week.

    On the way back we had another wildlife treat with a brown bear this time just off the road lying down so we pulled over and watched him/her eating the abundant dandelions. Next stop was Marble Canyon and a short 2k return walk which has 6 bridges that criss cross the river and it's ever deeping chasm cut into the rock over 11,000 yrs    En savoir plus

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  • Family Catch Up

    Day 15

    13 juin, Canada ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    At the entrance road to each of the Nat Parks they have what look like cattle grids to keep that areas wildlife off the main roads. However their grids have been high power electrified and there are signs warning people not to walk across. The parking areas quickly fill up with these often huge RVs which seem to be so popular in Canada and the US.

    Today's walk was to Johnstons Canyon, yet another gorgeous run of a wild river. Big stretches of the walk is on a steel walkway that somehow has been fixed to rock and u are perched directly over the raging river not far below    En savoir plus

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  • Family Catch Up

    Day 16

    14 juin, Canada ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

    A few pics of our lodgings in Canmore about 21 klm from Banff and a lot cheaper there. Met Mariah in Banff and had a nice walk around town then along the river to a place called Waldhaus a bavarian style restaurant part of the Fairmont Banff Springs complex. Its perched on the hillside overlooking Banff Springs and the golf course with a great outside deck, perfect for our lunch.

    Then, being an employee of the Fairmount Group we got an extensive tour of this magnificent very old hotel like something out of Harry Potter. It was first built in 1886 then added to over the years beautiful stone work 800 rooms if u are wealthy enough. There was a big wedding ceremony going on whilst we were there with cello and violin accompaniment ahead of lunch in the main hall area with stunning table settings with flowers    En savoir plus

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  • Family Catch Up

    Day 17 6 mths in the making

    15 juin, Canada ⋅ ☁️ 8 °C

    And a big surprise to end the day....
    Annie has spent 6 mths training to compete with her daughter in the Banff Half Marathon, unfortunately Mariah did her ACL snowboarding so she could only watch her mum. There were 3300 entries with people from 25 countries entered. Chilly start at 6 C with the start delayed 38 min so that 2 huge freight trains could clear a crossing on the course. Not an ideal start standing in the cold, but the day warmed up later on the 20s

    We had completed a reconnaissance on bikes of the 21 klm course and it had a number of hills which in the thin air here at 1400m above see level would make it challenging for non locals. Annie found it hard going but completed the course in 2hrs 54min and was so proud of having completed it. The winning lady was 36 yrs old and she set a new record of 1hr 17 min and her time was only 2min more than the male winner a 20yr old.

    Annie said the competitors and officals were super friendly and very encouraging along the way. The winning lady on her return leg was giving all the runners going the other way words of encouragement

    We headed back to our our apartment for a glass of champagne and a jump in the exterior hot tub. We all then headed out for an evening picnic near a lake. Some friends of Mariah and Chris also turned up. Chris had pre warmed us about what was going to happen and told us there was going to be group shot. Then the photographer was going to say 1, 2, 3 at which time we were all going to move apart leaving Chris on his knee holding a ring and asking Mariah for her hand.

    A lovely scene and she duly said yes......    En savoir plus

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  • Family Catch Up
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    Day 18

    16 juin, Canada ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    Off to Lake Peyto first and in the distance u can see the massive Athabasca Glacier, which is part of the Columbia Icefield. It was quite a steep walk up to the lake but the view was well worth it.

    Next we drove to the foot of the glacier and we have never ever seen one. The valley of the glacier was like a moon scape and another hilly walk to get as close as we could to see it. Along the way there were year markers where the glacier once was, the most recent being 2006. Amazing how quickly this massive block of ice was retreating, climate deniers should come and see its a real thing not bull shit.

    There is a decent sized river of melted ice pouring out from under the glacier which prevented us getting up to the edge of the glacier. We stuck our hands into it and boy it was it bloody cold, should have brought a 6 pack up here. There were some patches of snow and Annie got to make her first ever snow ball.

    We have seen many stunning locations on this trip but the Glacier left us speechless. The rocks underneath it have been left with deep gouges ground out of them over many years as the glacier grew then receded

    On the way home we were lucky enough to see another big black bear close to the road. Mariah's partner has big V Twin Kawasaki and he followed us today. Last pic shows u how crystal clear the Fairmont Jasper lake is, its fed by an underground spring    En savoir plus

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