Revelling!

We have arrived in Revelstoke, British Columbia, although we almost didn't make it because we were so awestruck by the beautiful things we saw along the Icefields Parkway in Banff and Glacier National Park this afternoon that we probably could have stayed there forever staring.
http://s276.photobucket.com/albums/kk14/JackCanada/day%2012/

Trees include Lodgepole Pines (slender variety!), Black Spruce
Beers include Mount Begbie (a Revelstoke brew) Pale Ale, Kolsch and Cream Ale, Alexander Keith's Red Amber (again from Nova Scotia), and Sleeman's Honey Brown (from Guelph, Ontario). Note to parents: Amanda and I did not have five beers each. The bartender was kind enough to pour us a bit of each to taste before ordering.

Tonight we're in a Same Sun hostel. I dig the name, because we're all under the same sun. Of course, that sun sets really late up here... the past few nights it's been light till nearly 10. We got another hour today when we got to British Columbia, so we weren't as far went in the time zone, but still. We're more than 5000 kilometers from home and we're having a great time!

Banff tomorrow! Banff tomorrow! Banff tomorrow! Banff tomorrow! Banff tomorrow! Banff tomorrow! Banff tomorrow! Banff tomorrow! Banff tomorrow! Banff

Tomorrow we go to Banff!

Today's drive brought all sorts of surprises, which was good because it was another long one (between 7 and 8 hours somewhere). Amanda and I are still doing just fine with driving, switching off as needed. We expected Alberta to follow Manitoba and Saskatchewan and basically continue the flatness till we got to the Rockies. We were still awestruck by the beauty of it, possibly due to the vastness and vividness of the colors-- the greens and beiges of the fields, the bright blue sky (alternating with the deep blue-grey apocalypse style clouds and some sweet lightning off in the distance). Our ears are telling us that we're definitely not at sea level anymore, pop pop pop pop pop. At one point, we went up a hill and around a curve and were suddenly in this gorgeous hilly area.

Other highlights of the drive included finding another Sibbald-- this time an itty bitty town just over the border into Alberta, and stopping for lunch in Fiske, Alberta, another itty bitty town that had a random gazebo in an empty lot. We saw an older man going for a stroll, and we're pretty sure he told the other twelve citizens of the town that some strange girls were having a picnic, because for being only a pair of blocks big, a lot of cars sure went past. Everyone waved though. Everyone's so nice here.

And then we got to Calgary, which probably wasn't going to win favorite city of the trip, but an emo twelve year old skater boy wearing skinny girl jeans flipped me off in an already psychotically stressful parking lot, so I have decided that Calgary is of no use to me other than being the layover on the way to BANFF!

Oops, we were too busy being old ladies to post last night

Today (yesterday) we discovered the awesomeness of Jamie's eyesight. She was the first one to spot a 30 foot moose, annnd the first one to spot the prairie. We went to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan and found that it should be easy to find a 30 foot moose, but it wasn't. As a side note, 75 year old motorcycle men from BC cannot take legit pictures of people AND a 30 foot moose. See pictures for details.

We discovered that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have not actually been on horseback for 50 years. Also, it is the USA's fault that the Mountees were created and everyone hates American whiskey traders. Colleen would like to add that it was not her people's fault, but only Katie's. Colleen and Amanda became Mountees in the child-sized costumes, although it may have cut off their breathing. Katie and Jamie combined make one Mountee. We watched a troop of RCMP doing drill practice which was sweet, and then we watched 1st graders do it which was creepy.

Then we drove to Saskatoon, and it was really flat with some random hills thrown in for kicks. We found that Saskatoon's downtown is only a block, despite the fact that it's Saskatchewan's largest city. Across from the hotel was a sandwich place called Badass Jack's, so of course we had to eat dinner there. When we enter the hotel, we found an alternate universe/igloo/hobbit hole on the second floor. Sadly, the rest of the hallway to the room did not match that. We went on a mini pub crawl through Saskatoon for Amanda's birthday and sampled some more Canadian beers. Great Western is brewed in Saskatoon, Rickard's White from P.E.I., and Grasshopper from Calgary (our next stop). Jamie and Amanda experienced the coldest temperatures ever when we went into the liquor store to find the Grasshopper, but they survived without frostbite.

After we finished the beer and uploaded some photos, we passed out because we are all secretly 80 years old.

Now we're on our way to Calgary, stopping at Beaver Conservation Area before we leave Saskatoon. This was a group effort, p.s., which is why it's so random. Amanda thanks everyone for the birthday wishes, and thanks to Mom Earp for the tinnybopper card!