Canadatravelstory2

Sanne Goezz...

Canada

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3rd of june 2002 - 5th of july 2002

Vancouver

We went back to Vancouver, because it was time to explore 'the big city'. We stayed in a room at the University of British Columbia (UBC) for two nights. D'Arcy opened his magic book with phonenumbers again and yes, also in Vancouver there was someone he was hoping for to meet. It was Ian, a friend that tries to get famous in filmbusiness..and then Vancouver is the place to be, so I learned. He showed us around the city. Unfortunately we had to bring back the car to D'Arcy's parents soon, so we only had one full day in Vancouver (gives me reason to go back some day!). In that full day we did loads of stuff. Walked around the city a lot, including a viewingpoint (lovely view over Vancouver) and went to Stanley Park (great one!). We also chilled around a bit, since Ian and D'Arcy hadnt seen each other for a while and had lots to talk about.

Going up north British Columbia

After Vancouver we drove to Eagle Run Village, near Squamish, a bit up north from Vancouver, to visit D'Arcy's uncle. After visiting two cities in a row, this was a lovely change. We chilled out by going to a lake. Well the negative side was all those kids with the same plan as us. Waaaa. But a bit relaxing anyway, especially after realising again i felt very happy to be here.
We got very nice food at his uncle's place and also i found it so great to just sit around and read in my book and listen to my music, surrounded by astonishing scenery.

Then our big roadtrip from Squamish to Dawson Creek started. We drove this route in just one day, around 13 hours drive. And because we had to drive so far we set aside our policy that i shouldnt drive because of uncertainty about insurance and it was my first time driving in an automatic! D'Arcy even fell asleep on the passengerseat, what i see as a great compliment. That you should be careful at all times became very clear when some deers decided to cross the road just in front of us. That was a close call. The road from Squamish to Dawson Creek was, again, amazing. So much variation: from mountains, to arid area (i didnt expect to see some sort of southern Spanish climate in Canada!), to green grassland, to hills, to farmland. It was really beautiful. And the more we came north, the emptier the roads, the wilder Canada looked (even wilder). I loved the little waterfalls on the way, so much nature. Some exciting story was that we went out of patrol when we still had 100 km ahead before getting to the next patrolstation, well the red light was blinking the whole time. It was such a relieve to see that patrolstation in the end. I couldnt see myself pushing the car (or steering it ofcourse, while D'Arcy would be pushing it).
After such a long drive we finally got to our destination: exciting Dawson Creek, D'Arcy's hometown.

Dawson Creek

Dawson Creek..such an exciting place. Not really, but it was really great to finally see the place D'Arcy was coming from. I met his sisters and parents and most of his friends. We went out to the local pub (ofcourse i forgot to bring my ID and the only one that got checked was me) that same evening (after that long drive!). The next day i got a tour around Dawson Creek by William (a friend of D'Arcy) in his pick-up truck. That was so cool (masters of the road). I had to go to Mile-0 point, the point where the Alaska Highway starts. It had been an ongoing joke between D'Arcy and me to run across the highway and let our picture been taken. Two mad tourists. It was great fun.
Besides that i have been shown the open-air museum, which was created by the grandfather of William (so he told me) and spend lots of time with D'Arcy's friends, most of the time playing X-Box...right. The best thing i have done in Dawson was the ride in the Cadillac of one of his friends! Like in a movie: sitting in an old Cadillac, cruising around town (yeah Dawson). And besides that i loved spending some time with D'Arcy's former neighbour: Claudia, a german woman that moved to Canada many years ago and who lives her live in a pretty foresthouse. D'Arcy just moved from that forest to town, but i could see he felt best here in the forest. He showed me around in the forest (which was Claudia's 'garden') and i felt such a city-girl. After the walk we had some spontaneous BBQ at Claudia's. I love this way of life so much. So relaxing.
Unfortunately it was time to leave Dawson Creek again and we were sorry to leave the car behind..

Down across the Rockies

Yes we had to take the coach now, unfortunately. Our destination was Calgary, we only had to decide what way we wanted to get there: via Edmonton or via the Rockies. That wasnt a difficult decision to me. So we went onto the coach, down to Prince George. In Prince George it looked like we couldnt get a coach to Jasper. We were surprised about that, cause we were sure we had heard there was a coach to Jasper. We both didnt have a great day and decided to stay the night in Prince George. Again D'Arcy got his magic book and tada: he had some friends in Prince George as well and he arranged we could stay with them for the night. They were very lovely people that bought us some KFC as well (though not very hungry cause i felt ill).
The next day we went onto the coach again, for an amazing trip across the Rockies! This was one of the two most beautiful roads during my trip. So fantastic: especially the part from Jasper to Banff. No words for it. (In a next trip to Canada i am definitely going back to the Rockies..its a shame i didnt have more time for that). We had some time in Banff before getting our last coach to Calgary.

Calgary and Dinosaurs

That evening we arrived in Calgary and went to stay for two days at James's place, a friend of D'Arcy. The full day we had we went to Drumheller, dinosaur paradise. We took a coach to Drumheller and expected the museum to be near town, which it wasnt. We decided to walk to the museum, an 8km walk.The surroundings were surreal: very dry and the rockformations were just great. You could almost see the dinosaurs walking around you.
The museum was ok, but the thought of the walk back wasnt as nice. We tried to hitch a lift, but no-one really seemed to be interested in giving one, unfortunately. And it was a warm and long long walk. After having some weird greek hamburger (yes i remember clearly) we had to wait some hours to get the coach and it made us both grumpy, cause we wanted to spend our last evening with James, instead of waiting for the coach. In the evening we spend some time with James, watching some movies..

Calgary to Toronto: the long long long busride across

I decided i wanted to experience how big Canada really is and so we got onto the coach for a 2,5 day coachtrip from Calgary toToronto.
I love experiencing distance, being on the road and just to be. For me traveling is not to get somewhere, but to be on the road. (Saying me, who suffers quit severe travelsickness). The trip from Calgary is very monotone and i loved it. Just sitting, staring out of the window to the road and surroundings and listening music. We crossed the empty plains of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. After 2 days we arrived in Thunder Bay. We decided to spend the night there, to get some rest. It was a good decision. Not because Thunder Bay is worth stopping for, but we got our rest and it made the rest of the long trip more of a pleasure. We had entered Ontario, where millions of trees and lakes welcomed us. Ontario is very beautful as well. After a long long ride we finally arrived in Toronto!

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