Once I was feeling sufficiently relaxed it was time to hit the road again, my next stop being the fabled Prince George. Many people had told me about this place, most of them said it was a bit of a hole basically, so I was delighted to get the chance to see it for myself. Turns out it wasn't that bad. It's nothing spectacular, but with the fall colours underway pretty much the whole city is bathed in shades of yellow so it's quite pretty, and I think distracts from the fact that there's not much to look at otherwise. But at least I can say I've seen it now, although I was a bit annoyed I didn't get a chance to sample one of the cinnamon rolls there, I've heard they're pretty legendary.
From Prince George it was south to Kamloops, to quickly catch up with my friend Tom there. Could only stay one night but that was enough to catch up with him and meet his girlfriend, and debate where I should go the next day. After considering a few options I decided on Lake Louise, partly because the weather was supposed to be pretty good over there and I needed to get some work done. It kind of says something about how good my life is these days that I go to a place like Lake Louise to work. And hike of course, but there isn't much to do at night so that helps you be a bit more conscientious. The weather was magnificent as promised, and even though this was about the fifth or sixth time I've visited the place I'd never quite managed to get perfect weather there any other time, so it was great to see it like that. The snow was just starting in the Rockies so the mountains were looking great with a bit of a light dusting, but some of the trails were getting a bit icy and slippery if you went too high so I stayed pretty close to the lake. Did make it up to Lake Agnes which is in the hills beside Lake Louise, that was just starting to freeze up and looking really pretty, and also over to Moraine Lake, one of my favourite places in the Rockies.
Next it was a short ride over to Banff where I stayed with fellow Aussie Jess, who I'd met over on the east coast and went on my road trip across Newfoundland with. I got there just in time for Thanksgiving, and Jess cooked a delicious dinner of turkey with vegetables and gravy followed by chocolate tart. I contributed to festivities by fixing her computer so she could use the internet again. I ended up staying in Banff just over a week, wandering some of the familiar trails there and making it to a few new places like the Mt Norquay bald spot.
Even though I've come to know the place pretty well it still managed to surprise me, returning around dusk from a walk out by the Vermilion Lakes I was lucky to see a bull elk and his harem of females (it was rutting season). Watching him herd them along and bugling (they make a really weird squeaky sound for such an impressive animal) in the fading light was pretty special. I also heard from my Kiwi friend Victor who I'd met in Whitehorse that he was going to be passing through town, so it was good to get a bonus chance to see another friend before I left. He was on his way home so were both lamenting the fact we were on the last stretch of our trips and wondering how we'd get used to normal life again after everything we'd done.
That's a question for later though, next it was off to Nelson next to visit another friend, Sally, who I'd met a year ago in Halifax and had moved to Nelson to study Chinese medicine. Nelson's a very alternate lifestyle kind of place, and BC being famed for it's marijuana almost everyone there is stoned half the time. Or maybe not, but a lot of them look like it and if you see anyone smoking in the street it's more often a joint than a cigarette. It was highly appropriate then that the local theatre group was putting on a performance of the musical Reefer Madness, which Sally and I went to see. The show's a musical satire of a movie made back in the 1930's to warn of the evils of drugs. It was actually really funny, and the kind of production which was helped by the low-key feel of amateur theatre.
Nelson's actually quite a nice town, it has a bit more character than a lot of other small towns in the region (probably because everyone's so stoned) and quite a nice setting tucked in the hills beside Kootenay Lake. The fall colours were on show here as well which made the place look quite picturesque. I really envy the Canadians their fall but they have a lot to put up with in the winter so I guess they deserve some pretty colours beforehand. There's some quite nice architecture too with some interesting old buildings downtown and of course BOB, the Big Orange Bridge. Which is what they call their bridge, because it's well, big. And orange. And they were probably stoned when they named it.
As nice as Nelson is I'd seen Reefer Madness and what can happen if you start smoking pot - I didn't want to start selling babies or become a cannibal so figured it was time to get out of town after a few days. And I had a flight to catch in Calgary. So it was back on a Canadian Greyhound bus one last time (a trip which I'll always remember for the mouse which ran over my feet twice). Spent just one day in Calgary to do some last minute shopping and then it was time to go. It was kind of strange that even though I'd been saying my goodbyes to my friends over the past month I was still leaving my adopted home of the past year and a half with very little fanfare. It's not like I was expecting fireworks or anything, but... no I think I was expecting fireworks actually. However my flight was early in the morning so there was a quite spectacular sunrise which was almost as good as fireworks. Seeing the city bathed in golden light as we took off, with the Rocky Mountains off in the distance was certainly quite memorable and a fitting end to my time in Canada.
I've grown quite attached to the place in my time there and will miss it terribly, but I know I'll be back many times in my life, there's still a lot of places for me left to see (I'm looking at you, Nunavut). And my travels weren't quite over yet - I will admit I was happy to escape the winter, which had been following close behind me the past month and looking forward to the final leg of my North American travels, Las Vegas and the Southwest US deserts.
