But first things first. Leaving Whitehorse for Edmonton meant another marathon bus journey of 30 hours, but with one final lightshow from the aurora, some roadside wildlife (my first glimpse of some bison and a fox), my trusty ipod and a good book that wasn't too much of an ordeal. It was very exciting to be heading south towards some real springtime, and finally make it to places with (almost) no snow. It was truly wondrous to see grass again after so long, it may have been mostly yellow and brown, but it wasn't snow so I was happy. I spent a few nights in Edmonton mainly because I felt I should see a bit more of the place - I'd always just been passing through before. Turns out I hadn't been missing all that much after all. It's got the world's biggest shopping mall, and um, yeah. Did I mention the mall? I got a haircut there, it was pretty much the highlight of my stay. And I will remember it fondly for the concert I saw last time I was there, but at least I've given it a fair go now.
Next it was down to Canmore again, where I caught up with my friend Helen before she left to continue travelling. The Rockies were looking great in the springtime, nice and clear in the valleys but with just enough snow left up on the mountains to keep them looking pretty. Ventured back out to Drumheller and the Badlands again with Helen and her boss, I find that area fascinating so it was great to visit there again. Revisited the Royal Tyrell Dinosaur Museum again, and the town of Wayne (woo!), wanted to check on the population but there's still only 30 people there. Bet you it's going to explode any day though. Yep, any day now.
I left just in time as Canmore was hit by more snow the day I left, but at least it meant the Rockies were nice and snowy for my trip westwards. I headed to Kamloops to catch up with another friend there, Tom, who I met last summer in Revelstoke and went hiking with in Yoho National Park. He's English but has moved to Canada to work for a few years, he's already got an enormous truck like a real Canadian so is clearly going a bit native.
I quite enjoyed Kamloops, there's not much in the way of specific attractions there, but it's in the drier, almost desert-like part of Canada so it was nice to have another change of scenery. Could get out and do some proper hiking too, actually working up a sweat for the first time in ages. I may even have worn shorts, although that may have been later, I can't remember now.
There were heaps of Marmots around town, which are like bigger, fatter squirrels which are always sitting up on their hind legs like little buddhas, or Rory Calhouns, so they're pretty cute. Except I heard they may actually have been responsible for the Black Plague in Europe - moreso than rats, so that makes them less appealing. They weren't spreading any plagues while I was there though so I won't hold it against them. Oh and I saw some woodpeckers. They were cool.
After almost a week in Kamloops (where the snow again caught up to me on my last day) it was back to Vancouver at last, where I first started out in Canada. It was actually kind of weird to be back, it didn't seem like it had been close to a year since I'd left, and I kept expecting to see my friends from my last stay there (especially seeing as I was spending a lot of time in my office in the hostel library). I had other friends to catch up with though, Matt, Jonathon and Ben, who funnily enough I'd all met on the opposite side of the country in Halifax. It was good to see them all again, and relive some of the Maritime spirit with visits to some east-coast themed bars and performances of Barrett's Privateers at an Open Mike Night (I only stuffed up one verse, but Jonathon covered for me). Went to a really good folk band concert Jonathon told me about too so I've picked up a few west coast Canadian folk songs to add to my repertoire.
Vancouver was looking great in the springtime, it was the first place to have actual green grass and flowers. I was getting a bit excited about the whole springtime thing by then, wouldn't shut up about how happy I was it was spring for weeks, and was so exhilirated to be seeing all those colours I was practically spinning around on hilltops Sound of Music style. But I managed to keep it to just taking lots of flower pictures instead. Like these.
I took the chance to explore a few corners of Vancouver I hadn't seen before, but I also got a bit of a cold while I was there so wasted a lot of time getting over that. Also had to plan where my travels would take me in May. As I'd mentioned I'd run out of west, and had some friends who were going to be in Chicago and Ottawa at the end of the month I figured out I might as well head over that way, and see some of the northern USA. Quite a bit to talk about there, so might save that for another post. Still sorting out the pictures too, now that it's warm enough that I can hang around outside pretty much all day (have I mentioned how happy I am that it's spring? I'm really quite pleased about that. It's so nice to have it only get cold enough to make you shiver, rather than make bits of you die and fall off). Anyway that means I've got a million bloody pictures of the same thing with different lighting conditions, different exposures and different compositions, then there's panoramas to be stitched together and touching up to be done in Photoshop. It's hard work this travelling business. No, really.
