May Long Weekend BC style

On the May long weekend we headed to Fairmont British Columbia for some camping in the cramper and maybe soak in a few natural hotsprings. We headed out early afternoon on Friday and 4 hours later we pulled in to 1 of 2 campsites left at Alces Lake.



After a short nights sleep not thanks to rowdy neighbours we went to Lussier Hot spring which was minutes from our campsite. We hit that hotspring early in the morning to avoid the crowds that would rush here due to the long weekend. It was fairly quite except for a few other people. This was Mathieu's first natural hotspring experience and he was fairly satisfied. Afterwards we drove to Top of the world provincial park (red line on the picture). Our first objective was Ram Creek hotspring but we found out that the road was blocked. If you look at the map above you can apparently short cut from the red line to Ram creek hotspring via a logging road but that road is now not passable.

Once at top of the world park, which was a very bumpy 50km, we headed of for a hike. We quickly encountered snow and decided to take a brake on the nearby creek bank. We had lunch and played with Sky by tossing rocks in the creek, that game never gets old.

The next day, we drove the long way around and went to Ram Creek hotspring. We first hit Premier lake Park, which was quite the contrast from our Alces lake campground. This park was definatly premier camping, there was even pavement. We did a nice hike around the park which included three lakes, Yankee, Canuck and Turtle lake (green line). Caught 2 rainbow trouts, saw 12 or more turtles and took a swim with the dog. After all this fun we drove up to Ram Creek hotspring (pinkish line) which was a long and stressfull drive with the camper up a very long and steep logging road. The camper survived and we made it to the hotspring. That night we didn't bother going to a campground, we just pulled on camper off in a nice little meadow and called it home for the night.

The final day, we started back home with a quick stop to Fairmont hotspring. Fairmont hotspring is a resort hotspring with a pool that gets filled by the hotspring. In order to keep the pool hot, they have to keep pumping the hotspring water in and the excess water need to go somewhere. That somewhere is just on the side of the pool, out of the tourist view but a short walk gets you to this amazing little waterfall with a deep natural pool were you can bathe in hotspring water in a little more quiet setting. That was the highlight of the trip. After a nice dip, we hit the trail to go home and was greeted by a prairie snowstorm. Gotta love Alberta.

Oh, Stacey took some really cool pictures.

Later

Mathieu and Stacey

Holiday fun

We both spent some time with our families during the holiday. Here are some photos http://picasaweb.google.ca/Bourgeois.Mathieu/HolidayFiesta?feat=directlink



And this weekend we went ice climbing in Banff.

http://picasaweb.google.ca/Bourgeois.Mathieu/SkySFirstDayIceClimbing?feat=directlink




Hope everyone had fun holidays and a happy new year.



Mathieu and Stacey

CBC and Tim Horton Tour - Photos

OK, we have slacked (running around with our heads cut off is a more apt descriptions of our last month) but finally I posted a bunch of photos from our trip. See the link below for photos from Nova Scotia to Calgary.

http://picasaweb.google.com/Bourgeois.Mathieu/CrossCanadaTour

Tour Du Canada- Part 2- PEI to Calgary

Some artistic buoys in PEI where all the towns are small and the people are friendly. On this day we hit 5 beaches... all on different parts of the island. Yes, it is that small! Oh, and the beaches rival Hawaii's with white squeaky sand a foot deep.

These are the Cavendish Dunes on the North side of the island.

This picture I thought was nice, it's a bit out of order, as it is in Ottawa from parliament hill.


Mathieu's award-winning French Frog. He got up close and personal on this one.

Now it's Stacey's turn to counter with some flower pictures...



Enjoying the beaches of PEI!

Cross Canada trip 2008 - Part 1 - Calgary to PEI

Last week we got back home after spending 6 weeks and 12338km travelling in our new camper. Along the way we visited many places, saw lots of friends and spent time with family. Sky met more people than us, no matter where we went people would just be smilling at the sight of her, people in Quebec city kept approaching Stacey and commenting about Sky, only problem is that Stacey doesn't speak french but she could get the point they were trying to put across. One thing that irked me was how people talk to your dog and fail to make any effort in having a conversation with the person a the end of the leash. Many times I would have a stranger say more words to the dog than to me.

The trip covered: Saskatchewan > Manitoba > Ontario > Quebec > New Brunswick > PEI > Nova Scotia > New Brunswick > Maine > New Hampshire > Vermont > New York State > Ontario > Michigan > Wisconsin > Minnissota > North Dakota > Montana > Alberta > Saskatchewan > Alberta.

The trip started in Calgary on May 2ND, we first visited Stacey's family in Saskatoon. The last preparations where made with the help from her dad John who is a veteran RV/traveller. A few days later we took off and visited Stacey's cousins in Manitoba, first at the Rehaluk's farm in Ethelbert where Sky got to run with the farm dogs and get into all sorts of mischief. The next day we continued on to Winnipeg where we visited Stacey's grandmother (Baba) and her cousins, aunt and uncle, the Seminiuk's.

Now we must extol the electrical prowess of Mark Seminiuk, Stacey's cousin, who helped us determine that our camper issue was due to a lazy wiring from the camper dealer. He then installed direct feed from the truck battery to the camper battery which allowed us to keep our fridge running while we were driving. The initial wiring only allowed us to run the fridge for about 1 hour and then that would kill the camper battery. Thanks Mark, thanks for keeping my beer cold and Stacey's ice cube solid.

We stopped for a quick lunch a Baba Karalash's place then made our way to Ontario. Once in Ontario we followed the Trans-Canada and had 6 nights of lake front property in various provincial parks; Rushing River in Kenora, Sleeping Giant in Thunder Bay, Lake Superior Provincial park (X2) and Kiosk campground in Algonquin (X2). We made a quick stop in the nations capital then on to Quebec where we stopped for Poutines and cheese. We visited Mathieu's cousin in Montreal, Renee and her husband Justin, Sky made one more friend here, Sammy who though her that barking is a great way to spend time. After a quick visit of Montreal we made our way to Quebec City where Sky spent the day touring the historical sites.

After La Belle Province we snuck a day of climbing in Mathieu's old stomping ground Welsford (NB)then made our way to Moncton to visit Mathieu's family and friends. We took Sky for her first taste of the ocean. After this trip we can confidently say that Sky is a water loving dog. We first saw her go for a full lift swim (all four legs paddling) in Parlee Beach.

After the visit to Mathieu's family we continued on to PEI and visited 4 beach in one day. PEI is so small that we had our morning coffee at one beach, then went for a morning walk on the great dunes, trucked to Cavendish for lunch, then mosey on down to Singing sand (squeaking sand would best describe it) beach on the East side of the island for an afternoon swim. That day we also stopped for fresh seafood and had some amazing scallops in an empty campground overlooking the Gulf of StLawrence. This was May 22ND and we had reached our furthest Eastern point. Actually Sky went a bit further east than us, she decided to chase a seagull for a good 1/2 mile down the beach. Fun was had by all. Lets just say that she didn't spend much time off leash on the second half of the trip.



All systems Go!! Leaving from Calgary.


Stacey's cousin Arlene at their awesome farm in Manitoba


Fun on the farm




Sky running with the tough crowd at the farm




Baba Karalash in WInnepeg




Seminiuk clan at Mark and Bonnie's in Winnipeg


Mark working his magic on Sky


Ontario, who would of thought its such a nice province.


Campsite at Rushing River, ON


Sky testing the water.



A day of rest and Laundry at Lake Superior Prov Park, ON



Sky in her workout outfit. The handles on the back comes in handy.


400 +year old pictographs on the edge of Lake superior, ON


That's right, Karalash Road, somewhere in Ontario (north of Sault St Marie)


Sky enjoying good eats in the Cramper (read: she eats, we sit and wait)


Sky in her favorite activities, eating and sleeping





She also likes posing and chasing waves.


Lots of lake front campgroud = lots of beautiful sunsets.





Paddling in Algonquin, ON. NO we didn't tip!


Ottawa



French Frog (no jokes allowed), QU



Justin, Sammy, Renee and Jacob (Arrived a month after we left) at their place in Montreal



Sky and Sammy


Quebec City



Old Quebec City




Sky pooped after crusing the streets of QC.


A day in Welsford, NB (notice the sturdy bridge in the back)


Sky in Parlee beach, NB. She swan across this small channel a few times to show us that she can.


Bourque family at Mathieu's parents place in Moncton, NB


On the PEI bridge


On the great dunes in Cavendish Beach, PEI


Fact: Dragging a stick across the sand keeps dogs entertained for hours


Fresh PEI Scallops


The water at the top of the photo is the ocean


A better look at our campsite.


Get your rest cause we are only half way.

Montana - Big Sky Country

Easter Weekend, we made our way down to Montana to pick up a truck camper that we purchased for our upcoming summer trip. The dealer was in Missoula Montana which is on the West side of the Continental Divide about 8 hours from home. We packed up on Friday Morning, tossed the dog in the back seat and packed a few items for the drive to Missoula. One uneventfully border crossing, a few sketchy Montana towns and a snow squall where all encountered on our way to Missoula.



Who's watching the road?



Mat, trying to control a drippy squirmy dog!


Sky travelled exceptionnally well and slept most of the way.





Big SKY country.


We hiked up a hill overlooking the city of Missoula, Montana. The hill is commonly used to launch paragliders and handgliders. We were pleasantly surprised at how nice, outdoorsy, dog-friendly, and friendly the people and place was!






This is Blossom's B&B in Missoula. It is a house built in the early 1900's, that burnt in 1990. The owners rebuilt the place to it's original plans, using photos and a historical refinisher. We really enjoyed our time here. And they allow dogs, too!





This is the fancy (not!) car that the RV place lent us for the day while out camper was being installed in Missoula. The good part was that we went to REI, Bath and Body Works (good for us), and a doggy store and the dog park (good for Sky). The weather was fantastic and the grass was turning green and the crocuses were starting to bloom!





Ta-Dah!!! The new camper, on the new Tundra. It's a pop-up camper, where the top raises about 2 feet with a hand crank. It's quite fancy inside, with hot water heater, outdoor shower, stove, furnace, fridge. Quite a nice change from the wet, frosty tent that has been our home for many years. We spent our first night in it on the way home from Missoula at a KOA.





Sky enjoying the big backseat of the new truck. What a spoiled dog!