I have discovered a new hobby. Coin collecting. Well, more specifically, quarters. I know, I know.. I sound a little nerdish, but I am finding real pleasure in it!! So, shush! I’ve just spent so long googling variants of  the Canadian quarter (I had no clue that hours were passing!) that I feel it deserves a little entry on my blog!

I began noticing different types of quarters when I was working in Vancouver and started to collect them in a jar on our dresser. It was an absent minded type of collecting. When we needed milk money or the like, it would get raided! It got serious, however, when I was last in Calgary

With the Vancouver Winter  Olympics fast approaching in February 2010, the latest collection has been circulated and Petro Canada has joined forces with the Canadian mint to provide a free album with purchase of a mint commemorative coin (C$14.95 +taxes). But I didn’t want to buy a mint coin, I just wanted the crappy cardboard album. It took a bit of talking around to make the petrol attendant realise that the albums were not on his inventory, “so why not just give her one, eh?” Thanks Matt, proving once again, you get a lot if you just ask!

So my crappy Winter Olympic cardboard album is nearly full, but what to do with the other 15 or so “weird” quarters from years gone by that I have found in my change?

I thought it was quite handy to have found myself in Ottawa where the Royal Canadian Mint is located (even though current money is made in Winnipeg) and also a Currency Museum. Off I went in search of a coin album to house my growing collection. How strange to find both places, though selling souvenirs, didn’t have any albums for a coin collection!

I wouldn’t be defeated! I found that a coin dealer was not too far from where I was staying, jumped on the bus and found for $3.95 a small album just for Canadian quarters! After all my hunting it felt like I had struck gold!

I am finding a couple of new ones each day thanks to working in retail again. And I’m always checking my change for a new design. Oh the simple things!

I am settling in Ottawa, the nations capital for a little while. I have a job in an art supplies store to keep my creative self awake and on my last day of unemployment, Eben, Craig and I spent a few hours getting lost in the woodlands and wetlands of Stony Swamp. A real swamp!

As we walked past the reeds, I asked the boys if they could hear it too? They stopped to listen then turned to me with looks of confusion. The soft strumming of a small banjo, I said and started to sing along. “Why are there so many songs about rainbows and what’s on the other side?” The scene was perfect.

Not long after that, Craig had a Snow White moment when he held out his finger and a small, tubby little bird perched on it before flitting back to his friends in the trees. Eben and I were stunned. I wonder if that little bird’s friends dared him to do that!

Boardwalks meandered through the real swampy part, and allowed us to stop and watch the geese and ducks swim lazily through the water. Then we saw him, swimming quite a bit faster and mostly submerged. A new animal to tick off the list made his way toward us. We thought at first we had finally found what we had headed into this swamp to see. Our first Beaver sighting! All the tell tale signs were there. Gnawed away felled trees and bigs dams in the water. But it wasn’t until I consulted a book on Wildlife in Ontario, that I discovered we had actually seen a muskrat! Oh well, still a new critter.

A trip back to Stoney Swamp is already on the cards, to spend more time on the waters edge, watching and waiting for the biggest rodent in North America. I might even try my hand at a watercolour painting.

Whatever you do, be sure to reserve more time in Niagara Falls than you expect to. I’m going to have to go back! I went on a day tour that left our hostel early on a Wednesday morning, and I don’t regret that experience as it was a very economical trip and we went to places that I otherwise would have never seen. But still, I’m going to have to go back.

Picked up from our hostel in Toronto, we embarked on our day trip. Our bus headed down beside Lake Eerie and in the direction of Buffalo and I popped Bruce Springsteen and the Sessions Band on my Ipod to set the mood. “Low Bridge, everybody down. Low bridge we’re coming to town. You’ll always know your neighbour and you’ll always know your pal if you’ve ever navigated on the Eerie canal.”

The first stop on the way to Niagara Falls was the wine region of the Niagara Peninsula, between Lake Ontario and Lake Eerie.  These are two of the five Lakes that make up the North American Great Lakes. Lake Ontario is the smallest of the five at 300 kilometres long and half that size wide. When you are standing at the waters edge looking out, it feels a lot more like you are looking at an ocean, a very calm ocean. The five lakes combined holds a quarter of the worlds fresh water. Pretty impressive!

Birchwood Estate Wines was a lovely first stop where we learnt that 8o% of Canadian wines came from the Niagara Peninsula. The soil here is rich and perfect for growing grapes. And the wine was wonderful! We had a tasting of both a red and a white as well as my first taste of ice wine. I’ve since had some ice wine mixed with champagne and it’s simply delicious!

There are not many countries in the world that can produce ice wine. It is a very high risk endeavour but with it there is a high reward. The temperature has to stay between -8 degrees and -13 degrees for three consecutive days then harvested. If the  temperature falls or rises from this within those days, the crops are ruined. High Risk! But the results are wonderful! And make the vineyard a tidy reward. The bottle that we sampled sells for $140 at restaurants. I left Birchwood Estate with a bottle of the red I had sampled and enjoyed it later over a big catchup with Eben once I got to Ottawa.

Back in the bus and onto the Falls we went! The first real glimpse I’d seen of Spring awaited us when we arrived in Niagara. Flowers were everywhere! Bright yellows and reds and the grass was such a vivid green! It was such a beautiful setting and when we stepped out of the bus, the thundering of all that water could be heard! Goosebumps!

It was such an impressive sight and truly a natural wonder! I could have stared at it for ages, and I did. We went on the Maid of the Mist boat ride, an obligatory tourist thing to do. So much fun! First uncontrollable belly laugh I’ve had since parting ways with Matty. When they hand you a giant blue plastic raincoat that goes all the way to your ankles, that should have been a giveaway that we would get a little wet! But I guess in my imagination I always thought it would just be a spray that comes off the falls if the wind is blowing in the right direction. A mist, just like the boat’s namesake! How  wrong was I! There gets to be a point where you cannot open your eyes for the amount of water that comes bucketing down on you! And I nearly wet my pants I was laughing so hard. It was just so unexpected!

When the whole boat disembarked like a group of drowned rats it became obvious why photos were taken of us before we even stepped on board the Maid of the Mist. Hair was plastered to people’s faces, mascara was creating panda eyes on a lot of the women on board, we were all just drenched. When we looked at the photo of what we looked like before the boat ride we laughed to see what the experience actually made you look like! Not quite so coiffed!

Niagara Falls has moved 12km over 12000 yrs and has created the Niagara Gorge in the process. The Falls compromises of two different water falls. The America Falls, which is actually in the United States, and the Horseshoe Falls, the one recognisable as “Niagara Falls”. The Canada and US border runs right in the middle of the gorge.

After buying a little bit of tack in the souvenier shop we wandered up Clifton Hill, “the street of fun,” in the sunshine to dry off. This little strip reminded me of Las Vegas, but this was all “G” rated. Guiness Book of World Records Museum, Ripley’s Believe it or Not Museum, Madame Tussauds Wax Museum, Museum of Rock and Roll. So many fun things to do! And this is where I wish we’d had a bit more time. We only had time to grab a bite to eat and walk around the street a bit before returning to where the bus was waiting to pick us up and take us on to the next sight to see.

This was a very big whirl pool in the Niagara River. There was a lookout point were we spent some time looking down into the swirling natural terbulant waters. Over the other side of this area we gazed upon New York State, USA.

The next and final spot was Niagara-on-the-Lake,  nicknamed the loveliest town in Canada. In 1792 it was the  capital of Ontario but later lost the title to York, now known as Toronto. Walking around the beautiful main street with its colourful blooms everywhere, it almost felt like stepping back in time.

It was such a full day and I could feel my eyelids growing heavy on the drive back to Toronto. But Finding Neverland was playing and who can close their eyes on Johnny Depp!

It was so amazing to not only imagine dinosaurs walking, but cowboys riding through these parts as well. A river of ice created these coulees and although the name Badlands refers to the inability to grow crops, it was also a superstitious and evil place for the Blackfoot Indians who inhabited this area. The only time they would come into the valleys was to hunt in times of dire need.

Back in the day, Drumheller was a rough coal mining town, a real “Wild West Town”. Around the year of 1911, a lady’s clothing store opened, the signal that the town was now safe for women to live in. Before then, no women came as it was too dangerous and “wild”. Funnily enough, the building that housed the women’s clothing store is now a men’s clothing store!

While in Drumheller we couldn’t resist going on a “Wild West Tour” with a tour guide named Pat Badland! He was like an older Jack Black with his mannerisms, jokes and fun way of storytelling. Kristy, myself and two couples from Edmonton piled into his station wagon on a Saturday morning for a 3 hour tour. “Hang onto your cowboy hats!” Pat yelled as we pulled out of the Travel Lodge parking lot, past a dinosaur painted as a rock star with AB/CA written on his jacket in the style of AC/DC!

The first stop was the site of the annual Passion of the Christ Play. In the middle of summer, actors and singers come from around the world to participate. It’s a great little natural amphitheatre that is set up all year round. Crosses ready for this years crucifixion were standing on the hill in place. What I loved the most was that the theatre was adjacent to Drumheller’s ski field. The quad chair that would have taken about 20 seconds to ride up looked awfully pathetic in comparison to where Kristy and I had just come from! You were right Matt, I think I have been spoilt for any other snowboarding experiences!

From here we headed out of town past a spot where Bryan Adams filmed a video clip and where Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman fought bad guys in the sage brush in The Unforgiven. At one point a group of six Mule deer ran in front of the car and gracefully jumped a fence next to us. Pat even detoured “for the Aussies in the back of the car” to a Buffalo farm so we could see the Bison up close - such weird looking animals!

Our next stop was the Hoodoos. The name “Hoodoo” comes from the word “voodoo” and was given to these strange and eerie geological formations by the Europeans. In the Blackfoot and Cree traditions, however, the Hoodoos are believed to be petrified giants who come alive at night to hurl rocks at intruders. They took millions of years to form and stand 5 to 7 metres tall. We took some time here to walk all around them.

Moving along in the car, Pat played Calgary country music star, Paul Grant’s “I’m Alberta Bound” on the cd player and we made our way to Rosedale and the Star Mine Suspension Bridge. The original swing bridge that was here carried miners precariously over Red Deer River until the mine closed in 1937. We crossed the 117 metre long bridge to climb the hill, which now covered the old mine site on the other side. Again we lingered at this point and really soaked up the Wild West atmosphere.

Pat passed around a jar filled with Canadian bills from the 1930s that a friend had found on his property not far from where we were and he began the first of a series of pop quizzes! “How come whoever buried this money did not trust the bank with it?” he posed to the group. I was surprised that I was the first one with the answer. Illegally making alcohol. I was awarded with a little pin from the Drumheller and District Chamber of Commerce that has a little Hoodoo and Dinosaur on it. Perfect sized souvenir for a traveller!

On our way to the Ghost town of Wayne we passed what Pat informed us where houses with “Boomtown” architecture. When these little railway towns were created, the facades on the houses and shops where twice the size of the building so that they would appear bigger than they actually were. They were lovely little buildings that had not been altered, just restored.
Listening to Ian Tyson, and strangely being transported back to the Blue Mountains in Australia through the magic of music, we passed the Atlas mine, a beautiful looking structure that allows tours in the underground mines. unfortunately though, it was closed to the public for another month or so.

Just before arriving at The Last Chance Saloon in Wayne (population 27) we went over 11 single laned bridges within a 6 km area. This spot is in the Guiness Book of World Records as the shortest distance with the most bridges, and you don’t have to keep count either, they are all numbered! The Last Chance Saloon was a wonderful experience. Scenes from Shanghai Noon were filmed just outside and Jackie Chan’s photo is displayed proudly on the wall, though you have to really hunt for it, the walls are crammed with all sorts of curious things! The hotel was directly opposite the Rosedeer Coal Mine and in it’s heyday the Saloon would feed 250 men a day. It was one of the roughest places in the area around 1913. It was nicknamed the “Bucket Of Blood Saloon” due to its violent past. Workers who would seek out unions, would be found under trains just outside the doors of the Saloon. And in the 1920s the Ku Klux Klan burned crosses in the surrounding hills.

The 3rd floor of the hotel has been boarded off since 1939 due to extreme paranormal activity, the owner will not allow any member of the public up there. I asked Pat for more stories but he looked a bit sheepish and said “ask the barmaid, if you want to know”. So I did. The week before a bottle of whisky came flying of the shelf from behind the bar and headed straight for her, but stopped short and gently floated to the ground at her feet. Stuff like that happens all the time, she said, that was just the most recent one. Very cool! Would have loved to have stayed their longer but we only had time for a beer, a quick chat and a good look at all the interesting things that covered the walls!

If anyone ever heads out Drumheller way, let me point you in the direction of Pat. I recommend you take his tour to really feel the wild west come alive. He gave me a free ticket to give to you. And as it says on the back, “This ticket ain’t worth nothin’ Pardner, it’s just free.”

On a greyhound again. Headed for the Badlands of Alberta and more specifically, Drumheller - self proclaimed dinosaur capital of the world. I got a taste of the Prairies on the 2 hour ride out there. Flat. Very Flat. There is the occasional barn and haystack and I expected a tornado to rip through, like a scene from the Wizard of Oz. Our bus was continuing to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and my decision to fly to Ontario was solidified by the bus driver’s commentary “After Drumheller, we’ll be continuing on to Saskatchewan, the real flat stuff. There will be a change of buses at Saskatoon, where you can head to all those wonderful places in Saskatchewan that only you know where.” Hmmm.

Suddenly it felt like the ground swallowed the bus, as we headed down into a ravine or coulee (Quebec French for ‘to flow’). This was our descent into the Badlands, aptly named for the lack of agricultural ability in these coulees. We were in cowboy country now and as we drove past the medium security prison it seemed right that the Badlands should have some bad guys. The most exciting thing that was awaiting us in the town of Drumheller, was the chipped fibre glass dinosaurs that stood on nearly every street corner. It appeared that none had been touched for decades, but that was what made me love it more! Street lights housed wire dinosaurs and shops had given their own Jurassic spin on everything, from dinosaur bone shaped seats to dinosaur footprints in the concrete at their doors.

For the first time in a long time I felt as though I was in another country again, people commented on the accent and everyone wanted to know why we had come to their town. Hello? When your town looks like Barney or Dorothy regurgitated all over it, i thought the answer was obvious! Just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, the best piece of tack that Drumheller had to offer towered above the buildings of Downtown. The 26 metre tall Dinosaur at the information centre. Who could resist paying a ‘toonie’ to climb the 106 steps inside him to take pictures from inside his gaping mouth? I can proudly say, “I climbed the worlds largest Dinosaur” Too bad I didn’t have room in my backpack for the T-shirt!!

About 6 km out of downtown Drumheller is the Royal Tyrell Museum of Palaeontology, the largest dinosaur museum in the world. This is where it gets serious, nothing tacky about it! Most of the skeletons were found in Drumheller or in the surrounding areas. Standing outside the museum, I took a moment (well, many at this place!) to imagine a T-rex heading through the Coulees or down the main street. Sent tingles down the spine! 36 species of dinosaur have been found in the Drumheller are alone.  Construction was put on hold for 8 weeks when the complete skeleton of a duck-billed dinosaur was found during the building of the local Walmart.

I had such a wonderful time in the town of Drumheller and I have never enjoyed a museum so much, despite the lack of bugs with pins in them!

I stayed at the loveliest Bed and Breakfast when I rolled into town and over the breakfast table, after a wonderful night, I met Digby.

Digby has the sweetest soul, a laugh like a five year old schoolgirl and the ability to read people’s auras. He lives not far from Disneyworld in Orlando, Florida and was in Calgary for the weekend to partake in the 10th Annual Mind Body Soul Expo. And he needed a helper. Who could pass on such an experience?

I met him at 10 am the following day, he was dressed in rainbow colours matching his booth that housed a wonderful array of pendulums, chakra pendants, healing stones and prayer flags. We were opposite a tarot reader and next to an Inuit (First Nations Canadian) healer. The place buzzed.

Digby took my photograph and read the colours of my aura (all yellows, oranges and reds). I think a lot and have an analytical personality, an artistic temperament and sensual personality. I have a love for life, am creative and sexual. Apparently. He also used a pendulum to discover which chakras I needed to ‘open’. My third eye (brow) was a little fuzzy, so I don’t trust my intuition. True. And my  throat chakra was blocked. I’m holding back on saying some things. Also true. Intriguing to say the least.

He paid to have our booth blessed by the First Nations healer and asked her to bless me also as i was his “angel” (the pet name he used for me). Using a feather, she swirled burning sage smoke around my body. All my hairs stood on end and the most amazing feeling washed over me, hard to describe but like a million worries had been removed. I’m a little bashful to say I nearly cried.

I’ve always been fascinated by these types of things but i guess there has always been a bit of a skeptic in me. I do love the romanticism behind it all, though. After spending a day with people who have made their belief and abilities a way of life, the skeptic in me is shutting up!

At the end of a fascinating day, Digby paid me quite generously and also gifted to me a pair of earrings made of Moss Agate (to aid in my self esteem and balance my emotions) and the most beautiful ring made of Moldavite. Moldavite is known as the “Emerald that fell from the sky” It was created 14 million years ago when a meteor impacted with enough velocity that it vapourised itself and surrounding material. These vapours were ejected back into the upper atmosphere where they solidified and rained back down on the earth as solids. This Gemstone is only found in the Moldau River in the Czech Republic. It has the most powerful ability to open all chakras and is the stone of transformation and positive life changes. Perfect as I set out on my journey of self discovery!

After the fair, Digby took me to dinner where we really got to know each other over butter chicken, tears and laughter.

But the night didn’t finish there, We headed off to the home of two reiki massage therapists we had met at the fair. Digby had a 2 hour massage from James while Rita and I became instant friends and chatted in a haze of incense, sipping herbal tea and munching on popcorn.

I don’t think this is the last I see of Rita, and a trip to Disneyworld is right around the corner!

The lines from Curtis Neill’s song, “Reading Your Mail Again”, roll around in my head as the sounds of the Greyhound bus lull most to sleep. I refuse to let my eyes close as I scan the roadside and into the woods for some sign of life.

Sasquatch, Bear, Moose, Beaver, Gopher, Squirrel… I’m not fussy, Canada! Just one of you foreign critters, please!

My travelling companion for the last nine months is sleeping quite soundly next to me. Bound for Calgary again.. Two nights to end this chapter of our adventures. Nicely bookended as it was two nights in Calgary that started this journey together.

It’s going to be strange not having you beside me, Matty James. I want to thank you for all the fun and laughter we’ve had to date.

I know there’s more to come…

Good Luck Prairie Dog!

* Groundhog spotted @ 3.51pm - Golden

It’s begun! We’ve been in Revelstoke less than a week and it snowed while we were in town yesterday! The main street was filled with falling, floating flakes making the whole thing look like a scene from a Christmas card! It was a little too warm and the flakes melted as soon as they touched us. But it was wonderful! I could have been five years old. Such a feeling of glee. The second time since being overseas I have felt this sort of elated Christmas morning feeling. Vegas was the other. Oh and the raccoons and squirrels. And the Stampede.

We were inside a snowboard shop looking at beanies (touques in Canada) when Matt patted my shoulder and pointed out the shop window. Without saying a word I left the store past a delivery man who was shocked to later find out this was my first time seeing snow fall. It didn’t last long, a few hours, but it was enough for me to jump up and down at the thought of more and better snow. And snowballs!

We stayed in town and walked around in it, watching it begin to settle on cars roofs and see the cars that had come from up the mountain (lots of snow on those ones!) I am loving this town. It is so pretty and the people are so friendly. Every shop keeper and bartender has welcomed us to their town. There’s Kelly who runs the dollar store and Eugene the chef at The Frontier, the western inspired truck stop diner up the road on the Trans Canada Highway, just to name a few.

Think that I’m going to be just fine with snow! And cold. I’m enjoying rugging up to go out. Walks around the streets at night with puffs of white breath in front of us. Let’s hope this enjoyment lasts. But I think it will.

Life has kept me away from the blogging, partly because of laziness and partly due to my recent mundane working life in Vancouver. But I have negotiated weekends off and finishing at 3pm everyday. I’m hoping this will kick start my blogging again! It will also allow me time to explore the parts of Vancouver I have yet to find ! And I’m going to document my discoveries!

I got a job as a lift opertator at Revelstoke Mountain Resort for this coming Winter and I think we may have found a brand new townhouse to move into in November! A brand new kitchen to cook the Christmas turkey and entertain our Vancouver family when they come to our digs in Revelstoke for Christmas day!! A place to sing Christmas Carols while making eggnog and cranking the indoor heat right up!!

Six weeks to moving about 6 to 7 hours into the Interior of Canada!! I am so excited! I can’t wait to see snow! Make a snowball, a snowman, a snow angel! Strap on my brand new snowboard and deck myself out in all my new gear! Going to be the happiest snow bunny in all of British Columbia!!

Keep you posted… and will back date you on my earlier adventures..

A Greyhound bus from Vancouver to Calgary takes a long time. As long as Sydney to Vancouver. And I think we’ve established previously that that is a long time. Much more fun to have company however, and regular truckstops to stretch your legs along the way. (The photos above are of Sam, myself and Matt at one of the many truckstops on route to Calgary). The whole household left on a Friday night for some Stampeding good times at the Calgary Stampede!

Once in Calgary we all headed to our respective accomodation and caught up on sleep. Calgary is just lovely. Big open spaces, blue skies that light up at night and snow capped Rocky Mountains on the horizon to remind you where you are.

Matt and I were pitching a tent in Calaway RV Park for the next three nights and on our intitial taxi ride to the park I was concerned as we headed out of Calgary and the metre was rising above $40. The spot was fantastic and although we were so far out, every morning, Mike the bus driver would show up in his bright yellow school bus (with a door that needs a lever to open) and take us to Stampede Park. Each night at Midnight he’d be there waiting to take us back to our tent again.

The bus was filled with the same people every day and everyone seemed to take to us because of our accents. I can’t get over what a novelty it is for them! Mike informed the bus on day one, “they’re talking English, they just sound funny”

We had a sense of community on those bus rides with our fellow Calaway Park Stampeders! People wished you a good Stampede in the morning and at night enquired what we’d got up to each day. I’m so glad we picked that campground. It certainly added to our Stampede experience.