Banff-- Columbia Icefields

The second day I was off to Columbia icefields, which was f**king AMAZING!!! I went on one of these huge bus things onto the glacier where it was snowing.

The part of the glacier we were standing on, the ice and snow was 100 metres deep! There were only certain areas we could walk on because everywhere else there were "holes" in the snow that you could fall into that were filled with this eerie blue glacier water. Very excellent! There was a tour grop of French Canadian dudes who brought cups so they could have a drink of the glacier water flowing everywhere. They said it tasted like whisky (Crown Royal!), and were making jokes about getting drunk on the glacier.Really it's just a bunch of ice and snow on mountains, but there was still something so amazing about standing on them. That snow had been there for hundreds of years, building up and melting away season after season. When we were up there he temperature was somewhere in the minus and it was snowing!

Banff

Once I headed out of Golden, it was on to BANFF!! Once I got to the Lake Louise area I found myself a campsite for a couple of days. Of course, first I went to Lake Louise, which was ridiculously gorgeous. Only pictures will do.

T

Golden!

I'm finally in the Rockies. I wanted to camp in Glacier National Park but the campgrounds aren't open yet since it's still so cold. So I drove on and decided to stop in a small town called Golden on my way to the Banff region. So far I'm liking the Trans Can Highway. I was expecting it to be "major highway" like (ala the Interstate highways), but it's actually pretty modest and not too busy. Although it's a little cool, I think I came at the right time. The roads are not yet crammed with RV's, which is excellent. Another difference in the highways in the States and Canada; there was a lot more wildlife in the States. Dead on the road. I saw dozens of deer carcasses that had been killed on he highways. I'd never seen that before. They're so big they look like human bodies on the side of the road and they leave HUGE blood stains on the highways (and total vehicles, I'm sure!). I'm not sure whether to attribute the difference to there just being more wildlife in the States, Trans Can highway authorities being more diligent about clearing away animals, or speed limits in the States being much higher. On the I 90's the speed limit is often 75 miles/hr (about 120 kilometres/hr), whereas in Canada the maximum speed limit I've ever seen is 100km/hr. Interesting!

At this point I'm continually slapping my own hand so I stop taking pictures of the mountains. When I come upon a new mountain that seems bigger and more beautiful than the last, I stop my car to get a couple shots. Then later I look through the photos and realize that I'm not sure where I took any of these mountain pictures, and they're all looking remarkably similar! Still beautiful, but I think people will get the idea with a few pictures instead of one hundred.

I feel like I'm making pretty good time, so after exploring the rockies for another day or two, I'm probably going to start heading back so as to perhaps save a little money. I was talking to an older gentleman a few days ago on a ferry to Vancouver island. He saw my car with the Ontario plates and told me that he'd driven through Canada from Mississauga and it'd taken him TEN days. So I want to leave myself plenty of time just in case.

Hmmm... I Spoke Too Soon

In my last little excerpt, I was marvelling at the steadfastness of my car. Then today I drove from Vancouver Island to Lilloet (where I'm staying for the night) and it got a little ugly. He's still running fine, but he's really struggling along the crazy inclines and bends on the "Sea to Sky Highway". This highway is supposed to be one of the most scenic-- and scary!-- highways in Canada, and it's definitely true! It was slow going up those steep hills and once I tried to accellerate just a bit too much too quickly and Pabo responded by emitting a nasty burnt rubber smell. After that I stopped the car, but the engine wasn't overheated I think I just went a little too far for the litle guy. So I'm going to be taking my time from now on until I get out of the mountains. But DANG, the scenes are GORGEOUS! Mountain after mountain, stream, canyon, cliffs, everything. Now I'm in my wonderful little motel room in the small town of Lillooet which is surrounded by mountains, and out-of-the-way enough to be nice and cheap. Marvelous!

Vancouver Island

So this morning I left my hostel bright and early to catch a ferry to Vancouver Island. First I drove into Victoria, which was a much nicer town than Vancouver (in my opinion). After checking out a whale watching place that was already full for the day, I drove into Sidney, a relatively small town nearby which was beautiful. I found a place to do some whale watching as well, which was perfect. We all went out on a little boat that drove us out to the nearby islands where ALL THREE!! of the local pods were cavorting in the water. It was awesome! Apparently it's pretty much mating seasons so all of the pods were just swimming around together, splashing and jumping. We didn't get very close and the boat was a little wet and rocky so my pictures are abysmal. Half of them I just deleted because they were blurry, or I'd take the picture once the big buggers were already underwater. The half hour we spent looking at the pod went something like this:
1. A couple of orcas surface in a splash, swimming around
2. Annoying kids on boat say "Woah! Look at them!!"
3. My head swivels around
4. I spot the whales! Excellent!
5. The whales dive down again leaving only some stirred water to show where they were
6. I lift my camera
7. I try to zoom in
8. I look for the whales
9. I can't find the damn things!
10. I take a picture just in case they happen to surface within the frame.

Expert wildlife photographer, I am not. But in my memory they were quite majestic and other-worldly, I assure you. Once one of the big guys jumped out of the water-- I mean right out-- and all I caught was a blurry splash of water. Sigh. But here's what I DO have:

Impressive, no?

Right now I'm staying at a wonderfully cheap motel. I went to a motel 8 type place, but the lady told me it was too expensive and that I should go across the road to the cheaper place (which I did). Thanks lady! She must hate her boss... she told me that the rates had just gone up and it was ridiculous and that she wouldn't stay there. Ha!

Note to self: Stop being so jaded! Everywhere I go, I think to myself, "this is alright, but in such and such a place it was MUCH better". "Yeah, I guess these mountains are pretty big, but in so-and-so, they were way bigger". "This hotel is nice, but when I was in Kreplakistan, they were nicer, cheaper etc. etc." Why do I have to be such a jerk?
I am really enjoying my trip so far though! Being free and able to go wherever I want and do whatever I want (within monetary boundaries) is quite excellent! I'm so impressed with my car. Pabo's a piece of crap but he's still plugging along, getting me everywhere with little fuss (knock on wood). I fed him an oil change, replenished his fluids, and I've been checking his tire pressure-- all is well! He's like my little baby (in baby talk voice)!! Once I get him a car wash he'll be getting a hug.

Vancouver baby!

So I've finally made it back to Canada. States that I have driven through in the last week: Michigan, Illinois, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washington (maybe more...). When I was driving through Washington (day 6) I went from the mountains into almost-desert for a while. I swear to god a tumbleweed hit my windshield! Getting into Vancouver was brutal. A long line up at the border and annoying old man behind me made it pretty painful. I was creeping along one milimetre at a time in the big lineup of cars waiting to go to customs. Every time I let my mind wander (which is quite often) and didn't pull my car right in behind the car in front of me (even if I could only pull my car forward a few extra feet) he'd HONK at me! Then I'd look in the rearview mirror and he'd be shaking his head as though I'd inconvenienced him greatly. Hahahahaha... after a while I'd just NOT pull up so he could get angry. What a dillhole.

Vancouver seems alright for a big booming metropolis. The mountains in the background everywhere definitely add to the aesthetics though. Right now I'm staying at another hostel. For whatever reason, hostels always smell BAD. Those backpackers just can't stay showered or use deoderant I guess. Bunch of hippies. One of my roomates brought her teddy bear with her and it's sitting on her bed. Interesting.

Tomorrow I'm off to Vancouver Island to hopefully go whale watching! Expect some blurry photos of water with black splotches in the near future.

Roadtrip!

Day 1 June 15/2008

Drove to Chicago today. Actually went well. My car is fine thus far and I made pretty excellent time from Exeter to downtown Chicago. Interestingly enough, the hostel that I decided to go to is literally on the same block as the Congress Hotel, where I stayed in third year university on a field trip! Hostel was cheap $34! Parking was not $27! The border guard dude asked
“what do you do? What’s your job in Canada?”
“Ummm… ice carving… like an ice sculptor…” then I laughed because it’s weird telling people that you carve ice for a living.
“Don’t laugh!” he says with a straight face. “That’s how I put myself through college”. Funny guy.

I’d forgotten how oddly depressing big cities can be. Maybe this is a crazy thought, but sometimes it seems like big city living makes everyone… ugly. All the panhandlers, food service workers; I’m not sure what it is. I was walking out of a dingy fast food restaurant and an African American dwarf says hello to me. I say hello back and as I’m walking off he says “I need a white woman!” Keep looking buddy.

Day 2 June 16/08

Okay, not getting such a great impression of the states thus far. Why is everyone so dang unfriendly? Not that I want to sound like an uber-nice-polite Canadian, but it’s just so depressing so far in the states. Maybe because I’ve just been on the highway and in big cities. Right now I’m in Minneapolis Wisconsin. Pretty uneventful drive except for one instance. I’m on the I 94 in the left hand of a two lane section of the highway. There’s yet another souped up SUV in front of me pulling a tent tailer. All of the sudden the top of the trailer including tarp and poles flies up and onto the highway in front of me. I have to swerve into the righthand lane to miss it, then go back into the left so that the truck behind me doesn’t get into an accident slamming on his breaks! Yeesh! My heart was beating a little faster but all was well. Right now I’m in the dumpiest motel ever in Minneapolis. I was checked in by a dude that’s half senile and a guy that looked like Marilyn Manson but with more tattoos. But it only cost me $40 AND I have my own room. The hostel in Chicago smelled really funky and all the people I shared the room with came in late (and not at the same time!) and all kept their stuff in annoyingly loud plastic bags. Brutal.

Okay, a little rant about SUV’s and the people who drive them. A bunch of a**holes. If I’m driving 120km/hr in the right hand lane, don’t tailgate me you gas guzzling piece of sh**! All these middle class suburban pricks in their big cars (driving by themselves-- not carpooling) acting as though they own the road and weaving through traffic as though they have a death wish. Hmmmm… maybe they do? If I lived in the suburbs with my 2.5 children, boring job, boring spouse, and one car garage I’d want to die as well. F**kers! (Censored for Sandra Arley Coulter)

Day 3 June 17/08

I’m in Medora North Dakota right now. Deep in the really cool badlands!!! Most of North Dakota (this is all from the I94 mind you) seems pretty boring. Rolling hills, very few trees or buildings. Then all the sudden the landscape looks like it’s all caved in on itself and desert like. Very fantastic. The hills and cliffs are straight out of a Dali painting. I can almost see the melting clocks in the foreground. Staying at “The Bunkhouse” for $80 a night; a little costly but worth it for my own bathroom and air conditioning goodness! After I checked in and found something to eat, I just drove around to check out the area. Absolutely gorgeous, and I've regained my faith in humanity; everyone's really friendly.

Day 4 June 18/08

Now I’m in Yellowstone Park in Wyoming. So I drove all through Montana and part of Wyoming. Absolutely gorgeous, but so very desolate. I’d love to be some rich rancher mans wife. Eeekkkk… that’s not very feminist of me, but I still can’t deny it. I’d like to be able to go for long walks in the mountains, but not have to do the work associated with having a ranch (that's where the big manly husband comes in)!

Yellowstone is ridiculously big. Once I was finally in the park I paid $25 to get in. Then I was told to go to Bridgeway campgrounds because they had a few campsites left. It took me an hour to get there! So all of the campsites were gone and I had to drive another 45 mins to get to Canyon campground where I’m staying now. Yeesh. As I was driving from one site to the next I notice that all the cars in front of me have stopped, then I see this bison walking along the centre of the road. This bison is HUGE and he’s taking his sweet ass time walking along the middle of the street. By now I’ve stopped and as he walks up to me I close my window and actively avoid looking him in the eye. He literally comes within five feet of me. As soon as he’s passed, I drive on and burst out laughing. Did I really think rolling up my window would help? The animal isn’t a panhandler! And if I DID look the big beast in the eye, would it attack me??... probably not. When I first got into the park I also saw a few antelope(s?)! Very cool!

My campsite: there is actually SNOW on the ground. All of the mountains around here are snow-capped, and my campsite is about a 1000 foot elevation I think, so it’s like spring has just sprung. And as I was driving here I thought there might be a nice lake for me to swim in! Ha!

For the most part I’m really enjoying travelling alone, except for when people ask me “Alone?” (whatever I may be doing). I guess this means that there’s something horribly wrong with me, but I don’t care. Whoever I might’ve brought would inevitably be complaining all the time, and I would have someone to complain to.

Note: I have a tan on my left arm, left shoulder and the left side of my face. Veeerrryyy becoming.

Day 5 June 20

I'm still in Montana in a little town called Missoula. This morning before leaving Yellowstone, I of course had to check out old faithful. Mmmmm... sulphurous volcanic goodness! Also saw a few herds of bison, more mountains and got lost a few times before I had to head out and make my way west yet again.

Hopefully I'll make it to Vancouver tomorrow!

Note: I have a nasty burn on my left arm, left shoulder and the left side of my face. Veeerrryyy becoming.

A Sunny Day in Canada

Hey there! For Mrs. Lee, some pictures of the Coulter homestead. My parents live in the middle of nowhere surrounded by farms.

This is our lane way. Our house from the front yard. The shed in the backyard.

Not much happening here. Just had a wonderful three day weekend for thanksgiving. Ate a lot, was made-fun-of by the family, all in all, a good time. I brought home a big ice bowl that I made at work and we had an "ultra pretentious thanksgiving punch". We also picked names for Christmas (because there are so many kids we all exchange names so we only have to buy one gift instead of eight), and I picked Marcia who decided that she wanted a Flight of the Conchords painting. Here it is (so far):

Bret is on the left, Gemaine on the right. The show is about two guys from New Zealand in a band called Flight of the Conchords who move to New York to become famous. A very entertaining show.

Hmmm... An Update You Say?

Sorry I've been so lazy about the blog! Life in Canada just seems so ridiculously normal. Right now I'm just working, and that's been going great so far. Cutting ice with chainsaws and chisels and other "cool" stuff like that. It's quite apt that my favourite time of year is winter and now I'm spending all day in a freezer!

See? I'm already done updating! Geez, my life is boring now. But I had a really horrible nightmare though! In the dream it was my wedding day. I'm already in the dress (which looked really nice on me by the way; I think I dreamt myself a little thinner!), but there's so much left to do. I'm freaking out about having to clean the house for guests but this problem is nothing compared to the fact that my wedding is to be held in a bar (the Bomber, where I worked during university! Yeeeccch!). For whatever reason it's my job to clear out a shitload of drunken students so that I can have my wedding. By this time I've turned into the bride from hell; yelling at everyone and freaking out as my beautiful wedding dress gets dirtier and dirtier. I still have a vivid image of a dirty ring around my hem and screaming at it in frustration. As I woke up I was ordering the catering staff to kick out any leftover students. I can't even remember who the groom was anymore since he was never actually there. What a jerk.

What this dream means (I think):
Both of my sisters are married and newly pregnant (Marcia's due in March, Tracy in April)!! I think my brain's also telling me I should never get married because I'll turn into a psycho!

And Stu, I update my blog just as much as YOU do!

In My Defense

This is for whomever wrote me the comment about selling out to "the man" (ALEXX!!!).

Awwww... why you gotta be so mean???

So today, just over two weeks after getting back to Canada I had my first day working for a company called "Ice Culture" (iceculture.com). I'm going to be working on "suspensions" (suspending objects in ice) and hopefully carving, which would mean spending all day in a freezer using a chainsaw to make sculptures or whatever else would be needed.

This is a life size ice car! Fun! And yeah, it sucks that I'm not going to get to do my cross-Canada trip yet, but I really wanted the job. Alex, if you want to fight me, then I will e-mail my address over here and see you in a couple of days. Hopefully you won't be feeling too jet-lagged when I pummel you!

My New Baby Boy

Not much going on over here in Canada, I've got to admit. Just eating lots of food and driving my new HOT car. Here are some pictures, just for Stu.

I know what you're thinking; where did Cathy get this sweet ride? This fierce machine I recently purchased is a 1999 Hyundai Accent (Korea Phighting!!!). His name is Pabo, because as I drove him home from the dealership the "check engine" light came on.

GASP! Pabo from another, equally magnificent angle. I know Stu's jealous by now. He's thinking "Bloody ripa! Why didn't I buy myself a Hyundai instead of my crappy BMW motorcycle???"

Ohhh, beautiful!! A shot of the rear end for all the fetishists out there (the parents homestead in the background). Do you think Pabo's going to make it all the way across Canada?

In other news, my "round Canada" trip is on hold while I wait to hear back about a job. My mother oh-so-subtly recommended that I find myself gainful employment and stop being such a worthless layabout so I applied on a whim to a company that makes ice sculptures (apparently the number one ice sculpture place in the world, shipping sculptures to foreign countries like Africa, Australia, Thailand etc. Cool!). I got an interview and went in, and now I want the damn job!!

I'm also missing my Korea friends! Why do you all have to be so far away?

Back in Canada!!

So yesterday at about 9:30pm I arrived in Toronto! The plane rides really sucked but it was totally worth it! Good to get back to some fresh air. It's nice and cool over here, which is so very excellent. For those who still read this thing every now and then, I'm going to continue the blog for my roadtrip around Canada to keep everyone updated. Thanks for reading about my Korean Adventures!

Beijing 2

Okay, basically this is going to be all of the other places I went.

This was part of a Chinese Traditional Opera that I saw at Laoshe Teahouse. All of the female roles were played by men, which made for some very interesting singing. At least once a day I would have a random person come up to me and ask where I was from. Then they'd ask to take me to a teahouse to have tea and practise their English. This of course was code for "Hey! I'm going to take you to a tea place that I work for. You'll end up spending about thirty bucks on a cup of "traditional tea" you sucker!" So I was always telling people that I was just about to meet up with some friends. The one I went to was nice and cheap since I went with this girl I met at my hostel from Rome who's Chinese was amazing (weird story: she'd been told by someone that someday China would be the biggest world power, so she's devoted a ridiculous amount of her time to learning Mandarin; is this brilliant or is she crazy? I'm not really sure).

"Snack Street" on Wangfujing. Selling the weirdest food on a stick you can find anywhere: scorpions, starfish, squid, baby lobsters, silkworm, mystery meats and other very random things.

The entrance to the Forbidden city. The most crowded place to be in all of Beijing I'm sure. It was big and old and under a massive amount of renovation to prepare for the 2008 Olympics.

Ming Tombs. This is the gate of life and death. We could only exit through it to enter the land of the living. Fun!
The Temple of Heaven. I got completely lost trying to find it and eventually had to hire a rickshaw to get there, which was interesting as well. This was on my last day in Beijing so I was already all "templed out", but it was still quite beautiful.

Beijing

Ni Hao! I've already talked about my China trip a few times, so this is just so I can put some photos up. I'll start with the Great Wall since that was my favourite part of the trip. First I took a 10km hike from Jinshangling to Simitai. Some pictures:went with a tour group comprised of a bunch of hardcore Swedish hikers who were filming everything. It was really rainy and foggy, so apart from Mongolian souvenir sellers, we were the only ones there.This part of the wall was about three hours away from Beijing and therefore much less popular and falling into ruin, which was a lot of fun. All of the stairs were crumbly and broken, making the steep climbs that much more interesting!It was the ultimate stairmaster! A few days later I went to the Badaling section which is much closer to Beijing and infinitely more touristy. But this time it was a gorgeous day.
The Badaling great wall was so very crowded, and had obviously been renovated and kept up several times, but still quite entertaining. Everyone scrambling for the perfect "On The Great Wall" shot (myself included). Lot's of dodging cameras and stopping so that people could take pictures.So here's my requisite shot, looking like a jerk as usual. The Badaling Great Wall was also the site of my worst bathroom experience in my entire life. without going into too much detail; I was feeling a little vomitus, so I rushed to the bathroom (which the tour guide had warned us was terrible). First I had to pay to get in, which seemed pretty wrong, but I shrugged off. Then I realized there was no toilet paper and there was a little old man, conveniently selling tissues. Brutal! TP in hand I went into the bathroom. On a hot, sunny and incredibly humid day I was immediately punched in the face by a horrible smell, which didn't help to make my fluish feelings dissipate! Then I realized that every single stall was a squatter and most of the stalls didn't even have doors. So there were all these old Chinese ladies squatting all over the place without a care in the world in a bathroom that most likely hadn't been cleaned in a month; have I gone too far into detail?

Templed Out

So today I went to have a look at the Temple of Heaven. Meh. My brain realizes that it's an interesting temple with a long history (blah blah blah), but I'm just templed out. I've seen too many!! No more!

In other news; feeling fine (since I've decided that Chinese food doesn't like me), I've got one more full day here then it's back to Korea to say goodbye to everyone!

Left My DNA on the Great Wall of China!! Cool!!

That's right, I fell down! Not all that surprising is it?

So yesterday I signed up for a tour to the great wall that involved a 10km walk from the Jinshinaling section to the Simitai section of the great wall. It's one of the less popular sections of the wall because it's so far from Beijing, so myself and the rest of the tour group were pretty much the only people there. It definitely wasn't what I was expecting! There were a few Mongolians on the wall trying to sell souvenirs (or waiting for me to pass out from the heat so they could steal my Canadian passport!), but beyond that it wasn't too much of a tourist trap at all! The wall is absolutely huge, and goes up and down mountains in an incredibly picturesque way! Shortly after the hike had begun though, it started to rain a little bit, so within five minutes of walking along the wall I tripped and slidd down a set of wet and very steep steps. Then the thunder and lightning began, which was scary and exhilarating since I was walking around above mountain peaks and through towers, feeling the reverberations from the nearby lightning. Very cool! Then it started pouring, so much so that there was water running down the steps as I walked, which made things a little slow, but definitely more interesting!

So today I'm taking a "reading and sitting around day" since I'm a little cut up/bruised and tired. Last night one of my dorm-mates opened the window in the night (AND the screen) letting in a little bastard mosquito that bit my face and even now my left eye is really swollen and grotesque looking, which has only added to me not wanting to do anything today!

Killin' Time

Today I walked through the Forbidden City and T'iannamen (sp?) Square, so I'm just taking a nice long indoor sitting-down break at the moment. The Forbidden City was pretty cool; I think the thing that most shocked and awed me was the mass amounts of humanity surrounding me at all times. SO MANY PEOPLE.



Funny/strange story: Yesterday I went to the Art Museum of China which was absolutely beautiful, and has a bunch of European Baroque style paintings in an exhibition right now (Tintoretto, Goya etc.). As I was entering that section of the gallery, there was a man yelling at one of the gallery workers (you know, one of those people who stands there and makes sure no one uses flash photography etc.). I was a little shocked and confused, wondering what he could possibly be upset about. Were the paintings not to his liking?). Then I hear yelling and screaming and the sound of people slapping eachother! I couldn't see what was going on since a crowd gathered in the span of five seconds, but it was very weird. I usually think of galleries as a quiet contemplative place, not a potential for violent outbursts!

I Made It!

Just a note to all the loyal readers (all two of you!) that I'm alive and well in Beijing! I'll be back to the RofK on the 12th. More later...

Holy Shit

Today is my last class EVER and tomorrow I'm going to China!! Holy shit!

Candy Teacher Has A Vision

Last night I had a dream that I was in China. For whatever reason I was also in university again and doing some sort of crazy art project for an old professor (Robert, a CRAAAAZY dude). I had to go to this huge department store and get supplies. This place was a big huge confusing Chinese maze. I pay for my purchases and walk off, then much too late I realize that my purse is just plain gone. I start panicking since I have no idea where I am or how to get back to the store where I must have left my purse. Of course in my purse I have my credit card, passport, beloved ipod, directions in Mandarin so that I can get back to my hotel, and all of my cash so I'm freaking out. Eventually I just had to wake myself up because I was getting nowhere. So today I'm going to buy myself one of those "money/passport belts" instead of carrying everything around a purse.