Six Days -- Beautiful Banff

We need to go to Banff, Lake Louise is gorgeous but there is so much more to do in Banff! Its a real tourist town and is so beautiful.

Because we had some free passes, we decided to take advantage and go for an adventure up to the Banff Hot Springs. We weren't intending to spend and hour and a half there because we wanted to ride the Banff Gondola, the day had cleared for beautiful sights at the top and I was so excited but unfortunately the Gondola is closed until the 17th of January due to maintenance. Its a little disappointing but we just had to do more with our new found adventure time!

So we swam around an empty natural hot spring pool for an hour! It was so ridiculously relaxing. There was ice around the pool as well, so we could pick large portions of ice off and rub it on our shoulders when we got too hot. I will mention that they only recommend swimming in the pools for 10 minutes due to the heat --- not for us Aussies though! We are use to it.

After feeling very relaxed with loosened shoulder muscles we ran to catch our bus back into town. We once again just walked through all the shops we loved, bought some maple syrup flavoured fudge, a Canada shirt from Roots Canada, and looked at all the beautiful art galleries that hold some amazing pieces of the native wildlife! A very relaxed day.

For lunch we went to Tony Roma's. The only reason we went there was because they claimed to make the best ribs! So we had to see if it were true, Colin and Scott both got ribs, I had the pulled pork sandwich. It was incredibly delicious and amazing! I highly recommend going there if you like ribs! They were juicy and falling off the bone! For dessert we had a 3 dessert taste tester, we chose one each -- the red velvet cake is my recommendation! But it was really strange, as we were waiting for the bill, a random man sat down with us and just starred for ages -- we were a bit freaked out -- he then snatched up the last little bit of cake and ate it in front of us before running off. It was the WEIRDEST experience EVER!!

At home we just relaxed with our friends and amped ourselves up for an awesome day of snowboarding.

Seattle to Vancouver

Seattle is very much a snuggle area! From being in nice hot weather, finally we were in overcast foggy and chilly conditions - which just makes us instantly want to snuggle up and do nothing..

That's practically all we did on our first afternoon! We checked into the AMAZING Hotel Hotel then sat in the common room on our laptops for ages. When it came to dinner time, Colin had to really talk me into going outside for a walk around the streets. We walked around the streets for about an hour and a half before deciding on having pies at Pie - a little cafe pie shop next to our hostel! Amaze-balls pie though! If you get a chance, pop in and grab an English Meat Pie! It actually tastes like a good Aussie one! The staff were über friendly as well, we even cut up and shared our Voodoo Doughnuts with them (partly avoiding eating so many). Afterwards though, we just snuggled up in our very comfortable bed and watched a movie on my lappy. Very chilled night indeed!

Tuesday we had some accomplishments to make. We had a massive sleep in, then went on an adventure to find the Freemont Troll! We made the silly mistake of assuming that the troll was under the Freemont Bridge, we must of been walking up and down and across that bridge for about an hour before we started heading back to our hotel to find a sign pointing to the bridge next to it! We did head over that way and finally found the amazing troll art piece! I have been in love with this troll since I saw it in 10 Things I Hate About You! Unfortunately, someone had spray painted "tags" all over it. ---

That really makes me sick, someone just has to go down to an awesome art piece and defile it because they felt like it. Wow random stupid stranger! You are soooooooooooooo cool for tagging something thats culturally beautiful! Congratulations for being the worlds biggest spoilt stupid moron! I hope someone goes spray paints a giant dick all over your car!!

--- RANT OVER

I am still happy I saw the troll ^-^

Colin and I then headed over to the Gasworks Park, wow this was beautiful! It was almost post apocalyptic. The juxtaposition of nature and machines was just perfect, it gave me goose bumps. Just picture a giant rusted machine of bright oranges and reds mixed against lush nature of bright greens.

Once we had our bit of fun, we had to sink into reality. Re-packing. Not the funnest of things to do, thats for sure. We needed to get the summery stuff out of our "carry on" and put some warmer stuff in there. A bit of a shuffle, especially with all the new stuff we have bought over our little holiday. It was managed though, with a bit of a break even for a nap.

Around 4pm we headed downtown to the markets. WOW! I love markets back at home but here its just amazing! Its huge and with everything you could possibly think of! We did buy a lot of delicious snacks - I couldn't eat dinner I was snacking so much. If you like food, this is the place for you! Wandering the market was probably my favourite part - seeing all the art, food, designs, everything. We bought our first ever christmas decoration as well! It's made by the Glass Eye Studios Seattle Company and is their 10th annual limited edition holiday ornament.

We watched the sunset over the water eating delicious french macaroons. It was a stunning sight. We then had something a little more substantial to eat and headed to the Can-Can for the Tuesday Tease! I love seeing cabarets, I went to one in France, it was so beautiful and elegant - plus - naked woman!! Who doesn't like seeing that? This was a little more down to earth with a rockabilly twist. It was interesting - I do prefer classic though. It was of course fun! The live band and singer were superb, our hostess was very funny and entertaining and the girls were great performers! We started drinking before the performance (wine for me) but I decided to try one of their famous absinthe cocktails mixed with tequila, vodka and other stuffs.. I have never had absinthe before and the last time I had tequila comes with a hilarious story of me. So I have no memory of the night after finishing the drink. I will let Colin tell you what happened..

Jess out..

Seattle is known for its fog, and with that reputation comes jokes that the zombie apocalypse will begin there. It just so happened that when I carried Jess from Can-Can to the car a heavy fog had set in. Once seated in the car Jess started to become heavily animated, she was convinced that zombies were hiding in the fog to get us. This soon became a paranoia and she was afraid of anything that moved outside, it took me nearly 10 minutes to get her out of the car once we got home.

The fun didn't stop once out of the car... Outside Hotel Hotel's front door, the guys from Pie had just knocked off and Jess wanted to hang with her new friends, who were nice people, but we had an early morning and needed sleep. Up stairs we go, and drunk Jess wants ice cream and attempts to climb out the window to get it. After a short wrestling match, a compromise to eat the caramel we had bought in the market we were in bed.

Jess comes to... With a sore head and no memory of the night before, and on that note we say goodbye to the United States of America!