Four becomes Three - The Wolves of House Yamnuska!

Yesterday Colin and I had a lazy one! We slept in after our last dance night and a few too many delicious grizzly shots! After a day of snowboarding and a night of dancing, we started planning the boring logistics of our home coming.

It was good though, we also made lunch for Sarah and John just chatting and chilling! Which was so nice and soooooo yum! But yeah, it wasn't too adventurous unless you count heading up to the Chateau for ice skating on the lake. This was my second time iceskating ever! My first time was the week before, I have been umming and ahhhing at skating for weeks, renting skates, watching but never getting the courage to go out and skate!

Finally Colin stayed in shoes and walked me around the Lake Louise Inn ice rink. It was so perfect! If you have never skated before, I recommend going around with a chair or someone holding you. By the end of that night I was going around by myself holding onto a hockey stick. Also a hockey stick helps a lot!

But all in all, last night we skated for the first time on Lake Louise together! Absolutely AWESOME!!

Today was so much more adventurous!! Colin and I organised to go to Yamnuska Wolfdog Sanctuary. We were recommended to go there from a few friends who have also left Lake Louise. It was an awesome recommendation! We booked our tour yesterday for 10:30am. So it gave us plenty of time to drive to Canmore, buy some things for our homecoming and then head out 20 minutes further down the highway. OH I couldn't believe I was seeing grass again, I haven't seen grass for months!

We met with Georgina our tour guide and were lucky enough to be the only ones booked for the tour! Georgina was such an inspirational person, she gave us a lot of information about the wolfdogs like how there is a massive misconception about wolves being aggressive. They aren't like the fairytales "big bad wolf", they are smart timid creatures that would run away from a human rather than attack. There are only maybe one wolf attack a year in Canada. They are very much like a Lynx, where they would hear humans and run and hide. It was very much the environment we were introduced to.

Basically we were to walk into the sanctuary, walk straight to the chairs ready for us and to sit there. The wolves are use to people in the chairs, its something they have become accustomed to but if the chairs are moved or someone is standing, they become more timid and weary to the situation they are not use to. But they were not dangerous, just timid! There were five total. The first was Nikki, she's the baby of the pack and is a low content wolfdog, meaning she has less wolf in her. This means she's more easily domesticated and more friendly towards people. She was the first one up to us, didn't even wait until we were in the gate to run up and want cuddles from us.

Kyra was the next gorgeous girl we met. She followed Nikki pretty quickly, and was giant and gorgeous!! She is a mid content wolfdog. Still so friendly but she takes a tiny bit longer to sniff you before letting you pat and cuddle her. She's a dog I would take home! They both knew some cool basic dog tricks and were very much a licking loving pair!

After they had their first sniffs and licks, they wandered to Kuna, the female high content wolfdog and their boss so she could suss is out a little before coming over. The three high content wolfdogs were Kuna, Zeus and Nova. Zeus and Nova being the only males. Their job is to make sure everything is safe but it's Kuna's job to keep the young girls in line. That's their wolf pack and they introduce more wolfdogs to the pack when they need to as well as other dogs. They are amazing animals!

Another difference between the high content wolfdogs and the mid-low is that they don't have that dog instinct to try and impress humans. You can call them a bad dog and give them reward treats but much like cats they won't change their ways to impress you. But they are smart enough to know how to get treats, so if they feel like it, they will hand shake and pee outside to get treats but they don't care if they get yelled at. They are in control.

Overall, we got to feed and pat the gorgeous animals, learn more about them and fall a bit in love with them! We took some photos but soon it was time to go before the weather went sour. I am so very happy we were able to have this experience! The wolfdogs were so stunning! I loved every moment of the tour!! I highly recommend going, its about $40 per person for an hour and the proceeds go towards looking after the wolves.

Loved every second! Thank you Georgina!! Check these guys out on their Facebook!!

Colin and I headed into Banff to use our free movie passes and then headed back to the Chateau to skate on the lake again! I am getting better :)

AMAZING DAY!

Five Days = Six Hours of Snowboarding!

With five days left and very soon I will need to hand in my staff pass! This means we need to ride our boards for the last time.

I have only ridden a hand full of times since being here, about a month ago I had a nasty stack that scared the bejesus out of me! Plus I was working 6 days a week with one day off, no ride breaks or time to ride, it really meant I wasn't getting any time to snowboard or learn how to ski!

So it was set! Thursday would be our last day of snowboarding! We chose Thursday due to how many friends had the day off and also because Colin doesn't have a free pass anymore so its an $84 lift ticket per day for him. One day is all we needed!

First thing we were up there on the Grizzly Gondola -- I was really nervous! But after that first nice long Deer Run, I had my confidence back and ready to push myself! Up the Glacier lift, down Wiwaxy, up again on the Gondola, down Pika to Temple. A drink break before heading up Ptarmigan, down Deer Run to Whitehorn for lunch with Dave and Scott! Had a little break and a delicious lunch with cocktails and a gorgeous view before riding again. The boys eventually got my confidence up to go to Top of the World! Always fun to have snow thrown on us by Gill coming off Glacier haha (memo to self: still need to get revenge). We were literally in the clouds at Top of the World, it was such a high to be up there! I was lucky to be wearing my low res lenses but I was still struggling to see anything!

Dave and Colin were amazing! They stayed close to me whilst I came down my first blue run at Lake Louise! I was a bit scared because of how high and steep the first part of Home Run was but I did so well! I didn't fall over once on my way down! It was awesome! Unfortunately Summit was closed we got there in the afternoon, it was getting late - I felt bad that Colin didn't get a chance to do it.

For our last run we went down Jerry's Jungle where I went through the trees! It was the most fun and stunning run I have ever done! It was so very beautiful! The trees were so high and full of snow, and because we were alone, it was like we were in a magical land, just the three of us. That led onto Upper Wiwaxy where we just slowly rode down nice and easy - by the time we were at the bottom it was nearly 4:30pm, we were the only ones left on the mountain. A perfect day of 6 hours riding. Something we really needed to do before we depart.

I saw the whole of the mountain and went on all but two lifts. I really wish I could of done more, you really need a few days to do the whole mountain but its good to end my snowboarding on a high note! Feeling amazing and confident on "Lake Louise Blue Runs", linking and snaking my turns and riding switch! I couldn't end it better than that!

My favourite runs of the day were Pika -- a lot of snowboarders say they don't like it because of how "flat" it was - but I found it amazing! It was a run so relaxing and cruisey where I could just snake and link my tuns the entire way down carving nice and slow. If your someone who loves to go fast and just zoom then probably not the right run for you but it was perfect for me! SO much beautiful scenery to view - why would you want to go through Pika fast? Do me a favour if your snowboarding in Lake Louise, stop and look at it all!! Take it all in!!

Jerry's Jungle!! Again -- stunning! It was just the most beautiful thing to ride through the trees. Its also really fun, like a natural half/quarter pipe, it just leads you through. I loved it! It was so so fun!! Definitely one of my favourites - a bit less relaxing and more adventurous.

Overall, it was perfect! Everything I wanted it to be!! I just wish I could of had more time to experience it again and again and more. The best part was, I did it all with Colin! He stayed with me the entire time  we were riding, always made sure I was ok and had fun! I know its corny but my absolute most favourite part of the day was when Colin and I were coming down Wiwaxy and we were both side by side, very close together on the flat of our boards riding in unison! It only lasted a moment of course but it was just so magical to be able to do that together!

A perfect last day of riding!

A Chucktown Christmas!

Christmas has been going for weeks! There has been a marvellous Christmas tree in the Lodge of Ten Peaks, carols on repeat and constant packages arriving from home! We have seen Christmas lights all bright and shiny along Banff's streets and we have done some Christmassy shenanigans like drinking eggnog, doing Secret Santa and wrapping fake gifts to random apartments haha.

I am already missing the cheer of Christmas! We had Santa and his Elves with us for 3 days!! Colin and I both had to work on Christmas eve and day! That wasn't so fun as such but it had to be done.. Surprisingly enough, Christmas day wasn't busy at all. We got home nice and early and started drinking! Colin has already started covering some mini hams in a delicious honey maple glaze as well. We went to apartment 204 for the best dinner ever!! We had 3 chefs and one Canadian rocking out the food! We had a massive ham, duck, turkey, sauces, candy bacon, salads, breads, some amazing eggplant thing… oh my God!! This dinner was more epic and stupendous than I could of ever dreamed!

I am use to a massive family dinner down the coast with my amazing Grandmother and my dad's side of the family! It's always filled with people, love, chocolate, huge amounts of amazing food, acoustic music, wine and sun! I really really miss that! My fondest memories of Christmas is always because of the company I am with. My amazing friends, my gorgeous girls, my beautiful sisters and my ginormous family.. sorry ---- a little home sick.

So we ate! We ate amazing food by amazing people!!! I was SOOOOOO full! I filled up on really sweet and cheap cider… that was also probably the main cause of my drunkeness.. We went to the common room to play beer pong and socialise with our Lake Louise family! It was so perfect! We really had a lot of fun and had a very chilled night for our first Christmas as fiancés! I am so glad we could spend it with all the perfect friends we have made!!

Boxing day, was our day off!! And it was the perfect day for a sleep in and to see the magical ice castle together …. and then the Hobbit (AMAZING MOVIE!!).

I hope everyone out there had a very very Merry Christmas!
xx

Our Fairytale ...

The past week Colin was getting me all excited for my Christmas present - a night in Banff!! I knew that much but I didn't know where we were staying or going out to dinner. I was so very very excited to spend a night with him somewhere relaxing!

The night before - our Friday night - we set our night with drinks. I was happy just sipping on something light and reading Game of Thrones but Colin had other plans. One game of normal beer pong turned into the Vietnam War beer pong (full cups and everyone just gets wasted). SO Colin got wasted! He was so drunk he told me that our group of friends were making me a birthday cake (my birthday was over a month ago). After a lot of badgering, Colin finally got me to come upstairs. Apparently he was in 303 talking about cooking me dinner, went to the shops and bought a ridiculous amount of snack foods! Here we watched tv and laughed at Colin's drunken speak. It went for hours but the funniest quote was, "Everyone here just wants salmon cookies… but Gill is just flashing her tuna fish at everyone"… I know, absolutely no sense! I managed to talk him into going to bed, it didn't stop me from being social for a bit longer though. When I finally decided to call it a night, Colin was passed out on top of everything! I managed to move most of the stuff off the bed and climb in around him. Just as I was about to close my eyes, Colin moved and rolled straight on the floor! I was laughing my head off but he still didn't wake up! I tried moving him, with no luck he finally came to slightly, this was bad! He decided that our room was the bathroom!!!! I did manage to prevent anything messy and getting him to the bathroom! Lucky from there, he was keen to sleep on the couch after doing a sexy dance in the lounge room! Was such a funny night! Colin woke up at 5:30am worried that I had put him on the couch but was relieved when I just started laughing at him for all the stupid stuff he'd done.

We were up fairly early to catch our bus to Banff, I was so excited! The first place we went was the beautiful Hot Springs! We hired out retro swimsuits styled from 1886, we looked like goofballs but it was hilarious and a lot of fun! Its so interesting of to into a hot pool whilst in the outside cold. You dehydrate very quickly. I loved it, we are going to try and organise a trip up with everyone next time.

We then wandered around the Gardens, not too much garden but so very beautiful, luscious tall trees covered in fluffy snow!! We were hoping to see a deer or elk but I could settle for the gorgeous squirrels! I got such a good photo of one, they are so funny to watch.

Our walk extended out towards "the middle of nowhere" - I had no idea where we were going but Colin seemed sure of himself. We walked for about 15-20minutes in windy -30 degrees. We finally reached a stable house. I thought we were going  horse riding but then I saw the sleighs! We hopped into our one horse open sleigh for our magical experience. We were taken through the gorgeous trees and around the beautiful snow until the carriage came to a halt. Our driver told us we could take some photos around outside the carriage and wander through the trees. Colin was keen so we walked until we came to the Bow Valley River, frozen over. We walked half way across the beautiful river when Colin turned me around and told me he loved me. I, being a massive ditz, just kept taking photos. Colin then told me that he was in love with me, I was confused as to why he was so serious. I told him that I was in love with him and thats when he went down on one knee and said he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. He pulled a box from his pocket and opened it so I could see the most beautiful ring I will ever lay my eyes on! At this point my heart was fluttering and I was crying with a smile. "Will you do me the honour of marrying me?"

I said YES!!!

I know! We are engaged! I cannot believe this happened!!! Especially after the night before, I just didn't expect it (apparently it was all apart of his plan)! Coming back on the sleigh with massive smiles, we took our horse and chariot back to the stables. They gave us liqueurs and chocolates to begin our celebrations!

From there Colin had more surprises up his sleeve. We caught a bus to the Banff Springs Hotel, the most amazing hotel I have ever stayed in! A giant castle to add to our fairy tale. We had a booking with a photographer at 5:45 and then a beautiful dinner at the Wauldhaus. We celebrated with drinks and champagne!! Our dinner was spectacular! An exquisite three course meal that will have us returning for sure!

Finally, we went to our room for more champagne and to call our families!

The next morning we had a magnificent breakfast! A gorgeous buffet to fill our bellies with delicious goodness! Our amazing server Barry found out we had just gotten engaged and got everyone's attention to announce our news and give us a platter of cake and chocolates with a Congratulations note!

It was the most amazing day of my life! I am incredibly happy to announce that I am engaged to Colin E. Martin! My best friend and my soul mate!! Thank you to everyone for your well wishes and celebratory messages! I am in love and will marry the most amazing man I know!

Our fairytale had everything except for a knight in shining armour - because he left his armour in his castle.

CHUCKTOWN: The Centurion Challenge!!

For those of you who don't know, the Centurion Challenge is a drinking game. One where you drink 100 shots of beer in 100 minutes. Every minute on the minute!

I don't actually know who started the idea but it was sure a damn good one! I found out on facey about it, 8pm in the Common Room of Chucktown. There were tables lined up together surrounded by the participants, not everyone had beer, there was also cider and wine being passed around as well. We had a tablet with a timer going off every minute and Gill (liftie) would clang a spoon on a pan for us all to drink.

I have to say, cider was harder than beer! Here it's 7%!! I reached 87 shots before running completely out of alcohol -- memo: take a lot more next time!

It was so much fun though! To have the music pumping, groups coming together and just having awesome fun! Afterwards we celebrated the survivors and those who lost all control of their stomachs. We danced, played pool and drank more with beer pong! Oh yeah - we also had the dance night theme "jocks and cheerleaders" but because the weather has been redonculously cold (-35 degrees) we decided to just dress up for the common room.

All in all, it was an awesome night!!! Congrats to all the newly Centurions!
If you're keen to try the Centurion Challenge heres the website with the rules and timer (remember to drink responsibly!) http://centurioncountdowntimer.com

***Photos taken by the gorgeous Sarah McCaffrey***