Hey Internexers! What a packed and stunning trip to the Rockies! This blog is going to be a review on the amazing countless things we did on this trip. So let’s start with the first day on Friday:
Friday, 14th of October
In the early morning, we met at the Burrard Skytrain Station with our totally experienced bus driver Terrance from Moose Bus Travel Network. We headed onto the road and made our first stop at the Bridal Veil Falls Provincial Park to see the beautiful waterfalls there. The falls were so thin and hazy that it created a nice atmosphere and explains the name. We then headed to the grocery store to pick up some food for lunch at the Lightning Lake. Although it was a bit smoky because of the forest fires happening at the US border, we enjoyed our lunch and the view. After we collected new energy from our lunch we drove towards Penticton to go onto the Skaha Lake with Stand Up Paddleboards. The feeling you get when you are on the lake and just enjoy a 360 degrees stunning view of the mountains is amazing! Fortunately nobody fell into the water because it was freezing cold! To conclude the day we had dinner together at the Kekuli Café with some Tacos and went to a Pub in Kelowna with Live Music!
Saturday, 15th of October
Since the Rockies are not around the corner you need to drive a lot, so we met early in the morning again to head on the road to Banff! The first stop we made was a historical place, because we went to the place where the very last spike was driven into the ground completing the Canadian Pacific Railway from ocean to ocean. Besides the fact that this place was so important historically we also enjoyed a beautiful river beside the monument and the trees slowly getting into fall colours of red and orange. After another bus ride we stopped at Revelstoke where we had lunch and saw a huge river which is called Columbia River. That one got a huge current so it’s rather dangerous to swim in there in the summer. When you do a trip to Banff in Alberta you actually pass a timezone. But there’s one exception with the town Golden. It is located in British Columbia but has the same timezone that Alberta does. That was a cool experience because you normally cross some timezones by plane =). In the evening we finally arrived in Banff and had a good lookout spot to watch the sunset in the Rockies. After checking into the Hostel, we had dinner and went to the Dancing Saskwatch for some club dancing! All in all it was a great day with a great ending!
Sunday, 16th of October
Sunday was Funday! We had lots of things to do on this day. We started with a tour to the most beautiful lake I’ve ever seen in my entire life: Lake Louise. It’s located 45 mins away from Banff with a beautiful mountain view around it. When we were arriving it was freezing outside and you could see frost on the benches around the lake. Next on the list of Lakes was Two Jacks Lake and Lake Minnewanka which were both so stunning! Did you know that there is a lost city called devils creek under the lake just like Atlantis? How crazy is that! The view was amazing and it was the best place to have lunch. Next we headed towards the adventure centre in Banff to rent some bikes. We did a really nice trip around a golf course and we even saw approximately 30 elks there! That was a moment I will remember for my whole life. Right now the Elk’s are in bugling season so you need to be careful when you are around them. But we managed to get some good footage which you can see in the pictures below. The roundtrip went on with a nice lookout spot and the last lake for today. We met up in the town centre in the evening to do the hike on Tunnel Mountain which gives you the best view over Banff and the area around it. We watched the sunset and ended our day with a dinner in the Elk & Oarsmen and a fun Karaoke Night in the Beaver Pub! That was truly a funday =)
Monday, 17th of October
Since Banff is far away from Vancouver the whole drive takes up about 10-11 hours with the car or the bus , so we drove a lot on this day. But regarding the fact that you are in the most beautiful country on earth you can just look outside the window to see the best nature. We did some stops in Golden, Revelstoke and Rogers Pass to sum up our big trip this month to the Rockies. We arrived again in the evening in Vancouver at around 8:30 PM.
During this trip I met so many nice people and have been to breathtaking places which I will never forget. I was so happy to be on this tour with this group. If you are interested in going to the Rockies be sure to not miss the next big trip there! =)
I hope you enjoyed this blogpost!
See you around,
Tino =)
Friday. I started off the weekend with a relaxed evening at Sunset Beach. Many joined INTERNeX’ spontaneous ‘Pizza & Sunset’ event. Favourite action of the night involved throwing around wooden sticks. The game is called Kubb, which is a famous Swedish outdoor activity. Even people walking by the beach stopped, took pictures and asked for the rules. I’m sure we’re setting a new trend here with this game. The night passed by quickly with eating pizza, playing card games, chatting and watching the stunning sunset. When it got dark and a bit cooler, a few of us went to a pub on Davie Street for a pint (greets to our English guys) and some more card games.
the weekend started. ‘Honda Celebration of Light’ was planned for the evening. Many people were expected to attend this great event, so we already headed to English Bay in the afternoon to reserve a good spot. Not the worst place to spend a hot day like Saturday, especially with good company. More and more people of our gang arrived and settled down. We bridged the time until the firework started with games, music and snacks. Then, it was finally time for the big show, which was prepared by a team from South Africa. They did a great job! It was beautiful to see the fireworks lightening the sky for nearly half an hour. On our way home, we accidentally walked along the Relish, so we took the chance and got ourselves a pint, of course.
Sunday. Literally. To cool down a bit, I decided to visit the Metropolis shopping mall for a few hours. A great place to find everything you need, including 888 paper mache pandas. These are part of an exhibition that is traveling around the world. However, the weather was too nice to spend the entire day indoors. A great outdoor activity for hot days? Cycling! The place-to-be to do so is definitely Stanley Park. After a short stop at the bike rental, we got our one-speed-cruisers and biked relaxed around the seawall. I was, again, impressed by the beautiful nature so close to busy downtown. Amazing! The weekend ended with Sushi (no pint this time ;-)) and a lovely sunset on the way home.
On Sunday, you have the chance to see hawks and owls up close. From 11am until 3pm, there is the hawk and owl show going on at Richmond Nature Park (11851 Westminster Hwy, Richmond). Admission is by donation, so why not take the chance to get to see those wonderful animals from a closer distance?
INTERNeX Canada 