kickthehorse.com- We’re kicking it hard!

Well, we have left Canada behind and are now sunning ourselves in Minneapolis, Minnesota….yep, the weather hs been fine and dandy since we arrived on Friday afternoon. But back up a bit to our last days in Canada….
WE left the ranch on the previous Friday after a wonderful time with Greg & Cindy, the kids, Jess and the ranch..back on the greyhound for another 4 or so hours…arrived very late into Vancouver, wet and rainy….dragged our heavy bags across a dark wet windy park, dragged them up stairs(we couldn’t find the elevator) then tried to work out how to buy tickets on the sky train…a lovely man came up and shouted us our tickets and helped us up to the platform and showed us which train to take….got to Granville St and dragged those darn bags another 4 or 5 blocks in the rain, up to the HI… the guy at reception gave us a few bags of ear plugs and apologised that the nightclub right under neath us would be loud and last till the wee hours…luckily for us we were so tired by then, we managed to sleep anyway. Brekky was included there, so we had a good one and set off back the same way we’d come BUT this time we found the elevators… the bus took us to the ferry terminal at Tawassen? then a 2 hour ferry ride then another bus down to Victoria…capital of BC. These ferries, ferry 58,000 people a day plus stacks of trucks, buses and cars. We had selected(ok I had selected) a B & B called Cottage Pirouette which advertised a hot tub, TV, choice of Canadian or Japanese foods…we rang for directions from the bus station and had to lug those bags another 8 blocks to catch another bus….thankfully the bus driver took pity on us and drove us to the door of the cottage…lovely Canadians !!! Unforunately, there was no hot tub, the TV was broken, the lady served brekky at whenever she felt like it so it was cold(try eating cold fried eggs sometime !!!) and the japanese cook was in Japan…. hmmm anyway, we made the most of our stay anyway…the best bits were the walk into town- about 45 mins around the foreshore of the bay, a day trip to the Butchart Gardens - they are everything and more that you could imagine.. I took stacks of shots of brilliant autumn colours et etc…. we had a special lunch at the gardens - an autumn special for $11 each - wow for a restaurant meal….we spent almost a day at thhe BC Museum which was quite good - saw an Imax film on underwater prehistoric creatures - then it was back to the bus station for the return journey. We got a late connection so could meet up with Jess at the Vancouver terminal as she caught the bus down to spend a few days with us. We had a hotel this time - but it was right across the road from the HI - so quite noisy but much more comfortable. WE did a fair bit of walking over the few days together - down to Chinatown - where we had a huge meal(and did take - home), the Sun Yat Zen Gardens, a harbourside walk to the Aquarium through Stanley Park _ I just love the squirrels _ did you know that there are black ones too ? the Sea ottersa dn the beluga whales were all favourites - we laughed so much at the funny antics of the otters and I didn’t want to leave…. but we had to… Our plane to Minneapolis via Denver left at 7.20am so we had to leave sleeping beauty in her bed at 5am… thankfully we got a taxi to the airport - an electirc car at that! and we were off on our travels again.
WE have had a very special time with Tim & Alison Auld and 3 of their 4 kiids - Meghan came home from Uni for the night, Brendon is just back from 2 years touring around the US as an actor and Rebekah is studying photography locally- we’ve known each other from old Sydney days. James, the eldest (Luke’s age) lives in Buffalo, with his wife Rachel and new baby Lucy.. but we got to see lots of photos of the little beauty. We had had a lovely time just chatting about the past, our OI days, drinking a few wines, taking a few walks and naps..on Sunday, we went out to Minnie Ha ha Falls… pretty speccie…and today we managed to d some shopping at the Mall of America - absolutely huge and complete with full size entertainment park with big dippers etc etc… it also boats an aquarium but we had fun doing a bit of shopping and then came home for lunch - got me a warmer jacket and vest for the cold up ahead and dad got some new jeans… later today we are off to another mall for walking boots for me and some books to read along the wayy… getting a few Jodie Picoult for us, Shells !!! Then we are taking Tim & Ali out for a farewell dinner - we are so glad we came by this way… and have thoroughly enjoying cattching up with these “old” friends - will certainly stay in better touch from now on !!!dad has really enjoyed being with another man his vintage (lol) to chat to.
Ali is into share trading too and has given me some good tips…she is doing way… and I mean WAY better - better than me at it !!!! so I have been happy to get some leads.
Next stop is New York, via Chicago…leaving on Tuesday 30th at 8.30am so another early start to battle with customs…..chat agin soon folks, love to all, Heather

Jess’s smiling face was waiting for us when we finally landed in Kamloops…so good to see her again our baby puppy !! We grabbed some food to eat on the way home - I bought a McDonalds thickshake and it was almost double the normal size we get in Oz !! we all couldn’t finish it. We tok about an hour to get to Ashcroft and then a short drive on, we arrived at the Sundance Ranch !! Yeehaa.. Cynthia greeted us very warmly and took us to our Rodeo Room, and brought us some wine, beer and nibbles to help us settle in - talk about being spoilt !!! and so it has continued !!! Great meals, good bottles of wine, great chats and today, we went for a 2 hour horse ride, through the foothills of the interior plateau where the ranch is located. The hills are steep and wooded in pines - although the pine beetle is causing immense destruction to the forests -and the Thompson River weaves through the landscape. There was a 2 train derailment nearby just before we came and we have seen some of the damaged containers as they are transported away. Rail is an important daily part of life around here and they run almost constantly through the region. Glenn and Greg have been able to spend a lot of time together - just chatting, playing golf, which they have enjoyed - even though dad beat Greg by one point (he he) I think he let him win !!!  One of the special things here is when they let the horses back into the fields at night. The whole 90 or so of them head off into the paddocks, kicking and running and enjoying their freedom…. it is such a beautiful sight each night.

We have had some deep chats as couples and resolved some past hurts/misunderstandings. I feel like we have gotten to know them so much better and also gotten to know Dan and Taylor - they are great young people and now we have spent some time together, I hope we will keep in touch more frequently. Dan is starting a flying course tonight which goes for 4 months and which will enable him to come to Aust one day to do a Uni course and become a pilot.

Back to our ride, Glenn & I, Greg & Cindy, Daniel and Jess headed out - I was talked into going by Jess and I’m glad I went, although I am a tad sore now !!! The views from the top of the ridges were great and the others had a few good gallops - I chose to be sedate !!! Jess now rides pretty well and was given some warm compliments from Cynthia, who knows her stuff. She was also complimented on the great job she has done here during the summer in the dining room…. I think that we all need to be complimented on a job well done - it validates a person and is such a healthy esteem builder. I regret not telling my kids and workmates more often how I felt about them - in a positive way. All too often, all we hear is re our mistakes !!! So folks, make sure you tell people how you feel about the good stuff too !!!

Jess was actually quite impressive and showed us how she mounts a horse Indian style - very nimble that girl. Whilst I’m saying stuff like this, I think I forgot to say how blessed and cared for we were by Luke - he was so generous and thoughtful to us - we certainly felt very well looked after - by both of them - and we had real good fun too !! I saw how similar Dad and Luke are like I haven’t before….it was very interesting to see their humour and approach to things is often alike.

Anyway, we only have a few more days here and then we are off to Vancouver and Victoria Island. Jess is coming down to spend a few days with us before we leave for the USA again. We have had a fair bit of time with Jess and are looking forward to her being in Perth when we get back in Jan. We have a B & B booked for 3 nights in Victoria - which should be a good base to explore the island and see the Buchart Gardens. When we are in Vancouver, we hope to see the aquarium and a few museums…should be fun. Anyway my fingers are worn down now so i will leave my bloggie here for now.chat again soon, Love me xox

We caught another United flight to Calgary - this time NO food on the flight..we found out before we left so had a hearty brekky. It was a smallish plane and we had to wait in a take off queue for quite a while - it is a very busy airport. We were too excited to sleep and just read and chatted the flight away. We found the security at both SF and Calgary to be quite lax - which was very surprising… we basically walked through with no checks. We grabbed a taxi to the Greyhound depot and had some dinner and a beer whilst we waited to board the bus to Golden.  Dad was so excited about seeing Luke again that he stayed awake all the way, singing every song he knew to keep himself occupied for the 4 hours. At one of the stops, we had a Tim Hortons donut and cuppa - I asked the girl for a white tea and she said she didn’t know what it was…so Dad cleverly said “make it a black tea with milk ” !! I think I was glad it was dark as we travelled as the Kicking Horse Pass is pretty scary and very steep. We arrived at the bus stop and there was Luke !! He took us to our Kicking Horse River Lodge  and then said we were going over to see his place…we were getting tired by now but we happy to go with him..he didn’t tell us that Sara would be there(it was actually her place) and that we would be having wine and cake for my birthday…it was good to meet Sara…she is very smart and pretty and obviously likes Luke a  lot, so that is all good !!! We eventually went back to the Lodge and crashed…we took it quietly the next day - Luke and Sara were both working, so we wandered around town and checked things out. I went in a march that night - called Take Back the Night, which Sara had organised as a part of her job. Basically empowering women to feel safe walking at night. Afterwards, we nestled into Taps and had a few beers and some food.. Luke met us there after work - he was working 2 jobs at the time, so was pretty tired too. Dad has taken a liking to the Tall Timber Beer…!!!

We stopped in and saw both L & S at their work places..and bought Em her Bday present with Luke’s help….you’ll have to wait and see !! We bought some groceries - shopping in different supermarkets takes a lot of time as there are so many different and interesting things to check out !! Golden is pretty speccie - surrounded by huge mountains - some with snow….which I love. On Sat, Sara dropped us up at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort and we went up to meet Boo, the grizzzly…I even managed to spot him in the bushes!! Then we took the gondola up to the top - it was so much fun…it had been snowing up there and there was plenty to play in - so we did !!! Snow fights, snow angels(took a great shot of dad’s) laughter and more snow fights…it was soft and powdery and beautiful. Took stacks of photos…… so many mountains….anyway, on Sunday we helped Luke and Sara move from their 2 apartments into their new home… it is small and cosy but adequate…a basement one. We had an afternoon nap and then got ready to go out to the Eagles Eye Restaurant for our special birthday dinner and wow, was it special…expensive but wonderful. The staff treated us to a free bottle of wine and a plate of desserts…yummy. The beef steak I had just melted in my mouth …a very memorable night. Dad had a mixture of pork, elk and beef. Luke had arranged to have the gondola stopped at its highest point and enjoyed scaring me by rocking it violently…so we had to get him back up the top with a few well placed snow balls !!! The staff actually commented that a couple had made snow angels the day before and they had been really happy to see this couple having so much fun…we admitted it was us and they were even happier !!! Luke has lots of friends in Golden - and is very popular - no wonder he likes it here !!!

We moved over to stay with Luke & Sara on their fold out..and had soem very special times …. we went for a bush trek and saw some breathtaking waterfalls, salmon spawning - they are bright red /orange when they swim upstream and man, they work hard getting past the rapids - we actually watched one fight it’s way up one section and when it made it through, we all cheered !! we then laughed at ourselves for cheering a fish ! We went to the Moberley pub for a meal, walked around town several times, went up to the Hot Springs at Radium and dinner afterwards at Jack’s (famous for his ribs !!), a hairy drive up Mount 7 (known as such because at the end of winter all that is left of the snow is in the shape of a 7) on a dirt wet road to see the amazing view…we saw 2 black bear cubs trying to climb a tree(so cute) and another larger one wandering around. We didn’t stay to watch long as we thought Mama Bear might be upset. Luke made an excellent job of the driving - a future rally man ?

We then headed off with Luke for a few days (Sara generously lent us her car). Banff the first night in a youth hostel(who’s counting our ages?!) and Jasper in a private home the next night - Luke slept or tried to, on the floor that night - our snoring was harder to bear than the floor apparently! We drove through the Kicking Horse pass  - even scarier in daylight but incredible engineering - went to Lake Louise, Lake Moraine - where we were thrilled that it actually snowed on us - so magic - along the Icefields Parkway with all it’s “”Amazing and Magnificent “mountians, glaciers and lakes. Finally got to see Twin Bridal Falls !!! although not much water flowing over as it is mid autumn here. We walked up to the Athabasca Glacier(say that with a lisp!) and were not able to walk on it this time - there is an undergound river / lake forming and it is just too dangerous now. The whole region is simply breathtaking. We drove up to Medicine Lake and Lake Maligne - hiked up and down the canyon and got some great shots. One of the lakes apparently has a mystery drain and the height varies considerably - it was almost empty when we were there. We saw a herd of elk - the buck had 3 metres wide perfectly shaped antlers - wow….. and the does are so doeful…We had some fun meal times and some good chats and did some shoping for Luke (ski jacket and “Bunny hug” (hoodie) and really enjoyed them all. We headed back to Golden on sat night and on Sunday, Luke and dad drove up to pick Sara from Calgary where she had been catchingup with friends. I stayed home and had a cleaning and washing day - it was a rare treat to have a day to myself. On the Monday we cleared out for a long walk whilst Luke and Sara(mostly Sara!!!) got ready for our Thanksgiving Dinner. It is an event that I plan to incorporate into our yearly celebrations - it was so good to pause and share with each other at the table just what we are thankful for. We had a wonderful meal - turkey, real cranberries, gravy, stuffing, mashed potato, turnips….hmmmm. followed by Pumpkin pie and apple pie, all washed down with a fair bit of wine and laughter. Sara had even organsied for her Mum in Regina to send down some home made cabbage rolls for us all ! So, we had a very memorable meal together.

On the Tuesday morning, we walked Luke to work and said a tearful farewell and then did a bit of special shopping and then Sara dropped us to the bus stop..it was hard to say good bye for we don’t know when we shall see them again.

So, we sat in very uncomfy bus for another 4 hours or so…. we got bumped off onto an older dumpier one as the new one was full… so , on to Kamloops - Jess, Greg, Cynthia, Daniel and Taylor and about 90 horses await !!

Well, as much as we like Singapore airlines, we disliked United !!! Hint - Avoid this airline if you possibly can… the seats are ridiculously squashed together, the staff are rude and unhelpful and the food crap…. we had a 12 hour flight…. we were fed a small lunch about an hour after takeoff…then until about an hour before landing, all we had was a bowl of 2 min noodles..no drink, no snack….Dad was starving and needed food with his meds, so I went to them to see what i could find…they were too busy chatting together to help, so I helped myself to some sandwiches I found in the galley.

Anyway, we arrived in San Fran and yes, we could see 100 metres ahead for a change…we had a hotel in South SF and we found the shuttle pick up and went to the hotel - the Good Nite Inn - but we were too early to check in, so left our bags and went back to the airport on the shuttle, then managed to sort out their BART system adn went into town - the machines were very confusing and we both got a bit frustrated with it. Bart stands for Bay Area Rail Transit..it cost US 5.15 each to go into town - so that became an expensive part of our stay in SF but we saved on our hotel…which aslo included free brekky adn internet.

We had to check out the Gap stores and after much consultaion bought some lovely baby things for “Pebbles” (dad has nicknamed the baby as he feels it is a girl - Bam Bam will be next!!) it was fun to choose soem things for it and some tops for Shells. We tried to find a place that dad had heard about where you could see the previous city buildings (before last earthquake) but couldn’t. I noticed that my feet and legs were feeling funny and when I took a look at them, was shocked how swollen they were… like an litle elephant’s foopies they were… so we decided to head back to the hotel and get them up. We had an early night as we had been awake for days. We stayed in on Sat as well, it was raining adn we decided to have a rest day. We walked our dirty washing into the small town nearby and used a laundromat - what was strange was that no one spoke english - they all spoke spanish !! and all the signs etc were in Spanish. We ate at a little cafe and then headed back again. We found the area pretty dirty as far as litter goes but in town, it was all very tidy and maintained. We bought a MUNI pass for the trams, buses and cable cars which we used extensively. We just rode them up adn down for fun !!! We walked across the Golden Gate Bridge one day and got a tad sunburnt - it is a good 6km walk, went over to Alcatraz one afternoon and did the night tour, saw the crooked Lombard Street, Wells Fargo Museum, Macys’, Union Square, Fisherman’s wharf and the very amusing and entertaining sea lions, shops, Italian & Thai restaurants (we really don’t like the tipping - especially when they add it in adn you don’t think they deserve it !!)….heaps of funstuff. We have had lots of chats with other tourists adn locals which is always interesting - where people are from etc…we ate a couple of nights at the local fast food places - they are so cheap..we had a full diner at Maccas for $6 one night - we had 2 chicken wraps, 1 chicken burger, 2 apple pies, 2 sundaes and a large refillable drink !!!) We saw some funny things, some very interesting places and odd people but overall, we really enjoyed SF. We would ahev liked to get to see Muir Woods adn soem redwood trees but no car…maybe next time ? !

We arrived in Humid, hot, smelly, polluted HK on Sunday morning, 16th Sept…after a great flight with Singapore Air - meals and staff were enjoyable… we managed to get a bit of sleep as the plane was not very crowded and we could spread out a bit. We caught the train from the airport to the city and then a bus to the hotel..we thought we were never going to get there as the bus seemed to be going in circles but… we finally did. The Eaton Hotel is very classy - the room was small but adequate - very clean and a comfy bed, hot shower….what more do you need?. We were pretty hungry by this stage so we headed out to try to find some food. We like to try the locals’ haunts so down a back street we wnet - the staff in a little cafe were a tad surprised to see us and were happy to figure out our sign language - I had my first singapore noodles - a lot currier than normal and I suffered for a few days after but it was good…we then had a short nap and then went out again for a night snack ….Basically we enjoyed eating at the “real” places - all good food adn very cheap beer - 600ml Heineken for about Au$1…we only had one meal at the hotel on the last night - they had a buffet and we made good use of it, especially the prawns and icecream….that night they had a guitarist playing adn singing who was really good adn we got him to play our theme song(Have I told you lately that I love you ?) Dad was crying away as he tried to remember the words !!! We walked heaps around the city - went to a few museums- which I actually enjoyed, went to the Temple markets, Ladies Night Market, soem big shopping centres adn bought a few small items for memory sake. We also took the ferry across the harbour - it is cheaper on the lower deck -and one day went on to an island called Lamma Island … it was advertsied as a family walk…WELL… it turned out to be a 6km, up hill and down dale slug, in very hot and humid conditions…there is NO way anyone could take a family on that walk…I thought we were never going to get to the end but we did and rewarded ourselves with a Chinese seafood meal - very unusual - and a few very cold beers. I learnt a few words in Cantonese so I could communicate a bit and the locals all seemed to find it pleasing that I was at least trying. I think they had a good laugh at times !!! Another day we took the ferry over to the business side of HK and walked all around …took the longest escalator in the world up to the top (it runs both ways but at different times of the day), saw Shelley Street, walked around their botanical gardens and small zoo - which was really fabulous and free ! Then made our way to the queue for the tram to the top of Peak Hill…the view would be great without the pollution but we struggled to see anything below as the smog is so thick(no joke!!) We had a few swims in the roof top pool after our long days out..and Jess - we found the Seven 11 had Vienetta icecreams for $1…. they are so good….lol. Dad got to watch a fair bit of the rugby as the tv was linked to the rugby site…it was funny that we would watch a match, go out all day and the same match would still be playing when we got home !!! We headed back to the airport very early hoping to get an exit row seat for dad but no luck. We actually were able to check the bags in at the train station which was really great. We then headed on the fast train back out through the smog to the airport hoping for fresh air in San Francisco !!!!

Hi all,

Well, we are now in Golden Canada and almost 3 weeks into our trip…. would love to have time to sit down and catch you all up on our adventures so far BUT we are heading out on another adventure with Luke..this time we are planning to just fly by the seats of our pants(so to speak) and end up wherever we do - all we know is that we have to be back in Banff on Sunday night to pick Sara up(Luke’s lovely girlfriend)… and then we will come back to Golden to have one last day before we head off to meet up with Jess in Ashcroft BC. The 8th Oct is Thanksgiving here in Canada and Sara has planned a big dinner to celebrate with us. - even getting her “mom” in Regina to send over cabbage rolls !!! should be fun…so till next Monday…when I shall attempt to write a blog re all our travels..take care and be happy.. love H.