Travel to Canada, Alberta, Jasper National Park.

We awaken the next day to yet another clear blue sky and hope that we’re not beginning to take it for granted. The scenery is breathtakingly beautiful around here but the glorious weather really accentuates that.

When I wander down to the lake in the early morning the mountain opposite has a tint of pink to it and the perfect clear sky means that everything I see above the water line is reflected in perfect symmetry below it. Perfect for pictures, especially with those canoes all wonderfully positioned on the bank!

Today we attempt to address the eating/exercise balance and manage 3 good walks, the first being around Pyramid Lake (next to Patricia Lake). A beautiful and quiet hike of about 5km. The crowds haven’t really made it out this far.

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Travel to Canada, Manitoba, Brandon.

You may be asking yourself; for a 'world' traveler like Ned, why on earth is she going to Brandon, MB. and more importantly why is she driving? Yup - you read correctly; I am getting into my little black beauty with the slightly dented rear end, and we are driving over 1150km to visit my best friend and her 7 year old daughter. Yikes. even that sounds weird coming from me. Driving, domestic and minors? Oh boy, she truly has lost her mind.

Alas, as I get a bit older and my friends grow with me, so do their family dynamics and I am still the single, ahem, solo traveler and it is much easier for me to come to people vs the other way around. I love my dear friend, and have known her since 1997 if memory serves me correctly and has been there through thick and thin, good and bad, boys and many, many bottles of wine. So I figure the least I can do is suck it up and drive to Brandon to visit for 5 or 6 days, child and all!

I left Edmonton at 07:00 and hit the Yellowhead fairly quickly. I had decided I would drive across AB, SK and MB, one Starbucks at a time (after all I do have the Starbucks app which works better than the 'around me' app I found). That was until about 40 minutes outside of Lloydminster I realized how quickly coffee works its way through me and had to literally pull over on the side of the highway for an emergency pee. Ah, takes me back to Nepal. Except with more oxygen, and moving motorized vehicles vs. yaks and much lower speeds!

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Travel to Canada, Ontario.

Ruth and I left about 10:00 for the drive to Carp. While most of the way is on the highway, after the turnoff we were in a typical Ontario town of tree-lined streets with brick houses and bungalows. Navigating was rather challenging because the cross-walk-painting crews had been out and had placed traffic cones across most of the street-corners where we had to drive. Fortunately, everyone carefully negotiated their way between the cones and the other cars. Our way led down a short, steep road. Because Ruth was making a careful right turn at the bottom, only I could see the sign for the Swan restaurant right outside the passenger window. She reacted quickly and turned into the drive.

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Travel to Canada, Alberta, Edmonton.

In 31 days I will be off to Lima, Peru to go on a 5 month trip to lovely South America. In a true naive backpacker fashion I haven't yet planned anything as of yet. All I have committed to is the date I arrive in Lima and the date I leave Lima. I have somewhat of a hazy plan of the countries I want to go to which include Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Colombia.

I had previously traveled to South East Asia in the summer of 2012 and had meant to write a travel blog. Unfortunately I did not have the discipline to continue with the blog so I am going to commit to one now. In the next 31 days I plan on sharing some practical information about packing, visas, budgeting, and tips on planning a somewhat unorganized itinerary. Hopefully you will be able to join me on my travels if I have the patience to write every week.

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Travel to Canada, Vancouver.

Next stop on this wonderful journey was the little railway town of Jasper; well it is a small town, but a major hub for the railways heading East/West and some to the North. This was also the first of the Fairmont Hotel chain that we were to stay in. This is a fascinating establishment that fits into the category of “it was a good idea at the time” or perhaps in hindsight “what were they thinking?” The best description I can come up with is it is a bit like a Billy Butler’s holiday camp with rows of cabins scattered around the curving roadways of the facility. After following one of the roadways , which were all in a poor state of repair, we found our cabin at the end of a row of 6 or seven and some 200 metres from the main building.

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Travel to Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador, Bonavista.

Despite the odds with the weather over the last few days, we made it to the Atlantic Ocean tonight! We are not quite to St. John's yet or the easternmost point of Canada and North America, Cape Spear. We will save that celebration for tomorrow. We are privileged to be in a quaint, scenic little town called Bonavista about 280 kms north of St. John's (where we hope to be tomorrow). We are so thrilled to be here and can't quite believe we have made it to the east coast.

Bonavista's neighbouring village Little Catalina is where our nephew Darryl's beautiful wife Leah was born and lived prior to moving to Red Deer AB and meeting Darryl, and is where they christened their firstborn, Addison, yesterday that we sadly missed due to a record 58cm of snow in Gander over the last two days. We were bound and determined to get here today. Leaving early this morning from Grand Falls-Windsor, we rode to Gander in 1 degree weather, on fairly dry roads, and through our first light snow shower Tim's in Gander NLof the day. We took regular breaks each hour simply in order to thaw out frozen toes that Minus 40 socks guaranteed for life cannot keep warm. First tea of the day was at Tim's in Gander, right on the highway, no snow tires for side roads required. The news was apparently correct - the snow banks in Gander were 4 feet high and most side roads covered. Those along the highway revealed moose tracks (no, we still haven't seen one).

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