for those that didn't know i went to Canada, via Seattle, with my mom on a vacation for 6 days and 5 nights. yes, it was a korean tour and my first experience with a korean tour. it's definitely an experience i'll never forget. our guide in WA wasn't all that great but our guide in Canada was awesome! his name is Andrew Shin, with Hana Tours (Click Tours in Canada). if you ever go to the Canadian Rockies, go with Andrew. the tour was in korean, but he speaks fluent english (although with a sligh accent), and his knowledge base is crazy!
anyways, here's the long, long, long entry (b/c of the pics - remember, it's 6 day's worth) - look at it when you have the time!
how can we get away from the mascot? oh canada ~
Vancouver, B.C. the streets were littered with light posts that had hanging flower pots like these. so pretty!
so this is the first ever steam-powered clock. there was a cute little 'toot' of the steam whistle every 15 minutes. there was a ton of tourists running around, but to be honest, i was a little disappointed...
Canada Place. the Vancouver convention center's right behind where i took the picture. if i turn to the right about 90 degrees, you'll see the following scene:
if you carefully, it says Canada Place on the street sign.
so this is across the lake... if you look directly behind me, there's the convention center and Canada Place. there's also a floating gas station on the waters for airplanes that can land on the water. it's like looking at 'where's waldo?'
so if you know your world history, you'll know that there's a lot of Aboriginal people in Canada (aka First Nations). we saw a lot of totem polls but these were right in Vancouver overlooking the city.
we went to prospect point and saw a ton of raccoons. apparently it was mating season and they weren't shy.
here's mom at prospect point amongst the flowers...
see the beautiful trees?!? they were everywhere in canada.
here's mom in front of those trees
so apparently, there's these moss that grow on the trees and that's a sign that there's plenty of aeons (?) in the area. ok, so there might be something lost in translation but aeons are like this energy or life-force and all i got from it was that it's crazy good for you. our tour guide was teaching us how we should breathe in with the mouth and exhale with the nose. all i know is that the trees were awesome and the moss was pretty.
now this is the start of the Canadian Rockies. the mt. behind us is Mt. Robson, i think the tallest peak on the Canadian Rockies. can you make out the glaciers on the top of the mountain? it's not just snow up there. it's the real deal.
in Jasper national park, this is Athabaska falls. beautiful falls that flows directly from a glacier with the same name.
the Columbia ice fields from the side of the road. it's a little hard to see the glacier, but look carefully:
here's a closer look. is it better? on average, it's about 300 meters deep (don't ask me to convert it. the rest of the world's on the metric system. but fyi, 1 yard is almost a meter)!
so here's mom in front of the mountains... can you see it in the background? it's a little hard. i think we were at about 2,000 or 3,000 meters above sea level. the wind was crazy.
Athabaska Glacier in the background. it's one of the largest hanging glaciers that we (normal people) can get to. awesome~
so in order to go onto the glacier, we had to ride a big bus (in the background) to the site, and then ride a big 'snow coach' onto the ice. it's specially designed to be able to ride on the glacier. mom's standing next to on of the six wheels that the snow coach uses. one wheel costs about $1 million US.
we're standing in front of a snow coach on the glacier. see how big?
the view from inside the snow coach... (this is at like a 75 or 80 degree incline)
on top of Athabaska glacier. can't really tell, but glacier's aren't smooth! but this was the snow that fell on the ground from millions of years ago! there's 100's of meters of frozen snow beneath me as i took this shot. i really felt small at this point, in the midst of all this history and nature...
here's me, with the other tourists in the background. i'm shielding my camera from the cold (it was freezing on the glacier!). do you see the people bending down? they're collecting some of the melted glacier water - supposedly the freshest, cleanest fresh water source on all of the planet! i suppose, since millions of years ago, there was no pollution... we drank some of it (no, i didn't get sick, neither did mom). 'they' say that if you drink one bottle's worth, it'll extend your life 10 years. we'll see about that!
just a sign i thought was funny. it tells of the step you have to take off the platform from the transfer from the snow coach to the bus.
Pyeto lake from Bow Summit (in Banff national park). this is about 2,000 meters (6,000 + ft.). look at the color of the lake! the picture doesn't do it justice. imagine milk with green coloring and that's kind of what this lake looks like.
this is from the same point as the picture above, but to my left. so put the two together, and that's the entire lake. if you look carefully, you can see the area where the green waters meet this gray waters. this lake is also formed from the Pyeto glacier, and the green color is made from all the run-off rocks and debris that the glacier cuts away from the earth, mixed with the glacier water and reflected from the sun... really, the color's amazing!
here's mom and me overlooking the lake. as you can see, the wind was not cooperating...
but was nice a calm for mom a little later. still Pyeto lake in the back, at Bow summit.
doesn't it look like a post card?
so right after we saw the above, we drove a little ways to Lake Louise. this is also in Banff national park. amazing lake as well. the lake supposedly reflects over 10 different colors throughout the day. this too, was a very green lake, slightly different than pyeto lake, but still very pretty. this was the one and only day we had a few drops of rain (if you can call it that). can you see the glaciers that the waters flow from?
chateau lake louise. this overlooks the lake. one night here is about $400 US. remember, that's the cheapest room. interior is amazing. so really famous people, like past presidents and queens, etc... have slept in rooms here.
this is the view 180 degrees from the top. this is the view that one side of the chateau lake louise rooms see... wow...
but this is where we stayed at. probably the best rooms all trip.
it was actually my mom's b-day and in the hotel at banff, we had this canadian rocky mountain beer, and toasted to her health! btw, very clean, mild tasting. don't worry. the two of us shared one can (this particular one), that cost $3+ tax (tax was over 30%!). i paid almost $4 for a can of beer in canada!
so this is in front of Bow River, where the film 'the river of no return' starting robert mitchum and marilyn monroe was filmed here. so don't ask me about the film. i've never seen it, but apparently, marilyn was there, and she also sang the song that carries the title of the movie as well. i'll have to check it out some time...
here's mom in front of the river and the falls...
this is across the way from the famous Banff Springs Hotel. there's a hot springs there that rail workers found, and the hotel was constructed 1887-88, and apparently, really famous people have come here as well. there's also a golf course, but the hotel refused to host the PGA's there, b/c it would bring too much damage to nature! wow, talk about green... i don't know how much one night's stay, but it's not gonna be cheap... i think you can look it up if you want...
do you see the little lake in the center of the picture, in the mountains? that's lake louise. we're up at a ski resort lift, over looking lake louise and banff area. can't believe mom went up on the lift.
we're sitting on top of the mountain, over looking the lake, in the distance, dead center, between mom and me. it's pretty bright so you can't see as well... i was soooo hot. i'm sweating in this picture.
Emerald Lake, Yoho national park, B.C., 25 miles west of Lake Louise. got the name from the color of the lake. this is one side and i'm standing on a bridge.
this is the bridge i took the picture before this one. tons of tourists, but still ever-so-lovely!
this is the other side of the lake, from the bridge.
and here's mom in front of the lake. i can't get over the colors on the lake...
and here's me. i was hot here too...
so there's this other tour that happens over a few weeks and they ride this bus. the big portion on the back side of the bus are beds. you ride through canada on a moving motel - you tour canada and sleep on the back of the bus. don't know if i'd like to try it...
after years and years of being thrashed by the river, this solid rock became a natural bridge. it's the Kicking Horse River in Yoho national park, and this is called 'Natural bridge.' creative name.
so on the road, we saw this mountain goat. it's the only 'rocky' creature we saw...
then, in the middle of nowhere, there's another lake. this is Three Valley Lake and on this plot of land, some old canadian build this motel. it's actually pretty crazy - there's an old automobile and train museum, a ghost town, it's own fire station, own electric generator for the entire site.
so the canada portion started from Vancouver (lower left past the map), we went through hope, up the 5 to Merritt, to Kamloops, and past this portion of the map, and then back down the 1, to Salmon Arm, back to Merritt and to Vancouver, and mom and i, we went to Seattle. the entire trip was almost 3,000 km (~1,800 miles) - remember from LA to NY is about 3,000 miles).
so... the Seattle portion of the trip...
had to go to the Space Needle... you can see almost all of greater Seattle area.
unfortunately, we couldn't see the mountains (it was a bit hazy), but a very nice day.
we went to Pike's place market
it was like a regular farmer's market
except for the fish! can you see the salmon that the guy's throwing to the girl? it's near the sign, in the middle of the picture. draw a line between the guy (who's back's to us) and the girl behind the counter. about the middle distance between the two, a little above both their heads: flying fish!
and we did the oh-so-very-touristy taking the picture in front of the pig.
they sold all sorts of thing there
but we only bought some cherries... yum ~
and who can pass up No. 1 shop of Starbucks? the original twin-tailed siren logo is still on there...
really, it's not very different than the local starbucks (except for the logo), but the line was too long, and we couldn't wait... so, we just took pictures and didn't taste the 'original' coffee house.
from pike's place market, this is the view of safeco field and qwest field... just for my little brother...
here's me taking pictures, and holding mom's purse. she's the one taking this picture of me.
so after we split from the tour group, we had almost 9 hours in Seattle to ourselves, so my dear friend Liz called up her sister, Esther and she met us there! the rest of our trip was with the Chang's (Esther and Sam - Liz's sister and brother).
we rode the 'ride the ducks tour' and passed safeco field. got a better shot for min...
it goes on land and on water! so this is the water portion
and this was the 'duck' that we rode. as you can see, it's base is right across the street from the space needle.
so after, we went to the Chang's residence...
and took pictures...
and more pictures...
and more pictures
and more
and more
and more
hahahahahahaha
just for you liz!
then we went to the crab pot!!! yummy! Esther, Sam and Elena took the two of us to dinner here...
here's mom and me in front of the crab pot
and esther and me...
inside the restaurant
our feast!
if you were there, you'd be wearing a bib as well!
Elena and Sam...
Sam and Esther
the happy gang.
this concludes the long long entry... just wanted to say thanks to the Chang family! Liz, thanks for calling up your sister. Esther and Sam and Elena, thank you guys so much for taking time out and spending it with my mom and me! totally appreciate it! can't wait to see you all again soon!
one last thing... awesome trip. it was a great time with my mom, but also spending time in nature and the awesome-ness of creation! wow... makes you think again about how small we are... something to think about. we have an awesome God that created such things and yet, holds us above all others... how privileged we are!
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