Emcee Murdah

Last weekend we ventured out for our first taste of the Victoria nightlife. Yes, it's a been awhile since we've been out. We caught the closing date of K-Os's Canadian tour at Sugar Nightclub. Red1 formerly of The Rascalz opened with the crew from his new label.

Red1 (in the stripes) and the KillaWatt crew.

It was a pretty good show, heavy on the new album, but with all the hits you would expect. He had a full rock-band on stage with him and the crowd was loving it all night.

K-Os is in the thick of things.

We didn't really get any good pictures. The crowd wasn't the friendliest and it wasn't worth the hassle to get up front. A fun night out though, and his new album Atlantis is defintiely worth a few spins.

Let it Snow!

The weather in Victoria this November has been very consistent... it rains... everyday. While it usually does not rain all day, it definitely rains every day. From my understanding, we have set new records for rainfall in November.

That being said, you can imagine the surprise when we first caught a glimpse of the snow falling outside. And we are not talking a few snowflakes... I am talking several inches of wet, heavy snow. Of course, I made sure to snap a few photos. And let it be known that the pictures were taken well before the snow stopped falling. Actually, I am not sure it has stopped snowing.

View from our apartment.

We did venture out for a drive to the nearby mall, only to discover things like ploughs and salt trucks were nowhere in sight. A trip that would generally take only a few minutes took nearly 30 minutes. It is one big skating rink out there - good thing I brought my skates! I may need them for the walk to work in the morning.

The Road.

See the Salmon Run

Now that the Canada trip is all posted and out of the way, we will start sharing more of the fun things we have been doing around here. We have been up to a few things, like checking out the view from Mount Douglas and spending a weekend in Vancouver, but here is what we were up to this weekend. We were in search of Salmon.

Our search first took us to the Sooke River. We succeeding in getting drenched from the rain but no Salmon were to be found.

Brenda on the banks of Sooke River.

We persevered in our search and headed to Goldstream Provincial Park. This time we would not be let down. There were tons (and tons) of fishies! Our pictures do not do the spectacle justice, but here are a few anyway.

Go fishies go!

Fish out of water!

George, George, George of the Jungle...

Remember our first post that showed a skimpy waterfall with Cam in the front? Well, that same waterfall has gained some force with the recent rains. Look at it now.

BC's Niagara Falls

Niagara Creek.

Cross Canada Trip - The End!

Day 10 - Revelstoke to Vancouver

7:38 am - Well, we are in for a long haul today. Spent the night in Revelstoke which seemed nice although we didn't see much outside of the liquor store & Tim Horton's. They do like bears, they are everywhere.

9:13 am - We just stopped at a random rest area on the shore of Lake Shuswap to switch drivers. Mother Nature treated us to her best display yet, a still lake with a mountain backdrop, jumping fish, big birds and a solitary beaver. We have now travelled over 5000 km and will be saying goodbye to Hwy 1 in a couple of hours.

Nice beaver.

11:03 am - We are just now leaving Kamloops and heading south on Hwy 5. Much to our disappointment it is a toll highway as we were informed by the lady at the Visitor Info Centre. She was a little grumpy but all-in-all we have found the people at the various Info Centres to be very helpful and pleasant. Especially that dude in Regina, he acted as if we were royalty, even phoning restaurants to check menus for us, thanks dude.

Kamloops (Loops of Cam).

Runaway truck escape lane. Yikes!

12:20 pm - So we almost ran out of gas and took a detour off Hwy 5 to Logan's Lake. We had a pretty drive down a winding 97C highway and are almost back on track here in Merritt. Big thanks to CAA and the Triptik, we would be having a lot less fun without it.

2:14 pm - After a quick stop for lunch in Hope we are back on Hwy 1 to Van City. Our restaurant misfortune continues, welcome to McDonald's, we have no fries.

Day 11 - Vancouver to Victoria

3:40 pm - Wow, a lot of ground to cover: Upon arriving in Vancouver we were honked at and cut off by different drivers within 5 minutes, it was like we were back home in Toronto. We drove into downtown through East Hastings which is definitely not a good way to introduce someone to the city. Ghett-oh. We made our way to Rose and Kate's apartment where our Vancouver adventure truly began. Apparently they have small toilets in Vancouver. Plungers are $4.99 at Shoppers Drug Mart. This morning we went to the aquarium at Stanley Park and we both really enjoyed it. My favourite part was the BC Coast tanks and Brenda liked the Belugas. The Sea Otters were really cute too. Now we are parked waiting for the ferry to Swartz Bay.

Welcome to Vancouver.

Puppy love? No. Otter love.

Yet another Jesus imitator.

One happy whale!

Day 13 - Victoria

2:49 pm - On the ferry ride out we got to see whales, and Brenda was really impressed by the organization of BC Ferries. A little better than the Trinidad to Tobago run I guess. We spent yesterday trying to find an apartment -- and we did. Josh knows the guy we are renting from too. It is fully furnished and has a BBQ! We had breakfast this morning with my cousin James then went for a walk along the ocean. We saw some guys kiteboarding, it looked like crazy fun. There are so many things to do here it is overwhelming. Now we are off to meet Brenda's cousin Ryan in Esquimalt. Our trip is almost over.

Almost there.

Cross Canada Trip Day 9

Day 9: Calgary to Revelstoke

8:47 am - After a 4 night stint in the Calgary/Edmonton area, we are once again enjoying the sights of TransCanada Hwy West to BC. Haley & Brock were excellent hosts. We enjoyed dinner at another of Calgary's not-so-finest establishments, but the drinks and conversation made the evening. After my minor (ok, maybe not-so-minor) freak out about the state of the inside of the Loon, we gassed up and filled our tummies with Timmy's (never did find a decent one in Alberta) - we are on our way to Canmore.

Haley and Cam in Calgary.

11:41 am - Whew! We just finished a small hike on the Grassi Lakes trail in Canmore. We took the easy route since we're still not in great shape and should probably buy some hiking shoes before we attack anything too difficult. It rained on us a little bit but the scenery was pretty spectacular. The lakes have some really vivid blues from violet to turquoise. Even the algae was a really bright green. Now we just have to figure out what to do for lunch.

The green of the Grassi Lakes.

12:54 pm - We made the right call for lunch. The Grizzly Paw Brewery was excellent, especially the fries. Now we are back on our old friend Hwy 1 heading to Banff.

1:23 pm - Driving this stretch of the highway is pretty awesome. Canada kicks ass.

2:56 pm - I still feel a little woozy from our last stop: The Banff Hot Springs. It's a giant hot tub with the mountains as a backdrop. The water is actually cooled before it gets to the pool because the springs are too hot. A compatriot from Ontario was unimpressed, but really, what do people from Brampton know about having a good time. Brenda and I enjoyed ourselves, next stop Lake Louise.

Banff.

4:13 pm - Nothing like a whirlwind tour through Banff. We just detoured to Lake Louise - and she sure is beautiful. Gorgeous turquoise shimmering water surrounded by snow topped mountains. It was amazing. Now we are back in the Loon and off in search of accommodations for this evening.

Mount Victoria and Lake Louise.

'When I own all this land . . . '

5:58 pm - Driving down the mountains in BC can be harrowing. Brenda enjoyed the scenery (which included a mountain goat) and I will look forward to seeing the pictures. There is construction everywhere and we saw one crazy new bridge that I can't even begin to guess at how high it was. We stopped in Golden to switch drivers and I rewarded myself with some ice cream. Brenda could not eat her sub outside because there was a bear alert. Welcome to BC.

'Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!'

'The Best Place on Earth' - We shall see.

6:01 pm - (PDT now!) Brenda is a much calmer driver than I and she is smoothly making her way through Glacier National Park. It feels like we have been going downhill forever.