Our Family Travel Logs: CANADA:Whistler,dog sleds,cabins,Banff & Orcas: 4/17

We visited Canada in the April school holidays 2017 - spring! the bears were meant to be coming out of hibernation but it had been the longest winter in a decade - good for skiing but confusing for the bears. We had a great time staying in a float home moored in Nth Vancouver which bobbed up and down with the water, visited Stanley Park, the University of B.C. First Nations museum, Gas Town, and The Capilano Suspension bridge.

Next stop was Whistler which was a 2 hr drive north into the mountains, we stayed in Upper Village in a fantastic condo called Horstman House with a snow surrounded hot tub. We loved the atmosphere of Whistler Village, Whistler and Blackcomb mountains were fantastic for skiing and so beautiful with the snow draped fir trees. The Peak2Peak gondola makes it easy to move between both mountains and the Whistler Village Gondola manages to move huge amounts of people up to the top. Kids did really well - much better skiiers than us they were safe enough to go off together and meet up at lunch - interesting seeing what they got up to the GoPro! they love jumps and trees!

Wanted to experience the Canadian wilds so rented a log cabin outside Pemberton, not much in Pemberton apart from the colossal mountains including Mt Currie. The cabin was lovely but due to a non functioning pump we had no water for 2 days, still this added to the adventure. The kids enjoyed building fires and weapons and having a pot belly stove inside which really heated up the whole place. While we were there Oren and mummy went to a shooting range to experience this for the first time 'Whistler Shooting Adventures: real guns! realfun!' is their promo. What can I say Oren loved it, I was scared nervous but it was exhilarating. We then went dog sledding with 01 Canadian Wilderness Adventures who rescue dogs and train them. Eight dogs wearing booties eagerly pull you along sitting snug in a doona covered sleigh. The experience really shows you how much dogs are pack animals, and there are obvious alpha's.

We returned to Vancouver and used a Harbour Air sea plane to fly to Vancouver Island about 40mins away. In the sky you can appreciate how many islands line the coast of B.C. Vancouver Island was settled before Vancouver so has an old world charm to it lots of old buildings including The Empress Fairmont Hotel.

We had high tea at The Empress, explored the small harbour on cute ferries, and went on an Orca Spirit Adventures zodiac boat in search of the killer whale - wearing Michelin man buoyancy suites which still didn't keep you warm on the freezing water.

The family then flew to Calgary to pick up a Jeep and drove through the sea of houses and the prairies to the Rocky Mountains mainly Banff Township and Lake Louise in the UNESCO protected Banff National Park. The drive is through spectacular mountain scenery, loved the atmosphere of Banff Township which is set up well for the tourist lots of shops, restaurants and history with a majestic backdrop. We stayed at the famous Fairmont Lake Louise which was nice but the aquamarine lake was frozen over.

Our holiday came to an end quickly and as we were driving home on our last day in Canada we were lamenting about how we hadn't seen a bear, thats when I decided to pull over to take a final scenery shot when we heard another driver saying that they had just seen one. Amazingly a lone bear was running along the shores of a stream in the distance which I managed to photograph, as I was doing this Alex said look there's some moose and sure enough some other much wanted to see native fauna appeared. We felt pretty lucky to finally see some Canadian wild life.

Our float home in Nth Vancouver.

Inside the float home.

Fantastic tapas restaurant in Nth Vancouver.

Stanley Park is 1000 acres right in Vancouver and has a dense forest of great trees.

The Vancouver Aquarium - ended up being controversial to visit - a very loud protest involving police appeared out the front by the time we left. Finding out more we learnt that 5Beluga Whales had died over recent years the last one in 11/16, autopsy reports that had just been released indicated toxic exposure. Public pressure lead to the decision to not continue with the exhibit.

Stanley's Bar and Grill

The Steam Clock in Gastown - old district in Vancouver.

Joe Pizza in Gastown.

Capilano suspension bridge.

450 feet suspension bridge built originally in 1889 named after the First Nations Capilano people.

Me totem!

Western Red Cedar, Western Hemlock, Douglas Fir.

MOA Museum of Anthropology at UBC

The museum stores many First Nations people artifacts and explains the impact of colonisation. Totem poles were made to symbolise family groups often carved and erected at Potlatch giving gatherings - which were banned from 1885 to 1951 the culture and skills nearly lost. The First Nations people went through a political process similar to the American civil rights movement, a famous First Nations Haida artist Bill Reid brought warranted attention to the struggles of his people.

Bill Reid - The Raven and the First Men sculpture.

Replica of a Haida house at UBC.

Cute squirrel at UBC.

Inukshuk traditional Inuit sculptures that show the way - a number of them are scattered across the mountains and this one is in the village.

Horstman House - you can ski in at the back in Winter off Blackcomb.

Our lounge at Horstman

Horstman lobby.

Horstman hot tub and pool.

Oren found a snow ball making gun!

View from our condo.

The Peak2Peak Gondola - it takes 11mins to cross.

Oren is the camouflaged Ninja in the background.

The Black Tusk in the distance, a volcanic cone.

Chickpea hut - loved the hot gooey cinnamon buns.

Whistler was host of the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Kids loved the tree obstacle course!

Blackcomb food hall - Rendezvous

Nita Lake frozen over just out side of Whistler.

Nita Lodge we went to for a yummy dinner - Oren and mummy had dear!

Whistler village Gnarly Roots Pizza

The village.

Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory

El Mexican Whistler - loved the sombreros!

Went to the Squamish & Lilwat Cultural Centre in Whistler

Learnt about the 'Where are the Children' Canada's 'Stolen Generation'. First Nations children were taken away and sent to Residential Schools across the nation to be civilised, practices that were justified by the before and after photos in the late 1800's. The last residential school shut down in 1996.