2 old blogs moved from previous blog site

17th January 2008.

We're having an...interesting day today. We tried to empty the black and grey water holding tanks (aka poo tanks) and are having some technical difficulties. The weather also got a little colder today, but it was a gorgeous clear day and the views have been stunning. We are in the middle of the Rockies! I will post pics but we are having some technical difficulties there also...unfortunately I am being left in charge of some of the technical bits (though not the driving just yet!!) so some are being tackled somewhat creatively.
Yesterday we did some great skiing at Sunshine and I wiped out in a massive way, but luckily the day before yesterday I bought a helmet. This was good because I hit my head really hard yesterday! John didn't see it, so when I finally came shuffling over the hill he kept taking my picture and yelling encouraging things....those are some grumpy pictures.
The Hot-Tub Deer continue to snuffle round the van- I think they think we're going to feed them (which we'd like to but I don't think Mars Bars and salami are good for deer). No more coyotes since the howling chorus of last night though. They love the trains (or maybe they hate the trains, but at any rate they like to sing along to the trains) so we have a nightly chorus from them.
Today was pretty much taken up by me limping round the van refusing to move my sore neck/knee/arm (*serious* wipeout yesterday, *big* wimp today) and trying to empty the poo tank. More on that story as it unfolds....right now we are heading into the hundredth round of the Intergalactic Scrabble Bonanza! You have to make your own fun out in the woods.
Em


12th January 2008.

We did our first day's skiing today (Saturday 12th), the day after John's birthday - and for his birthday he also got a 30ft motorhome! We drove to Banff in the middle of the Rockies, which is absolutely stunning, just jaw-dropping mountains and lakes, covered in snow and huge trees. Bee-yoo-tiful. The haipin mountain paths are a bit tense though - also we cannot really turn the thing round, so once we are going in a certain direction, we are going that way and there is no stopping us.
We're staying just outside Banff and we skied today at the 'local hill' (a mere 30 runs or so of blacks, blues, jumps and 4 chairlifts), called Norquay. Weirdly you say it 'nor-kway', not 'nor-kee', which immediately made it obvious we didn't know our way around the area. We are also staying just a few km from Mineewanka. (Sorry...but come on!!!)
We also saw a family of coyotes after breakfast today (just hanging out by our van in the park, looking....er, hungry really), a load of really large deer (one edging suspiciously towards the outdoor hot tub at a nearby hotel, and several jaywalking down the (narrow, icy, tree-lined, poorly lit) roads, with absolutely no concern for traffic.
Tomorrow we're going to drive to Sunshine, nearby ski resort, and have a go at that. It may or may not involve hairpin turns on cliffs with no railings and 200ft drops down canyons, but realistically probably will. We'll write it up tomorrow!
p.s. john is going to upload some pics in the next couple of days, some of which involve me, bum in the air going backwards down a mogul field. but some are of other lovely canadian panoramas.
Em