Canadian Rockies (2019)

Canadian Rockies – 2019

The Canadian Rockies Trip has been on my bucket list for many years.  We planned to go there for a couple of times but because of family matters we just had to postpone.

My cousin Lea and her husband Gil have lived there for some time now and we finally put it to work in 2019.

Day 1: July 19, 2019

Orange County, CA to Edmonton, Alberta

Our flight to Seattle was a pleasant one and so was our connection to Edmonton, Alberta.

Lea was waiting for us at the terminal as we landed, amid a thunderstorm that delayed our arrival.

Both Lea and I were very emotional, as we haven’t seen each other since 1989.  That is 30 years ago!

The weather, as I had mentioned, was not good, as rain and colder temperatures welcomed us to Canada.

   

When we arrived to the Lavi's home, the family was waiting to greet us.  There we saw Gil, their 2 daughters Rotem & Ya’ara and one of their son Dor.  This was the first time meeting him, as well as Ya’ara's husband Omer and their sons: (the twins) Lior & Ronnie, Yarden and Carmel.  Yes! 4 sons!!! We also got to see for the first time, Rotem’s son Nadav and the family’s boxer: Sky.

(The only member of the family that was missing was Bar, who was working the nightshift and we will get to meet him only upon our return from the Rockies.)

We were all excited and answering each other’s questions.

Shabbat dinner was served and it was great. Our conversations, memories and the excitement lasted till the early hours of the morning.

Day 2: July 20, 2019

Edmonton, Alberta to Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia

After a fantastic breakfast and some last minute shopping we headed out to start our journey.  Ahead of us today, were about 350 miles.

The road was just beautiful.  The fields filled with thousands of Canola Flowers, were absolutely magnificent .  We stopped in a couple of places for picture taking of the yellow fields.  They were spectacular: wide and seemed to reach the horizons.  The brilliant yellow blossomed canola flowers blanket the landscape and stretched for miles across the region.

           

I later on found out that Canola was: Once considered a very special type of crop throughout Canada but now many farmers across North America reap their own canola fields.  Between Canada and the United States, they will produce about seven to ten million tons of seeds each year which is then exported across the world.  Many years ago, canola oil or rapeseed oil was used for lighting purposes and soon many people realized it was great oil for cooking. Years passed and the oil was found useful for many other things and soon the quality of the plant improved immensely as well.

  

We entered British Columbia and passed Mono Lake, passing Native (Canadian Indians) villages and then arrived to Tumbler Village.  The time was 8:30 in the evening, still daylight with sun hiding behind some clouds.  We checked in the local inn and went out looking for food.  We tried 3 restaurants but two were already closed and the third one had a private venue.  We settled having dinner at the hotel restaurant but had to use some influence to be allowed in, as they were already cleaning up and setting for tomorrow’s breakfast.  Surprisingly, dinner was decent.

Day 3: July 21, 2019

Kinuseo Falls, British Columbia – Hinton, Alberta

Breakfast was served at the same restaurant we had dinner last night and once again was pretty good.

We checked out and went to the Visitors Center, right next door.

   

We learned few facts about the town: The 1,987 people who live there enjoy the peaceful anyone could look for in the country. About 20 years ago, dinosaur footprints, fossils, and bones were discovered in the municipality, along with fossils of Triassic fishes and cretaceous plants. 
The Peace Region Paleontology Research Center opened in 2003, followed by the research center and a dinosaur museum.

Tumbler Ridge is most famously known for its Geopark, which is on the UNESCO list since 2004.  The Crown Jewel of the park is also the main reason we drove all the way here: Kinuseo Fall, some 40 miles away.

        

We started our drive in a beautiful scenery road when we spotted a black bear munching on berries on the side of the road.  He was about 30-40 feet away from us and it looked like we had not bothered him at all, as he consumed his favorite fruit.

  

We made it to the falls and walked along the Murray River, and after about 450 feet we arrived to the most beautiful scenery of the waterfalls, its cascades and the river beneath it.  The river was split into 2 channels, creating a small green island in the middle. 

The falls measure 197 feet (60 meters), slightly taller than Niagara Falls, though it doesn't move the same volume of water as Niagara.

   

We stood on a platform and pictures taking seemed to be the main thing here.  A moderate hike led us to a viewpoint above the falls.  The views were spectacular.

On our way to Alberta, we stopped on the side of the road, next to an old church, preparing snacks (from food that we took from Edmonton and fresh bread we purchased in a bakery), when a midsize truck occupied by 2 Natives, stopped alongside and actually tried to scare us off, by declaring that they were “The Road Killers”.  They sped away right after their deceleration. The night before a terrible murder in British Columbia left 3 bodies (2 tourists and a professor) and they referred to that for sure.  (Note: since that date, the bodies of the 2 attackers were found).  Nevertheless, we finished our snacks and then left.

  

We re-entered Alberta and drove towards Sulphur Gates in Grand Cache.  A flooded road stopped us of entering the site and Gil explained to us that we would miss a beautiful and impressive cliff edged confluence of two rivers.  We promised him that we will try it again in our next visit to the Rockies…

We entered the city of Hinton and checked into the Days Inn.  The time was 10:30 pm and there was still daylight.  Amazing!

We had dinner in a nice restaurant called The Ridge and called it a day.