Monday 11th May - A Bear Behind

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AIMEE - 8 TODAY

Today we started our Circle West Rockies Tour. We picked up the coach at Canada Place at 0830. We shared a cab from the hotel with an Australian couple who are on the same trip - and guess what - they disembarked from The Norwegian Sun yesterday and said they had a fab week, and even more of a coincidence is that we are booked into the same cabin as they had. How's that for a small world.

We have spent most of the day in the coach. Even tho' on the map the Rockies look 'just inland from Vancouver', according to Google Maps we have driven around 675km and we are only at the beginning of the Rocky Mountain range. The day started off disappointingly with rain with low cloud, which did not bode well for the scenery we were hoping for, but it cleared up after we dropped down the other side of the Coquihalla Pass, and it remained fine-ish for the rest off the day with one or two short sharp showers. We had 4 breaks in the journey - two short stops in the morning, a lunch stop in Kamloops and one tea-break. We arrived here in Valemount (Pop. 1195!) at around 6pm and had a burger etc at the local burger joint for supper. This village, although on the main highway, is very small and is surrounded by beautiful tree-covered snowcapped mountains. The words 'hick' - 'cowpokes' - 'rednecks' and (according to Terry) 'duelling banjos' come to mind.

Oh yes, almost forgot - wildlife sightings. We saw several beaver lodges and real live wild bears on the way - here is a pic of one of them disappearing into the trees 'The Bear Behind' :

[Terry and I saw 2 others before this sighting but the driver and tour manager ignored our calls "Bears to the Left" so we were unable to take any photos as the coach didn't stop. (We are sure they ignored us because they were not the first to see them!)]. We think they were 2 cubs, and were sideways on to the the road so it was a shame they were not caught on camera.

We are hoping to have more sightings tomorrow.