meli-melo designs

Over the mountains

Emerald Lake

 

Oh mountains, how i love you. It is definitely my happy place. Along with the ocean of course!

We vacationed out in the mountains for 2 weeks. Here are some pictures of our adventures. Enjoy!

 

A natural bridge. The water owes its milky colour to all the sediments from the glacier (aka glacial milk).

 

Mount Revelstokes National Park: Meadow in the Sky.

We timed this one perfectly: plants were at their peak for the blooming season! The vista was speckled with all these multi-colours of flowers. I believe the mountain gnomes were the doers of this one.

Hiking in Mount Revelstoke National Park offers you the chance to explore the rugged Columbia Mountains. Mount Revelstoke's trails range from short, valley-bottom strolls, to steep, tough climbs. Some offer spectacular panoramic views of mountains from subalpine meadows lush with wildflowers, while others wind through stands of old-growth cedar-hemlock forests. Next time, I would love to the Eva, Miller and Jade Lakes trails and camp overnight.

The southern third of Wells Gray Park is traversed by the Clearwater Valley Road, although large areas are accessible only by trail. The dominant topography features volcanic plateaus, lava flows and deep canyons which are crowned by several peaks over 2,300 m (7,546 ft) high. The waterfalls, for which Wells Gray is famous, usually result from the interaction of volcanic eruptions and glacial activity. The best known is Helmcken Falls, the fourth highest waterfall in Canada, which plunges 141 m (463 ft) over the edge of one of these volcanic plateaus. So needless to say, we saw A LOT of waterfalls. Next time, I would love to camp out at Murtle Lake, a world-famous as the largest canoe-only lake in North America.

Dawson Falls

Helmcken Falls

Clearwater Lake

 

That much closer to Ryan's dream since he was a wee lad; go heli-skiing with Mike Wiegle.

 

Inconspicuous whimsical creatures on a wall at a restaurant. 

Whitewater rafting on the Sunwapata River.

Mount Robson Provincial Park: Berg Lake Trail

The Berg Lake Trail is a world-renowned backcountry hiking trail. Gaining just under 800 metres in 23 kilometres, the trail traverses three biogeoclimatic zones.

This trail takes hikers to some of the best scenery in the province. Beyond Kinney Lake, the trail enters the Valley of a Thousand Falls. Fed by the massive Mist, Berg and Robson glaciers, visitors often see huge sections of ice break off or “calve” into the blue/green, silt-laden waters of Berg Lake. Berg Lake campsite is 21 km from the trailhead parking lot. Use one of the campgrounds as a base and take in some day hiking or continue past Robson Pass campground for a challenging excursion.

We decided to do this as a day trail. My legs were not happy with me the next day!

Kinney Lake

... and Kinney Lake again. Now just the mirrored image of it.

Berg Lake! Yay we made it! Now to turn back and make our way back...

While we were sitting down having a bite to eat, we could hear the glacier grumbling and see little baby icebergs floating in the lake.

Emperor Falls

 

 

Maligne Canyon. Eroded out of the Palliser formation, the canyon measures over 50 feet (15 m) high.

 

 

Columbia Icefield... now that was cool! It is about 325 km² in area, 100 to 365 metres (328 to 1,197 ft) in depth and receives up to seven metres (275 in) of snowfall per year!

 

Well there you are tykes and trikes. That was a blast.
We may have noticed that my bike stays home when i go on vacation. The Polka Dot Princess deserves some rest. Well except when we are travelling for racing event.

Let the cyclocross season beging! Booyah!

 

Quick get-me-outta-here-get-away

Quick get-aways are the best, and that is exactly what we did April 25 - 29.

We left Wednesday evening after work via a short plane ride to meet up with our friend at the Calgary airport. Thursday was "Big City" shopping day! This is our chance to go shopping at stores that we do not have back home! This included Lacoste, Anthropologie (where they are hiring a part time window designer!) and Camper Shoes.

Then we were on the road to Invermere. Once we arrived, we were greeted by this warm inviting door of this lake front cabin from a relative.

TADA! A hot tub magically appeared in the backyard! Booya! And in case you did not know, hot tub have this fast forward built in time machine, honest. Not backwards as demonstrated in some movies. We went in the hot tub at 9:00 that evening and next thing you know it was 3:00! And that is exactly what vacations are for.. loose track of time.

Scratch and sniff here for fresh mountain scent. Hmmm... take a deep breath...

 

I love this sign. 

Friday we had some business to attend, Saturday was a day in Nelson and then next thing you know, we were leaving Sunday for Calgary to go to the airport to go back home. That trip was done in a flash... pooof!  

Finnish Goody Bag

I love goody bags, especially goody bags that include imported goodies.

Friends of ours came back from Finland from visiting family and where able to find room in their luggage to bring back some goodies for us! In fact, i like the unspoken arrangement we have with so many of our  friends. We bring back great food from our travels and they will do the same. There is just so much flavours and food out there to experience! And i want to experience as much as i can!

Our goody bag included mild and hot Finnish mustard, cheese and wine gummies. We have had that specific Finnish mustard before and it is fabulous. So good. Of course cheese made its way... that is a given when traveling in Europe. Must bring back cheese. Must bring back cheese. And then candy. I believe these are wine gummies shaped like Tetris blocks. I do not know what it is with the candy in Europe but they have so much more flavour and just taste better, or something like that. It is just good candy out there.

Mmmmm, fresh cheese on fresh warm bread...

 

Tonight was the first night in a almost a year that our swimming slot was for 90 minutes. Usually we are only able to have these slots in the summer so i am not to sure what went on but this is a "treat"! An entire 30 minutes more makes such a difference. Your body gets so accustomed to train a certain way and when you start to change things, your body has to re-adjust itself and think more. We all get bored when it gets too repetitive. Anyways what i am getting at, i have been swimming for an hour for such a long time that when i swam for 70 minutes, suddenly my calf cramped up! Oh how i ate those! It is one of those pains that hurts so much that makes you laugh and your toes just curl and the pain makes it way up the leg. I was able to stretch it out and swim the final 20 minutes but i had to be careful. That leg was not happy and pretty whinny. Hopefully it will be better for next practise. So excited for these 90 minute swims!

We survived the road to Hana

The Road to Hana is world famous for the natural beauty of its landscapes and waterfalls. Maui is understandably proud of its successful fight against the destruction of their Hawaiian culture. When you make the trip over to Hana, you'll see why it's referred to as The Land That Time Forgot. 

Here are some tips for the best trip possible. Now, this does not mean we followed them all...

Follow a guided CD tour.
Uhmmm, we "purchased" the CD guided tour titled "Road to Hana With A Crazy Canuck Ryan"

Bring hiking shoes.                                              
Most definitely. Ya, we learned our lesson by wearing flip flops through lava fields of La Perouse Bay.

Stay the night.
Stay the night? We blasted through the road to Hana in a day, but i would definitely recommend to stay the night at Hana.

Drive slowly.
With approximately 600 curves and 54 bridges, this is a crazy drive! With winding roads, blind turns, constant traffic, distracting views, narrow one-lane roads, cliffs, wet conditions, stupid tourist stopping where ever they feel like (!) Hana Highway can be dangerous.

Get the banana bread.
We tried a few roadside stands, in which some are better than others, but all of them are good!

Leave early.
This way you can beat the traffic. The Road to Hana is full of tourists throughout the day, but if you leave before them, you can beat the crowds.

Bring a towel.
And a bathing suit. Lots a beaches to go exploring and a good chance it will rain.

Bring good music.
That's a given.

Don't try and pack everything into one day.
We are your typical tourist, conquer all sights as possible! We should of taken things Maui style and stay where you like. But we did explore lots of beaches, played in big waves, explored a lava tube.

Treat everyone with respect, period. 

Spread the Aloha with big smiles and waving the shaka. 
Everyone on the island understands this physical language and appreciates it. And it seemed wherever you turned, there is always a rainbow in Maui.. Even a double rainbow at some instances!

Wow, i could just keep on going of things to do in Maui. Like La Perouse Bay, the Little Beach, the Big Beach, take a sunset cruise on the Ali Nuii 65' catamaran, whale watching, drinking Mai Tai's, .....

but i'll stop it at here, with a whale waving good bye!

Aloha Maui, till next time! You were definitely memorable and left me smiling every single day, all day long.

Water

This was by far, like billion light years far, the best part of our trip: scuba! I love water. Seriously, i might as well have gills and flippers and live in the water. There is something about being in water that relaxes me, makes me feel siren and so comfortable in this environment.

Before our trip, we registered on line for the e-learning PADI course. It was a 2 part course. The first part was the technical bits about scuba, which was done on line with all their tests and reading.  The second part was the practical bits. What was nice about the practical portion is that instead of going to a pool back home, we did it in the ocean in Hawaii! Now do not get me wrong, i still love to snorkel, but once you scuba, it places a different perspective on how you view the ocean.  Snorkeling in more of the 2D approach whereas scuba is more of the 3D approach allowing you to be fully immersed in the ocean.

To complete the advance open water dive, we had to complete 7 tank dive. We would do some drills, such has removing your mask, have a feel of how it is to run out of air, navigation, and then we would go exploring.  After we were certified divers, we went on 2 tank dives adventures. One at the Molikini crater and the other at the manta ray cleaning station. 

I will let these pictures do the talking for me because it is so magical under water and i really have no words to describe it. Especially when you can hear the whale sing!

Master of diguise, the frog fish. Can you see him?

 

White mouth eel. We saw so many different species of eels. We counted 7!

 

Master of disguise #2, the octopus. These are truly amazing and intelligent little creatures.

 

And of course, the green sea turtle.

 

This was a BIG fish! Unfortunately, i forget the name of it. I'll call it the Big Baba species.

Puffer fish!

 

White tip reef shark with his sidekick the Big George the Lobster! We only noticed the lobster once we were going over the pictures!

No these fish are not photoshoped or colour enhanced in any way.

A species of surgeon fish. Notice the little white spines near their tails.

Well there is nothing like this back home, unless we set up some salt water tank at our house. we are in the process of looking some scuba clubs and possibly joining them. This will help us to learn more about scuba, keep up to date with our diving and go to our next great scuba adventure!

On a side note, last night was my first day at the track since early December. Ugh!  Think i forgot my running legs at home! I hope i find them soon!

Luau

Since we where in Hawaii, there was no way we were going to leave without going to see a Luau. We went to the Old Lahaina Laua. Arriving at the Old Lahaina Luau, we were greeted with a kukui seed necklace (they use this seed to make the "ink" for the traditional tattoos) and my wonderful friend, the Maui mai tai! Already we are off to a good start! The grounds at this Maui luau nestle right up to the ocean, with incredible views.

 

Like at any family get together, we all somehow make our way to the kitchen and have the kitchen party. The same occurred here. The crowd eventually gathered as the Kalua pig is unearthed from the imu, a traditional Hawaiian underground oven.

 

After the imu ceremony, dinner was served. So much to choose from, from Kalua pig, baked mahi mahi, pulehu steak, chicken long rice, guava glazed chicken, stir fry veggies, fried rice, sweet potato and more.

The salad bar includes lomi lomi salmon, taro salad, pahole salad, island crab salad, poke, poi, fresh green salad and fresh island fruits.

 

The Old Lahaina Luau educates you about the history of hula, tracing it's routes from the kahiko to the more contemporary forms of hula. You observe the changes in hula during the times of the missionaries and due to the influence of tourism. Did you know that hula was banned by the missionary for more than half a century? King David Kalakaua is credited with giving hula back to his Hawaiian people, it was performed publicly at the king's coronation ceremony in 1883.

I would have to say that hula is a beautiful and Hawaii most popular performing art, and tells us a their story.

How do you like those coconuts?

hang ten

Well tikes and trikes, slather up some sun block and ask the person next to you to make you a Mai Tai. We are visiting Hawaii, well my Hawaii trip!

First up...surfing.

I have surfed in New Zealand and the west coast of Canada in Tofino but Hawaii was properly my favourite. But i must admit, i would love to go to Tofino in the winter, while there is a fresh blanket of snow on the ground, and ride the ocean. How magical would that be. BUT surfing in Hawaii is pretty rad because the ocean is warm and i did not have to wear a full body wetsuit to go surfing. Just my rash guard/sunblock top and my surfing boots. And of course, i was wearing a big smile, all day long!

I posted this picture because i had no idea there was a submarine behind me while we where surfing. I was that focused. Only until i looked over the pictures did i noticed the submarine. I wonder what else went on while i was surfing...

 

 

Still smiling, not even worried that i was close to the rocks. The waves where going to bring me away from the rocks, right?

 

 

Posing for the camera, well at least trying to show off a smidge. Gotta look good sometimes.

 

This was our instructor, Akima. I like to get a refresher class when i go surfing. Akima started surfing when he was 4, watching his dad surf. He never had anyone teach him, but taught himself to surf. I think someone should tell him that you are suppose to be surfing on your feet and not on your head...

 

I wonder if i could have a setup to have a standing wave in my bath tub... Hmmmm.