Vancouver trip wrap-up post

 

 

I’ve been back home for a couple of days, re-adjusting. Here are some photos from my time in the greater Vancouver area, where I visited family as well as playing tourist:

Jasper Vacation 2011

 

Unfortunately I’ve just about hit my 200-picture-free limit on Flickr. Does anyone have a pro account with Flickr? Would you say it’s worth it?

 

In Mid-May, my boyfriend and I went to Jasper, AB for a little over a week. It’s the first time I’d stayed in the Rockies, though I’ve driven through them several times. We hiked a bunch. And, I’m not much of a landscapes gal, but the mountains were indeed gorgeous.

 

Here are some highlights.

 

The three billy goats gruff?

 

The elk were habituated, so let us get very close. However, they wouldn’t stop mooning.

 

A raven’s nest in Maligne Canyon.

 

We couldn’t leave without checking out some of the used book sales – Jasper doesn’t have a book store, but they had small sale shelves in the art gallery, library, hotel lobby… here’s what we got.

 

If you do go to Jasper, make sure to hit up the Soft Rock Café and the Jasper’s Artist Guild Gallery, as well as climbing to Old Fort Point.

Help Japan

I’m very lucky and happy that my former host family from Japan lives south of the earthquake/tsunami zone, so are safe and fine right now. Thank goodness for the power of the internet to let me email Ayumi on her phone with my halted panicking message. Japan has a soft spot in my heart – my trip there after high school really did change me for the better, for the wiser.
You might be tired of hearing about this. But if you can, please give to the Red Cross to help relief in Japan. You can click here (Canadian site) or here (American site).