Sue in Canada: Part 2

Sue Smith writes....

Hello, everyone,

We have now left the state of Alberta for the last time and are
in British Columbia. Our time has gone back by a further hour so we are 8 hours
behind you. During our last weekend with my cousin Terry and his wife Carol they
took us to Spruce Meadows to see some international show jumping and a country
fair Canada-style. One of the highlights had to be the musical ride performed by
the Canadian Mounties. In their full dress uniform and on identical black horses
as they performed their moves to music, it was a spectacular sight. We have seen
some stunning scenery in the Rockies, the mountains are still snow clad on their
upper slopes which made it very pretty. We have been to Lake Louise and, our
favourite, Moraine Lake. We visited Radium hot springs, and although the air
temperature was only about 14 degrees, the water temperature was 39 so it was
very cosy in the pool, which is completely outside. We have heard that Canadians
often visit during the winter and sit in the warm waters with snow on their
hair!

We are now in Kelowna, in the midst of the orchard and
wine-growing area which is very pretty. We will stay here for a few days, then
continue on to Vancouver, arriving there next Wednesday. The weather has been
very mixed, with some nice warm sunny days but also a fair amount of rain.

We have seen lots of the local wildlife and different birds. We
have seen bald eagles and ospreys and, at the other extreme, tiny little
hummingbirds. We have spotted muskrats swimming in the rivers, columbian ground
squirrels (which are quite different to the gophers in Alberta), chipmunks, deer
(mainly white tails and musk, but I also saw one elk) and - the highlight - 4
bears (not all at once!) and I'm pleased to say they were all seen from our car
and at a distance. The first two were black bears, grazing beside the road, and
we now think they were not full-sized although they weren't cubs. The next two
we saw were grazing beside a railway line on a hillside above the motorway. One
was black and one brown, and they were much bigger than the first two. At first
we thought they were grizzlies but, having read the guide books and studied the
pictures again, I now think they were full-sized black bears which, confusingly,
can also be brown!

Well, that's about it for the moment. I will send a final
newsletter towards the end of our visit, probably from Vancouver Island.

Love to all,

Sue.