Serious Fun (or no one here gets out alive.): July 2005

The end for now...

Well folks it'll only be about 24hrs or so before we see most of you again. We arrive in sunny Heathrow at about 1:30pm local time after the 9.5hr flight and plenty of jet-lag to boot. We have to go and pack yet but we should have enough time! We've had an amazing experience. There have been plenty of ups and downs. We've met some great poeple who've been generous to a fault. We've cursed, sworn, cried, laughed and got drunk (and that was all just worrying about Cynthia.) We've seen some great sights and done some unexpected things all with the help of people we've met along the way.

Thanks to everyone who have helped us along in their own special way

Both of us!

And even went for a dip in the icy cold lake.

Saw more great views

Took lots of rests.

We saw some great views.

And even a Moose!

Lots of Marmots

We saw Grouse

'The Rockwall'

Another 5 day hike, this time in Kootenay National Park.

And Patrick & Hannah BY his Pops

Just to prove that Pops wasn't so pooped that he could not hold a camera, here are the dynamic duo en route to Elfin Lakes.

Patrick & his Pops

Our return trip to Elfin Lakes

Old man of the hills or sighting of the sasquatch

..either way it was very nice to have the old man pay us a flying visit after attending some conference or other. We picked him up from the airport and then headed into Downtown Vancouver. H and I are trying to save money and Dad didn't want to spend loads so we all ended up staying at the Samesum Hostel. A little odd for pops no doubt! We had a pleasent meal out that evening.
Wednesday we hooked up with Patsy who was very suprised to see us all and wondered over to Granville Island which is a better than average tourist trap between two of the large bridges that connect the peninsular of Downtown to the rest of Vancouver. We had a really nice meal and a few glasses of wine and tried not to buy any tourist tat although there was a lot of good stuff.
The following day we decided to do an overnight hike to a shelter at Elfin lakes east of Squamish. A 3.5hr hike in, all up hill, leads to a beautiful location as you will have seen from the pictures as its the same location we have just returned from. We stayed over night and had a brief day hike before returning, pops did well but did look a little pooped when we went for beer and yam fries in the Squamish pub. We drove back top vancouver and stayed at the Holiday Inn near the airport, this was a real treat for H and I who enjoyed the large bed. Pops jumped on the plane ;eaving us to sleep in on Sat morning. All in all a very pleasent little side trip. We're planning a 5 day hike to take up some time before we head home.

On our return to civilisation we were rewarded with a full breakfast!

A happy Patrick and Hannah. And no we are not wearing matching tops.

Unfortunately everyone left for work on the Monday but the three bums, Patrick, myself and Brenton stayed for another day and hiked to the top of Opal Cone, an extinct volcano.