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The Canadian Rockies was all I had imagined and then some.  It seemed that every hike brought us to a breathtaking scene, in fine weather or otherwise.  Of course, there were often busloads of people at some of the more popular and accessible lakes, such as Louise and Moraine, as expected, but at times on some of the more challenging hikes, we would not see many people out on the trail and could enjoy the breathtaking views almost by ourselves which really was an experience. The mornings were early and we got to bed late as the sun did not...

I don't think I can pick a favourite hike out of the ones we did, they were all really different and all very enjoyable. The experience at the top of Whistler's Summit, where we felt like we were on top of the world and has the 360° view of the mountains, was definitely a highlight though. I also rate at the top the cruise to Spirit Island and seeing the Black Bear and the Bald Eagles on the way back from that. So many wonderful experiences and memories.9

California experiences a phenomenon of which we were unaware and that has been unusually prevalent this summer apparently.  Colloquially known as May Gray or June Gloom is the Marine Layer which basically results in an overcast day, blocking the sun and making it cooler.  It came as a big surprise to us as we always imagined bright sunny days with clear blue skies whenever we thought about a Californian summer.  It didn’t bother us unduly as we experience plenty of sunshine at home, but it did make our trips to Nevada, Arizona and Joshua Tree even more of a contrast...

My son loves a coffee, so while his lovely wife had to unfortunately work, he took us out and about each day to various locations which always included a visit to a coffee shop in whatever location we found ourselves. This of course often then meant we would be tempted by a sweet treat to go with said coffee.  Lucky we have done a lot of hiking and walking with a great deal more to come! During the week we visited some lovely places along the coast, including North Pinto Beach (I did the driving that day as Dean had some...

As we left The Grand Canyon on the morning of the Memorial Day Holiday, we witnessed a very long line of traffic waiting to enter the park which stretched for kilometres and made us very glad we were heading out, rather than in. Whilst I had seen my son’s photographs of Sedona taken in the winter, which were stunning, I was still taken aback by the arresting beauty of this very interesting place with its gorgeous red rocks.  We rolled into the town of Sedona in the early afternoon and found a steakhouse with the red rock as a backdrop...