The big move - last part

I've added last photos from our big move. Those are from the last day of our traveling through Jasper National Park in Alberta. You can see them here.

the big move: day 9 - almost there

Today has been a very long day. It's 10 pm and we just arrived to the inn where we are going to sleep tonight. We crossed another time zone so our long day has been even longer. We have only about 300km  to go for tomorrow. Almost there!!!

I will post some photos tomorrow.

the big move: day 8 - driving from Banff to Jasper

We spent some hours in the car today. We needed to get from Banff to Jasper National park. There was so much to see during our driving.

Like grizzly bear

and lakes and summits

and glaciers

and many many more.

We stopped by in Jasper for lunch and at the playground so kids could have some fun as well. Tomorrow we plan to go for some short trails but it depends on the weather, it's starting to be more cloudy.

Monday will be our last day of our vacation. Even though I love our traveling, I have to admit that I've started looking forward to get to Vancouver. I feel little tired and I can see it on Ivo as well. And I'm also looking forward to sleep in one bed for more than 3 days. :)

I would love to say huge thank you to all of you for following our big journey and for all your lovely comments!! It always puts a big smile on my face when I'm reading your comments. Thank you!

I've added new photos to Exploring Canada photo album.

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Dnes jsme se přesunuli z Banff národního parku do Jasper národního parku. Cestou jsme viděli konečně medvěda, nádhernou přírodu a také pár ledovců. Zítra je poslední den našeho putování po parcích, v úterý už vyrážíme směr Vancouver.

the big move: day 7 - exploring Banff national park 2

Today we went to Banff National park again. We visited Moraine lake and took a gondola at lake Louise resort. The view from the top was breathtaking!!

Then we drove to Banff to take a look at the famous Banff Springs Hotel.

Tomorrow's plan is to move to Jasper and explore it a little bit. And from there we are going to move slowly but surely to our final destination, Vancouver. I've added some new photos into Exploring Canada photo album. Enjoy :)

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Dnes jsme opět zavítali do Banff národního parku. Tentokrát jsme se prošli okolo jezera Moraine a pak vzali lanovku v resortu jezera Louise. Nakonec jsme se ještě vydali do města Banff podívat se na známý hotel Banff Springs hotel. Nové fotky jsou v albu Exploring Canada.

the big move: day 6 - exploring Banff national park

First day of our vacation is almost over. We spent it by hiking around lake Louise at Banff national park in Alberta. We took 10.5 km long trail from lake Louise to Mirror lake and it definitely took our breaths away. The nature there and all the views were stunning! I couldn't believe how blue the water in the lake was! The color of the water is spectacular.

I created a photo album Exploring Canada - summer 2010  so you can take a look as well (it is on the right side bar). I just need to fix the names of the photos but I will do it later when I have more time and also a faster internet connection.

Enjoy! :)

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Dnes jsme se vydali na túru okolo jezera Louise. Příroda a okolí nás totálně dostalo, opravdu nám to doslova vzalo dech. Voda v jezeře je neuvěřitelně modrá, ta barva je naprosto úžasná.

Fotky jsou k vidění v albu (pravá strana blogu)  Exploring Canada - summer 2010 

the big move: day 5 - hello, B.C.

13 hours!

Yes, you read it correctly, we spent 13 hours by traveling today. And we made 1100 km! What a day! We are all SO so tired.

This is how we rock :)

The trunk is packed to the ceiling. And it is "a lot of fun" to put it like this every morning after our stays in motels/inns. Just ask Ivo ;) He has the best organizing skills ever! I would never ever be able to fit all the stuff there. And one photo from inside.

We hit the road at 8.15 am. The countryside was similar to yesterday's at the beginning but then it finally started to change. This is still in Saskatchewan. The prairies were endless and we saw thousands of cows out there.

 

We said bye to Saskatchewan and welcomed Alberta

 

I think if we counted all those work on the road signs, we would get a pretty high number, at least hundred of them in those last few days...

This beautiful view waited for us just a few kilometers behind Calgary. There in the far distance is the beginning of Rocky Mountains.

 

And here it is! Entering British Columbia, our new home province.

 

 

 

To this day we drove 3935 km. Our little vacation starts tomorrow. We are taking few days off of driving and we are going to explore a beauty of Banff national par. We are staying in Golden (it's a name of a little city) for 3 days so we can finally take some rest and enjoy being outside as well. I can't wait to take some photos from outside the car as well ;)

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Po úmorných 13 hodinách strávených v autě a 1100 najetých km jsme dnes konečně dorazili do British Columbia. Projeli jsme provincií Saskatchewan, přejeli celou Albertu a dnes jsme se ubytovali kousek za hranicí do B.C. Zítra nám konečně začíná malá dovolená, bereme si pár dní volno, abychom si odpočinuli od řízení a také abychom konečně poznali krásu okolí i zvenčí auta. Jsme šíleně unavení. Musím pochválit malošky, zvládají to naprosto úžasně. Od ČR jsme časově posunutí o 8 hodin.

the big move: day 4

I have to say that today's driving was the worst one. We drove through Manitoba and part of Saskatchewan and all we could see was an empty straight road and totally flat countryside with few trees every fifty kilometers.

Boooring (as Homer Simpson would say).

Kids were watching movie, Ivo was half asleep and when I was driving, I think if I took a book, I could easily read it behind the steering wheel. The only good thing was that the speed limit was a little bit higher, 110km/h instead of 90 in Ontario or 100 in Manitoba. We made around 740-750 km today and we are here

Tomorrow we plan to get to Alberta but we will have to take a detour since the TransCanada Highway is closed due to floods. It will be another long long day.

I'm so tired but I have to wait until the dryer cycle will be done so then I can finally go to sleep. Here are some photos from the day. We didn't make too many since we were driving most of the day.

This is the image we were getting most of the day...

I told you it was boring. You should see our windshield, poor bugs were making suicides on it all the time, I don't blame them. I felt like jumping against it after few hours as well.

And more emptiness...

These poles reminded me crosses.... They are there for all those bugs who ended up their lives on someone's windshield.

Just kidding.

Here is something sweet. Kids new fav, Canada doughnut from Tim Hortons.

I think the clothes could be dry by now and then I can finally go to bed. We had another time difference today, the day has 25 hours today ;). There are too many kilometers still ahead for us and hopefully the ride will be more pleasant and interesting tomorrow.

the big move: day 3

By a third day we made another 700 km, so we are at 2100 km so far. In the morning and early afternoon we got a few showers on the way but at the end of the day it was sunny and hot again. We stopped by at Tim Hortons for a snack and coffee.

We crossed a boundary between Ontario and Manitoba and have got one hour time difference.

We went through some action moments today as well. I was reading a book (Get lucky by Katherine Center - loved the book, I finished it later today) while Ivo was driving and suddenly he was slowing down. I looked up to see why and then I saw a policeman waving at us to stop. When we got closer to him he started showing us that we can go but the car behind us had to stop. So it wasn't us who got a ticket today... phew.

Then later on we got stacked on a highway. There was some collision ahead and the line was getting longer and longer. Ivo noticed that some cars are turning back and going into ditch next to the road to get to a small road which was located below the highway. The ditch was quite deep. So with a lot of adrenaline, we went there too and made it safely to the small road and from there we could continue with a little detour through local cottage area. It saved us hours of waiting on the highway!

We spend at least 8 hours driving every day so today we decided to make it more fun for kids and instead of finding a motel, we have chosen Days Inn for tonight in Steinbach, just a few kilometers from Winnipeg. The bonus was a pool with a huge slide and hot tub. Kids had so much fun! We had the pool just for ourselves and spent there at least 2 hours. It was definitely worth the long drive today :) Kids are already sleeping, the pool worn them out totally. 

 

 

 

 

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Dnes máme za sebou dalších 700 km. Přejeli jsme hranici Ontaria a Manitoby a dostali jsme k dobru jednu hodinu (časový rozdíl mezi námi a ČR je ted 7 hodin). Přes den nás zastihly přeháňky, ale odpoledne se to vybralo a krásně svítílo sluníčko.

Dnes jsme pro nocleh místo motelu vybrali Inn s bazénem. Děti se náležitě vydováděly a unavily, pomohl tomu také o hodinu delší den. Zítřejší plán je dostat se do Saskatchewan (další kanadská provincie).

the big move: day 2 (Monday)

Day 2 of our big adventure is almost over. We hit the road at 8.30 in the morning and our plan was to make it to Thunder Bay along the coastline of lake Superior.

The way there was gorgeous. We went hundreds of kilometers just through nature, around little ponds and lakes, woods and beautiful scenery and nothing else. Just a car here and there.

After lunch we decided to take a little break from driving and stopped by at Pukaskwa national park.

We took a trail around coast, kids had fun at the beach but soon it was time
to get back on the road. We made 730 km today, in total we made 1400km so far. We have about 3400 km to go.

Kids were exhausted, Katrin even took a nap in the car after the hike. Patrik was bored a little bit to the end of the ride but then he found a hat with pumpkin in this bag he brought with him and had fun with it. He was singing and making jokes. We've survived another long day in the car.

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Den 2 je úspěšně za námi a také dalších 730 km, za dva dny jsme zatím ujeli 1400km. Cesta vedla krásným prostředím, samé lesy, jezera, nikde ani živáčka. Byla to nádhera. Po obědě jsme se rozhodli, že se trošku protáhneme a odpočineme od řízení a tak jsme se zastavili v národním parku Pukaskwa. Po hodině a půl dlouhé tůře jsme se dostali zpět na cestu a jeli dál do Thunder Bay, kde dnes budeme spát.

the big move: day 1

After a quite emotional morning, saying good-byes to our neighbors and to our first house, we've made it safely to our first stop, Sault Ste.Marie, after 672 km long drive. Kids had their moments in the car but we made it thought.

Right now we are in front of our motel, guys playing soccer and Katrin and I chasing a local cat :)

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Babicky, dorazili jsme v poradku do prvniho mista a odpocivame. Mame za sebou 672 km.

the big move: moving day

So this is it.

The house is empty and our stuff's gone in a bin.The moving went pretty fast, we got a help from the moving guys, they were really awesome and in less than 3 hours all our stuff was loaded.

Kids wanted to help during the loading as well and they got a lot of chances to carry the light stuff. They were so excited and happy. Then later they were running through an empty house and calling: Echoooo, echoooo. Katrin told me today that she is happy that we are moving to Vancouver, Patrik said that he is a little bit sad but also very excited. I know we all will miss our house, it was our first one and we have so many wonderful memories from here.

In the morning our big road trip will start. I will try to post some photos here and there if I have a chance to connect to the internet on the way somewhere. But until then I wish you all a wonderful summer or winter, depends on your location.

I will end this post with some photos from today.  

This is the truck with our bin (ours is the bigger one - 12 ft).

 

Patrik was a big helper today and I think he's built some muscles for sure.

and Katrin helping as well

The guys had a lot of blankets in the bin so a lot of our stuff is protected. I hope nothing will be damaged during the move.

The bin just before last few items were put in there.

Katrin got a chance to sit in the truck. It made her day for sure :)

The last thing we had to do was to lock the bin and our stuff was ready to go.

Our big adventure has just started!

" A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step." ~ Lao Tzu