One of the main attractions on the Big Island is Volcano National Park.
It’s pretty spectacular, you can actually walk along the craters of still active volcanoes, you get access to lava tubes,…

Of course some areas are closed for public because of volcanic fumes.
The new eruptive vent in Halema`uma`u Crater, Sulphur Banks, and Pu‘u ‘O‘o vent generate high levels of gasses that may affect hikers. We did go there, but didn’t have any problems.

A road sign remains standing after the 1990 lava flows covered a large piece of Hwy 130 on the Big Island of Hawaii

The road in the picture above is also located in the National Park. In the distance you can see the smoke plume caused by lava flowing in the ocean. If you want to go to the lava viewing platform though, you have to exit the park and drive to Kalapana.

The platform opens around 5pm until 10pm. You have to call to check if the weather permits you to go out there. We were pretty lucky, because the platform was actually closed for a couple of days (just before we visited the site). Visitors were not allowed to hike up to the viewing point due to toxic and hazardous fumes. We were advised to get some flash lights, lots of water and hiking shoes. It wasn’t as dangerous as we expected but the authorities just want to make sure that visitors realize that they are walking on lava and there’s always the risk of cracks occurring.

The most spectacular time to watch is in the evening because of the colors (that’s also why they wanted visitors to carry flash lights).

The lava of the Kilauea volcano flows into the ocean and causes an enormous smoke plume.

The lava of the Kilauea volcano flows into the ocean and causes an enormous smoke plume.

As of February 1, 2010, lava has not been flowing into the ocean for at least 4 weeks.

Let’s talk about something else now.
We’ve mentioned before that we visited some of the Lost filming locations. In our search for some of those locations we also stumbled upon this nice place.

Waimea Falls after a flashflood causing the falls to turn brown.

On some of our road trips:

Rocky Beach on Oahu

A traditional Hawaiian hut in an ancient fisherman’s native village in Lapakahi State Historic Park.

A traditional wooden Tiki statue on the Big Island of Hawaii

Painted Church, Big Island, Hawaii

The second main attraction was definitely the Mauna Kea Observatory. Something I’ve always wanted to visit! The top of the mountain houses world’s largest observatory for optical, infrared, and sub millimeter astronomy.
There was however one little problem: When you rent a car on The Big Island, there are limitations on where you can actually drive. If something happens to the car, when you drive in those restricted areas, they will not come and help you (they will not tow the car). Any damage to the car will be charged. One of those roads was the road up to Mauna Kea. They strongly advised us not to go there.

We went to the visitor center and checked with the park warden. He told us that it`s not advisable to drive up to the top without a 4×4. We both were disappointed but figured it was not worth the risk. We did get a NASA patch from the warden (small consolation). It was an LCROSS patch, because on that day you could observe the LCROSS impact. Pretty amazing!

When we stepped outside the center we met some Flemish people. We started talking and they told us they were visiting Hawaii to support Sietse De Laeter who was a participant in the 2009 Iron Man.
Obviously they were also disappointed that they were told not to drive to the top. We were talking about the possible risks of going there and all of a sudden a guy from Calgary shows up saying that he drove his Honda Civic up the mountain and it wasn’t a problem at all. We thought: if he can do it, so can we! We teamed up with the Belgian couple and started driving uphill. It was a gravel road and pretty steep, so definitely no ideal driving circumstances. But the main problem was actually the fact that the peak was at 4205m. There was a chance that there wasn’t enough oxygen for the car to get to the top.

We did slowly approach the top. We were about to park the car and all of a sudden the engine died. Well, at least we made it to the top!!
At that point we were so happy to be able to check out the observatory, that we didn’t really care whether the engine would start again.

I was suffering from altitude sickness so I wasn’t able to do a lot, but Kris did walk around and got a very nice shot:

A panorama of the Mauna Kea observatory at 4205m (13,800ft).

In the end, we got down the mountain just fine. Conclusion: An excellent day!

I think this was the last batch of pictures from Hawaii. We definitely had a good time and we both agree that this was a very memorable vacation!

We started driving Thursday evening, direction Kamloops. We booked the Accent Inns for the night. Quite nice actually, pleasant memories! It’s the same hotel chain we stayed at (for 3 weeks) when we first arrived in Vancouver. Funny how all those hotels have the exact same interior.

Friday, early morning (way too early, but for a good cause) we headed in the direction of Jasper. We could have easily made the decision to go straight to Banff, but we wanted to drive along the Icefields Parkway. We’ve visited Jasper before in the summer which was nice, but not at all comparable to the winter scenery. We were even able to walk on the Athabasca Glacier together with Grizzly which was quit fun (and cold). The glacier is actually the most-visited glacier of the North American continent.
I’m not going to talk about climate change, but it is definitely one of the only glaciers I’ve seen that shrunk that much in such a short amount of time. There’s signs everywhere that show you the history of the size of the glacier.

For pictures:

Late afternoon we arrived in Banff. We decided to go for a stroll along the boulevard, just to be able to stretch our legs and paws a bit. Grizzly of course was over-excited and wasn’t too fond of practicing what we learned in our dog classes (aka: not pulling).

After our stroll, we had some dinner and headed to the Banff Upper Hot Springs.
The Hot Springs are in the top 10 of the best in the world. I have to say, I think I agree, the view is just amazing. Just what we needed after a long drive. And because Kris gave me a waterproof camera as a Christmas present I was actually able to take some pictures.

Kris and Griz

Kris in the Banff Upper Hot Springs

Hot Springs

On Saturday we drove from Banff to Cochrane to visit Olivier and Saartje. We hadn’t seen them in ages and it was really nice to catch up and talk about our similar experiences from the last couple of months.

They both prepared the most amazing Easter dinner at their lovely new home!
We started of with some appetizers (dates, stuffed eggs, olives,…), followed by lobster Gnocchi (Saartje, I still want that recipe:)) some very tasty ribs (prepared by Olivier) and of course dessert: the best brownie I had in ages and some wonderful carrot cake. It was actually the first time I tried carrot cake and it was truly delicious!

We were very well taken care of and we had an amazing evening! (don’t forget guys, we owe you big time! Thanks again!)

Enough talking for today, some pictures of our road trip (credits go to Kris):

Grizzly has a paw infection so we were obligated to buy some boots:)

On the road

Mountain goat, Grizzly’s best friend (NOT)

Athabasca Glacier

Taking a nap while we’re driving

Some of my pics:

Some coyotes in the distance

Town of Jasper

Icefields Parkway

So that was pretty much it. We’re planning to go on a hike on Sunday. We haven’t really decided where, but we’ll hopefully be able to post some pictures. Hope you’re having a good week. Enjoy the weekend!

I did celebrate my birthday, got lots of very fun presents and the good thing: Still more to come.
It’s quite funny when you live abroad, presents keep coming .

Kris gave me a book: “The Daily Coyote”. I have to say: It’s an amazing book. I finished it in less than a day, and I loved it! The book is about a wonderful young woman’s search for herself in Wyoming. She tells us about her daily life. Nothing special you think? Well, part of her day to day routine is raising a coyote.

If you’re curious, but not really interested in reading a book about it, then make sure you check out Charlie (the coyote) and Shreve’s blog at http://www.dailycoyote.net/. She also created a sister site: HONEY ROCK DAWN .

Speaking about wildlife and nature, we’re actually going away for the long weekend. We’re leaving on Thursday evening and we’re heading to Banff and Jasper. Hopefully the weather allows us to drive along the Icefields Parkway (on our way to Banff). It started snowing again, so we’re not sure what route we will take, since most of the mountain passes are covered with snow… I know it’s still a bit early for wildlife but, who knows, maybe some bears are awake… We’ll see. Doesn’t really matter though since the landscape is just breathtaking…

A picture from the archive:

Icefields Parkway

After visiting Jasper and Banff (and the hot springs:)) we also plan to go to Cochrane to visit some of our friends.

Lots of exciting things to look forward to…
I’m sure Kris will provide us with some really nice pictures in the next couple of weeks!

Hope everyone is having a great time, and we’ll hopefully be able to update this blog on a more regular basis from now on.

We were able to find a Bed & Breakfast last minute. We decided to go and explore an area so close to home, but one we’ve never visited before.
The ferry takes you from Horseshoe Bay to Langdale. It only takes 40 minutes, just enough time to get an “all aboard breakfast” on the ferry.

We drove along the Sunshine Coast, direction: Egmont. We were told to definitely hike up to the Skookumchuck Rapids. It’s about an hour hike on an easy trail. Really worth it. Go to Sechelt and visit one of the visitor centers to get a schedule of the best viewing times of the rapids.

Skookumchuck Rapids

Back to Back

Enjoying the sunshine

After a sunny afternoon we decided to head back to Sechelt and check out our B&B and enjoy the hot tub.
Upon arriving in Off The Hook B&B we were welcomed by Dave (the owner) and Chloe his puppy.

Dave and Arlene will try their best to make your stay as pleasant as possible. With an incredible tasty breakfast and lots of recommendations you are ready to head out for the day. After a day of hiking, kayaking, snowshoeing or …. the hot tub will be ready for some relaxing. The view from the hot tub is phenomenal and breathtaking.

The pictures below are provided to us by Off the Hook B&B.

One thing’s for sure, our weekend was way too short, and we will definitely go back in the summer to visit Dave and Arlene!

It definitely was an exciting couple of weeks.
It started of with a flashmob I’ve participated in. It is a large group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual and pointless act for a brief time, then quickly disperse. Together with a some friends I started practicing the dance a couple of weeks before the actual event. Because there were more than 2000 people attending, it wasn’t the most spontaneous flashmob, but it was definitely good fun!

Here’s a little video:

We went to see the Olympic Cauldron which was really exciting. It’s big!!

We also went to watch the Women Half pipe competition, which was AMAZING! It’s truly indescribable .
A couple of pictures below.

Entrance of Cypress Mountain

Quatchi and Miga: My best friends

Half Pipe

Hannah Teter

Half Pipe

Me at the Half Pipe

Moguls: where the first Canadian won gold on Canadian soil (Alex Bilodeau)

Just a quick update: Team Canada WOOOOOONNNN!!!! Canada now has 14 gold medals. A record!!
If you missed the big game, go here for a recap: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jr9j-MRTxz8
Go Canada Go!

Tomorrow we’re going to one of the nightly Victory Ceremonies where they hand out the medals to the winners and have a concert of a different Canadian artist every night. Tomorrow seems to be Alberta night, so they have an Alberta country artist named Paul Brandt on the schedule

We’ll be Alberta bound when visiting our friends Oli & Saartje in Cochrane, Alberta in a month and a half, so it seemed like the perfect song

On Thursday we’ll be at the Ladies Half-Pipe snowboarding event on Cypress Mountain, which we’re both very much looking forward to and this weekend we’ll spend the whole weekend in Whistler with friends experiencing the Olympic atmosphere over there. It’s going be a great week!

I know I haven’t posted a lot of pictures lately and I’ll try to pick that up again once I get some more spare time.
This picture was taken a couple of weeks ago in Callaghan Valley in Whistler which is right next to the Olympic Nordic sports center where the Ski jumping, Biathlon and Ski Cross events take place.

Alexander Falls, Callaghan Valley