Travel
One thing that I will always remember and cherish from my childhood are the car
trips we used to take. Since I had aunts in Vancouver and Toronto my parents loved to
pack us kids into the car and visit friends and scenic places on our drive up there
in the summer time. Due to this I have seen a lot of Southern Canada and NW
and Central US.
British Columbia
My favorite area to drive through was driving from Calgary to Vancouver. Between
those two cities is some of the most beautiful scenary. The easiest way for me to describe
it is to compare it to the scenary in "Legands of the Fall" (starring Brad Pitt,
and Julia Ormond). The movie was shot on location in Alberta, but even this comparison
doesn't do it justice. It is one thing to see it in film and quite another to see it
in person. Standing in the rocky mountians surrounded by trees you realize how insignificant
you are to all that mother nature has created.
One of the most profound examples of this was a tiny town in British Columbia that had rebuilt
on top of a rock slide that had destroyed it more than 60 years ago. The first time
we had gone through there it had been dusk, and with the sunlight casting an a redish
glow, it illuminated huge car sized boulders piled up for miles around. It created this this eerie, awe aspiring
effect. Upon visiting one of the site seeing plaques on the side of the road we learned
that the rock slide had destroyed the whole town and killed everyone except for one girl.
Due to the size of the boulders people that had died that day, their crushed remains were
still buried underneath. Which made this town seem even more creepy.
Yellowstone National Park
On a brighter note, some other scenic places I have been to include Yellowstone
National Park. This is one of my parents favorite places to go. I have been there at
least 5 or 6 times (if not more). One of the reasons the area became a National Park
is that there are many natural hot springs and geysers in the area. The hot springs are
warm o the touch, but due to the large amounts of sulfer in them they smell like
rotten eggs! One of the cool things about having been there so many times is that from
the pictures we have taken you can see how the mineral build up has changed the formation
of the rocks.
One of the main attractions of Yellow Stone is Old Faithful. Old Faithful is a geyser
that builds up pressure and ejects a column of steam and water every 35-40 minutes and it lasts
for 4 minutes.
Yellowstone also houses a number of wild animals. We have seen antelopes, deers,
bufflo, and we even caught a glimpse of a bear. It is so exciting to see animals in
their natural habitat. You always know when there is s spotting because traffic will be
at a stand still and everyone in their cars gawking at the animals. We have so many pictures
of exciting moments when we saw the animal, to bad those pictures aren't exciting anymore!
Aside from all the nature stuff at Yellowstone, what I love about it is the many
diffrent types of people it attracts from all over the US and the world. You will see
license plates of people who drove as far way as Florida, and people talking
excitedly about seeing Old Faithful erupt for the first time in their diffrent languages.
You feel a sense of unity and kinship with all the people as they see
and experience the same emotions with you at that exact moment.
Niagra Falls
Another place I have been fortunate enough to visit on many occasions is Niagra Falls.
It is so breathtaking to see! The awesome amounts of water flowing over the edge is impressive.
Some cool things about it is that you can go underneath the waterfall and watch from a ledge close
to the river. Interstingly enough I have never seen Niagra Falls from the US side of the river, I'm always
on the Canadian side!
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