Bruce and Filmore's Excellent Cross Canada Adventure

 When we decided to sell our house in Toronto and move to British Columbia, one of the biggest problems we faced was how we were going to transport our daughter's two turtles across Canada in the back of a Jeep, in sub-zero temperatures. She adopted them from a "Turtle Rescue Shelter" in Toronto. People give them up when they get too big. Sad, but true. Bruce and Filly are both about 5 years old, and Google says they can live to be up to 60, so we will be handing them down to our kids.

Leaving Our Home on October 29th.

Checking into "The Belmont Hotel".

Hallowe'en Visitors for Bruce and Filly

Practice run for smuggling the boys into a hotel room.

So we checked out of the Belmont Hotel(Thanks Kathy!) a few days later and headed for B.C.The leaves were still on the trees and it was about 11˚C.

We headed north and landed in Wawa about 10 hours later to stay with Cousin Rob and his family (Thanks Rob & Jamie!). It was below 0˚C. There was snow on the ground.The leaves were long gone. Here, Will and Callum meet Bruce and Filmore

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Bruce and Filly's first photo op, in front of the giant goose in Wawa.

The Terry Fox Monument near Thunder Bay, Ontario.
"Terry's Marathon of Hope took place in 1980 with the simple objective of informing Canadians of the importance of finding a cure for cancer. With fierce determination, he ran an average of 42 kilometres (26 miles) every day for 143 days. Terry was forced to end his run on September 1, 1980 when the cancer spread to his lungs."

Hotel Room in Thunder Bay. The boys were so noisy thumping around we had to remove them from the bathtub and put them back in their plastic aquarium.

Beer break. Doing Marty Feldman Eyes for Dora!

Cute Sign for the "Travel Mileage Post" Nephew Will Made for the Turtles.

Hotel Room Setup in Brandon, Manitoba.

Swift Current, Saskatchewan. We were getting pretty good at setting up the"hotel aquarium".

Portage and the boys at The Banff Springs Hotel. Useless Trivia, I got my hair cut there in 1976 when I was 18 years old.

Wild Bill Peyto welcomes me and the boys to Banff. While we were walking in Banff, I kept a lookout for a local girl with huge quads. That would be Dora's Friend Leslie (Banff Trail Trash)!

Ready for their close-up.

Mother is the necessity of invention. Keeping the turtles warm for the walk down to the Lake Louise photo op.We had to dig my boots out, I had been wearing sandals since we left Toronto.

Fromage!

 Funny story. There was a blizzard in Lake Louise the night we arrived. Next morning, we headed out for this photo. The parking lot is a couple of thousand feet from this spot. I carried the boys (in a towel) down to the lake, where a group of students from Scotland were chatting. When I walked by with Bruce and Filly, they went silent, then one of them said in a thick Scottish brogue "Did you see those turtles?"
  Portage explained what we were doing, and we all had a good McLaugh.

To cold for the boys.

Roger's Pass, British Columbia. Heart of the Rockies.

Getting warmer in Shuswap Lake.

Enjoying Sunset in Kamloops.

Getting close! Waiting for the ferry in Vancouver. Horseshoe Bay to Departure Bay. Lots of strange looks from the cars around us. Look how dirty the Jeep's window is after going through the Rockies.

Percy is disgusted by how dirty the Jeep got.Bruce and Filmore are in there.

Arriving at Grampa and Grandma's house, the turt's home for three weeks while we wait for our new place to close.

Curious Percy, checking out the boys.

Bruce, catching some sunlamp rays.

Finally home.

The ocean 2 blocks away. Couldn't resist.

Getting set up at the new house.

Bonus Pitcher. Nanoose Bay, British Columbia is home to the World's Largest Garden Gnome! We had to get this shot.

Where the hell is Wawa? Yes, the map is sideways.

So, 7 days and 5,000kms later, we made it. The turtles are happy and healthy, which is the main thing. It was a lot of fun smuggling these guys into hotel rooms and taking the photos. Some of the hotels said strickly no pets, but we don't think they meant turtles.
   Seriously, we already miss our great friends in Toronto, but are looking forward to this new adventure.We are mostly unpacked, but have been very busy.We thought the weather would suck here this time of year, but it's actually been pretty good.
 Portage and I have been running the trails when we can, and have taken some great pitchers. But that's a post for later.