A belated first post.

So lets start at the begining, sorry if my ramblings are disjointed!
I spent mt first 10 days in Calgary with a family friend, and was adopted by a lovely group of "wikers" - woman who walk but like to think that they're doing a bit of hiking. Went on 3 lovely senic walks around the vast park land that can be found in the heart of Calgary. It was amazing walking along the Bow River which was completely frozen over at parts! Downtown Calgary is definately better in summer if you ask me. This time of year, not quite spring but not really winter, it's all very beige. From the snow to the trees, everything around you is in that mucky transitional stage between winter wonderland and summer glory.
From Calgary, I jumped on a bus, that turned out to be 3 buses, as each broke down in some way, over to Vancouver. I arrived to glorious sunshine, wandering along English Bay you could look over the ocean to the snow capped mountains below the crystal clear blue sky. Stanely Park was alive with colour and fragrance with it's rainforest walks and chatty children. The hostel was really nice and very friendly, free breakfast always goes down well, especially when you can have it for lunch and dinner too! A couple of times we found ourselves walking through East Hastings which wasn't quite as idilic as English Bay and Stanely Park. Vancouver sees the seasonal migration of many of Canada's homeless, all flocking to the milder winters found in Vancouver and setting up camp around the city centre. This was quite a tough thing to see. They had a lot of outreach/sandwich ministries but it's hard to picture how this could help the hundreds of men women and children stuck on the streets of Vancouver. Back to being a tourist - most of the people I met in my hostel were working/looking for work in the city so I was left to spend the days exploring by myself or helping job hunt if I go bored. By the third day or so I was amused that I could walk around the main sightseeing areas - Gastown, Granville Island Market, etc - and bump into people I knew! Watching the sun set over Grouse Mountain from English Bay was quite spectacular and falling asleep on the beach always inviting until the last of the warmth had left the air at which point you knew it was time to hit the bars. We became regulars at the local Mexican bar which served the best nachos intown and plenty of good beer, mostly from the local Graville Island Brewery (their special that week was 'Scottish' ale). Sunday morning at 6.30am saw the arrival of my Moose Travel Bus. Of course, being me, I slept through my alarm, and the driver hammering on my door... Eventually I got outside and discovered there was only 2 of us going from Vancouver to Banff that day so it didn't really matter. Both me and Debbie decided that buses were for sleeping so we made it to Banff in record time not having to stop for food or washrooms! Then began our UN snowboard tour, an Aussie, a Kewi, a couple of Sweeds, a German, a Scot, a couple of Swiss, a .. Hollander? and a Canadian. We managed to make it through 3 National Parks - Yoho, Banff and Kootenay - and were blessed with the perfect mix of fresh powder and spectacular views. I of course spent most of my time at the bottom of the slopes as my knee gave out on me very early on. It was still a lot of fun. I got to explore the towns of Golden and Fernie up in the BC interior. Golden is like, the best place ever. Everyone is so friendly and knows everyone else (it's not been taken over by the tourists yet), it has the perfect mix of skiing, rafting and biking to keep anyone with any sense happy. Everyone has their prized snowmobile and their dog and the streets are filled with snowmobile jumps people have made. We happened to arrive in Fernie at the start of their winter festival, the Griz fest. The Griz is half man/half bear and he shoots his massive gun into the sky to bring Fernie its legendary powder each year, or so the legend goes. We were bribed by the hostel with a $10 keg and bbq party to join their internationally themed float in the parade. We somehow managed to win the award for best float, yay! We watched the local team lose at ice hockey which was very good fun - crazy mothers screaming lots. We also went to Radium Hot Springs. The water was 42 degrees and we were surrounded by snow. The perfect way to get rid of those aches and pains from strenuous boarding and drinking...
I left the moose bus in Calgary and headed out on my own up to Edmonton feeling very sorry for the people sitting next to me as I coughed and snuffled all the way there. I managed to catch traveller's flu while in the rockies! Not realising quite how far away the bus station was from the train station I spent a very long 4 hours walking between the two in the blazing sunshine. Then I set off on my first epic train journey between Edmonton and Winnipeg (18 hours). After a very uncomfortable night's 'sleep' and random chat we arrived in the very could city of Winnipeg. Once I settled into my hostel (which was in the middle of a big renovation and so was very bare) I set out to try and find some coffee to wake me up. I stumbled upon a very nice little cafe with super friendly staff who gave me a free ticket to the curling that afternoon. It was my first time watching curling live, I was of course cheering on Nova Scotia, and loved it! It seemed to go on forever as I realised how little sleep I'd had on the train but I managed to stay awake just long enough. That evening I walked along the river which was so freaky! I was convinced the ice was cracking! Next day I was adopted by a guy from church who gave me the driving tour of the city. We went to the Legistate Building where I met Premier Gary Doer completelly randomly and got a picture of course. Then we headed to the museam which was small but very well laid out. Back on the train and this time 30 turned 36 hour journey to Toronto. We ended up getting in after 2am which was not fun! Luckely I got a lift to my hostel so didn't have to think much that last night but I was met by roommates not so happy to be woken up in the wee small hours of the morning! Toronto is great! I walked a very long way all around the city and did the CN tower and the shoe museam, watched people skating on the harbour and a streetful of people queing up outside the library waiting for it to open. It was then just a short hop to Niagara Falls and a very friendly hostel full of English people! I went for a walk in the evening to see what was going on downtown - not a lot! I kept walking and got to the end of the main street and the followed the lights and accidentally found myself at the falls (a good couple of miles from the hostel!). It was light up in pink and covered in ice. Absolutly amazing. I walked down to the river (it being dark I couldn't read the sign saying strictly no pedestrian access and was following other people anyway) and could feel the collosal force of the water pounding down below. In the daylight it was even more spectacular. I can't even explain. Hopefully my pictures will have come out okay. I went behing the falls which was pretty much just ice and also up the Skylon Tower for amazing views across the falls and also back up to Toronto. Monday night was St Patrick's night and even the few people left in the 'downtown' area of Niagara Falls celebrate it in their single pub. Partied the night away with the 2 Irish guys in Niagara and lots of crazy old people and a guy playing country on his guitar (who was actually quite good).
Moving on from Niagara was a long journey. Had to get a very expensive taxi across the border and had to wait in customs for ages because there was only one officer on duty to interview all the forigners. Then there was the 10 hour journey to New York City which was delayed due to mechanical failures from hitting a herd of dear :( then the joys of a 5 hour wait in Penn Station NY chatting to random people who were also crazy enough to do the same journey (even if it was by accident due to the delays) and jumping on the 3am train to Washington, DC. I got here at 7am and then had to wait until 9.30 because I'd bought an all day subway pass and apparently it mentions in the small print they only work off peak. I was stuck having to browse the shops in the train station and spend all my money... woops! My hostel is absolutly amazing. Most expensive 2 nights but there's like a real bed, and breakfast, and coffee and nice people. I went to the Textile museam this morning and then wandered around to George Town (more shopping) before it started to chuck it down with rain. I have missed the rain! It's been weeks! Eventually I escaped inside to write this and here we are.