Travelog for: Shooga

Hi Mummy,
today I said good-bye to my friends in Remscheid. Katja helped me to pack some Haribo candy and to write a postcard.



I hope my trip will not last too long

Bye
Shooga

Hello Mom and Dad,
Guess what!
I arrived in Canada today!

I was greeted by Mr. Furrington, BineHH and Viper.



Can you see me?



Here I am!



We did a group hug. They are all really friendly.



I took out the candies I brought with me. My new friends and host were happy to see them and said thank you!



Then I said hello to one of my host's cats, Gaby.






I'm glad to finally have arrived here, I'm sure I will have lots of fun with my new friends!

I hope you are doing well Mom and Dad,
Love,
Shooga

Hello mom and dad!

The weather was warm and sunny today so we decided to go outside! We went to Mount Saint-Hilaire, which is about 30 minutes from my host mom's house.

There are a few trails that go to the top of the mountain. We chose to take the "Rocky" trail, which is the longest. It takes 4.8km!





After a while we saw some water... it was a lake!



It's called the "Hertel" lake. I didn't think there would be a lake on a mountain! It was nice.



We decided to rest a little.







I wanted to stay longer but we had to leave if we wanted to get to the top!











Hiking up a mountain is tiring! We had to take a few breaks to be able to keep going.







Suddenly the trail started going down... Had we taken the wrong path?



We kept going...



Suddenly we started going up again! Yay! (though our legs were tired!)



Only 0.5km left!





And here we are!



Isn't it nice? It's so high!



We can see the Yamaska rivers and all the houses and fields from up here!













It looks like we're closer to the clouds!



We rested a bit because we were tired...





And decided to make our way down.









...And we were finally back down the mountain! It was a lot faster to go down than up.





Time to go back home now!



I was glad to get back home and rest though, I was so tired! I hope we can do more activities like this soon, we had a lot of fun.

Love,
Shooga

Hello mommy,

Today our friend Bine had to leave us to travel to her next host.



We were sad to have to say goodbye to her, but I hope she will have a lot of fun in her future adventures.

Hello mommy and daddy!

Today my host mom and I decided to go to the shopping center!
The sky was covered in gray clouds when we got out... so we brought an umbrella just in case! The shopping center is about an hour walk from my host's house, so we didn't want to get caught in the rain without an umbrella!



On our way we passed by a school called "Institut de Technologie Agroalimentaire", which could be translated by "Agribusiness Technology Institute".







And then there was another school! The Veterinary Medecine Faculty of Saint-Hyacinthe. My host mom has a few classes there. It was pretty big!



This is the main school building, but there are actually several buildings since it is also an animal hospital. They treat pets, but also big animals, birds of prey and all kinds of zoo and wild animals. It must be exciting!





We continued walking and got to a small park.



I noticed a weird smell... like burnt chocolate! I asked my host mom what it was and she told me there was actually a chocolate factory over there, in the dark building behind the fence! So it smells like chocolate around here sometimes.



We continued walking.





We had to go under a small tunnel. Some trains pass on top of it!













We passed in front of the hospital.





There was a strange arch sculpture!



And then we saw a small map, so we decided to take a look.





We're at that little yellowish star! My host mom said the shopping center was just across the "Casavant Ouest Blv"... almost there!





Here we are!



Look, I'm riding with Tom and Jerry! 



We decided to walk around in the shopping center. It's a small town so the shopping center isn't really big...



Can you see me Mom and Dad?



And I even got to ride on a carousel!



It was starting to rain a lot outside, so we decided we should start walking back home...

But then on our way out we saw this elephant... and a meerkat was on its back!



So I asked if I could go on the elephant with him and he said yes.



He asked me what I was doing here, taking pictures in the shopping center, so I told him about ToyVoyagers and all my adventures! He was really excited to hear about it, so my host mom asked him if he would like to come back home with us and start travelling too... He said of course!



It was raining a lot when we got outside.



But fortunately, we had an umbrella!





We heard thunder and saw lightnings! So we quickly walked back home.





That was a fun day, even though we wish we could've walked around more... The weather wasn't really nice. :/
But at least we had fun and I met a new friend.

I hope you are doing well Mom and Dad!

Love,
Shooga

Hello!

We decided to do a cake today! So we looked through some recipes and my host said we should try making a mayonnaise chocolate cake. It sounded really weird to put mayonnaise in a cake! But she said it didn't taste weird and it makes the cake really moist so we agreed to try it out!



We started gathering the ingredients: flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, chocolate chips, mayonnaise, water and an egg.



Then we gathered a bowl, utensils, measuring cups and a measuring spoon.



Now we were ready to begin!

First, Viper preheated the oven.



Then my host mom's new TV, Axel, started with the flour.





Then I got to add the sugar!





Viper put some cocoa powder.





Mr. Furrington decided to add the baking powder.





I added the baking soda.





And then I had to mix all these together before we added more ingredients!



Axel took some mayonnaise to add it to the mix.





And Mr. Furrington poured some water.





I added the egg...





Almost done! Viper mixed the ingredients again.



And then Axel added the last ingredient: chocolate chips!



Mr. Furrington mixed everything one last time.



My host mom poured the mix into the mold and then we added some more chocolate chips together!



It's ready to go into the oven now!



It's cooking slowly...



And... all done!
It looks really yummy now! But it's late now, so I think we should wait for tomorrow before we eat it!

Hi Mum, hi Dad!

Guess what, I arrived on the other side of Canada ! I spent quite a few days in what seemed to be an abandoned mailbox , until today someone grasped my envelope and suddenly I felt a lot of activity around it .



As I came out I found a crowd of TVs welcoming me in Calgary . They are Sweetsy, Melek, Elisa, Tatanka and Tucker from Germany like me , Commodore Quack from Wales and sammino, a stay-at-home TV who introduced himself as my host here in Calgary . Of course, they were all impressed by the lovely card that I brought with me from Quebec .



But while it was welcome time for me, today it was also goodbye time as we wished a safe trip to Melek who jumped in his envelope and started travelling to his next host.

Hi Mum, hi Dad,

Today the weather didn’t look too good, but it was actually quite warm, so we headed to the mountains for a little hike...hoping not to get drenched by rain . The first part of the day wasn’t too exciting, until we started to see something between the trees.




Eventually we reached a ridge were the view was much better : we had some nice rock walls in front of us...



...and could see the Bow valley far in the distance.



We asked sammino if that peak was our destination, but he told us that it was just a little hump along the ridge .



On the way we got distracted looking at the many flowers, we really like these little ones .



At last we reached the top where the view was a bit of a disappointment .



It was so foggy that the only thing we could barely see was the ridge that we had just walked up from.



Interesting enough, despite the elevation, it was full of mosquitoes...and fairly vicious ones too. So we hastily found cover in the bag and left the blood thirsty bugs to feast on smaug .

Hi Mum, hi Dad,

For once the weather was gorgeous during the weekend so, of course, we headed to the mountains. After a bit of walking we reached our first view point, where we had the side of Mt. Glasgow just in front of us .



From here our path followed this nice valley...



...that soon became very wide.



At this point we had Mt. Fullerton towering above us.



From here the valley started getting narrower...



...and then even narrower and narrower . But the view improved: we had a good look at the back of Mt. Fullerton...



...and some glimpses of the top of Mt. Howard.



Eventually we reached a nice little cirque where we had a great view...



...and could also see the headwater of the creek that we followed the whole day, with Mt. Howard slopes on he right.



As we were ready to start heading home sammino told us that we were going to be bold and push for the summit of Mt. Howard. We were not that convinced about this being bold business , but once we reached the top the view was wonderful in every direction .





What a day !

Hi Mum, hi Dad,

Today was a big farewell day as we all gathered together to say goodbye and wish a safe journey to Elisa, Tatanka and Tucker who are all moving into new adventures .

Hi Mum, hi Dad,

Today the weather was gorgeous, so we headed deep into in the mountains . We actually left fairly early and slept comfortably in smaug’s bag until he woke us up (rather abruptly ) and told us that it was time to take some photos. So we came out and found ourselves on some sort of slope with a nice view on the opposite side of the valley .




Still we got a bit concerned as our presumed destination seemed a touch out of reach.



But we went on and, as we gained elevation, we started seeing Peyto Lake in front of us...



...and Bow Lake far in the south...it looked like this mountain was actually going to live up to its name .



And the summit didn’t look that far anymore.



Eventualy we got to the top and the view was spectacular . We could see Bow Lake and the Wapta Icefields in the south,...



...Peyto Lake just below us...



...and the valley heading north to Saskatchewan Crossing.



At this point, disappointingly, sammino told us that we had just reached a false summit and that the true summit was at the end of that ridge.



So we moved on and reached the real top, where the view was still good, but probably not as good as before .



But it was a nice sheltered place for lunch .



While eating we checked our daily progresses and noticed we were well above 3000 m, so we asked sammino if we were going to need oxygen masks , but he said that we were likely going to survive without them.



Eventually it was time to go back, but we took a final photo of our “conquest” before jumping in the car.



What a day !

Hi Mum, hi Dad,

Today the weather wasn’t really nice, but still it was warm enough to go out for a short hike...hoping not to get pelted with rain .  After some time between trees we started having a nice view of the Elbow valley in the east...



....and west .



Later we found a nice view spot along the ridge that we were following.



Eventually we reached the highest spot on the ridge, from where the clouds in all directions seemed to be getting darker and darker ...




...so we decided to hastily move back to the car .

Hi Mum, hi Dad,

Today we all said goodbye and wished a safe journey to Sweetsy, who is ready to travel home .

Hi Mum, hi Dad,

Today we went for a gorgeous trip to the mountains . The drive to the trailhead was bit long but, after the first usual boring tree covered part of the trail we reached Sherbrooke Lake where the view improved.



Here we had our first glimpse of our target for the day ...and the reflections in the lake were beautiful .



As we gained elevation we passed by some wonderful waterfalls .



Eventually we reached a little pass from where we could look back at the final section of the valley that we just left...



...and on the opposite side we could see glaciers .



The summit of Mt. Niles seemed definitely out of reach, but sammino insisted that it was going to be a walk in the park , so we pressed on.



And we made it! The view, of course was amazing . We could see Emerald Lake and the Little Yoho Valley in the west,...



...the Waputik Icefield,...



...the peaks along the Continental Divide in the north,...



...Sherbrooke Lake far in the south...



...and even the Bow Valley in the distance .



Of course, we all signed the summit log .



Once back at the car we took a final photo at Wapta Lake with the sunset light, then we fell asleep and left smaug to take care of getting us back home deep in the night .



What a day !

Hi Mum, hi Dad,

Today we said goodbye and wished a safe journey to Commodore Quack who is travelling to his new host .