Travelog for: Sofia

Hello, folks! 

I am Sofia and I´m quite new in this toyvoyaging thing.
I´m very enthusiastic about this travelling idea and waiting my adventures begin! 

My mentor named me Sofia, wishing that I would grow up to be a wise little insect, but as far I have only become cheeky. 

I am a hover-fly and eat mainly honey, but also all sorts of jams and fruit are my favorites.

I´m small and light, so I travel very easily from one place to another.  Not that I´m trying to advertize myself in any way..



Besides I´m cute, am I not? 



Here I´m in our yard here, sucking honey from the flowers. 

See you soon! In some interesting destination, I hope! 

Hi Mum,

I am in Canada ! Today I felt some excitement around my travelling quarters...



...and when I came out I found two TVs waiting for me: HelgaHH who is visiting from Germany, and sammino, a stay-at-home TV . I showed to them the presents that you gave me and they very much appreciated them .



And, guess what, I wasn’t the only new arrival of the day . Late at night smaug disappeared and when he came back he had three more toys with him: two more of his TVs, Krystal and Landroval, and Sigfrido who looks after smaug's guest who don't stay here in Calgary...and they will be here for the whole weekend .

Hi Mum,

Today we went for a quick walk around Calgary downtown. We saw some of the skyscrapers ..



...a C-Train station...



...and these strange structures .



Of course, we stopped for food ...



...before taking a final look around and head home.

Hi Mum,

Today we went for a short visit to Banff. On the way we had privileged seats to enjoy the view of the mountains ...




...and just as we were parking, we met this big group of horseriders .



We had a look at our surroundings...



...and off we went in the middle of the Bow Valley.




It was very hot, so the river was really inviting us for a skinny dive ...




...but smaug said that the water was too cold , so we moved on and passed by this lovely wetland.



Later we stopped at Sundance Canyon, with it’s narrow gorge .



In the evening we took a ride on the Sulphur Mountain Gondola. Although the sun was setting, the view from the top was great . We could see the Banff down in the valley...



...the summit station of the gondola...



...and the whole Mount Rundle ridge .

Hi Mum,

Today we gathered together to say goodbye and wish a safe trip to  Sigfrido, Krystal and Landroval who are travelling back to Europe .

Hi Mum,

although we got some rough weather over the last week, today it was a wonderful day (a tad cold maybe ), so smaug took us up to the mountains again . First we stopped at the Norquay Ski Resort parking lot, which was pretty much empty.




As we moved up the mountain we started having a good view (getting blinded by the sun ) of Cascade Amphitheatre on one side...



...and of the of the valley leading to Elk Pass on the other.



Moving further up we started seeing Banff and Vermillion lakes ...



...the front face of Norquay ski area...



...and the valley hiding Mystic Lake.



While we were wondering if we’ll ever go there and be enlightened by some mystic vision , we noticed the more mundane, but equally impressive, amount of snow that the clouds dumped on the top of Cascade Mountain over the last couple of days .



So, before pushing for the summit, we decided to get a sugar boost ...



...and spent some time resting and laying in the sun .



Eventually it was time to move on and, as the track was getting snowbound, things got exciting..although I am sure I overheard smaug using very different adjectives to describe the situation .



On the way we started seeing Mt Rundle...



...and the Spray River valley behind Banff .



Still the summit didn’t look much closer...



...while the snow was getting deeper....great for playing .



Anyway, we eventually reached the top and we were also brave enough to take a few photos in the freezing wind. We saw Lake Minnewanka...



...the mountains in the west...



...and the Bow Valley heading east .



And that was enough of coping with the freezing cold for me, so I hid back in the backpack until we reached warmer elevations .

Hi Mum,

Guess what? Today was a holiday in Canada, so we could take advantage of the lovely long weekend weather and head again to the mountains .  After the usual long chilly walk at the beginning of the day, we emerged out of the trees and got greeted by a lovely little lake called Tower Lake.



From here we had also the first glimpse of our destination of the day, Castle Mountain .



Moving up a bit we reached another little lake, Rockbound Lake. As the name suggests , it’s fenced almost on all sides by steep rockwalls...




...which made us wonder how the heck smaug thought to get past that, but he said that the scree slopes on this side looked walkable enough.



And apparently they were, as we got to the upper ledge without any accident . From here we were able to see the Bow Valley in the distance...



...the summit of Castle Mountain...



...and Rockbound Lake just below us.



Moving on the landscape turned a bit “lunar” ...




...and as we approached the summit ridge some scary cracks allowed us to have a peek at the other side of the mountain.



Eventually we reached the top, from where we had a great view of the Bow Valley,...



...Vermillion Pass heading to British Columbia...



...and of Rockbound Lake, which now looked quite far away.



What a day !

Hi Mum,

Once again smaug left us home alone for a few days and disappeared on site. But that doesn’t mean that we aren’t enjoying our time . We have regular cereal based breakfast...with a touch of chocolate of course .



Then we check the latest TV updates...



...have nutella at pleasure throughout the day ...



...play computer games...



...and we are also eating strictly “Albertan” : burgers and steaks at every meal .



Let’s just hope that smaug won’t overreact finding the refrigerator empty when he comes back .

Hi Mum,

Today we said goodbye and wished a safe journey to HelgaHH who will start travelling to her next host in Germany tomorrow .

Hi Mum,

Today smaug had a day off and the weather was gorgeous so we went for a long hike . It was still a bit dark (and very cold ) early in the morning...



...but when we emerged from the trees things looked brighter and we enjoyed the view of the mountains around the valley leading to Aylmer Pass.



At this point we left the trail and headed up this gully .



When we eventually got out of it, we had a nice view over Lake Minnewanka...



...and got our first look of our destination for the day, Mt Aylmer .



Moving up we reached a little saddle from where we could see the valley on the opposite side of the mountain.



As we kept gaining elevation the summit seemed to be almost within our grasp...



...but at this point smaug checked the watch and decided that there was no way that we could reach the top and be back to the car safely with only a few hours of light left. So, reluctantly, we took another photo of Lake Minnewanka in the distance and headed back .



Luckily, once we reached the shoreline the sun was still shining, so we stepped a bit out of the trail to take a couple of more photos .

Hi Mum,

It’s been raining most of this week, which, as sammino explained to me, meant snow on the mountains . So today we went checking out how deep it is . The first part of the day we were mostly in the shadow of a narrow valley and could only see the morning sun shining on the surrounding peaks.




Eventually we reached Ribbon Falls, where we took a customary photo .



Moving a bit further up, looking for the sun, we enjoyed some nice view of the valley that we had just followed .




At this point I noticed that my wings were about to freeze , so I decided to hide back into smaug’s backpack .

Hi Mum,

Today is a holiday here in Canada, so we had a free day to go to the mountains . Early in the morning we spent some time in a colourful, but very dark little valley...



...with only glimpses of the sun shining on the other side of the valley.



Slowly we got high enough to enjoy some sun on our faces...and, of course, this meant also snow under our feet .



Eventually we reached our destination , Old Baldy, a fairly barren ridge at the foot of that tall mountain in the background.



The wind was freezing cold, but the view was great , so we took a few photos before running for cover .

Hi Mum,

Today smaug came back home carrying a parcel..which got us very interested . Seeing that it was coming from Japan, sammino said that it was likely his friend Orpheus coming home and he whispered to me, regardless of the shape, size or colour of the bird coming out of that envelope, to please pretend that it was a canary ....which I found a bit odd, but I decided to play ball.



And it was indeed Orpheus, a nice orange and black....canary . He showed us the lovely present that his last host gave to him and then started telling about his adventures on the WTVT.

Hi Mum,

Today it was like being in the arrival lounge at the airport , as smaug showed up with two parcels, both likely to carry a new guest here in Calgary .



And yes, new guests they were : Quentin Ducky from the UK and Jujube from the USA. They showed to us the lovely cards that their last hosts gave to them and then we started chatting and telling stories about our TV life .

Hi Mum,

Today we took our new guests to their first visit to the mountains. As we left the car we were followed by light sleet, and the first glimpse of our surrounding wasn’t encouraging: dark clouds...



...and snow at high elevations. Well, not even that high, the whole upper part of Nakiska ski area seemed already ready for the winter season .



From a bit further up we saw Barrier Lake in the distance and even what looked to be some sunrays .



While in the direction that we wanted to take things were less encouraging. Of course, having been here for some time I didn’t really worry but I guess the others were a touch more concerned .



Eventually we reached the top of the valley, from where we could see the surrounding mountains ...



....and the ridge that we just followed.



sammino suggested that we should have tried to reach that peak behind me , but smaug said that he didn’t want to be on that face if the weather turned ugly, so we just headed back home.