"The Lake"

The winter is a slow time for family travel, at least in our home, but it hasn't been slow in terms of some of the video's we've been working on.

We've just completed two episodes of "The Lake". These winter episodes are a personal exploration and journey of discovery on the shores of Lake Erie.

You can find many more episodes here:

http://www.havefunoutthere.blip.tv, and let us know what you think.

And don't forget to always "have fun out there"...

Where on earth do I start?

It has been so long since I've updated our blog (West here) that I hardly know where to begin. We've had a fantastic summer of travel, everything from exploring the wonders of our own backyard in the Niagara region to a 2,000 km trip to the wonders of South Carolina.

Let's start with the Niagara region as it was such a highlight of the summer. We were sponsored by Tourism Niagara (www.tourismniagara.com) and some of their members to explore family-friendly activities in our own backyard. It was one of the best trips of our lives!

One of the biggest lessons I learned was just how eco-friendly and inexpensive touring Niagara can be. Tourism Niagara introduced us to "The Greenbelt", and the entire experience was one of learning and wonder. We camped out, we hiked, viewed waterfalls we'd never seen before, and learned about cool cycling/B&B excursions. We had an awesome hike around Ball's Falls, and their visitor information center is crazy-cool! It is an eco-structure, and they have come up with ways to use water/sunlight/gray-water that would make your head spin. Uber-cool. To learn more, check out the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority's website at http://www.npca.ca/ If you get a chance, be sure to do some "greener" family touring this year, go to http://www.niagaragreenbelt.com/.

On day 2 we started off at Bird Kingdom (www.birdkindom.ca) and were blown away by how much fun the kids had there. I didn't think an Aviary would get the young-uns mojos going, but they didn't want to leave. It was also Lucas' birthday so we celebrated it there, something you should look into if you're out for a new birthday experience for the kids.

They don't just have birds, as we discovered, they also have tons of lizards and other critters to keep the kids happy. We got to see some newly hatched parrots, they aren't cute, they are bald and helpless looking! But even in their ugliness you didn't want to leave them.

Next we got to enjoy seeing the falls from, oh, I don't know, 5,000 feet in the air! We were lucky enough to have a helicopter tour of Niagara Falls from Niagara Helicopters (www.niagarahelicopters.com). Our family has never been in a helicopter before, and all I can say is that it is truly something to put on your bucket list. You really haven't seen the falls until you've been over top of them.

We spent the rest of the afternoon playing "tourists" on Clifton Hill (http://www.cliftonhill.com/). I hadn't really spent any time there, it always struck me as a tourist trap. But I gotta tell you, there are a billion things to do there, and your kids will thank you. We did some mini-put at a Dinosaur Mini-put place, got to tour Ripley's Believe It Or Not, Rock-N-Bowl (trippy and cool!), but by far the coolest thing was the Skywheel. If you haven't done it, do it! It's all self contained, no worries about falling out, and what a ride! And if you're hanging with the kids all day I guarantee you'll be pretty tired, we stayed at the Comfort Inn and flaked out by the pool while the kids continued to go bonkers. They slept ALL night and even allowed Lesley and I to sleep in!

Another "touristy" thing I never did before was the Skylon Tower (www.skylon.com), and again, something your family will go nutters over. We toured the observation deck (Lucas saw an "old man", as he put it, on the Maid of the Mist through the binoculars they provide). My favourite part was having lunch there. Buffet or sit-down 5 star dining, your choice! We spoiled ourselves and had lunch in the revolving restaurant, the "kids menu" is actually the Skylon Tower itself. Arwyn wouldn't leave without it!

I could go on, and on, and on, and on. The Niagara Region is a great place to explore and have fun. Even if you live here, take the time, like we did, to get to know the happenings. We produced some episodes of our Niagara Adventures, be sure to check out www.havefunoutthere.ca for all the latest.

Hey, come to think of it, the Falls has some cool light shows this time of year, very festive. Maybe you'll see us checking it out! Look out for the Have Fun Out There expedition Jeep Wrangler, and if you see us, we've got some coupons and information to "jump start" your tour of the Niagara Region. Be sure to stop us and get some goodies!

Our 2009 season is about to begin!

After nearly a year of "recouperating" from our 5 week adventure across Canada we are at it again. This summer we will be filming and posting lots of new adventures as we explore Canada and the USA.

Our first episode will be filmed in the Niagara region of Canada. We'll be filming from June 5th to June 7th of 2009. All of our sponsors are booked and we're excited by such a great start to our new season.

If you are in the Niagara region, send us some of your favourite places and things to do.

Check out TripAdvisor for some of our episodes posted there. Search under "havefunoutthere" as one word, and dig around for the videos. Cheers!

August 2009 Have Fun Out There crosses the USA

Hey eveybody,

It's been a long time since we put in a post, but that is all about to change. We had a GREAT trip across Canada, drove over 15,000 km and are now planning our next expedition: A trip across the USA! I know, I know, we said it would be Australia, but that will have to wait until summer 2010.

We have a new trailer for you to check out at http://www.havefunoutthere.ca/trailer.html where you can also see some of our press pics and hear our one of our radio interviews. We've got a couple of pictures up compliments of John Bonnor photography, be sure to check out his website at http://www.bonnorphotography.com

More to come friends, another great adventure in the works!

Cheers.

West, Lesley, Lucas, & Arwyn
Hosts/Have Fun Out There

Road Weary

On our last day in Vancouver Lesley and Lucas went to the Aquarium while Arwyn and I napped in the Jeep. Lucas came out of there pretty grumpy, saying he was bumped, pushed and jostled too much. It was real, real busy. We then went to Granville Island and checked out the "Kids Only Market" and any grumpy feelings quickly were replaced with sheer joy. I love how quickly kids can move in and out of moods. We adults could learn a few lessons.

Thanks to the rock slide we didn't get to go Sturgeon Fishing or sleep in the Yurt. It is a good lesson, you don't always get things the way your plan them. But that is life on the road, come as it may, at it's own pace, mile by mile, giving you exactly what you need. No more, no less. Perfect.

The voyage from Vancouver to Calgary was pretty exciting. We took Highway 3 through the south of the province, a route we've never driven before, and it was beautiful.

We made it to Osoyose (I know I spelled that wrong, I'm pretty tired right now)and were frankly not happy about being there on a long weekend. The campgrounds were bursting with RVs so close together you might as well have rolled out your sleeping bag in a suburb someplace. We decided to NOT stay there, and were tickled pink to discover a gorgeous Guest Ranch not too far out of the main town. The place is called the Arosa Guest Ranch, and I highly recommend a stay there. Vast plains, practically a desert, wide open camping spots and even some wild horses that trot on by every night at about the same time.

From Osoyose we drove to Waterton National Park. We got in pretty late and spent the night sleeping in Chez Jeep (Lesley and Lucas were not pleased with this, let me tell you.) The next day we woke early and checked out the town. But the real gem in Waterton is Lake Cameron, about 20 km out of town. We saw some bears, deer, mountain goats, you name it! Such a rich area for wild life.

Tomorrow morning we have a couple of slots on CityTV Breakfast TV which we're excited about. They actually gave us two slots, which is super-wicked-awesome-cool. Then after that we're off to the Calgary Zoo, something I'm really stoked about. We love Zoos as a rule, and the Calgary Zoo is one of the best.

How are we feeling? Pretty tired, a little grotty, a little grumpy, a little home sick, and a whole-lot satisfied. We've done everything we said we would, accomplished all of our goals so far and have grown closer as a family. We spend every day together and I swear I've seen my kids grow from this trip. Lucas and Arwyn both seem older, not the kids we left with. And Lesley and I both feel so proud of our kids for being so great on the road.

Of Rockslides and Oceans

We spent the day in Vancouver yesterday exploring Stanley Park. We were struck with awe at the devastation of the forest in the park. So many downed trees from some past wind storms. The hollow tree, famous for tourist photo ops, is in bad shape, held up by some wood pylons and closed to the public. Our trip to Paradise Valley in Squamish fell victim to natural disaster as well. A rock slide on the sea-to-sky highway has closed the only route there for at least 5 days.



We finally reached ocean number two and we celebrated by mingling water from the Atlantic with the Pacific. It was a good moment for us as we achieved our ocean to ocean goal. 2 oceans in one trip, nearly 9,000 km, what a heady thing. And we're feeling it a bit too, pretty road weary. But we had an incredible sleep at the Westin Bayshore, what a hotel! Our view is right onto the ocean and Stanley Park, almost too good to believe.

We had a 20 minute radio interview yesterday on CKNW 980 Talk Radio in Vancouver. That was awesome and our website saw a lot of hits after that. Our next scheduled interview is CityTV in Calgary on Wednesday August 6th. We hope you'll check us out if you are in the Calgary area!






The Festival of Lights happened last night, and we got to see fireworks reflected in the glass of the downtown highrises. Quite the sight.

We are getting ready for a day on Granville Island and are certain to hit the Vancouver Aquarium. What a city this is! Ocean, Mountain, and Metropolitan decadence all in one place. Pretty cool.

We've arrived in Vancouver!

Here we are, 8,600 kms later, and we've arrived in Vancouver! It is raining here today, but only mildly, and we're excited to begin checking things out here. Tomorrow we are going to deposit some Atlantic water into the Pacific to celebrate our successful journey of two oceans. And we have a spot on the Vancouver Talk Radio program, CKNW 970am, tomorrow at 11:30am.

We spent the last few days in Banff, campiing at Tunnel Mountain. What a wonderful place Banff is! We dropped Lesley off downtown so she could have lunch/coffee/time to herself. The kids and I toured around and got some great footage of lots of critters.

Before that we finished a great stay in the Badlands. As you can see from the pictures, the Stettler Train Ride was a hoot.



Driving yesterday between Banff and Vancouver we all felt pretty tired. We've all had moments where we wondered what we were doing, but usually at different times. Yesterday we had the "moment of doubt" all at the same time, which was a bummer. But once we arrived in Vancouver that all melted away. So good to have reached the other ocean!


We stayed with friends last night and will do so again tonight. Warm beds, hot showers, no tent to pack up, what a treat!