Banff and Region Today The actual Townsite of Banff – as differentiated from the National Park - is one of a few rare municipalities inside a protected, and nationally managed area. The Town is a major tourist destination, but is also home to a real, loyal and vibrant community. The Bow river flows from Bow Glacier – fed from the Wapta Icefield 37 kms north of Lake Louise, through Lake Louise, Banff, Canmore, Calgary and eventually into Hudson Bay. This Valley defines the eas

Just another hike – this one is Vancouver Island, but we ‘climb’ throughout the mountains. Falling from 8000 ft – How did we survive! Well, we actually survived because it really is not very dangerous. And we don’t fall. The recent article from the CBC about a Daredevil Climber  is the sort of fluff that denigrates the public broadcaster, my home community and amateur mountaineers the world over. I know nothing about the ‘daredevil’ Spencer Seabrooke, but I do assure all read

Skidmore Market, Portland Wandering through Portland, Oregon’s Skidmore Market on a Sunday I saw a fun and self-deprecating shirt announcing; “Paris was too expensive, so I’m in Portland.” Honest, perhaps, but I think I’ll take Oregon. Portland is an eminently livable city. Green, friendly and relaxed, it is full of pubs. Oregon’s beer culture is widely celebrated and gradually I am learning to accept the ridiculously hoppy West Coast flavours. Low-Rise Brick, defines Portlan

Just the other day, my uncle Graham and I went looking for salamanders. We caught two little salamander nymphs in a tiny pond, near Canmore. I will take care of them until they mature and will then release them back into the wild! This year in grade 3, I had the chance to do a few projects of my own choice. My friend Dylan and I decided to study poaching – another name for illegal hunting. Sadly, it remains a problem here in Alberta, as well as throughout North America, and a

Photos by Graham Twomey – grahamtwomey.com As I travel through the Americas and Beyond, I often answer the same questions about my home. As with all places I try as hard as possible to be as balanced as possible about my own home. So here it is…. I live in Canmore, Alberta, Canada. I live in the Canadian Rockies, just a few kilometres from Banff National Park – Canada’s first National Park and North America’s second park after Yellowstone. Photos by Graham Twomey – grahamtwom

The Museum of the Rockies is a very interactive museum. It took me a while to find the time to write the continuation of my trip to Utah, but I am back with some interesting facts about Montana. We spent one night in Bozeman, so we could visit the town next morning before heading north. Bozeman is home to many important climbers and mountaineers in the USA, so it was a place I always wanted to visit. They host the famous Bozeman Ice Festival every year and many climbers from

I am home safe and sound after an amazing vacation – and very long flight – to Australia and my dad’s frightening experience in Panama. It is a good thing to come back and visit my friends and have some ‘boys time’ with my dad before he leaves for his next trip to Central America. Each time I travel I do an experiment or project on the city or country I visit. This time I chose to do a project on World War 1 and the role my Tasmanian family played in the Great War. My Aussie

Playoffs are exciting! And in Canada, hockey playoffs have the added fun of ushering in spring and the culmination of months of dark early morning practices, long drives to games and nagging injuries that may sideline crucial players. It has also been replete with nagging parents and the ever-looming promise of the NHL. Who knows when a scout for the Pittsburg Penguins may be in the stands? – Spoiler – the answer is never when they are eight years old! Now relax and simply en