Thought I would share some of our thoughts with yourselves, for anyone is who is interested.

First we went to Vancouver Island and Victoria. One thing that I did not pick up on in the Wiki or elsewhere was how tight a control Canada has over Alcohol. Not that we were looking, but you can only get wine etc from a Liquor store - not even supermarkets sell it. This is a good thing from not letting the under age get their hands on it like here. However, supermarkets selling wine is useful.

Victoria was beautiful, the weather stayed good. We stayed at the Fairmont Empress on the front. We would stay there again but not with children as it is so upper class that we were always looking to make sure the kids were behaved. Pagliacci's is a great Italian to eat in, be there early though to avoid the queues. Another place we enjoyed was an English style pub called the Stickey Wicket. Other good places to go are the Royal BC Museum - great and we went to the Wax Museum opposite to fill up the time for the kids - this was ok.

From there we went up the island to have lunch with a welsh couple who moved there. They lived in Qualicom Beach. This was a very beautiful drive and it would be something we would aspire to retire to.

Onto Vancouver. We stayed with family, not close enough to Sponsor us although they would like to - in Langley - about 40 mins drive from the city. We done the usual things, Grouse Mountain, Stanley Park, Gastown, Capalino Suspension Bridge. We took the 3.5 hr drive to Whistler where the 2010 Olympics will be. A nice town, but it did not have snow and the gondola were being serviced ready for the ski season.

All in all Vancouver was a nice place to visit. Not too sure if I could live there, the Island was nicer.

Onto Banff. We flew to Calgary and went straight to the Rockies. Did not see Calgary City but there was a tremendous amount of building going on in the outskirts. Banff was beautiful. It was a picture postcard town and some snow had already fallen. Great place for a few days. We stayed at Inns of Banff, but this was a little outdated and we wouldn't stay there again, choosing to stay more closer into the town so that we could leave the car alone for a few days.

The drive to Edmonton took around 4 hours. It was a good straight flat run and great for cruise control. We stayed near the West Edmonton Mall area. This is the place that if I get a position in the Oil Sands that we were looking at to live. First impression was not too good. Reminded me of Kissimee in Florida with all the shops and neon lights.

However as we toured around Devon, Spruce Grove, Old Strathcona and sherwood Park we felt a lot happier. Before I left I did get in touch with a Realtor and arranged to look around St. Albert and he showed us around 14 different homes that met our wallet and specs. We loved St. Albert and it was well worth the emails in setting this up. The realtor was very professional not like over here and I will now ensure that if things work for us that I will use him.

One thing that did strike us was the amount of jobs and building going on. I hear from people out there in the hotel bar and cafes that they are really short in all sectors, from Oil to coffee shops. The credit crunch maybe has come at the wrong time, but I am sure that the World leaders will ensure that this remains for only a year or two.

To finish off let me give you a good tip. Try out the Olive Garden Italian Restaurant. I have been going there ever since 1988 in the uSA. They are a chain but great food and service - good value and the White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake is the best ever !!

Canada is surely the place for us - got to make it happen somehow now.

Regards

JET

Thanks for sharing...sounds like you had a fab time.