Well I can honestly say my ass has never been quite so sore in my life! Between horseback riding last night and ATV riding today (with several hours of dancing in between) my poor behind is in much need of a rest haha Well worth it though - the horseback riding through the Banff Mountains was amazing. There was huge long line of us, most wearing cowboy hats, some with crazy bear and moose hats! I had a beautiful black horse called Stealth that was very placid and obedient. It was still really hot when we headed out at 4:30 but for most of the time we were riding in the cover of trees so it was a perfect time of day for it really. When we got right out into the middle of the woods, they had a little BBQ area set up and we had an awesome steak fry dinner. Honestly, best steak I've had in months. I would have gone on that trail ride purely for the steak. I'm a poor traveller so red meat has been kinda scarce in my diet as of late, but last night more than lived up to my very high hopes and expectations! =D hehe After dinner we rode back to the ranch then headed back to the chalets to was off the rather pungent odour de horse and get ready for our big night out in Banff!

We headed into town to a club called the Hoodoo Lounge, which was basically deserted when we got there, so once again a few of us girls jumped straight onto the d-floor and got the party started! Turned out to be a really good night, though I decided today I must try harder not to make such good friends with the bar tenders cause I was feeling a little worse for wear after a number of cheap/free drinks…It was lot of fun though, particularly because everyone on tour is really getting to know each other at this stage, so even at the start of the night when it was really quiet, we were still having a ball because we make our own fun - we are the party!!! =D

So this morning, I hopped on the bus for the two hour drive to ATV ride, with a somewhat sore head, feeling slightly regretful…but fortunately by the time we arrived I was feeling right as rein and ready for some hard core biking action!! They told us to wear our least favourite clothes cause we might get a little dirty, and they weren't kidding. All I can say is thank God cons are canvas and totally easily washable! I had a really awesome time because although I've been on the back of a quad bike before it was nothing like this and I've never been in the driver's eat either. At the start there was a lot of driving out on the roads, which was nice and easy with great scenery, then when we got a little further out we headed off road and that was when things really got challenging! We were going up and down really steep hills over some pretty rocky terrain and it's kinda hard to get used to the feeling at first cause the bike will be turned right up on it's side but they're made so they can do that without the risk of flipping. A lot of the trail was really dry and dusty but we did hit a few muddy patches during which I forgot to lift my feet up, and that's where my cons went from a lovely shade of red to a nice, dull, cakey brown haha I was actually beginning to wonder if I was getting a little bit of a tan until I realised it was in fact a thing layer of dirt. When we got back were did a little bit of a clothes washing session in our bath tub and when we drained the water the amount of dirt left behind in the bottom of our no longer even remotely white bath tub was pretty gross really…

In the evening the Contiki crew met in the little BBQ next to the car park at the chalets for Jordan's extraordinary home cooked dinner. He's been a really good tour manager like that, because I was talking to some of the people who went on another Canadian tour before this over on the east coast and they said their tour manager never organised group dinners, or got involved with their group, or came out with them. Whereas, from day one, even when we've had dinners where we were basically left to do our own thing, Jordan's always given us options like making a booking at a restaurant if we all want to eat together, or having the BBQ, which is really cool! So we all had a nice chillaxed evening meal and tonight we're heading to the local hostel just down the road for a bit of karaoke action!!=D

LIVxo