Last Day in Glacier

Another day, another beautiful hike!

Yellowstone, Here We Come!

Headed out at 6am this morning for a long drive across Montana towards Yellowstone!!! We're trading in bighorn sheep for bison and snowy passes for sulphur smells!

Log cabin and ponderosa pine heaven here. Keep your fingers crossed that Yellowstone doesn't blow while we're there!

Driving Going To The Sun Road

I'm awfully glad to be on this epic drive with the best driver I know. We never had less than a few inches of clearance. Gulp! Very nerve wracking! Mom, you'd have hated the view straight down, from the passenger seat.

Glacier National Park, Montana

More insane views and jaw dropping scenery.

We were surprised by both a marmot and a mountain goat on a hike across the continental divide about 5 minutes apart. The marmot we sort of saw coming. The goat; we thought he was a guy in a white coat behind us (it was a crowded overlook) while we were eating lunch until the Ranger tried to gently urge him off the trail. I was so surprised I didn't get a picture of him. I did get a picture a little further down the trail of his equally relaxed brother (I'm guessing there) chillin in the grass beside the trail. Very easy going, these Montana  Mountain goats seem.

Waterton Lakes National Park

Another thing checked off the life list - visited the Prince of Wales Hotel in beautiful Waterton Lakes National Park. Had a low key day since 80 % of the hiking trails are closed from a wild fire that ran through last summer. Had drinks at the Prince of Wales and toasted a wonderful first leg of the trip - tomorrow we leave Canada (sad face) and head south of the border for Part Deux - the US of A and Yellowstone!

I will likely be posting less often since we won't have cell phone data access as easily (one night of wifi so far in the whole trip - the kids claim they're dying!!!). Whether I still get pics up every now and then is largely in the hands of the National Park System (and whether their visitors Centre have WiFi).

Stampede!

Harrison practices his milking technique

Heidi bid her way to a photo op with a miniature donkey at an auctioning demonstration

Mind-blowing stunts at shows all day - above is the Acrobatic Basketball stars (Acrodunk), we also saw soccer stunts, Dirt Bike jumping, trick horseback riding, dog stunts (we miss you Blaze!!! See you soon!), Chuckwagon racing, mini chuckwagon racing, blacksmithing and the first ever women's side saddle race at the Stampede! The kids got to try a mini version of ski jumping and meet Eddie the Eagle of 1988 Calgary Olympics fame!

The Grandstand show opened with singing, dancing and a flying drum line (that's them suspended above the crowd, while they try to concentrate on their rhythm. And presumably not dropping their sticks).

Fossil Hunters

Had a memorable day at the Royal Tyrell Museum chillin with Mastadons (can you spot the sabre tooth cat?), hunting for fossils on a guided hike (and finding!! eek!! I touched a real dinosaur's fossil!) and learning how to make plaster casts of fossils to bring home!

We're back in Calgary now. Tomorrow and Sunday we cross the Calgary Stampede off Rob's life list - yeehaw!!

Leaving the mountains

We left the mountains yesterday, under what felt like our first fully clear skies. Holy smokes, it turns out there are a lot of mountains around here. They had each  been shrouded in clouds one at a time over the last few weeks, so our drive out of them back into the foothills felt like a revelation. Mountains!? Who knew!

We headed east, towards the dinosaurs!!

We had 2 days in the Badlands planned - hanging out with sandy Hoodoo formations and giant T Rexes in Drumheller. What a wild contrast! We woke up in Banff at 3 degrees, and were literally dripping in 35 degree heat (with the humidity) by 2 in the afternoon!

Final Day In Banff

Banff Springs Hotel

Cave and Basin National Historic Site (that Parks Canada Annual Pass is gettin' a workout!).

We finished our time in the northern Canadian Rockies with a great day at Banff. We did a bike ride and hike up to Sundance Canyon. Then we hit up the Banff Farmers Market, and a few more T-shirt shops  until we found the perfect magnet. We finished up by visiting the national historic sites like Cave and Basin (above, a hot springs where the children learned about the smell of sulphur), the Banff Park Museum, full of every kind of taxidermied animal you can imagine, including a few random Pelican specimens (don't ask, cause I I have no idea why) and the Cascades of Time Gardens where I got pictures of the biggest Columbine I've ever seen and orange poppies (some people get excited about the weirdest things)!

"I really hope my toes warm up" said a tiny voice in the back seat just now...

Fresh snow this morning on the mountain overlooking our campground. 

A slow start as we huddled in our beds longer than planned avoiding the 5 degree temperatures outside.

I wish we could share some of this cold with you Ontario!

Canmore Nordic Centre

Such a cool day! After prepping for a day of pouring rain, we woke up to dry roads and the occasional patch of blue sky - enough to motivate me that the trip to Canmore Nordic Centre I'd hoped for was possible after all. What an awesome place! First we rode our bikes on a paved trail that winds through the forest (it's usually a training trail for Olympic caliber x country skiers training on roller skis offseason, but luckily not even they are crazy enough to bike in cold drizzle on a holiday Monday, so we had the track to ourselves). Next we found a bike skills park -Rob,  Brendan and Harry both worked up enough speed and skill to catch air on one jump. I didnt lose any teeth, so that's success all round! 

Then we tried orienteering for the first time (like a scavenger hunt in the woods with a map and the prize for finding all 10 waypoint posts is scold beer in the lodge at the end. When done properly, you're supposed to run to see how fast you can complete the course. We did not). We passed on the disc golf course when the rain turned nastier, but still a great day in a super cool area!

Trying to keep warm on Canada Day

A very different Canada Day here than I think Ontario is having.

Cold and damp and intermittently drizzly, as it has been for the last 10 days steady. We tried to sit out on a patio for the full Canada Day experience, but gave up trying to keep the kids hands warm by letting them hold our coffees, so went inside and tucked in beside the stone fireplace. We stubbornly went for a bike ride today despite the weather but I wore rain pants, my long johns, a long sleeve shirt, T shirt, my spring coat and then my winter ski jacket on top. By the end of an intensive, technical mountain bike ride the sun came out and we all peeled off a few layers, but I still think we're at rather opposite ends of the weather spectrum today!

We had planned on doing the bike trails around Canmore tomorrow, but the weather report for the morning is calling for 5 degrees and 10mm of rain. The kids are tough, but if I want them to keep following me for the next month of crazy adventures I think I need to learn when to change a plan on the fly, so, as in Rockies ish as it might be, tomorrow we'll be going to the indoor community pool instead. Pick your battles right?

Canada Day Sunrise

Rob is out for a run, he had to change his route because of a family of wapiti (elk) in the road!

Johnston Canyon

This posted a day late - imagine it's June 29th...

Finished off our mini road trip with a drive down Highway 95, through Radium Hot Springs and Kootenay National Park. That makes 5 National Parks in 2 days. Phew!!

On a tip from people in the know, we went to Johnston Canyon in the evening and had a lovely walk up to both the Upper and Lower Falls with mild crowds and a half empty parking lot. I'm glad we didn't attempt it today - as we drove past on our way south (moving from Lake Louise to Banff) around mid day the parking lot was full, and there were cars parked on the edge of the road for at least a kilometre and a half! 

Banff!

We made it to Banff in time for Canada Day. Hopefully it will be a memorable one!

We biked all over town today; rode over to the famous Bow Falls and Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel, biked through a marshland in town limits and practiced our mad skills at the town bike skills park. Ok, I made a lot of squeaky noises while attempting very small elements of the bike park, but my mad skills are in training.

Tomorrow we will take in the parade on Main St., gift shop till we drop and then when we can't handle the crowds anymore we'll escape to the woods for a bike ride. Sounds like the perfect Canada Day!