Trip to Alberta

It's been a long time since my last post so here's a really long one to make up for it.

Luckily for us cousin Karen was getting married in Alberta last week. Rather than just going for the wedding we decided to turn a trip out west into a family vacation. Here's how our trip went.

Day 1:
It's a good thing we arrived at the airport 90 minutes early. It seemed like we had a lot to do. I dropped Sarah, Emily and our luggage off at the airport and took Liam with me to the Park & Fly. We must have just missed the bus back to the airport because it took about 15 minutes for our bus to arrive. Once we made our way back to the airport we got our boarding passes and checked our luggage (regular luggage here...oversized luggage there). Once we made our way through security and had the kids use the bathroom it was time for us to board. So much for watching the planes while we were at the airport. Liam has been so excited to go on plane for the past couple of months. Once we were lined up to get on the plane he changed his mind. He really didn't want to go after we started walking down the tunnel to the plane (does that tunnel have a name?). We were able to lead him onto the plane likely because standing in the tunnel by himself was scarier than getting on the plane with us. Once we boarded he sat at the window and was very excited to see the baggage being loaded. The flight was good and uneventful.

When we left Toronto it was sunny, the temperature was in the mid 20s with high humidity. Naturally I chose to wear shorts and a t-shirt. Unfortunately, when we landed in Calgary it was raining and 9 degrees. Rookie travelling mistake #1 (I guess not getting to the airport early enough was #1) #2: Summer across the country is not that same as summer in Ontario. Check the weather at your destination before leaving. In any case we rented our 'van', checked into the hotel, had something to eat and then went to do some shopping. We arrived back at the hotel at 8:30 which really felt like 10:30. Talk about a late bedtime for the wee ones. Let the lack of sleep begin.

Day 2:
We packed up all of our stuff and checked out of the hotel, man does that ever take a long time. Finally we were off to the Stampede. We had a lot of fun there. Sarah and Liam rode on the ferris wheel. I really didn't think that Liam would want to go, but he did. We also saw a ventriloquist and a Splash & Boots show. We had lunch outside the Saddledome.  Liam's fatigue was beginning to show. He had a blast running up and down a grassy hill. He spent the whole time laughing his head off. That alone was worth the price of admission. Liam went on some rides by himself at the kids midway, which again was very surprising. We took the train back to the hotel parking lot where we had left our vehicle packed with all of our belongings.

Late in the afternoon we headed for Banff. Both of the kids had a well deserved nap most of the way. We stayed at a great Bed and Breakfast called 333 Guest House. It was close to downtown, the room was nice. Sarah obviously was thorough when she booked it.  We dropped off our bags and headed to Chili's for dinner. By the time we got back it was quite late. Emily was a bit sick but really wasn't getting better or worse.

Day 3:
What a great day. We had a great hike up Tunnel Mountain. Sarah carried Emily in a backpack and I carried Liam. I thought we had a deal with the kids whereby we would switch on the way down so that those doing the carrying on the way up got to be carried on the way down. For some reason neither Emily nor Liam wanted to carry either Sarah or me. The views were great and the fresh air was wonderful.

After climbing down the mountain we headed to the B&B and packed a lunch. Then we were off to ride the gondola up Sulphur Mountain. We hiked from the gondola up to the observation tower. The view was spectacular. The weather was great but it was very windy.

The kids were beat by the time we got into the car. They fell asleep on the way to the grocery store. When Liam woke up he was feeling a little under the weather. We headed for dinner at the Spaghetti Factory. Liam had spaghetti without sauce and a mango slushy. He really didn't want to try the slushy but once Sarah forced the first byte into his mouth he enjoyed it.

Lookout from Tunnel Mountain

Day 4:
Before leaving Banff we headed to Bow Falls and hiked along the trail for a bit. Sarah and Liam both put their feet in the frigid water. By late morning we started to make our way to Num-Ti-Jah lodge (between Lake Louise and Jasper). We took the scenic route and stopped at Johnston Canyon. The parking lot was unbelievably full. We hiked up to the lower falls where we walked through a natural tunnel cut out of the rock which led right to the falls where Liam and I were able to get wet from the falls. He got a kick out of walking through the tunnel and getting sprayed.

Bow Falls

Johnston Falls

 Along the way to the lodge we saw some cars stopping on the side of the road (and in the middle of the road). There were some elk grazing just beside the road. Some of the tourists decided to park their cars on the road (yes right where cars would normally drive), get out and take some photos. I guess elk supersede the highway traffic act.

We stopped at a picnic site for lunch. It started to rain partway through our meal so we had to pack up and finish eating on the road. Trying to eat in confined quarters with two kids is not an easy task. This will certainly be much easier as they get older.

We arrived at the lodge at around 4:00 and met Nana and Grampa. We waited for Julie, Nathan and Becca to arrive. We watched the weather change from sunny to rainy and then back again. We heard some thunder and even had some hail. Due to the late dinner hours at the lodge we had a great picnic lunch with everyone in Nana and Grampa's room.

Day 5:
We thought that as a large group we should take advantage of the beautiful weather and go for a hike. We started hiking around Bow Lake towards the waterfall and Bow Glacier. We made it as far as where the stream (from the waterfall) dumps into the lake. Once again Sarah and Liam took off their footwear and waded across the stream. Obviously the water was much colder than it had been in the river several hundred kilometres downstream.

A Cold Walk

After the hike we headed back to our room so the kids could nap before the wedding. The wedding was held on the beach of Bow Lake overlooking the mountains and Bow Glacier. The setting could not have been more picturesque. The ceremony was fantastic.

Day 6:
We packed up and got ready to go. Liam and Emily played with Becca and Nya at the lodge. They all seemed to have a great time. It should be fun having all of the kids together at the cottage. We all had a picnic lunch and we were off.

We made a quick stop in Canmore for some groceries and then headed off to Kananaskis to spend the night in a tipi. I was blown away by the Kananskis area. There were beautiful views of the mountains, tons of trails both for hiking and cycling. I think one of the things I liked most about it was that it didn't seem all 'touristy'. There were no tour buses, no line-ups, no crowded trails. It seemed like the perfect mountain wilderness area. I think when we come back to Alberta we'll plan to explore this area a little more.

When we arrived at Sundance Lodges we setup the inside of our tipi, made some supper and ate quickly since it looked like it was going to start raining. Liam was completely exhausted partly because of his cold. He even said that he didn't want to read any more stories because he was too tired. The truth is he was completely exhausted. He slept from about 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 a.m. The stay in the tipi was a lot of fun. It poured at night and we didn't feel a drop. It was definitely a worthwhile experience.

Our Tipi

Day 7:
We had a late start to the day. We decided to drive around the Kananaskis region to admire it's beauty and make plans for a future trip. We were hoping to stop for lunch at a picturesque location but the threatening sky led us to admire from the car. We stopped at the Kananaskis Visitor Centre where we got some information and had a late lunch.


After lunch we headed for Calgary. We checked into our hotel across the road from Calgary's Olympic Park. We were hoping to visit the Park but for whatever reason we never got around to it. Somehow that feels very un-Canadian of us. Next time we'll stop in. I think what really kept us from the park was the fact that the hotel had a swimming pool with an incredible water slide. Liam loved the slide. Emily on the other hand was very distraught whenever someone came careening into the water.


After our swim we headed out for dinner at Boston Pizza. Liam was very excited by the children's menu. They had Bugs & Cheese which was mac and cheese with the mac shaped as bugs. He saw it on the menu right away and had to have it. We tried to talk him out of it given that he doesn't like melted cheese but he wanted no part of it. I think he had two bytes, one to try it and one with a piece of pasta with no cheese on it. We gave him some of the crust off our pizza but that's about all he ate. Anyone one have any tips on getting picky eaters to eat a wider variety of foods? When did we become parents of a picky eater?


Day 8:
Today was Liam's birthday. We didn't really celebrate but we did spend the day at the zoo. Liam's favourite part of the zoo were the headsets you could pick up to listen to a recording about the animals. He called them phones and picked up and listened to an awful lot of them. I wonder if he learned anything. His second favourite thing at the zoo was being able to control the animatronic dinosaurs. I think he might have a thing for technology but I'm not sure. He really enjoyed the dinosaur portion of the museum, the giraffes and the prairie dogs.

Emily at the Zoo

Liam on the 'Phone'

On the way back from the zoo we stopped at the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary. Liam had been talking about wanting to go all day. We went into the visitor centre used the washroom, had drinks from the fountain and got ready for a hike and suddenly Liam said that he really wasn't interested in going for a hike. We convinced him to go for a short hike. His favorite part of this stop was playing with the drinking fountain in the visitor centre. Just before leaving he insisted that Sarah identify each of the stuffed birds they had on display. Thankfully they were all labelled.




Day 9:
This was the final day of our trip. We packed up early and headed to the airport. We arrived with plenty of time. Security at the Calgary airport was much tighter than it was when we left Toronto. I'm not sure if this was because we flew over American soil on the way back (the flight to Calgary stayed entirely within Canada) or if we just got lucky in Toronto. Liam had time to watch the happenings of the airport from within the airport and was keeping tabs on the baggage handlers and the baggage carts.The flight home was great. At the end of the flight Liam even conversed with the three women who were sitting behind us.




Overall we had an amazing trip. Sarah did a great job of planning the whole thing out months ago. I don't think we ever would have thought about doing a trip like this with two young kids. Having done it we would definitely do it again. The biggest drawback was not always having a highchair for Emily to eat out of. This was a minor inconvenience and we would certainly not let it stop us from doing the trip again. For me the best part of the trip was that it was a solid nine days of family time. There were no errands to run, no jobs to do, no laundry to worry about. It was just great time spent together as a family. We'll have to put ourselves into situations like this more often.