Road Trip Aug 20

 We had to get going early this morning. A planned road closure at 7am, if I recall correctly, was scheduled. So we were cruising out of the Rockies in a flash.

Since most of the day was spent in the car...if not all of it, here are the obligatory car photos.

Zoom through the prairies we went. We saw some stuff that looked like snow. Or salt. But it wasn't. Almost fooled one of the kids though...if it wasn't so hot we might have. It might have been potash. 

 Quick, most of us are cheerful, take a picture! This is the seating arrangement we finally settled on and are using now that we are back home. The down side is we always have to wait for Jennifer or Daniel to clear out before the back row comes bursting out. They are not always patient enough.

The front row is holding up. Sunset time is really pretty on the prairies. We stopped for dinner in a place where there was a small town atmosphere.

We didn't get to our destination 'til past the kids' bedtimes. They were pretty tired!! 

Once they were out of the van, they had energy to run and visit with their cousins even further beyond their bedtime. Good thing they managed to stay awake in church the next day!

Road Trip Aug 19

Oh the fateful day of the Banff Gondola! I feel sustained sufficiently by sympathy to carry on my lament. The next day, as predicted, was sunny and beautiful. I did not see a walk in doctor in Banff. After all, nothing was seriously wrong with me, I was just being a bit over anxious.

 So, we went to the Banff gondola. Do you know how expensive it is? And if you want to take 8 people up it, do you know how expensive that is? I don't remember. But it is half price if you only take the ride back down, and walk up yourself. Fortunately I, and more likely the kids' slow pace and Evelyn's spoiled behaviour helped me out here...convinced Philip that we weren't up to an intensive all day expert level hike. Instead he took us to the gondola, where we could start up and see how we were doing, and turn back and get a ride if needed.

 But only if we really needed to. A Sm-- girl wouldn't need to have a ride up a tiny little mountain walk, sick or not, and her kids ought to be at least as tough. So...Philip traipsed up the mountain with Daniel, Melanie and Nathan.

 They made it up in quite close time to the 2 hour suggested time up. Daniel complained a little, but was distracted enough to make it up. Meanwhile Matthew (feeling "kinda sick") myself, Jennifer and Evelyn staggered up the mountain. It was such a steep trail. We had gorp. And if we stopped lots and had quite a bit of the sugar we could carry on for a while. Jennifer could go circles around us, and I was happy to not have to go faster than Evelyn. When she acted spoiled I carried her...for 5 minutes. Put her down and said. "Can't." Matthew tried for 2 minutes. "Too heavy" and could hardly manage himself after that. We stopped and laid down for "naps". But
IF WE DIDN'T GET TO THE TOP WE WOULDN'T GET A RIDE IN THE GONDOLA! See that Gondola going over your heads? Gotta get up there! Such a big carrot for our tired donkey noses. We could have turned around and got a ride up and down...but that was expensive, but also, how did we know it wouldn't be much shorter up then down? And wouldn't only city slickers turn around and say there were too sick?

 We were ready to give up, when one man going back down said SIX MORE SWITCHBACKS, and only one of them a long one. Six more? That was WAY shorter than going back down. Plus a gondola ride to go back down on! After 2 of them who did we see but Philip and crew coming down again and super excited that they'd met us and we'd ALL GET TO GO ON THE GONDOLA back down!!

 What a trek on the boardwalk once we were at the "top". Jennifer had plenty of energy at the top! I didn't quite make it to the weather station up the last two flights of stairs, but the view didn't look too altered from where I was standing.

 The gondola mechanism was pretty fascinating. The line up moved pretty slowly, so we got a fair chance to see it in action. Better revel in it, after all we worked hard to get to this point. Better savour it!

 What a steep ride down! Good thing we stayed on track! No wonder it was so exhausting coming up!

Wow! We climbed up there? 

 Better look all around and make it worth it!

 Best of all was the slides at our hotel after. Funny how even Matthew could do the stairs for the water slides still. I guess kids recover faster than adults.

 While the kids zipped up and down I was moving as little as possible.

 Soaking up the hot water.

 Breathing in the water vapours. Boy did the misty air feel good on my lungs!

 Coulda napped in there if only I didn't have to ensure all the heads were above water.

 PJ time made this tired Momma feel happy. :)

 Hard to believe I was looking forward to driving tomorrow. Our longest day yet. Couldn't wait to sit on my fanny all day! Just was too bad I had to get up early and hit the road...would be nicer still to be laying in bed. :p

Road Trip Aug 18

 We spent our first day in Banff checking out various "touristy" places. Philip wanted to gauge how far and fast the kids could walk, and I wanted to do as little walking as possible. Stairs made me feel dizzy and breathing heavily was painful. So I loped along behind

 We checked out the hot springs. They were the beginning of the park, apparently.

 Evelyn couldn't stand the sulfur smell, and started gagging whenever a really strong odor came her way.

 It was a cloudy day, the real reason why Philip could be convinced we didn't need to be traipsing up to a mountain peak this day. Beautiful views could still be had, even from "down" in the town.

 Did you know the Banff hot springs is home to a very unique snail? Here it is. Pretty tiny!

 Nathan and Matthew wondered how they put the boardwalk up without damaging the special ecosystem and harming the snail species.

 And the union Jack! And we thought we were in Canada. :o

 We went for a rainy walk...which was full of horse poop. Not a tonne of fun, but Philip did his distance calculating.

 Evelyn was not up to keeping up. She could do it, if only she was motivated!

 The wildlife was fascinating!

 We peeked at the waterfall. And walked for a ways again. Philip was sent back for the van so I didn't have to return back again.

 A famous hotel in Banff.

 The knobbly trees were pretty cool! We wondered what was wrong with them!

 The cascade gardens were nice...but under construction...so I think they'll be even nicer next year.

After all that touring I was ready to crash in bed! My neck was aching from a certain bad landing wake boarding...and my lungs didn't feel improved with all that walking. I looked for sympathy, but found none.

Road Trip Aug 17

 We are thinking of "doing" chickens sometime, hopefully soon...so Sierra showed us around.

 She let us feed the chickens!

 Then we walked the bx trail. Good to stretch our legs before we have to sit once again!

 We checked out the waterfall at the end.

 We were all tired after that visit...probably a combination of late nights and struggling with a new virus!

 The tunnels were pretty cool. Snow sheds really. Hard to imagine them covered in snow at this time of year!

 Beautiful views...we just loved driving through the Rockies!

 Our destination was Banff, so we had to drive about 5 hours. Just a little afternoon drive, really. ;)

I was happy to hit the hay when we arrived...wasn't feeling so good anymore. :o Melanie, who'd been off all day, slept long and seemed to recover over the night. :)