Author: Lowell

The next stop was Lake Louise.  Aunt I, though an Alberta resident for many years now, had never been to Lake Louise in the summertime.  It is tourist madness, which is always rather unpleasant, but there is a good reason why it has become such a magnet: it is really, really beautiful.  L and K tested the water with their bare feet.  There’s nothing quite like standing in liquid ice.

We said goodbye to the mountains and headed to Calgary for the night.  Although we all had a wonderful time, we were also tired of being campers and tourists.  We went out for supper and enjoyed a warm house for the night.

Early the next morning we left for Winnipeg.  We hadn’t decided whether we were going to do the whole trip in a day or stop for night somewhere along the way, but things were still going very well when we got to Regina, so we decided to press on.  The next two hours were eventful for all the wrong reasons.  K is still working on mastering the whole potty thing.  I guess the pizza we picked up in Regina got things moving and we had to make 4 emergency roadside stops in the first 150 kilometres out of Regina.  Several of them were false alarms, but, unfortunately, several of them were not.  Good thing we could transport soiled underwear in the trailer instead of in the back of the car.

Anyway, we pulled into Winnipeg early in the morning none the worse for the experience.  Now if only we had more camping planned for the summer.  Oh wait, that’s what we were doing the last few days in between posts.  Stay tuned.

Aunt I made sure that the kids knew just how cold the water melting off the glacier was.  K, again not as impressed with our surroundings as we were, decided that she would have more fun if she pretended to be Princess Leah.  Don’t ask us how she even knows about the Star Wars character.  Neither of our kids have seen the movies, and we don’t really talk about them.

After having a bite to eat, we decided to tackle the Parker Ridge hike.  When Pam and I did the hike on our honeymoon, there was a lot of cloud cover and fog, which turned to snow halfway up the mountain.  The weather looked gloomy this morning as well, but by the time we finished our lunch, the sun was shining happily.  We were very impressed with our kids.  K made it about a mile up the mountain before I put her in the carrier, and L did the whole thing—up and down—with his own steam.  The view at the top was spectacular.  It gave us a nice bird’s eye view of the Saskatchewan Glacier and the small lake at its foot.

On the way down, we had to stop to set our feet in some snow.

After recuperating back at camp with a bit of supper, we decided to do a bit more exploring in the Kootenay Plains Ecological Reserve where our campground was situated.

It was a wonderful day.  Hopefully our children take a few memories with them.

L didn’t know what to do with himself while we were setting up camp, so Aunt I suggested he build something with some of the sticks that were lying on ground around the fire pit.  Of course the first thing that came to his mind was to build a little shelter for his prized souvenir from the Museum giftshop.

After supper, we went for a walk.  K was busy admiring and picking flowers.  I wonder where she got that from?

I am always amazed by the sheer size of these animals.

L was in his glory.  K, having spent the previous day trying to enjoy herself while everyone else was reading information plaques and listening to the guide go on about the “late cretaceous period,” was somewhat impatient with the whole process.  Eventually she figured out that she could draw some attention to herself if she became the palaeontologist or tour guide, so she started pulling people around and explaining the exhibits.  Both L and K got to take something home from the giftshop, though the decision proved to be a very difficult one for L.

After spending a few hours at the museum, we did the obligatory tourist thing and climbed the “world’s largest T-Rex” and took a family picture.  

Aunt I knew about a suspension bridge over the Red Deer River a few miles east of Drumheller.

We enjoyed the view for a few minutes and then made our way to Handhills High Country Hideaway for the night.  Here we are taking a look at the day’s photographs.  After supper, the kids and I tried to catch a fish at the campground’s private fishing pond.  The fish were jumping, but they didn’t want any part of our bait.

We were excited about the camping spot we selected until we got out of the car to set up camp.  The mosquitoes hit us like we were the only food on the planet.  Even though the wind was blowing the hats off our heads, the mosquitoes still managed, somehow, to find the leeward side of our bodies and dig in.  It was bad.  We hurriedly put up the tent so L and K could play inside, away from the bugs.

We even elected to have all of our meals inside the tent.

Fortunately, the mosquitoes weren’t quite as bad out in the hills and on the trails.  We went to see some covered dig sites—the building in the first picture houses one of them—and after supper we went to climb some hills and view some of the hoodoos around the campground.

We made a pit stop in Brandon.  This picture was taken mostly to show off our newest purchase.  To this point, our camping gear has always accompanied us in a cargo basket on the roof of the car.  As the family has become larger, the amount of gear that needs to come along has increased and the space inside the car to haul it has decreased.  Although all the necessary gear still “fits” in the cargo basket, it is quite a chore packing and unpacking it all, because it always has to be carefully wrapped with a tarp to protect it.  After doing a lot of internet research and test driving, we finally opted for this 5×8 utility trailer.  The fancy lid was built by L & L Enterprises (in our backyard) in the days before we left.  For our next camping weekend, it will have the ability to haul bikes as well.  Although it was never tested by a heavy rainstorm while on the road, we did drive through some light rain and endured a thunderstorm while camping.  Our gear stayed dry through it all. 

We pitched camp at Besant Trans-Canada Campground near Moose Jaw.  The campground was a little run down and the tent sites were small, but we enjoyed our stay.

We went for a walk after supper.  K was excited to see some cacti growing in the wild.  We also found some saskatoons along the road.  The campground had a little pond that was called a swimming hole.  We hadn’t brought our trunks along, but we hiked up our shorts and got our feet wet.

So I’m in Victoria while Pam is holding down the fort at home.  I’ve got more kids to look after, but they are lower maintenance…so far (crossing my fingers and knocking on wood).  It’s hard to believe that we are only approaching the halfway point on the tour.  Yesterday we sang at Union Gospel Mission’s Women’s Centre and the facility where they feed the homeless in Vancouver’s east side.  The day before we were in Abbotsford and the day before that we were in Kelowna.  We made a stop at the Mission Hill Estates and sang in their amphitheatre.  I also made sure to sample (and purchase) some wine.

We were needing a new grilling machine on our deck.  We had some credit card points to use and our neighbourhood Canadian Tire obliged us with a 50%-off sale.  I had some handy help assembling it.  Now if only summer would arrive so we could enjoy using it.