Day 17 Part 2

this little rollercoaster is Jada's favorite ride. Her arms go up right away and never come down. She is the third car back.

4. Stopped in Strathmore to eat at Smittys on our way home.

5. Driving back to Gull Lake, all tired, sick or sore.

VACATION IS OVER :(

....but the trip will be on next year again. Maybe see some new things again. Thanks for reading all this.

Day 17 - Fri Aug 20 Part 1

Okay this post is in two parts as well...

1. Woke Up

2. ORdered breakfast room service. (Ahhhhh HOT SHOWERS. I couldve stayed in there all day)

3. Went to Calaway Park. AWESOME!!

to be continued.....

Day 16 continued.....

...oh here are all the zoo pictures, I was wondering why there wasnt any more. Enjoy browsing through. Remember if you'd like to see the pictures larger, just click on them)

Day 16 - Thur Aug 19

1. (Guess what we did) Woke Up

2. Had cereal in the van. (It was really cold this morning and we needed to be up bright and early to go to the sled dog tour)

3. Wen to a sled dog tour. COOL!!!!!!!!! (The huskies pulled us on an ATV and it was amazing to see their excitement to do this, and how smart they are to all the commands. This would be awesome to come back to in the winter....planning on it. Picture starting top left and going clockwise....in the store waiting for our ride, this is a stuffed Husky, getting the team ready to pull us, on the ride, the little babies there, a beautiful girl sitting so nice on top of her house while the rest where barking crazy, then ME petting a WOLF...ahhhhhh he was amazing. We got to walk around and pet all the dogs and even give them treats.)

4. Went back to Wapiti.

5. Girls having shower.

6. Boys are taking down the tent.

7. Ate lunch at McD'S

8. Filled up with gas

9. Went to the info centre to get a map of Calgary Zoo.

10. Said goodby the the mountains and started to drive to Calgary.

11. Found a campsite at West Calgary.

12. Went to Calgary Zoo. COOL!! We saw all different animals. FUN.

(heehee, the reason for Casey's great pose ... the only way we knew what time it was, is to take a picture with the camera and check back on the picture... they fed the vultures while we were there.)

13. Driving to find a place to eat in Calgary.

14. Ate at Denny's (love this place)

15. Stayed at a hotel. (we were so burnt out tired by now, Casey's lungs are infected ~ possible from all the smoke we've been walking through ~ so we broke down for our last night. It was great. We all slept wonderful, but all of us felt too hot)

16. Rented Karate Kid

17. Went to bed.

Day 15 - Wed. Aug 18

1. Woke Up.

2. Phoned the sled dogs and got us in tomorrow.

3. Ate breakfast at Craig's Family Restaurant.

4. Went to the information center to get Dad a massage. (well the people there didnt give him one, but we used their phonebook and phone to get him booked with one downtown)

5. Went back to the campsite

6. Went to a chocolate shop were there was all this different designs ex. a cowboy hat & boots all made of chocolate, and a bottle leaning on a bears head. and we got three chocolate bars and a bunch of bite size chocolate. (This place was really neat, you could see the guy in the back making the chocolates and stuff. Very yummy.)

7. Went to pick up Dad from his massage.

8. Ate lunch at Subway

9. Went to Quarry Lake and swam. (well Eric and Sara swam. I dont know how they can stand swimming is such cold water. )

10. Went to the park to play for a while. (Jada really needed some park time.)

11. Went to get ice cream

12 . Came back to Wapiti and Jada, ERic and Sara made a HUGE pile of pine needles (They ended up making it look like a grave. )

13. Driving to Oh Canada Eh! Dinner Theatre where we watch people acting out things and they serve us a big supper (5 courses ` cool) AWESOME!!! :) (This was such a hit with all 5 of us. We loved the food. The kids were glued to the entertainment and it was just a hoot of a time. The kids especially liked that they got to yell "eh" whenever our server/actor said it or if we saw him com on stage. We got a picture of the kids with our server. Sara & Eric both got serinaded by the violin player. IT was great. Hard to take pictures in there though.)

14. Came back to Wapiti

15. Went to bed.

Day 14 - Tues. Aug 17

1. Woke Up

2. Waited for Jada to wake up. (she slept long each day)

3. Ate at Schumachuk but they didnt have any breakfast so we bought cereal boxes & milk.

4. Took down the tent.

5. Drove to a Natural Hot Spring called Lussier River Hot Springs. (everyone thought these were pretty cool. We had seen lots of Hot Springs / Pools so this was neat to see it coming from the rock and how hot it really is. There was no thermometer in the waters, but talking to people we guess that the top pool was 111 degrees f, and got cooler each pool down. Of course the one closest to the river was the cold pool, where Sara spent most of her time. The road up the mountain was pretty narrow in places and had pullouts added so you could pass an oncoming car. It was a wicked drive. Remember you can click on the pictures to see them larger.)

6. Ate lunch at Fire Valley Restaurant.

7. Driving on the road to get to Canmore and we saw mountain goats, just outside Radium.

8. Driving on hte highway and the trees were ina forest fire it looks kind of cool. (those are Sara's words, I thought it was pretty sad. All the damage that it does. The signs where all melted too, it was eerie.)

9. We went to the information centre in Canmore to find a place to stay.

10. Went to Wapiti Campground and set up the tent.

11.Ate supper at Hungry Bear Restaurant.

12. Went to DQ

13. Came back to the campsite.

14. Trying to phone the sled dogs but nobody answered.

15. Found sticks and made them into roasting sticks. (we have metal ones, but it was much funner to use sticks to roast)

16. We cooked marshmellows and Jada learned how to cook a marshmellow. (Sara was a great teacher. They both made some really good marshmellows)

17. Went to bed.

Day 13 - mon aug 16

1. Woke UP

2. Sara & Mom had a shower

3Eric & Dad had a shower

4. Starting to take down the tent and get stuff out of it, while Jada is still sleeping

5. Jada woke up.

6. Went for breakfast at Creston Country Family Restuarant. (when we were done eating and in the parking lot getting ready to hit the road again, we saw a ton of old fashion cars pulling matching trailers. They were so cool. Here is a pic of one!)

7. Took Down the tent

8. Got our picture took by a pair of dice. (top picture)

9. Drove on the road.
10. Stopped at a goat store were goats go on top of the roof and eat grass. THey also make soap there from goat milk. (the bottom picture above. You can see the grass on the awning.)
11. Went for ice cream in Yahk. (the name of a very small town)
12. Drove to Cranbrook.
13. Went to the information centre and got information on what to do.
14. Drove to 4x4 Adventures
15. Got in GMC Trackers and started to drive up a Mountain. Really bumpy. we were on top of a mountain 7200 feet above sea level. AWESOME!! (the lady who lead the tour also had a 6 year old son who comes along, so Jada had a friend to visit with the whole ride. They both enjoyed each others company.)

Below we have pictures from when we were on top of the mountain. Eric with his nukshuk that he built. It was a beautiful sight. (I think if you click on the pictures you can see them larger!)

Below we have picture of the Trackers. Jada and I rode in the red one with the guide and Casey had Eric & Sara in the black one. At one point the red tracker broke down so we got to stop and have a quick break. The bottom middle picture is of Casey coming down a really steep hill. It doesnt look too bad in the picture, but just so you know, it was freaky steep. We also got to blast though a couple of puddles, but I dont have any good pictures of that. THe whole tour was 4 hours long.

16. Driving to find a Japanese Sushi Place.

17. Found the place called Sakura and the chef made us bul-go-gi special just for us. (It was not on the menu, but we know that is what Jada loves from Miso in Swift, so we asked the owner and he had the chef's make us a dish. It turned out GREAT!! Everything there was bang on good. Reminded us of Miso in Swift. The crunch rolls, bul-go-gi, tempura, teriyaki, and we even tried a new dish which was OK)

18. Went to shoppers drug mart to get medicine because Dad is sick. (Casey got a sinus cold...poor guy)

19. Stopped at husky to get ice.

20. Drove to Wasa Lake to stay the night. (this was an amazing campground. but I dont think I would stay for a long time since there was no showers. but the sites where beautiful)

21. Set up the tent.

22. Had a fire. (The kids finally broke out some glow sticks. and they made our names - and lot of other names too, but here is the pics of ours)

23. WEnt to bed.

Day 12 Sun Aug 15

1. Woke Up
2. Mom did laundry
3. Dad, Eric, and Sara went to Timmy's and got breakfast for everyone.
4. Talked to the guy who owned the campground and told us stuff that we can do.
5. Drove back to Timmy's to see if they had ginger ale but they didnt.
6. Went to a gas station and got everybody a drink.
7. Went to the glass house. Very cool. (Very interesting. I remember seeing this as a kid, but this time I understood that the glass bottles where old formaldehyde bottles. EWWWW. The guy who built the houses was a mortician, so he used the embalming fluid bottles to build his house. EWWW again. )

(Oh and in the gardens there is a live toad and his name is Trevor. Just a tid-bit for you Colleen)

8. Driving on the road to Creston to go to the Winery but we decided not to. (It was so busy there, and so hot, that we decided not to go)

9. Ate lunch at DQ (and had a mini....oh how I love thee)

10. Went to Creston Wild Life Tour and we saw TURTLES!! (While we were paddling the canoe we saw the turtles. It was so hot this day, we almost died)

Jada was a very good helper with paddling. Though she got tired really fast.

Here are the turtles out for a suntan

11. Went to an actual swimming pool and swam at the Community Rec Centre. (It was their first year open and it was an amazing facility. Their pool rocked.)

12. Went back to the campsite to hang up our swim suits and towels.

13. Ate supper at Creston Country Family Restaurant.

14. Went back to our campsite.

15. Played at the park for a little bit

16. While Dad and Eric chopped firewood

17. Had a fire, a really big fire.

18. Went to bed

Day 11

1. Woke Up
2. Ate breakfast at Broadway Deli. (They had the most amazing waffles EVER!! With syrup, blueberries, raspberries and whipping cream. Man they were awesome)
3. Driving back to the campsite to shower and take down the tent. (this is how we got the topper closed. Sara had to sit on it. Good team work guys!) 4. Drove to Kaslo and ate a place called tree house. ( On the drive there we went through a small town and this was a resort and small cottages to rent. It was so cute. Someday I'd like to stay here)

5. We went to the SS Moyie Museum where we got to go on the oldest surviving turn wheel boat in canada. (i think. It was a neat museum and very hands on. You got to wander around just hang out in the boat. OH and we saw Eric's Meat Market in the town, so of course got a pic of that.)

6. Sara got a pencil and it is made out of wood off a tree that is what she was using to write with & Jada got a bracelet at the market.

7. Driving to Ainsworth Hot Springs.

8. Swam at Ainsworth Hot Springs. (They had a cool cave area. The water was very hot and you got to go in a big loop of cave. The kids thought it was cool. I didnt make it all the way around. I felt like I couldnt breath in there.)

10. Crossed another ferry called Balfour Ferry. We saw lots of Osprey & nests on the ride over. They are pretty cool! (Here we are getting on the ferry again.)

(Sara and I doing the Titanic scene)

(oh and Jada wanted to do it too)

(and then a pic of the kids. They are getting so big)

11. Went to a campsite but it wasnt a nice campground so we left.

12. Drivng on the road again.

13. Found a campsite called Pair-a-dice and we stayed there.

14. Set up the tent

15. Went to bed.