Category: Uncategorized

Uncategorized

Banff

Amy Kline

Exploration day in Banff. We started off the day going horseback riding. Carson has been wanting to for a couple years and there was a ranch just outside of the campground. What a fun experience! The guides were awesome and the horses were well behaved.

After that we drove into Canmore to pick up some groceries and had McDonalds for the first time on this trip. Then we headed up to Banff Town. Beautiful but oh so many people everywhere! We stopped at Banff Springs Hotel to recreate a photo of Jeff’s grandparents there in 1941. It is an actual castle as you can see. Wow!

Next, we visited the Banff Upper Hot Springs and dipped our feet in the hot water. Fascinating! One last stop to see the train station (Jeff loves trains) and then back to the campsite for “camping mac and cheese” for dinner.

  • Carson was beyond excited to ride a horse!
  • Carson’s horse was named Pinkie. She was a “sneaky snacker” and was really good at nabbing a mouthful of grass before Carson noticed and pulled on her reins.
  • Santana was my horse. Very sweet horse.
  • Spencer’s horse was named Chili. Santana is his mother.
  • Shanelle and Emily were awesome guides. Friendly and knowledgeable and very patient with the boys.
  • Such a fun time!
  • We survived! And now the boys want to go horse back riding again soon.
  • This horse saw us walk up and came right over to get a pat on the nose.
  • The boys were captivated by the horses.
  • The McDonald’s in Canada has Poutine!
  • Coolest crosswalk ever. The stop lights are fixed so all cars stop at the same time and all the walkers can cross, including crosswalks that go across the road diagonally. Much more efficient I think!
  • Nice Shower house
  • The view outside the shower house. The sun had set by us, but had not yet set on the mountain.
  • Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel. Very castle like. And it has amazing views of the mountains.
  • Jeff’s grandparents were here in 1941. We recreated the photo in the same spot.
  • Jeff’s grandparents stayed here in 1941. We had the photo and found the exact spot we think.
  • The Queen’s portrait was hanging in the stairway.
  • One of the halls we walked by.
  • The view from one of the balconies
  • We dipped our feet in the hot springs on the little path in front of the building, right as it came out of the earth. It was hot tub temperature. Ahhhhhhhh
  • Carson loves this and wanted to stay a long time.
  • This was the hot springs pool. We spontaneously visited the upper hot springs so did not have our swimming gear with us. Definitely next time though! This water is said to have healing properties due to all the minerals in it.
Uncategorized

Driving day: West Glacier to Bow Valley Campground just south of Banff.

Amy Kline

Driving day from West Glacier to Bow Valley Campground just south of Banff. We bypassed Calgary during rush hour and made it to the campground about 6pm. A fairly uneventful day of driving on the prairie, seeing cattle, and wheat fields with the mountains rising to the west of us as we drove north.

  • As we were leaving in the morning, we passed the train station at West Glacier so Jeff took some photos.
  • Jeff likes trains (and train tracks)
  • Stopping at Customs to show our passports. It was not busy at all.
  • Carson has been asking about going to Tim Horton’s since last year. We stopped at the first one we saw and he was so excited. Donuts for the boys and a chocolate chip Frappuccino for me.
  • Calgary looks like a fun town. We plan to go back and spend some time here in the future.
  • This campground had a great little gift shop and tasty pastries.
  • Now I want to see Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure again!
  • Our campsite. They gave us lots of instructions to store all food in our vehicles so we don’t attract large animals such as bears or cougars.
  • The cooking set up. Ramen for the kids and chicken noodle pasta for us. Plus, since we have electricity at this site, we are charging all the things.
  • We were given brochures in case we have an encounter with a bear or cougar. We will not be heading off into the wilderness by ourselves at all (we are sticking with the throngs of people at the main tourist sites) but we did study up just in case. Plus Jeff has bear spray.
  • A cool flower next to our campsite.
Uncategorized

Glacier National Park Day

Amy Kline

Exploration day in Glacier National Park. Amazing! That is the word to describe this park. Book your trip now if you haven’t been there yet. We decided to take the Going-To-The-Sun Road. We pulled off at a spot by Lake McDonald and had a great time skipping stones and taking pictures by this beautiful glacial lake with barely any other people around. Then we headed up to Logan Pass and took the Hidden Lake Trail to the Outlook-about 1.5 miles at a steady climbing path. It was definitely worth the hike because the scenery was beautiful every step of the way and we got to see mountain goats, waterfalls, and many different types of wildflowers.

  • Lake MacDonald is 500 feet deep. It is so clear that I bet you could almost see all the way to the bottom in the deepest part!
  • The rocks are so cool at this beach. So many different colors and textures. Amy couldn’t stop taking pictures of them because the water was so clear.
  • Skipping rocks took many different strategies. This was an overhand attempt.
  • Jeff skipped a stone that skipped over 20 times!
  • Carson wanted to give his hands the “spa treatment”. Glacial water is cold!
  • My boys! They had so much fun skipping stones.
  • Beach/mountain selfie!
  • We made another pull off at a rapids. The water was blue and it was such a cool sound. Reminded us of the Boundary Waters. Except all the people that ignored the “stay on the path” signs and kept getting in the way of my pictures, grr.
  • Amazing scenery at every turn!
  • A cool tunnel with some lookouts. No parking available so we just keep driving.
  • This was the only barrier between us and the possibility of falling off the side of the mountain. Amy leaned in towards the center of the truck to “help” keep it on the road. The boys thought that was hilarious!
  • Epic views
  • This bridge did a great job of blending in to the natural rocks.
  • Snow! At the end of July.
  • The wildflowers are gorgeous!
  • Glaciers! No people in this photo, but if we would have been 90 degrees in either direction, you would see a never ending line of people on this trail. So many people. There are signs everywhere to stay on the path though, so that helps keep the nature undisturbed.
  • Columbia’s ground squirrel. There were tons of them around the Logan Pass Visitor Center. Cute!
  • I love these red flowers!
  • Mountain Goats were not paying attention to us, but they did get really close to us as they were grazing.