Day 14 - Until Next Time

The fact that it was our last day hung over our heads a bit today, but we were not deterred from some good exploring time. We slept until 8 this morning, when I forced myself to get up and get going, knowing that we wouldn't have time today to stay out the full day because we had to have time to pack. Once we were all dressed and fed, we set out for Johnston Canyon. I had read about this hike and knew it was a popular one.

We found out just how popular when we got there. We were able to get parking by 10:30, which seemed like a good sign. But once we were on the trail, there were people everywhere. The trail follows the Johnston Creek the whole way on your right. The trail, which is paved, is on the left and starts off wide enough, but shortly into it, you are up against the mountain side on a platform with a gate and railing on your right. It was totally safe, but there were a ton of people, which made it annoying. Normal hiking etiquette calls for you to walk on the right. If people want to pass, they can do so on the left. This hike was so crowded with people who seem to not do a lot of hiking, and they are stopping on narrow bridges to take pictures, or holding hands across the whole trail. Definitely annoying. On this hike, which was about 3 miles round trip, there is the lower falls first, followed by the upper falls. At the lower falls, you have the option to go into a tunnel and get right up near the falls. The kids and I waited, though Will opted out. In fact, he was so turned off by the crowds, he decided to turn around at that point and not do the upper falls. He was also very sore today from his run down the mountain yesterday. Ethan wanted to keep going, though, and Eleanor wanted to stay with us, so we went ahead. 

Luckily, a lot of people turned around at the lower falls, so the upper falls trail was less crowded. It was up higher (hence, upper falls), so some good elevation gain. When we got to the upper falls, you can go down some stairs and then out on this platform to see the falls a bit a better. You have to wait in line while people take their pictures and turn back around so you can get closer. It wasn't too long of a line, though, and someone took our picture with the falls in the background. Then, we did another .3 K climb to see the falls from the very top, which was a neat view. The churning water at the bottom always looks like such a good mix of fun and terror. 

We made our way back down the trail, remembering the crowds and doing our best not to knock into people taking up too much space in the narrow parts. On our way at some point, some rescue workers were bringing a stretcher through. Will said he heard a woman scolding her husband for being late and he said he had to stop to help someone who had fallen over the railing. We didn't see any kind of commotion, so not sure where it happened. After we left and we're doing another small hike, we saw and heard a helicopter go by with a stretcher attached. It came by a few times, so now we are really curious about what had happened. It would not have been easy to go over the railing, unless you were trying to. Or you were pushed....hmmmm. Either way, hope the person is okay.

After Johnston Canyon, we drove a little ways down the road to Moose Meadows and had lunch. We started off on that trail afterwards, but it was a long one to a lake, so we just went up a ways and then came back down.  Then we tried another trail, but it was also too long to do the whole things. So we came back down after a ways and the kids played a bit at a bridge with a small creek. We continued on the little road we were on and ended up passing the Continental Divide. We got out and took some obligatory pictures, and Will had a little geography lesson with the kids. 

We knew there were some things to do right outside of downtown, so we came back to the village. We crossed over the Bow River and went up towards Sulfur Mountain to check that out as well as the hot springs near there. We opted out of the gondola at Sulfur Mountain since we just did one yesterday. You can hike all the way to the top, but it takes about 3 hours one way. The kids are great hikers, and we've put in some major mileage, but that would be a bit much. We will have to do it next time. I know if we told Ethan about it, he would have wanted to do it. He loves going high up. Instead, we went to check out the hot springs. Sadly, they were a bit disappointing. They pump all the hot spring water into what looks like a small, outdoor hotel pool. We were picturing natural rocks and such. They wanted like $25 for us to go in. The kids wanted to, of course, but having to deal with wet suits, no towels, etc. wasn't appealing to Will and I. Plus, we knew they couldn't stay in it for long since it's a hot tub. They saw it like a pool but it's not like they could jump in and do cannonballs and stuff. People were all along the sides, half in and half out. Down a ways from the hot springs pool, though, was an actual round hole filled with the hot spring water. So the kids took their shoes off there and soaked a bit. That seemed a lot better than what looks like a chlorinated pool!

After the hot springs, we drove back down by the river and stopped off at this amazing garden behind the Canadian Parks administrative building. The building itself, all large brick, was beautiful, and this garden was incredible. It was a large, tiered area with water features and all kind of different colorful flowers. There were flowers I'd never seen before in my life.  One kind we all liked was some kind of daisy. It sort of looks like a gerbera daisy, but with smaller, thinner petals, and like 30 of them. There is a white bullseye in the middle and vibrant pinks and purples on the outer petal. We toured the garden a bit and then found a spot along the Bow River, hoping to let the kids at least wade in it. As we got to the shore, though, we realized it was a mud bottom, and it was going to be way too messy to let them go in (we have to return our rental car tomorrow!). Plus, the mosquitos were all of a sudden really terrible by the water, so we got out of there pretty quickly. I had bug spray on from earlier but probably sustained 5 bites there. No fun.

Since it was after 4 at this point, we decided to go back to the hotel to have a snack and do some packing. Really, it was for the kids to have a snack/relax while I did some packing, of course. We've been living out of a suitcase for two weeks now and going from place to place we don't have to necessarily have everything in it's rightful place. But because we fly tomorrow, I have to get everything back in the suitcases and pack the backpacks for each person. I got a good amount done, but we are going to have to get up early to finish and get out the door. We hope to leave by 9 to make sure we are at the Calgary airport by 11. Our flight is at 1:40, so we should be good to go if we stick to that schedule. 

Dinner was at a Greek place, no frills, that has won best burger in town and other awards from Calgary even. The owner is an old, cranky Greek man, so naturally I loved him. Ethan and I shared a burger, and I got a Greek salad, and we all shared poutine since I'd been wanting to get it while in Canada. If you don't know, poutine is French fries with melted cheese curds and a gravy on it. It's as savory as it sounds. Good, certainly, but also terribly salty (I've been downing water all night), and not something I need to get anytime soon. But I'm glad I experienced it. After dinner, we did some souvenir shopping before retiring for the night. 

I'm sad that after tomorrow morning, I won't be waking up to see mountains out my window. But we are all ready to be home, in our own space, and not sleeping in the same room! After a near perfect first half, we certainly had a setback on this trip. But it worked itself out. Since we got to Banff, I've thought very little about what we missed out on (Ethan and Eleanor are still sad we didn't get the bunk beds in the condo), and just thought how glad I am we got here at all. We didn't missed out on 2.5 more days of exploring, and we had to take some things off the list. But now that we have been in the area, we know what we will for sure want to see next time, what we can skip, and where we might like to stay. It will be a while before we return since there are other places we will go first, but we will come back. We have to come back, if only to see a bear, which we were so sure we would see! 

Day 13 - Tired, Happy Feet

I was thinking today that I'm sad that my pictures of this place won't do it justice. Glacier, too. I can take pictures of only one small part of the place at once. Sure, I can cover many miles of mountains with my lens, but it's not enough. Taken as a whole, the scenery we have been around for most of this trip (sans Calgary...blah!) has been truly magnificent. I love when we turn a corner on a hike and are struck with a new vista, maybe of the same mountain peak, but with slightly different surroundings. I will take 20 pictures of the same area, trying to capture all the beauty I see. I just can't get enough. But, after tomorrow, I have no choice, I guess, so I've just been soaking it all in. 

Today, we visited Lake Louise. We intended to get up somewhat early and go since we knew the parking lot would be filled by 9 and it's about a 40 minute drive up the Trans-Canada Hwy. I remember looking at the clock at 6 and thinking I should think about getting up. But after a night of being ninja kicked and punched by Eleanor, I went back to sleep. The next time I looked at the clock, it was 8. Oops. We had a breakfast of muffins and yogurt in our room, got dressed, and hit the road. Our first attempt at parking at Lake Louise failed, so we were going to go back to an area to take a shuttle, but then we noticed signs for the gondola, which Will (yes, Will) wanted to do. It is on a ski mountain behind Lake Louise. Will bought tickets for us as well as a guided Bear hike at the top. Will, of course, took the closed gondola (and Eleanor joined him), while Ethan and I opted for the open ski lift. This lift went even higher than the one at Whitefish Mountain, but I think I'm getting used to them because I didn't have anxiety. We looked for bears the whole time because there were a lot of signs about this being the best place to spot them. No luck! 

At the top, we took in some views of Lake Louise  from up high, as well as the Canadian Rockies in general. The tops of the mountains are all so different, some tree lined, others rocky, some pointed, some flat, some with snow/glaciers, some bare. It was a fairly cloudy day, so the tops of some mountains were in the clouds, but it was still amazing. Our bear hike, which I thought was some kind of guarantee to see a bear, ended up simply being a short hike with some stops along the way to talk about bears. We did get to see freshly planted bear scat (our guide has to go out scouting to collect it to show) and some other neat things. And, we learned some interesting tidbits. For one, did you know that mama bears give birth during their hibernation period, around New Years? And guess how big the babies are? About a pound! That's it! Anthony the guide showed us pictures. Baby bears come out looking like hairless moles. Then the baby feeds on mom while she is in and out of consciousness during hibernation and is about 3 or 4 months old come spring. Then they can fend for themselves a bit more, though still rely on mom. Kinda neat. So mama bear kinda gets to sleep through the hardest part! 

Interestingly, the whole area of the ski lift and up at the top is surrounded by an electric fence to keep bears away. We had to go out of the area for our hike and also for a hike we did after our bear walk. There is a restaurant up there and they have a ton of tourists around, so I guess it's a precaution they take. Our guide said that in the spring, he was giving a talk inside the gates but, because there was still snow on the ground, the gates couldn't be turned on. He all of a sudden got a call on the radio that a big grizzly was coming his way. He said he wasn't nervous because he had a group of 20 people with him. So when the bear came up, Anthony started making noise but everyone else just took out their cameras. Luckily, even though he was the only one acting "big" and being loud, the bear ran back the other way. He pretty much told us to handle a bear encounter the same way the ranger in Glacier did. Make noise, try to look big, don't run, use bear spray as last resort, and if he charges lay on your belly with your hands on your head. He said in extremely rare cases, the bear will fake charge at you but mostly won't want to expend the calories it would take to fight you. They are lazy about their eating and just want to get berries they can just walk right up to and eat. They are one of few species that can smell frozen meat and will sometimes eat an animal that has died and been refrigerated under the snow. But they are not big hunters, it seems. 

Anyway, after our guided hike, we left the protected area to go further up the mountain. Holy moly was that hike steep. We were on a road for most of it, so not narrow, but we were at a pretty decent incline. We got up pretty dang far, but as it started to drizzle, we decided we better go down so as not to get caught in a storm on the mountain. We did use an obliging rock and the timer on my camera to get a family pic from so high up. Lake Louise is a tiny green blob on the background. From there, we went back down in the gondola. This time, poor Will rode alone, since both kids wanted to be in the open chair. This time, we were facing Lake Louise way below, so it was just an amazingly beautiful ride. But, again, no bear sightings. Oh well.

Back on the ground, we drove back to Lake Louise, but this time stopped off in the Lake Louise Village, a short drive down the road. We got lucky with a parking spot and planned to take the free shuttle from there since we knew the parking lot at the lake would likely be filled. We stopped for a snack at a deli, (pbj sandwiches only carry so long), where Ethan got a pineapple and Canadian bacon slice of pizza, and Eleanor and I shared a chicken mulagatawni soup. Honestly, I had no idea what that was and have only heard of it on Seinfeld. I didn't know that it had Indian curry flavors. It was delicious! And luckily Eleanor thought so too. I'm glad to know she liked it because I've got a butter chicken and chicken tikka masala recipe I'd love to use. Will's snack was a big peanut butter cookie. 

The shuttle dropped us off at Lake Louise. The Chateau Lake Louise (owned by fairmount hotels I think) is right there and a beautiful building. The lake itself looks just like the pictures I've seen, milky emerald. It was so pretty but also crowded with a billion tourists taking selfies. It was hard to get a picture without people in it. You can rent these red canoes, so there were a ton of those floating around, and the color contrast is neat. After enjoying the view for a bit, we started up on one of the two tea house trails. We had been told by a guy in Glacier not to miss it. Basically, these Swiss guys opened the tea houses for hikers back in the 20s, I think, and they are still operational. This was another steep hike, and went pretty far up the mountain. There was one place where you got a pretty good view of part of Lake Louise, but for the most part you were surrounded by trees. Toward the top, we got a look at Mirror Lake, a small but very pretty, glass-like lake, and then some falls. Then, at the base of the tea house was another lake, larger and with glacier filled mountains flanking it: Lake Agnes. The tea house itself was a log cabin. We went up to it, but the signs said they closed at 5. It was almost 5:30. People were still crowded inside, but I didn't want to be responsible for keeping the poor workers, who have to hike down, from closing up shop. Will left at this point because the last shuttle back to our car left at 6pm. If we missed the shuttle, he was going to have a pretty long walk to our car. I stayed behind with the kids, but we left shortly after. The way up had taken over an hour. Will said he was down in 22 minutes. That's how uphill it was. When we looked down at the Chateau from the top, it was crazy to think we had hiked so far up. Going down was hard on the legs, though, that's for sure. By the time we got down, we all had sore feet. Will had made it on to the shuttle, thankfully, and was able to pick us up. We had failed to get a family picture in front of the lake, but we were all too tired to walk back to the lake to get someone to do it. So we drove out of there. 

I could do this drive all day. It's not typical national park driving with winding roads. The main highway is 4 lanes with a large bank in the middle. You are just surrounded on all sides by mountains. I love it! Will and I were saying that this was definitely not what we saw last Tuesday driving through. So happy the smoke has cleared and we can take it all in.  One neat thing is that they have fences all along the highway to protect wildlife. But there are, I think, 6 bridges for the animals built along the highway. So the cars go under a tunnel and then the top is a tree and grass lined "road" for animals to cross. They also have something like 15 underpasses for animals, too, so they can get from one side to the other safely. I took a picture of the animal highways. 

Back in Banff, we parked and then went to find dinner. Tonight, we chose a place we've walked past several times that was very intriguing. It is a crepe and waffle place. They have sweet and savory options. Will got the vegetarian (with chicken, so not so vegetarian), I got bacon and maple, Ethan got Nutella, strawberry, and banana, and Eleanor got pancakes with strawberries and bananas. Success! 

Back in our tiny room, it was shower night for the kids, who are filthy, and us parents. Now, they are passed out. We broke out the camp pad for Eleanor tonight, as Will and I both wanted our bruises to heal from last night. Eleanor can be a very violent sleeper! We will, no doubt, make the most of our last day here. I will not want to leave here, of course, especially with so much left unseen, but I think we will all be happy to get back home. It's always good to get home after a long trip. 

Day 12 - Glorious Mountains

So, shortly after Will came home from the clinic last night, I asked if we were going to for sure go into Banff tomorrow, and he said, "let's find a place to stay there the next few nights. Praise! Then began the task of finding a reasonably priced lodging during the high season for three nights (over a weekend=more expensive we now know...). There were not a ton of options when you searched online, and most were well over $250, if not $400, per night. Some were even more. A condo in the same place we originally were staying were $350 a night. We were paying around $700 for 6 nights! Long story short, Will called a lot of places and struck out a ton. Finally, he booked a room via Priceline at the King Edward Hotel. But when the confirmation came in, it said for only two adults. We knew from our phone calls that most of their rooms were just one King or one queen bed, which would be quite tight. Will's plan was to try to sneak our kids in and just squeeze no matter what. We went to an outdoor store and bought a camp pad even. Now, I tend to be more of the "better to ask forgiveness than permission" kind of person, and I urged Will to tell them the truth, that Priceline hadn't asked for number of people and when we tried to cancel it said it was going to have to charge us for two nights. Then, I said, give them our sob story and hope they take pity. I really did not want to try to sneak our kids into a tiny room and get caught and then have to pay big fees. So...Will quickly realized in the tiny lobby that we wouldn't be able to hide our kids, so he told them (most of) the truth. First, they wanted us to pay for the family room, which was astronomical, but then they agreed to let us stay in the one room and offered a cot. So, I am typing on the side of the queen bed, Eleanor is asleep in the middle of the bed, and Ethan is on the other side of the bed on a cot. Currently, Will is reading on the floor at the end of the bed. This will be a fun experiment! 

Honestly, though, I could care less how/where I sleep at this point because we are actually here! And here is right smack dab in the middle of Banff. Originally, we were to stay two towns over, about a 25 minute drive from Banff. It would have been just fine, and I surely wouldn't have minded the space. But now that we only have a couple of days, being even closer is better. And since we have no room here, we will be motivated to stay away all of the day and just be here to sleep anyway. Ethan is probably the most down about this hotel (he really loved the breakfast at our last one...this one doesn't even have a breakfast), but I keep telling him we will hardly be here. It's clean, the shower is good, and we are in Banff. I'm a happy camper. And, actually, we remarked that my tent might be larger than our room. Will and I said our house will seem really huge when we get home! 

This hotel is right on Banff Avenue in downtown Banff. The city is crowded! There are people everywhere on the streets. It reminds me of Park City, UT or someplace like that (Tahoe or Vail, I guess) where it's pretty high end and full of art galleries, fancy stores, restaurants, etc. What's so amazing is that you are literally in the middle of all the mountains. You are walking down this very urban street but you look up and see mountains everywhere. So cool! 

We arrived by 2 or so and ate some sandwiches I had made that morning. Then, we packed up and headed out to explore a bit. Since we are right in the park already, there is a lot to do a very short drive away. We went looking for Lake Minnewanka.                                    but, along the way, stopped off at another, smaller lake called Lake Johnson, I believe. It was all very pretty. And we wanted to hike around the whole lake, but Will realized he had left the bear spray in our room. There were several warnings about bears in the area because of berry season, so we went a little ways in, making lots of noise, and then turned back around. 

Then we drove to find Lake Minnewanka. It has a large dock with some tour boats and small canoes and row boats you can rent. I guess this is the only lake in the park you can bring your own boat into, as well, which we find a bit odd. It is fine to see tour boats and small non-motor craft, but seeing other boats takes away from it a bit. Luckily, there weren't many out and about. Ethan really liked hiking close to the lake because it was very rocky and he likes to feel like he is really doing harder climbs. We found some rocky shoreline with a bunch of trees stacked up like a shelter and the kids spent time playing with rocks. Eleanor opened up a "rock store," from which Ethan would buy rocks for skipping. She had the most fun and asked Ethan later how he would rate her store: awesome, the worst, epic, or terrible. He rated it epic, which made her quite happy. She plans to open the store back up again tomorrow. Ethan, like his dad, is kind of amazing at skipping rocks. I have never been able to skip a rock more than twice, but Ethan, no joke, had several that skipped 10-15 times. He's a natural! 

We hung around a bit, took a lot of pictures, and then had a short drive back to town. Then came the search for a meal that didn't completely break the bank. If you're reading this, you know we do these trips with very few meals out. We stay great places, do awesome things, and save by making our own meals. So these next few days will be hard for Will! We finally settled on this Spaghetti Warehouse, and I think we chose well. The pasta dishes were between $10 and $15, and you got bread, soup or salad, and ice cream with every meal. Not bad! And, honestly, the food was pretty good. I got spaghetti in a spicy meat sauce, and it did not taste like typical, mass produced sauce. We had two wait about 40 minutes for a table, and now I know why. Good price and tasty! 

After dinner, we hit the IGA for some breakfast things and more bread so we can make sandwiches to take on our hikes tomorrow. We will go to Lake Louise tomorrow, which is about a 40 minute drive, so not bad at all. We've been told to do at least one of the two tea house hikes there. You actually hike to tea houses that opened years ago and are still operational. All supplies are hiked in. 

So, there was certainly a several day blip of unpleasantness on this trip. I am still disappointed that we won't be able to do all we wanted to originally, but I think this trip will help us know what we might want to do and see on a return trip someday. At the very least, I'm just glad we didn't spend 5 days in Calgary, wasting away. I'm grateful that the smoke has cleared (our waiter confirmed it was awful for several days), and that we were able to get back. And, Will just said his leg is slowly starting to feel better...just in time to get back into use! 

Day 11 - Kinda Low

Today was hard for me, not going to lie. Started off well enough with some extra sleep and then a good breakfast. At breakfast, though, Will told me he didn't, in fact, want to drive to Banff today. He'd read an article about air quality in the Calgary paper that morning. I was more than a bit disappointed. I read the article he had, which spoke of air quality levels comparable to Beijing. I reminded Will that we walked around Beijing for days many years ago, when the air was even worse. The article ended by saying the danger was greatest for the very young (I assume babies) and the old or anyone with major breathing problems. We do not seem to fall into these categories. I know Will is being cautious and protective for all the right reasons, but I am starting to think we might have made the wrong decision to cancel our stay. I have spoken to many locals about how we were supposed to be in Banff but cancelled. They all seem a bit perplexed by this when I mention the smoky air. 

We drove through it Monday. The smoke was visible. You could smell it. So it's not like we were delusional about that. But I'm wondering if we could have gone places where it wasn't as prominent. Today, my friend Susie (loyal blog reader extraordinaire) texted links to pictures of live web cams in the NP. The one from the Banff gondola surely had some smoky skies, but the one of Lake Louise definitely looked pretty clear. It made me very sad to see these places I've been dying to see and think that we made the wrong choice. I immediately texted the owner of our condo to see if he would consider renting to us the next three nights we have. He responded that unfortunately it had been rented right after we cancelled. This kills me! So...tons of people are clearly in the area. And someone is staying in OUR condo! I did a quick check on Expedia only to find that, of maybe 5 or 6 available places, every single one is at least $250 a night, which is just too much for us. 

So, anyway, to fill the day, we drove an hour and 45 minutes northeast to Drumheller, AB: home of the Royal Tyrell Dinosaur Museum. On the way, the kids were being very whiny and difficult. Will was losing his cool, and I was trying really hard not to cry, and not always succeeding. Finally, we put on the Hamilton soundtrack to keep the kids happy, and the drive was a bit smoother from there. The drive there, though not through the Rockies, is pretty because a lot of the farms have these crops with yellow flowers. I believe they are canola plants. The farms are pretty with rolling hills of yellow everywhere. Then, when you get to Drumheller, the landscape completely changes, and you are all of a sudden in badlands. It is very dry and not very colorful, but a neat, new view of the country. Drumheller is famous for its dinosaur museum, and the entire town has capitalized on this Dino theme. As you drive through on the way to the museum, a lot of the businesses have dinosaurs tied into their decor or signage. A bit kitschy. Oh, and while my dad will kill me when he hears, I did see a small Star Trek museum, but we didn't stop. 

The dino museum itself is fine. It's mostly just fossils behind glass and a lot of either casted or original dinosaur bone reconstructions. I was not in a great frame of mind to enjoy it, honestly, but I did my best. The best part was a section where actual people were working behind glass on real Dino bone projects. And there was even a young woman behind a desk in the open, working on reconstructing a dinosaur jaw. She'd taken it out of it's "shell" (the put them in a plaster cast to transport) and was cleaning it up with a tiny scalpel, toothbrush, etc. Eleanor and I watched her for quite a bit and asked some questions. After seeing the exhibits, Ethan and I did a short hike in the badlands adjacent to the museum. He got to do some climbing, and we took some neat pictures. Admittedly, it was the happiest I've been in 3 days. I was outside, I was hiking, and I was seeing new things outdoors. This indoor life has been killing me the past couple of days. Will and Eleanor stayed back - Will because of his leg bothering him (more on that to come) and Eleanor because she wanted to play in a play area attached to the museum. We left for Calgary around 5:30 or so, listening to a few chapters of Mary Poppins on the way. 

When we got back to the hotel, I ordered a pizza from Dominos (next door) and Will left for the health clinic. He wasn't going to go but I told him he had to. He has been complaining about it for days, it feels hot to the touch and is bothering him a lot, and I would rather know for sure if it is anything serious! Finally, I threatened to call his sister, and that seemed to do the trick. :) I texted a bit ago and he wrote back to say it's infected. He didn't say exactly what "it" is but I'm still assuming spider bite. He will have to take medication four times a day. And he said it may cause stomach upset. I told him all antibiotics say that but, knowing Will and his weak stomach, it will cause it, so I told him to get a decent probiotic to take while he's on it. It's 9:30 here, and he isn't home. I'm assuming he's waiting for the meds now or on his way home. 

Because I truly am an optimist, I have to believe that we will see some beauty tomorrow, and hopefully the next couple of days. This can never be the trip I had planned, but we can hopefully knock off some of the sights I've been so looking forward to seeing, especially Lake Louise. I think the Columbia Icefields will be too far away, as I believe they are two hours away from Banff and that was already going to be a long day when we planned to stay in the area. If I get to spend any reasonable amount of time in the Canadian Rockies, I will be a happy girl. Oh, and we still haven't seen a bear, so that would be nice, too. 

After a long, somewhat sad with some bright spots day, I go to bed a bit hopeful for a good tomorrow. 

P.S. Will just returned. The doctor said it was good he came in. Without treatment, it could have turned much worse.  

Day 10 - Still can't believe we're not in the mountains, but what are you gonna do, eh?

Since the last two posts have been so negative, I'm going to start with a lists of positives so that no one thinks I'm going to throw myself off a mountain (but wait, we're not in the mountains...oh man!). So here is a list of positives:

1. We can sleep in a bit here. This morning, we slept until 8 am, other than Ethan of course, but at least he left us alone until then. This feels nice after our early "up and at 'em" departures in Glacier.

2. Our hotel has a bitchin' free breakfast. It's big and has a lot of hot and fresh options. The kids are suckers for good hotel breakfasts, as am I. And I don't have to do the dishes after.

3. We had authentic Schwarma today, as well as other Mediterranean dishes at a place I found on Google maps voted best food under $10 in Calgary. It wasn't all under 10, but it was a good meal. Ethan and Will got samoas and tabouli, I got a lamb pita, and Eleanor got a bowl of shaved lamb because, well, she's Eleanor. And we had pistachio baklava for dessert. 

4. The kids had fun today. We found a "leisure center," which seems to be like a community center. But this one has an indoor water park complete with a large wave pool, and 4 or 5 water slides. These places are sort of my nightmare, but the kids had a blast so worth it. And it was only $27 for our whole family, which seemed crazy. Will got to go to their nice fitness center, too, while I fended for my life, and those of my kids', in the wave pool. The festivities took a dive (see what I did there?) when someone found doodie in the pool and they closed down for a bit, but we persevered. 

5. We haven't watched a lot of tv here at all, so we are kind of enjoying the break from Trump. Sure, we are seeing the headlines on social media (still a moron, blah, blah, blah), but it's good to not feel like it's all we hear and see. Will was reading a Canadian newspaper this morning and said it was so interesting to read the stories from the Canadian perspective. 

So, see, it's not all gloom and doom. Do I every few minutes think about what we're supposed to be doing instead of tooling around Calgary looking for inexpensive ways to keep our kids busy? Do I think about the beautiful, new condo we had booked, the one with a separate bedroom for Will and I, a room with bunk beds for the kids, a beautiful kitchen, and a cozy living room? Nah. Just kidding. I definitely do. But I'm no longer on the verge of tears every time I remember. 

We walked across the busy road (at an intersection of course) today and found a library in a quaint neighborhood. We spend some time in the library and then found a little outdoor fitness area with machines built into the ground. The kids enjoyed tooling around on the equipment. Then we walked to the most depressing mall I've ever seen. But, it did have a bookstore, as we needed to find books for Eleanor to read since she read the ones we brought. A couple of chapter books later, we were on our way. It was funny to finally have to pay attention to the CAD price on the back of a book. 

For lunch, Eleanor got a salad at subway in the food court, Ethan chose a croissant from Tim Horton's, and I got an Orange Julius because you never see them by us and they remind me of our childhood trips to California. Will and I ate some of the food we still have back at the hotel. Not sure what we will do with some of it. We have two packages of chicken sausage and a small bag of potatoes we planned to use in foil dinners. Maybe we just find a park with a bbq? (I just read this paragraph back and thought, who cares what we all ate for lunch? Is this what this trip has come to? I need to give details of our lunch habits to fill space? I'm leaving it because it seems to go with the theme of the week so far: sad. Plus, you already heard about our breakfast and dinner, and I am nothing if not thorough.)

It wouldn't really be a ruined vacation blog post without a little negative, though, so here goes:

1. We are not in Banff. We plan to go tomorrow, at least to Banff town and maybe on a short hike, depending on how bad the air is. Praying for a miracle.

2. Will had some kind of bite on his leg that is really bothering him. I got nervous it was a tick but have been talked off the ledge. But it's red, and hot, and irritated, so he is going to try to go to a health clinic tomorrow morning. He didn't make it there before it closed tonight. Thinking it's a spider bite. But he said it hurts enough that he doesn't think he could even do much hiking. 

3. We are not in Banff. 

4. They do not sell wine in grocery stores here. 

5. We are not in Banff. Oh, did I mention this? 

Day 9 - blah

Today, we had the terrible task of driving right through Banff to get to Calgary. The smoke was not great. We started in the Kootenay National Forest, where there was definite fire damage, though we are not sure if it is from these recent fires. The forest runs right into Banff National Park along the Trans Canada Highway. The thing is, it's very clear that the smoke is there, but it's still pretty, even though you can't even see all of it. The smoke was bad, and even what was coming into the car via the A/C was giving me a slight headache. We stopped in Canmore (right outside of Banff) for lunch, and I noticed my hair smelled like I'd sat next to a campfire. So I guess it's clear that it's not a great time to visit. But...there were still so many people out and about. And it nearly killed me to drive through to go to the city. 

Our hotel is nice enough. It looks like an embassy suites with a big courtyard in the middle. The pool is on the floor below ours, and I'm not a fan of it being where people can walk out of their rooms and see you. Kind of annoying. The room is nice and updated and somewhat roomy, but it's still two queen beds as opposed to our two bedroom condo in the mountains. 

All four of us were on edge this afternoon, with good reason, as we tried to reconcile being here instead of Banff. I looked again at flights. United has one for $350 on Thursday, I think. It  came out to something like $1400 with taxes and fees piled on, plus the $300 fee for cancelling with West Jet. We have to decide if we just want to end this trip or not. And we have to decide soon because there were only four tickets left. The next best ticket price was $435 and that was for a flight that leaves at 2 pm, makes two stops, and doesn't fly into Chicago until 6am the next day. What?! No thanks. 

There are things to do here. There is a zoo, a bad amusement park, museums, etc. But all these things cost a decent amount for a short amount of time. And there all things that we are just doing to stay busy, not because we really want to. We have better zoos, better amusement parks, and better museums at home. I hate that we are not an hour west in Banff. I don't think I can stay 6 nights in a hotel room. Kids were bananas this afternoon as we tried to figure out what to do. 

We ended up trying to go to an indoor climbing place only to find it was not what we thought. Then, we ended up at a bowling alley. At least we got lucky with an afternoon special. None of us broke 100, so it was pretty terrible bowling, but we had a little fun. We stopped off at Safeway and grabbed some soup and salad for dinner. The kids will go to the pool now and then we will all go to bed. 

There is a chance we will try to go west if we hear the winds have changed but it's not looking good. Really, the stars have aligned in some terrible way to block so many paths. Flights are astronomical. Our car has to be returned at the airport. We honestly thought about dropping off the car, finding transportation to MT, renting another car, and just driving home. Not the most logical. Really wishing we would have driven our own car at this point. I worked so hard and thought I was so clever switching things around and getting our car in Calgary and now we're stuck.

I'm wishing I had pushed harder to go to Coeur d'Alene, but Will just didn't seem to want to. We could have spent three nights there and then made our way back here. Or I wish I had found a place back in Glacier area. But every place we called was booked and terribly expensive. 

I do not have an "oh well, let's make the most of it" attitude. Maybe I'll get there, but not yet. We are ONE HOUR from the place I want to be, the place I planned to be, months ago. I researched and booked near Banff in October. I've looked up hikes and pictures and planned and planned. And now I'm sitting in a hotel in a city, surrounded by buildings. It just sucks, plain and simple. 

Enough of this pity party. Good news: Will just said tomorrow we can walk to a nearby bank, post office, and dollar store. So we have an hour of fun covered. Ugh...

Day 8 - (Natural) Disaster Strikes

Well, this will be the saddest travel blog post I write. Our trip to the Banff area has had to be cancelled. We crossed into Canada today, blissfully unaware that the wildfires have been ravaging many parts of BC, Canada. When we crossed into Canada, the line of cars leaving was very long, much longer than when we came in last Tuesday. We learned all too soon why: smoke. As we drove north into Canada, it was clear that wildfire smoke was in the area. Will panicked right away, but I was still hopefully that two hours further north would be fine. Our stay for the night is in Invermere, BC, about 2 hours from the Banff area. Sadly, when we stopped at the visitor's center here, the woman confirmed that the smoke is pretty bad in Banff. When we got to our hotel, we called the owner of the place we were to stay in. He is in Edmonton, Alberta, even further north, and admitted the smoke was there, too. He called the people who clean to the condo, who confirmed that it's quite bad there. He is allowing us to cancel without penalty, other than the fee that HomeAway charges ($75), which he can't control. 

This leaves us spinning our wheels. Our flight home (next Monday!) is through West Jet Air, sort of the Spirit Air of Canada. We can cancel the flight, but it will cost $300. And, getting new flights will be about another extra $800 because we had a good deal. So, if we go home, we will essentially be paying $1100 to not have our trip. This seems bad. To get far enough away from the smoke, we need to go south. We can go back to the Glacier area, but we're not sure where we will stay. It's high season and most places closer to the park are totally booked. After thinking about our two bedroom luxury place near Banff, the idea of a roadside motel is very unappealing. Another option is driving to Coeur d'Alene, ID, which is about 4.5 hours from here. We could go stay there for a few days before returning to the area before our flight home. We've been looking into places to stay. 

Bottom line: this is a huge blow. I have been planning this trip for months. And people have built Banff up so much that I'm so disappointed to be missing it. I feel selfish thinking this way because these fires have displaced people and my trip is far less important, but I'm still throwing myself a small pity party. (I invited some wine to the pity party...thank goodness this hotel had a restaurant attached that let me order to-go wine.) We are safe, though, and we will figure it out one way or the other. Stay tuned for where we are tomorrow. I look forward to knowing myself! 

Day 7 - Last Day in Glacier

For our anniversary, Ethan arose early (6:30) to wake us up in order to get on the road. He's so thoughtful. We all slept well, though, so we were up and at 'em for one final day in the park. After looking up some hikes, Will agreed that we would drive further into the park to get to them. Basically, the major road that runs from the west side to the east side of the park is called the Going to the Sun Road. There are some other roads along the edges, but you can access most of the trails from this one road. The road starts at a lower elevation, with Lake McDonald being on one end and then slowly climbs up to Logan Pass, which is along the Continental Divide. This is the highest point you can drive in the park. From there, the road slowly winds down the mountain, ending up at St. Mary's Lake and, eventually, the exit at St. Mary's. The sections in the beginning and end are not bad. It's the middle that is more difficult, where you are driving on the edge of a cliff essentially. It's great for me because I have my camera out the window, clicking away. But Will is concentrating on not killing us or the insane bikers riding through. 

Our destination today was to a hike that took us to four different waterfalls. It starts at the St. Mary's Trailhead, about 10 miles east of Logan Pass. We noticed right away that the landscape was different here, and it was clear a fire had gone through. We learned that there was a big fire in 2006, resulting in large sections of burned trees. This hike was so interesting because you had a forest of nearly bare, charred trees juxtaposed against a meadow of pink, purple, and yellow flowers. And in the background was St. Mary's Lake, which is this vibrant turquoise color. It was really so pretty. I was saying to Will how different it would have been if the trees were all full. We wouldn't have been able to see the lake, for one, and the meadow flowers might not have been as prominent.

The hike went along the meadow for a bit, and we called out frequently to stave off any bears. Not far in, you come across St. Mary's Falls, a very pretty waterfall. Then after a little more climbing, there were two other, unnamed waterfalls, both very nice. I just love to see the rushing water, coming down the rocks. It's amazing to think that this is really how the mountains were formed in the first place, with enough water coming over the earth. The final destination of the hike was Virginia Falls, which one blog we read opines as the "most spectacular fall in all of Glacier." Having visited several, we tend to agree. Virginia Falls was the largest, and most impressive, waterfall we saw on this trip. You are able to go up to a section at the bottom of the first major part and the wind blows the spray right into your face. It was more pleasant down a ways, where you can enjoy the bottom of the falls and climb a sit on some of the rocks settled there. We had a picnic here. It's a toss up now if this spot or our spot at Hidden Lake Lookout on our first day is my favorite. They were both great!

As is usually the case, the way back went a bit quicker with more decline than incline. Before heading to the car, though, there was a detour to take another hike to yet one more waterfall: Baring Falls. This hike was recommended by a friend Sheri, who worked in Glacier for a summer. I wanted to check it out. At this point, Eleanor was pooped and not too interested in another hike without a rest. So I did what any good parent does and bribed her with Red Vines (our hiking snack of choice) and some piggy back rides. I am so glad we did this hike! It came down a ridge right to the shore of St. Mary's Lake, which is just so pretty. The color is incredible, created by the sun's reflection of the rocks in the glacier that feeds into it (or something like that...), and the view of mountains behind it made it such a pretty spot. Unfortunately, my camera's battery died right before this hike, so I only had my phone to take pictures. From the lake, it was a short hike up to Baring Falls, which was cool and worthwhile. From there, we found that we were able to hike back up to the road in a much shorter distance, so we did that instead of turning back the way we came. Will had parked a bit down from the St. Mary's Trailhead, so we waited at the top while he got the car, which wasn't far at all. Worked out perfectly. 

From there, we continued on the Going to the Sun Road, stopping at the St. Mary's Visitor's center, right inside the east side of the park. Here, we read about the Native Americans associated with Glacier and also visited one last souvenir shop. Ethan got a Glacier National Park Patch to add to his collection, as well as a pin, and Eleanor chose a small grizzly bear stuffed animal she named Anothony Grizzo. I got a shirt I had thought about buying at every other shop we saw that has an outline of the state of Montana and says Glacier. Will left empty-handed. We stopped at the sign for Glacier on the way out to get one last picture and said goodbye. 

We decided it would be easier to drive from the east entrance back to Whitefish along the highway bordering the park, rather than going through the park. It would take us just over 2 hours. The first part of the ride proved to be just as winding as if we were in the middle of Glacier, though, so we were a bit nervous we made a mistake. The highway opened up, though, so it ended up being a good choice. And, we got to stop at the original Glacier Lodge. We took a quick detour here where Will bought a cool hat and the kids and I walked around. The inside is made from giant trees, and it looks neat. I wouldn't want to stay here for any length of time, but it's fun to visit. Our ride was pretty uneventful after that. We let the kids watch a movie because the ride was pretty long, so Will and I could listen to music and get a break from audiobooks. (Though admittedly, the one we're currently listening to is pretty good. I'm kind of excited to find out what happens on our drive tomorrow!)

Once back in Whitefish, we went out to dinner (!!!) for our anniversary. I think Will knew we could all use a break. He had researched a place to go called Buffalo Cafe but, despite what the website said, it ended up being closed. So we walked a bit in downtown Whitefish and found another place that was pretty good. The menu was a bit upscale while it looked very casual. I had worried about going in my hat and hiking boots but we found we fit right in. I got bangers and mash with a Ceasar salad with fried capers, Eleanor got shells and cheese, Ethan got a pub burger, and Will got a turkey Cobb. Oh, and I also got a delightful martini with vodka, elderflower liquor, and blackberries. It was called The Glacier.

From dinner, we drove "home" and I decided I would take the kids to the indoor pool for a bit. It had been a long day, but we had been sitting for quite a while. We went for just a bit, swam around, then hit the hot tub one last time before showering and coming home. The kids protested having to go to bed without reading (it was late), but their protesting sounded a bit like this, "Hey, why can't we...snore." Bedtime has been a cinch this whole time. If only we had mountains at home! 

All in all, this leg of the trip has been great. The kids have been absolute champs in the car. Before today, they never once needed a DVD player. And we didn't even need it today, but Will and I thought it would give us a chance to chat while they were entertained. They are content with an audiobook, and the complaining has been very minimal. We could have stayed a bit closer, and now we know, but the drives are so pretty that they don't seem bad at all. We had great weather all week (hotter than we expected), and we feel like we had enough time. We learned after Rainier that 2 days just isn't enough, so I'm glad we had 4 days to explore. We are looking forward to our next leg in Canada. We will have 5 full days in Banff to explore! Tomorrow night we will stay in Invermere, BC, about 3.5 hours from here. Then we will have about a 2 hour drive the next day to our condo in Dead Man's Flats, outside of Banff. Here, we will have more space, with the kids sharing a room and Will and I having our own room. But we will miss Glacier! 

**One more side note: at least once a day, we have had comments and conversations with people based on them seeing either mine or Will's Cub's hat. It's been funny. Sometimes it's a lighthearted, "Ah...Cubs fans," or other times, we meet other Chicago natives. We met a guy our first day who grew up in Glen Ellyn and lives on the north shore now. We even went to the same high school, though 15 years apart. I'm not sure that we would have had these comments had the Cubs not won the World Series last year, so it has been kind of funny. We've even had people drive by and just yell out, Go Cubbies!

Day 6 - Day 3 in Glacier

Today ended up being a relatively short day in Glacier, but a great one nonetheless. Our destination was Avalanche Lake, a popular hike in the park, for good reason. We got there in time to grab one of the last parking spots, which was lucky. Avalanche lake is an out and back hike that is 4.5 miles round trip. It gains 730 feet, so a decent amount is uphill. Shortly after starting, you can hear the rushing water of a creek coming down off the mountain. For probably a good half mile, you can see different parts of the rapidly moving water, and it is just so neat. The water is this aqua blue color and it's moving so fast. It reminded me a bit of a gorge in Rainier NP.  So off to the left is the rushing water, and to the right was the side of a mountainside at about a 45 degree angle. Admittedly, I was the most scared of bears at this point because the water was so loud, and I was afraid we would come across a bear that couldn't hear us coming. We are typically lucky to have Eleanor with us because she's constantly talking, but between the sound of the water and the incline making her work hard, she wasn't very loud. Terribly, we call her Bear bait on our hikes. :) (More on bears later...)

Once you're away from the water, you move at a steady incline through dense forest. There are a lot of large boulders along the trial, which the kids enjoyed climbing. I believe these are from previous avalanches, which is where the lake at the end got its name. It took us about an hour to get down to the lake, the last part of the hike being downhill. We read that this spot is one of the most photographed in Glacier, and it was clear to see why. We didn't have as blue of skies today as the last couple of days, but even with some cloud cover, the lake with the backdrop off the mountains was awesome. You can see 3 different waterfalls coming down off the mountain, which feed the lake eventually. As Ethan said when his legs got tired on the hike, "It will be worth it. It's always worth it." It was. 

We had our picnic lunch down by the water, sitting on some rocks and trying to keep our food away from pesky ground squirrels. We heard later that they are the biggest problem animal in the park because people think they're cute and feed them and they are very bold now. Will had to rescue his pack from one when it tried to climb on it. I was able to get a pretty great picture of Eleanor eating her sandwich with a ground squirrel (looks like a chipmunk) looking on. We NEVER feed any wild animals willingly, though, and even the kids know from our trips how bad it is for them. I was sure to remind them loudly, though, in case other tourists near were thinking of feeding them. 

The way back was definitely faster, as it was a lot more decline than incline. At one point, someone we passed said that people a ways down the trail said that a bear had just passed across the trail in front of them. They made a lot of noise, though, and it passed and went back into the woods. This made me a bit nervous, but the trail was pretty crowded at this point and I always feel safer then. That, and Will had the bear spray at the ready. I did switch camera lenses, in case we saw one from afar. We didn't. Poor Ethan is desperate to see a bear and has 0 fear of it. We keep reminding him that although they don't really want to hurt us, they can feel threatened (especially a mama with Cubs) and charge unpredictably. I also think he's all talk and the minute he sees a bear he'll be soiling himself. Not sure if we'll ever find out. I wouldn't mind seeing one, as long as it's from a safe distance. 

Anyway, the hike back was smooth and bear-less, and we drove to a visitor's center near the entrance to the park. While there, we got to hear a presentation by a ranger about none other than the bears in the park. We learned about how to identify a grizzly versus a black bear (their fur can actually look very similar so better to look at shape of their body and face), as well as what to do if you encounter one. She said that 98% of the time, if you are making your presence known, a bear will not come near you. But, she warned about exactly what we've been telling Ethan, that you need to give them space and do your best not to inadvertently sneak up on one. She also did a demonstration of bear spray. It's basically pepper spray. It sprays 30 feet, and you are to aim it at the bear's feet so the spray floats up to his or her face. A can of bear spray has 7 seconds of spray so you should spray in just 2 second intervals. She said most times, one spray is enough but if it keeps coming at you to spray again. She also said the only time to use it is if it's charging you. If you encounter a bear, you are to speak softly while backing away. Again, I hope never to be that close to have to remember that in my state of panic. The best thing I learned today, though, was that there have only been 10 bear related fatalities since the NP opened 100 years ago. I was actually surprised the number was so low, and I feel like odds are we will not be killed by a bear on this trip. We didn't ask how many near-deaths there were. Ignorance is bliss sometimes! 

From the Apgar Visitor's Center, we were going to travel up a road near there and find another small hike, but it was drizzling a bit. We didn't want to get caught on a trail in rain, so we decided to head for home and to the beach. As guests at Ptarmagan Village, we have access to a private beach on Whiltefish Lake. We found it, but it was a bit annoying because you had to use a code to open a gate to be able to park and then walk down a hill. There was a floating pier in the water and a couple of picnic tables. Will and the kids changed, but I remembered we were out of bread so I drove back into town to get some. (I also got a piece of chocolate cake for Will for our anniversary...shhhhh. Chocolate cake has been our anniversary thing ever since he got it in our Beijing hotel for our first anniversary." By the time I was done, they were ready to be picked up. 

Back at our place, the kids ate dinner while watching the Angry Birds movie on Netflix. Will and I took turns going for a short run. I ran with my music on full blast from my phone. We are already halfway up a mountain, and the run was mostly uphill, so it was not easy. But we both have had such tight muscles. We do so much walking but we're not stretching after hikes so you get a bit stiff. It felt good to run and then stretch. After, I ate a quick dinner and took the kids to the pool. After seeing the indoor pool facility on my run, I decided to go there. It is a much newer facility than the outdoor pool, plus it as a hot tub. We walked to it while Will put a load of laundry in. The indoor pool was nice, and the kids and I had fun swimming. Eleanor's favorite is to treat me like her own personal dolphin and ride me all around the pool. After 30 minutes or so, I went outside to the very large hot tub. (Dad - you would love it!) The kids joined me after a bit for a few minutes and then it was back home to shower and go to sleep. 

Will is pretty tired from the long days and mountain driving. I offered to drive, but that gives him even more anxiety. Ethan and I are both itching to get back up into the higher elevation hikes. I'd really like to do these waterfall hikes, but they are even past Logan Pass, so we will see. 

Day 5 - Day 2 in Glacier

While today's hikes were not as exciting as yesterday's, it was still a great day in Glacier. Our day started with some oversleeping. 3 of the 4 of us woke up at 8. Ethan, happily playing the iPad he cracked the code on said he knew better than to wake us up. Yesterday, we were up and out of the house at 7:30, so Will was a bit panicked. But I, for one, was feeling great that we all got a much needed good night's sleep. Will packed up some lunches, et cetera while I made eggs and sausage to fuel our hikes. We were on the road by 9 something, I believe. 

Glacier National Park has one major road that drives across the park from one side to the other. It's called the Going to the Sun Road. That is what we took yesterday to the Logan Pass area where we did our hikes. But because you are driving through mountains, it takes a while to cover the mileage. A 30 mile drive takes at least an hour, etc. We decided today that we would stay closer to the entrance. Our original plan was to do a popular hike called Avalanche Lake, but with our late start, we chose some different hikes, as we knew the trailhead would be filled up. We ended up at a hike called John's Lake. It hikes alongside a rushing creek, and there were many places to go to the water and explore. The highlight was a waterfall and large set of rapids leading down to the creek. The rushing blue-green water with the backdrop of the mountains was just beautiful. This is a trial shared by horses, so Eleanor was thrilled when we had to wait on the side as several horses passed. The actual namesake of the hike, John's Lake, wasn't too exciting. It was small and still, and surrounded by small trees so you couldn't easily look out at it. But the hike itself was pretty, winding through dense forests. Still no bear sightings, but since this hike wasn't as populated, Will had the bear spray at the ready. 

It was already past lunch time when we finished this hike, so we got in the car and went back to Lake McDonald (I was spelling it wrong before). We had lunch, changed into our suits, and had another lovely swim. At one point, I was floating on my back, soaking in the sun and the scenery. I will return to this place in my head come winter when I am stuck indoors in cold Illinois. The weather is hot here now, in the 90s, and the sun is intense. The swim felt so great, as did lying out on the rocky beach afterwards. Eleanor and Ethan are definitely water bugs and spent a lot of time swimming and then stacking rocks. We have seen so many cairns around, so they enjoy making their own. 

When we had our fill of swimming, we got dressed again and got in the car. We wanted to see the Apgar Visitor Center, close to the entrance, but we turned early and ended up at the campground area. It was a happy accident for me and the kids, though, because there was an ice cream stand. Ethan and I both got huckleberry frozen yogurt, while Eleanor opted for chocolate ice cream. As we drive toward Glacier, there are tons of stores and stands advertising huckleberry things: pie, jams, syrup, and just the berries themselves. I became familiar with them in Mt. Rainier. There were some bushes right off the trail people would eat from. They are delicious! 

By the time we finished going into some stores and eating our ice cream, it was after 4, so we decided to head for home rather than find another hike. Even short ones can take an hour or more. At "home," I took the kids swimming for a bit while Will made tacos. We hope now to be up and out earlier tomorrow since we are all going to bed a bit earlier tonight. We plan to try Avalanche Lake tomorrow for sure!

On a side note, I am loving that I was able to download audio books onto my phone to listen to in the car. We are just about done with The Wizard of Oz. We are only familiar with the movie so hearing the original book is very interesting. There is a lot more to the story than the movie. Eleanor likes it so much she asks constantly if we can turn it back on, even if we just have a short drive. And she will ask us to pause it to ask questions. I need to find another book to listen to now since we are just about done! 

Day 4 - Day one in Glacier

Well, it's 8:45, and I can barely keep my eyes open, so it was a pretty eventful day in Glacier National Park. Glacier is incredible! The kids and I counted this morning, and we have been to 8 National Parks so far. I'm pretty sure Glacier will be our favorite. What a beautiful place!

Fearing long waits for the best hikes, we left the house at 7:30 this morning. We had snacks and lunch packed and hit the road for a decent drive to the park. From where we are at on the mountain, it took just under an hour to get to the gates of Glacier. We could have stayed closer, but I chose Whitefish because it has more to do than the other towns and I found the best place for the money here. As is always the case, though, once you get into the NP gates, you still have some driving to do. 

We chose to go pretty far in today, about 30 miles, to Logan Pass. Will had read about it as one of the most popular hikes. It was quite a ways up, so Will had to navigate on a lot of winding roads. What's hardest for him is not being able to look at the scenery as we go. That, and trying not to kill us all by driving off a cliff.  We didn't stop at all along the way, though we saw many enticing places, because we knew the parking lot at Logan fills up. It took at least another 50 minutes to drive there, but it was worth it! Logan pass has a hike up to Hidden Lake Lookout. From there, you can also hike down to the lake. Each hike is about 1.5 miles. When we started out, we learned via signage that the hike down to the lake was closed due to major bear activity! Good to know, at least, that they warn you. 

The hike started off with wooden platforms with stairs but quickly turned to walking over feet of snow. It was so much fun! The sun is intense at the higher elevation, and with a high in the 90s, it felt plenty warm. So here we all were, clad in shorts and t-shirts, walking through the snow. One highlight was when we rounded a bend only to run smack dab into a family of mountain goats. Will and Eleanor were a bit behind and came right upon them. They were probably only a couple feet away, so Will got some great pics. They told us later that the baby jumped up onto the ice and did some kind of flip. Eleanor loved it! 

We slipped and slid up some more snow before getting back onto solid ground at the lookout. The view down to the lake was spectacular. It was a long, narrow lake with hues of blue and green against the mountain backdrop, it was just breathtaking. We chose to have our picnic lunch up here, alongside many others and some more mountain goats. 

As you can imagine, our hike down was a bit more difficult, but also a lot of fun. We essentially slid down on the snow in some parts. I heard a woman say that she took her niece to the same place last June, and there was barely any snow. Apparently, they had a pretty significant snowfall this year. Really, this was my most fun hiking experience. There was something so great about being out in the sun, feeling plenty warm, while looking down at your feet in the snow. So cool. Get it? 

After the Hidden Lake hike, we took a little fruit and water break before deciding to hike part of the Highline trail. This was a long hike, and more dangerous, but we had read that many people went in a ways and then turned around. It started off easy enough but then turned into a section with a cliff going up on your right and straight down on your left. At this point, Will decided to call it for him and Eleanor, and Ethan and I decided to go in a bit more. It was quite steep, but there was a rubber rope of sorts attached to the cliff side to hold onto. I gave Ethan strict orders not to let go of the rope, and we hiked a bit more. You could easily hike it without holding on, but one major misstep could be disastrous, so I felt better holding on. A bit into the trail, though, the rope disappeared because the right side was no longer a high cliff. To your left, though, was still a 80 degree drop, though, so we decided we would turn around, too. 

Next, we decided to go back to the car (Will had had to park a ways down the road due to a full parking lot) and hit some of the sites we missed on the way. Our first stop was a big waterfall we had seen people climbing on. This was the perfect place to take off our shoes and soak our sore feet. It wasn't a steep waterfall where we were, so you could walk around on the rocks and even go close to the cliff wall and take a little mountain water shower, which we all did. 

Our next stop, I believe, was at Lake MacDonald, which is not far from the entrance. I am hazy here because I know I dozed a bit in the car at this point. My sleep has been restless while away, so I am very tired. The combo of the music, the open windows, and my exhaustion put me in a bit of a trance on this part of the ride. Regardless, we got to Lake MacDonald. I was not a proponent of taking our suits with us, as it was already close to 4 pm. With an hour to get home, I had really hoped that we could try to have dinner set before 7 pm, as these are such long days. But then when I saw the lake, I thought, okay, we better go in!

We changed al fresco again (I am getting pretty good at putting my suit on under a towel) and got into the water. The beach is all rocks, which was a bit difficult since we didn't have water shoes. I did cut my foot on one rock. But when you got in a few feet, you could go forward into the water. With goggles on, I saw that the rocks had a steep drop off about 5 feet in. It was pretty neat. The water was not very cold and felt amazing. We spent some times swimming around before drying off and going back to the car. 

On the way home, I stopped off at Safeway for a couple things we forgot yesterday. Once home, the kids wanted to go to the pool since we had said they could earlier when we thought it wouldn't be too late. Since dinner would take at least 30 minutes, I sent Will with them and made some burgers and fries. We ate, I showered, and half of us are asleep. The other half are half asleep.

So far, this trip is going really well. The kids bicker a bit at times, but there has not been a lot of major complaining. Eleanor hasn't had a problem on the hiking and is enjoying herself. And while the driving seems long, it really goes by fairly quickly because there's so much to look at. I'm so happy we took this trip and look forward to exploring Glacier the next few days. Will is reading up right now on what we should do tomorrow. 

Day 3 - First Border Cross and onto Whitefish

This morning, we enjoyed the Lizard Creek Lodge a bit more by taking advantage of the pool again as well as the workout room (for Will). I decided to run a ways up the mountain, staying on the paved road the whole time. It was a great run with awesome views, and I didn't feel the altitude too much. Obviously, it was all uphill the first half, so the way down was pretty easy. After our respective activities, we showered, packed up, and hit the road. 

The drive to Whitefish from Fernie was under 2 hours and went by quickly with the beautiful vistas as well as a little help from The Wizard of Oz audiobook. We went over the border very easily-this was the first time Will or I ever drove across the border of a country. Neat. We declared our broccoli and carrots and were invited into Big Sky country. 

Ethan got a little car sick toward the end of our ride, though I think it was more hunger than anything else because the road was smooth and not at all winding yet...at least not until we got very close. We took a break to check out a beach before getting to town and then found our condo for the next five days. 

Our place is up a mountain a couple of miles and called Ptarmigan Village. It is a modest place with a living room, kitchen, and loft for Will and I. Ethan is going to sleep on the pull out couch and the owner had a camp cot we padded up for Eleanor. Should work out just fine. The loft is a bit stuffy, but I just figured out how to open the window up here, which will provide a much needed cross breeze. The loft has a crawl space area the kids immediately claimed as their "bat cave." When we were in Maine, the loft had a similar area, which for sure Ethan remembers and Eleanor claims to as well. 

After settling in a bit here and looking over some maps, we decided to head up the mountain to the alpine ski area they have with some fun activities. First, Eleanor, Ethan, and I did the alpine slide while Will gladly sat out and acted as photographer. It looks like a luge track that you put these sleds onto. You push forward on a lever to accelerate and back to slow down or stop. Eleanor wasn't tall enough to go on her own so I got to go with her. It was fun and didn't go nearly as fast as expected. I could tell Ethan was a bit nervous on his own, but he made it down happily. Once we got down, we had to take a short ski lift ride back up to where Will was. Now, I'm not afraid of heights, but once we were on the lift, I had a fair amount of anxiety. The lift worker hadn't put the bar over us and I felt very exposed and frightened with the kids. I kept telling them to sit back and not lean forward at all. I didn't even realize there was a bar until another mom riding the other way saw me looking panicked, I think, and said, "You can pull the bar behind you down." That made me feel a bit better but every once and a while the lift would stop and then rock, and it just was a freaky feeling. 

Our next activity, of course, was a ride up another lift to the very top of the mountain! By then, I felt it was pretty safe, so we ventured on. What I forgot, though, is that as much as I am not really afraid of heights, Will definitely is. We had barely left the ground when Will realized how much he HATED the ski lift. More than a few choice words were muttered under his break, much to Ethan's amusement. He was truly freaked out, and in the pictures I took, you can see how hard he is gripping the bar. Poor Will! It was a much longer ride this time, too, and we were much higher than the kids and I had been before. Thankfully, my fear subsided, and at least the kids and I really enjoyed it. We even turned around to look down at the crazy awesome views of Lake Whitefish behind us. All along the mountain, there were wildflowers in bloom, including a white puffy Dr. Seuss-like flower we learned was called Bear Grass. And the smell of all these flowers and the fresh mountain air = incredible! Will survived the ride but was seriously considering hiking down (it would have taken him over an hour) instead of riding back to the bottom. He decided instead, though, that he would ride in the closed gondola instead. So after taking some pictures and exploring the store at the top, Will took his gondola while the kids and I opted for the open air ski lift. I felt less anxious going down surprisingly, and it was just such a pretty ride. We took a lot of mental (and actual snapshots) once again. We also talked about how we are glad we take these trips. 

Once Will had kissed the ground, we got in the car and went back down the mountain to the public beach for Lake Whitefish. We changed into suits al fresco and everyone but me swam a bit. I knew our next stop was the grocery store and didn't want to worry about being dry. I was happy on the sand, taking pictures. The sun was super intense, even at 5:30. We were into the 80s today. We stayed about an hour and then hit the Safeway (felt like home since it looks just like Mariano's) for a big grocery shop. We got our food for meals this week and a couple of frozen pizzas for tonight. We are on a bit of a late schedule here and didn't eat until 8:30 or so. Now, at 10, I believe the kids are asleep. And, based on how my eyelids are drooping, I will be soon, too! Tomorrow we will have our first day exploring Glacier National Park. We could see the mountains from where we are, and we can't wait!

Day 2 (7/11) - Calgary and drive to Fernie

Our flight to Calgary was easy and smooth. At one point, the flight attendants announced that they had to pick up our garbage early and that everyone needed to sit with seatbelts because it was going to get very turbulent. Will and I were a bit nervous because the kids were seated by themselves across from us. We waited and waited, but it never got bad. There were a few very minor bumps right before landing. Oh, Canada.

Immigration was easy as can be, and it wasn't long before we had our rental car. We have a dark grey Malibu that still smells new. With leather seats and a sunroof, it's one of the nicest rentals we have had. It has a navigation system, which is super handy, too. The only drawback is that it is so new that it doesn't have a CD player. We brought several books on cd for the car rides. Thankfully, I was able to download a couple of youth audiobooks onto my phone last night, so we can listen through the Bluetooth system. I also have several kids' podcasts downloaded on my phone. On our drive yesterday, we listened to a timely science podcast about why people get car sick. 

The drive to Fernie, our stop for the night, was a bit longer than anticipated. The kids were not thrilled to learn they were going to have to sit down again and for triple our flight time. But shortly after leaving the Calgary airport, the landscape is beautiful. Huge, rolling hills and ranch after ranch on either side. It reminded me a lot of our drive through Vermont on our way to Maine. As we moved along, we got closer to the mountains, and we all peeled our eyes for bears, mountain Rams, and elk. We didn't spot any. 

When we were about 20 minutes away from our lodge, Will saw a sign for the World's Largest Truck, so, obviously, we had to stop. It did not disappoint. It is a truck that was used to carve up the mountain, essentially. Admittedly, I didn't read all the placards, so Will can fill you in at some point if you're so interested. We took the obligatory pictures and were back on our way. 

Our lodging for the night was at Lizard Creek Lodge, a ski resort. For less money than our Seattle Days Inn, we have a one bedroom condo with a living room (with fireplace), kitchen, and huge loft for the kids. They each got their own bed and have a bathroom up there. Not bad at all! Both kids are disappointed that we are only here for the night! The place does have a restaurant, but with $30 entrees, we opted to cook. Will volunteered to shop while I took the kids to the pool. Oh, and there is also an Ice Bar here, a bar made out of ice. We peeked in but obviously couldn't take our kids in there. I think they do vodka tastings there. It didn't appear to be open, so may be more of a high season thing. 

It was only in the 60s here yesterday, but the pool is nicely heated, and it is our favorite hotel pool to date. It looks right out at the mountains and ski lifts - so picturesque! Several times, I made the kids stop and take mental pictures. I took some actual pics, too, which I will try to include here. We swam, soaked a bit in the hot tub and then headed back to our room for showers and dinner a la dad, which was spaghetti and some broccoli. Felt good to have a real meal after a lot of quick bites at the airport or on the road. 

Both kids went to sleep quickly since it was after 10, and I got to work taking some things out of the suitcase to make room for WIll's clothes, which were packed in a roller cooler we bring as a carry-on. I packed several toiletries in tupperware so we can have it on our trip. I moved those to smaller bags, and our leftovers went into the Tupperware. We have done enough of these trips that I've learned some tricks along the way. Will even remembered to bring our good carrot peeler. As he always says, "You never want to be stuck someplace without your good carrot peeler." Ok, he doesn't actually say that, but he might some day. 

While I worked on the suitcase, Will went to get something from the car and to just "check things out." He came back about 30 minutes later with a tale of seeing an adolescent brown bear just off this little path, behind someone's garage. He said he thought it was a cat at first (big cat!), but then realized it was a bear. By the time he took out his phone to get a pic, he heard another noise. Worried it could be another bear, he got out of there quickly. Everything we read says that the bears are not interested in us. As long as you are talking and making your presence known, they will stay out of your way. We will also be sure not to leave a trail of nuts and berries for them and also carry some bear spray, whatever that is. And we will only hike well-populated trails. I'm typing this with Mr. Ethan by my side, as we both couldn't sleep much past 6. When I told him his dad's bear story, he was ready to go walk on the same path. I said, no way, Jose.

Today, we will do a little exploring around here and then hit the road for Whitefish, MT, where we will be for the next five nights.