The Rockies

We couldn’t wait for this destination because we knew we had a two-night stay in Banff National Park, which meant no driving for a whole day!!! This was a quick drive! Before we knew it, we were driving through Calgary and seeing the mountains off in the distance.

Now, before we get to the very exciting first viewing of the Rockies, I have a confession to make… We had a brief encounter with the Alberta police, in a Boston Pizza parking lot, on the east edge of Calgary, where we stopped for a very quick, and much needed, sit-down lunch. It had been days of nothing but sandwiches, snack

food, and fast food eaten in the car, and we really felt we deserved a nice lunch. Our dilemma – did we leave Chip in the car while we were in the restaurant? It was a warm day but not hot; there was a nice breeze coming in through the windows, and warm air easily escaped out the sunroof; we found a shaded spot next to a tree; he had plenty of food and water to keep him cool; and we vowed we would be quick. We were certain that he would be fine; any doubt and we would not have left him. Unfortunately, regardless of the animal’s comfort, it was illegal to leave a pet in a car in Alberta. Someone had called the police on us when they heard Chip barking, and an officer waited near our vehicle until we came back. We received quite the lecture! The officer demonstrated how quickly a car could heat up by touching the dashboard which the sun had just reached… I demonstrated how cool it was in the car by touching the dog bed where Chip was located. She compared the two temperatures, saw he was fine (not even panting), gave us a warning, and let us go. It was very humbling… We already felt guilty for leaving him, even though we were sure he was safe. It was a good slap on the wrist, but what could we do about it? Oh well, lesson learned! Put it behind us and move on. OK, well maybe as penance I add a couple embarrassing photos from lunch…

Back to the Rockies…

All eyes were focused outside, and we exclaimed in awe as the Rockies grew before us. We called Marc just before we reached the first mountains, and by Google Maps and Google Phone Locator magic, he could pinpoint our exact location and see what we were seeing at the same time. How special for him to “experience” the Rockies for the first time with the girls, even though he wasn’t physically with us.

It was so refreshing to witness the girls being impressed by nature... "They're so huge!" was what they repeated every time we turned a bend and saw another mountain. It was exactly the reaction I was hoping for.

Just up Tunnel Mountain Drive, we found our site in Village 1 of Banff National Park. This was our favourite camping spot of the whole trip! Pretty treed sites, few bugs, clean bathrooms, and showers!!! Only five minutes from downtown Banff...we were in heaven! We set up camp and fetched a load of firewood with our wagon, so we could

roast hotdogs for dinner. How cool that firewood was included with the reservation! We were so glad we had our wagon, so we could load it up with wood.

Once we had a campfire going, Brie, Sadie and I were roasting our hotdogs when we noticed a strange commotion in the tent. According to Lily, while she was in the tent changing, she laid down on the mattress and felt a small sting on her leg. She got up and saw a dead bee on the mattress and realized she'd been laying on it. Not knowing how to react or feel, she proceeded to run wildly around the tent. To the three of us outside by the campfire, this looked a lot like a Looney Toons rendition of Sylvester chasing Tweety in a tent! Thankfully, Lily was more scared than hurt, and this was easily remedied with a fire-roasted hotdog and gooey s'mores.

We spent the following day sightseeing and doing a bit of shopping in downtown Banff. We went to Bow Falls, felt the freezing cold glacier waters, then headed to the shops. It was a very hot day, so we decided to bring Chip to a doggie daycare, where he could chill out with some pals instead of being dragged around the hot streets of Banff.

We gravitated towards the crystal and precious stone stores. One store, Amaryllis Crystal Garden, had the most beautiful Tibetan singing bowls, and the lady in the store played the most glorious chakra-cleansing tones for us. The girls and I each chose stones that “spoke to us” as souvenirs – Lily chose a Bismuth; Brie, Sadie, and I each chose a Selenite. Lily announced she would have her own crystal store one day.

That night we ordered pizza for dinner to take back to camp with us. We had to empty our cooler that morning because it had worn out our car battery and turned off in the night, causing our food to go bad. Thankfully, some friendly neighbours, originally from New Zealand, helped us boost our car!

Another friendly neighbour happened to be a gopher looking animal (actually called a Columbian Ground Squirrel - thanks Wikipedia) that sat up next to a hole, at the base of a tree, across the road from our site. It "chirped" for hours and sounded more like a bird than a rodent. We watched it sit there and realized it was keeping guard over its mate while she was likely preparing or caring for their nest down in the hole. It was a sweet display of affection to witness.

The next day we woke up to the call of the Columbian Ground Squirrel, packed up camp, and headed for Kelowna BC!