Family Trip to Alberta

We were fortunate to have my sister and her family join us for a trip to Alberta. Or, as I like to describe it, seeing Alberta on crack...because the following was our itineray: Calgary, Drumheller, Badlands, Canmore, Banff, Columbia Icefields, Jasper and Edmonton (all in one week!). This was a very ambitious trip for 7 people and one minivan.

Lake Morraine

Fortunately, we arrived to spend two nights at the home of our dear friends Kelly and Shawn.

Dinner at Kelly's

Kelly and Dylan with Darby

What a lovely welcome. They had arranged a tour of their neighbour's business of fossil brokering. After handling mammoth tusks, ammonites and ammonlites, we were flabbergasted to be handed our own slate with fossilized ammonites. What a great momento of our trip.

Mammoth in the Neighbour's Garage

Unveiling an ichyasaurus

Our own ammonite gifts
We toured the Badlands which were spectacular. Unfortunately it was 34C degrees without a single tree for shade. I have a memory of peering down from a scenic vantage point and seeing Sandra and Kelly hovering behind the Badlands sign whose shadow offered the only slice of shade for kilometres!

Alberta Badlands

Dylan in his Cowboy Hat Hovering in a Cave for Shade

We climbed the world's largest dinosaur (manmade tourist trap).......
We Are Looking Down from the Dinosaur Mouth

Photographed inside the Dinosaur's Mouth

...........and visited the Tyrell Dinosaur Museum.

Staring out from an Allosaurus Skull
Dylan Loving the Interactive Displays

We went on a wildlife safari but unfortunately the only wildlife we saw on this paid trip was a chipmunk! However, we saw several other animals on our own excursions such as elk, deer, mountain goats and birds.

Checking Out the Binoculars on the Safari

A Gentle Doe at the Side of the Road
Wild Rams Crossing the Highway

My Favourite Photo of a Small Birch Forest
Elk Feeding on Berries

In Banff, we traveled to the top of Sulpher Mountain by gondola and embraced a spectacular view of the area. Credit must be given to Sandra for mastering her fear of heights on the gondola!

Taking the Gondola Up the Mountain

Having a Sound of Music Moment

At sunset we dipped our tired bones into the therapeutic Banff Upper Hot Springs.

Upper Hot Springs

We travelled towards the Columbia Icefields, a spectacular receding glacier. We purchased seats on a special snocoach to reach 4 miles onto the glacier where we drank the purest of waters. Of course,we could have saved our money and just walked. However, this is discouraged as the glacier is 1000 ft deep with many hidden crevasses . We took the safe route!

Riding the SnoCoach to the Glacier

One of the loveliest places we visited was Peyto Lake, an aquamarine-colour lake fed by the glaciers. We had a short hike uphill to reveal this beauty. We would love to come back some day and carry out a hiking trip along the lake's periphery.

Lovely Lake Peyto

Another memorable stop were the Athabasca Falls. These photos just can't do this landmark justice in representing the depth and complexity of these falls.

We took a boat trip to SPIRIT ISLAND on Maligne Lake. Again, this is a lake fed by glacial waters and sediments which gives it its aquamarine colour. The photo you see was represented on a previous Canadian $50 dollar bill.

Riding the Boat to Spirit Island

My favourite accomodation was a motel near Hinton which featured a communal firepit. We sat around the fire cooking spider dogs and marshmellows and listened to a pack of coyotes howling in the distance.

The trip was finished with a serene evening canoe ride on Pyramid Lake.

My 13-year old nephew, Malcolm, reminds me of an older Dylan because he embraces all activities with real gusto! He loved sitting around a campfire at our motel, canoeing in the evening and climbing the mountains. He, Dylan and Andrew attempted to cross a part of the Morraine Lake via beachcomber logs. Unfortunately, Dylan and Malcolm ended up in the lake! But, they had great fun trying.

Traversing the Morraine Lake via Beachcomber Logs
"The Rock Pile" at Morraine Lake

Dylan and Malcolm Hamming It Up at the Museum

Sarah was real daredevil at the Edmonton Waterpark. She loved the wild slides and she and Dylan spent hours in the water going down these very high and fast slides.

Don is very much like Andrew and logged over 2000 digital photos within the first 7 days of the trip. And Sandra (our group communicator) kept us all in line with her readiness to play euchre with the children, schedule time for meals/snacks and keep smiling throughout!

Sisters Tripone/Meinders

Don Ready With Camera

A big thank you to everyone for putting up with my gestapo-like itinerary schedule. Your patience was admirable! The long road trips proved challenging at times but, thanks to our daily chats called "Relationship Checks", I think we were able to overcome the obstacles of van life.

Road trip next year anyone??