Canmore, Giant Cedar, a drive and then Revelstoke!

So our morning in Canmore began very early, our middle kid was awake at 5:00! We tried to convince him to go go back to bed because it was waaaay to early for a hotel. Around 5:30 Dad got up with him and they went outside to not wake up everyone else. When we returned a few minutes later the young one was up!

So the three walk to Tim Hortons for a muffin and a coffee.

We had many other highlights for the day.

We left Canmore and headed towards Revelstoke. It was a slightly rainy day so the drive was a wet, lush and green one. We stopped at a few small streams and gathered some rocks and threw some rocks.

And we came across Giant Cedar.....the coolest damn place ever!! It was just off highway #1 but it was the farthest thing from pavement and RVs. It was a fantastic rain forest walk along a boardwalk. It was a lot of stairs that took you up the mountain a few hundred yards to an amazing cedar forest. The kids were good and enjoyed the walk and the old fallen trees, but it would be easy to lose their intest if you don't keep them engaged in the walk.

Giant Cedar was Dads highlight so far!

We also did a a forest walk to a 'rock garden', which was about 20 minutes long. It was on a a rougher path than Giant Cedar but the kids liked being able to walk and climb through the forest more. The rock garden was actually a deposit of old massive boulders that were covered in moms and lichen. Super fun as well, a lot more interactive and active.

Then it was in the Revelstoke after braving the last day of the long weekend traffic. It was raining and grey so we did not get to walk and see much of Revelstoke. But we did enjoy the Best Western Wayside Inn!!!

It was very new and had some very cool features that sets it off from others. It had a 6:00 am continental breakfast (great for early risers).

It also had an outside heated pool, outside warmer pool and an outside hot tub. Which was amazing because it was Gary and raining outside. But the best part of the hotel were the facilities. The pool change rooms were stellar, the breakfast area was clean, spacious, and the room was very nice and modern.

One thing lacking in town may have been the restaurants, though we ended up finding Emos pizza.....yes Emos. And to our dismay it was not staffed with long banged, pale, pantera shirt wearing teens. The food and service was very good though.

Busy day with a tough drive but a great end to the day sitting in the hot tub in the rain.

The hotel rates like this:

Best Western Wayside Inn

Room 5/5 (it was a good size and had amazing beds!)

Pool 4/5 (the pools were great, very clean and maintained. Only tick against it was no waterslide, but it is nice to sometimes not have a waterslide.)

Location 3/5 (it was just inside town so it was easy to find, but it was not really close to anything that we could walk to.)

Hotel 5/5 (a great place, the plaque said it was the #6 Best Western in Canada, and we agree!)

Canada's Birthday

Mom getting her feet wet in a cold mountian stream

The kids enjoying the refreshing splash in the mountian strem.

Our oldest boy looking out of the gondola in Banff.

The kids waiting for a Parisian Waffle in Canmore

A little cotton candy at the Canada Day celebration in Canmore.

A little Boston Pizza art to share with the world.

The view from our hotel balcony.

The view on our hotel balcony as we read books before bed.

Today started with a bang. Everyone was awake by 5:30....I guess that is the down fall of being asleep by 7:00 the night before. Instead of waiting 3.5 hours till the pool opened the family decided to get going to check out the mountains and get a start to our day.

We were exploring kananaskis village by 7:00 am. And on our way back to Highway 1 we came across a waterfall at the side of the road. It was awesome to see the kids put their feet in the water and try to come up with ideas as to why the water was so damn cold.

We also stopped the at a Texas gate and let the kids loose at figuring its' purpose. It took them a few minutes and some wild ideas like " a place where animals can hide under and get away from the cars." or "this is so I can balance on these.", and our middle child began to tightrope walk across the gate.

Then it was on to Banff and the sulphur mountain gondola. When we pulled in it was getting a bit busy, but we had almost no wait at the bottom and the top to get on the gondola. Both of us, Mom and Dad, were a bit worried as we started off but all the kids did great! Our middle one was crazy excited and was yelling and twitchy eyes. We were not the most prepared for the fact that the weather was going to be colder up top, we forgot our youngest one's hoodie. And he just kept saying "burrrr, cold. Burrrr, cold."

Then it was off to Canmore for some Canada Day celebrations. We walked around town, ate ice cream, ate cotton candy, ate Parisian waffles...and even ate birthday cake. The town was alright too. Then believe or not we even ate lunch.

Then we checked into the Best Western in Canmore and proceeded to go straight to the pool.

Meh.

The pool was alright, would be even better if the kids were a few years older. The was no shallow end and the waterslide launched the kids out at Mach 2. But the best part of the hotel was the balcony. We read books on it, we ate snacks on it, and at 10:30 we even were able to watch the fireworks. It was a great end to the day.

Except we then watched some bad rom com on cable way to late and we are currently regretting we stayed up for it.

Overall the hotel rates:

Best Western in Canmore

Room 3/5 (clean and roomy, but a bit old and dated)

Pool 4/5 (it is still. A good pool, slide and hot tub. But not quite suited to younger kids)

Location 5/5 (on the main drag in town and nice and close to restaurants and grocery stores)

Hotel 3/5 (we would stay here again but would likely look somewhere else next time for a place with a cool pool)

Tomorrow we are off to Big Cedar and Revelstoke.

Let Summer Begin!

Mom and the wee one at the Alberta border.

The kids in the van at 5:30 just about to set off for summer vacation!!!!

The kids at hte Alberta border showing off their tomahawks.

The little guy is in love with his new stroller because it matches.

Today we began our summer vacation to the West coast!

It was an early morning with a departure from home at 5:00 am. You can see the three of them droopy eyed but ready!

It seems as the vacation was doomed from the start with an early start, but it couldn't have worked out better. Besides a pee break and a gas fill we didn't really stop until the Alberta border at 9:00 am.

And it was a great stop. The weather was amazing and the sky was clear and blue. The temp was 19 degrees when we pulled in to stop! We enjoyed the park they had there and ran off lots of energy that was beginning to build in everyone. Mom even had a tire swing ride and Dad gave the slide a workout. And you can see Mom and wee one ran around the play structure having a good time.

Once the tourist centre opened at 9:30 we went in to use the facilities. But while Mom was going number 1 we talk to the young fella at the information desk. After a few minutes of looking at a map of Alberta with him and pointing at places we will likely never see, he gave the kids a mini tomahawk each. And they were not a shitty plastic toy but instead an actual stone tied to a stick with strips of leather! Pretty damn awesome.....until we realized the carnage that could occur by presenting captive children with a weapon to injury another. The picture shows them at the tourist centre with their tomahawks and a Dino.

So it was a rare combo Tourism Alberta fail/win.

And as if that wasn't enough we met these two amazing women at the tourist centre who are cycling across Canada to raise money for autism. Check out their blog as they head out East. http://www.2filles2roues.blogspot.ca/ Show them some love if you see two women cycling by in a tandem bike.

It is in French but it is still worth a look by non French reading folk like me.

And we rolled into Calgary at around 1:30 so we made some pretty good time along the way. So far we only noticed one thing we forgot, our youngest's stroller. So off to Sears we went to snap one up. And you can see how happy the little guy is with a new matching stroller.

More pictures will follow tomorrow of the hotel and water park here at the Hotel. The kids love the pools and slides!

Tomorrow off to drive our way into the mountains, we are looking forward to seeing the kids faces tomorrow.