Family Getaway

The weekend we had been looking forward to for a long time was finally here!  Darryl was on course in Trenton but would make it back in time for our fall adventure to Banff.  And what an adventure it was lol.  Darryl slept in and missed his flight from Toronto....by 5 minutes.  He was able to switch his ticket luckily, for a charge though.  When he tossed his suitcase on the conveyor belt, he realized it hadn't been done up properly when he saw his clean underwear spilling out of it.  Later on he realized our gps had already fallen out...a bit too late though :(  Because he missed his flight, he missed the bus that would bring him from Edmonton to Cold Lake.  He ended up staying in a hotel that night, with the plan being that we would meet him the next morning.  EARLY the next morning.
Well, the kids and I were up at 4:30am, and out the door by 5!  They were excited about the trip and about seeing their dad.  I was a bit nervous about finding my way to his hotel without a gps.  But I had booked it in Leduc, just past the Edmonton airport, so I was hoping that there wouldn't be too much trouble.  Thanks to very careful instructions as to how to find the airport from a good friend, it actually went very smoothly.  We found the hotel, and Darryl was waiting for us, despite having slept in AGAIN!  That same highway would take us all the way to Calgary and Banff...too easy.
We arrived in Banff early that afternoon, the sky was blue, there were spots of yellow trees everywhere, it was a beautiful day.  Because our room wasn't ready, we spent a couple hours exploring the shops of downtown Banff.  First stop of course was Cows.  Cailyn picked out a Hunger Games (Cow on Fire) shirt.  Logan picked a Ninjago (Ninjamoo) shirt.  A visit to the candy shop was also a hit.  Luckily we were able to check in to our resort early.  We cooked tortellini and relaxed for a bit in our chalet Wolf before heading out again.  We spent the early evening riding up Sulphur Mountain in the gondola.  We did it last year and it was one of our favorite memories.  We were up long enough to see the sun going down over the mountains.  It was a bit cloudy so there were no jaw dropping photo ops, but it was still awesome to be there.  We did the hike to the cosmic station on the nearby Samson Peak.  Last year when we were there, Logan didn't want to do it so I ended up staying behind with him while Cailyn and Darryl did it.  This time he wanted to so I was able to see it as well.  The views are incredible.  As nice as the pictures are, it just doesn't capture the vastness or ruggedness of the mountains.  Definitely one of the best things to do in the park.  After a couple hours of hiking and sightseeing, we headed back down the mountain and back to the resort.  There were a couple giant waterslides that the kids were eager to try out.  We spent the rest of the night watching the kids ride the slides, over and over and over.

The next morning, after checking out of the resort, we headed out for some more sightseeing and hopefully a bit of hiking.  We headed out of Banff, towards the Icefields Parkway.  I wanted to see Peyto Lake.  We got there, but not before Darryl missed the turn off to the parkway and we ended up at the BC border lol. I saw the sign saying Welcome to BC, and a sign welcoming us to Yoho National Park.  Hmmm...maybe next year ;P 

Luckily we we didn't have too far to turn around and we were quickly back on track.  We admired the scenery of the Parkway with its many lakes and mountain views.  Hector Lake, Mosquito Creek, etc.  The hike to Peyto Lake was steep but fortunately didn't last forever..The view we were rewarded with at the top made it all worth it!  I've seen turquoise water in the park before but nothing like this.  Pure, undisturbed, glacial water.  Breathtaking.  Very cool and windy, but sooo beautiful.  God really is good :)

On the way back to Banff, we stopped in a very crowded Lake Louise to grab some food.  It was crowded with tourists so we decided to skip any hiking in the village and headed back to the Bow River area.  There were a few places that we hadn't explored yet and I wanted to see them while we still had daylight.
We hiked around the Bow River trail and enjoyed some spectacular scenery.  We hiked to the falls and were again blown away by the beauty of the area.  We were able to see the Fairmont Banff Springs up close, rather than from the top of a mountain on the other side of the valley.  It was the perfect day :)  We had done a lot of hiking though and were tired.  We were anxious to check out the hot pool at the resort we were booked to stay in for our last night.  So we left the beauty of the valley and headed back up the Tunnel Mountain.  We stayed at the Hidden Ridge Resort for our last night,  It was incredible!  Private condos, I could have sworn we were in a residential neighborhood.  Fireplaces, flatscreen tvs, full kitchen (including a dishwasher).  There was even a large pet bed in front of the fireplace with gifts.  We enjoyed another leisurely meal before going to relax in the hot pool.  I must say, I felt very spoiled!  Sitting in a hot pool, on the side of a mountain.  Stunning!  We stayed long enough to see the sun set and the stars come out.  From both the hot and cool pools, we saw Banff light up down below.  Crazy :D  We slept hard that night...

Before heading home the next morning, we made one last stop.  The Hoodoos were very close to where we had been staying so we decided to do one last hike.  Like most hikes, it was all up hill.  Fortunately it was short lol.  Very cool to see :) Nothing like Drumheller but still neat.  We were able to look across the valley and see the gondola going up Sulphur Mountain.  We looked in another direction and could see the Banff Springs Hotel nestled far off in the distance.  We saw the Sleeping Buffalo and watched the ravens catching the air currents far above our heads.  So much to see, I hated to leave. 

8 hours later, we were home and back to the routine of our daily lives.  The memories will remain with us for a long time however, and we are already looking forward to making new ones.