We made a huge triangle on our trip. We left and went to Orem first, saw the
family there. We then drove to Boise, ID. We stayed in a hotel and swam a bit,
the girls loved that. We drove the next
day to Lacey,WA which is near Olympia. We saw the Columbia river and drove
along it. We stayed with old friends from the days in California. Thanks Jenny
for letting us crash at your house. The next day we went to Seattle, saw the Space
Needle and Pacific Science Center. We walked to the Fish Market and did a bunch
of touristy things. Then we headed north to Chilliwack, BC. We got to my dad’s house in good time and we
were glad to be done driving for a bit.
We went to pick blueberries at a U-pick farm, I had
never done that and the kids were excited. It was a good time and there was a
ton of blueberries. We went to a heron refuge, didn’t see any herons but did
find blackberry bushes. Scott was thrilled. We walked around and then went and
got some yummy ice cream.
Sunday we went to church, which is right near my dad’s
house. Then we just hung out most of the day, my dad was not feeling well. We went for a drive to Cultus Lake to see
what was there. There are not a lot of lakes to swim in in Utah, so I was
hoping we could do that.
We went to Vancouver on Monday and went to the
Aquarium first. It was crowded but pretty cool. We saw a lot, we watched the
beluga show and they had a penguin walk before. We were on the front row so
that was fun to see two little penguins close up. They had us put any food we
had behind our backs, though. After that
we drove around Stanley Park. We went to a splash park, we stopped at a beach
to look for seashells and see the ocean. After that we headed to the Capilano
Suspension Bridge. When I was younger, this was pretty much a bridge and a
little boardwalk, but we got there and found it had expanded…and so had the
price tag. But we were there and so we went in. They have a cool foot
suspension bridge with a creek below. They added a cliff walk where you are
suspended along the cliff face and you walk along. They also added a bunch of
stuff on the far side, and had a booklet for kids to do. They had bridges up in
the trees and ponds and many other things. We dragged around everywhere to
complete the booklet for our prize….a Button! Yay. The kids were less than
thrilled, but oh well. We headed home after a long but good day.
We went to the lake and swam a bit. My little ones
got cold almost immediately but it was fun. They made a sand\gravel castle and
played a bit. We went to a Chinese buffet with my dad and Brigitte. Another
dinner highlight was a huge, fresh salmon. I was like a kid in a candy store at
the grocery, so much fresh, yummy things they grow there. Monticello is just
not the same.
you will notice a theme in the pictures...Sara not wanting to participate and Whitney making a funny face. oh well.
you will notice a theme in the pictures...Sara not wanting to participate and Whitney making a funny face. oh well.
We left early the next morning to drive entirely
across British Columbia to Banff, AB. The drive was gorgeous and I wish we
could have spent a week just making that trip. There are so many cool places I
want to take my family to, but we will do it someday. Canada is a big place. We
made good time and saw so many waterfalls, glaciers and mountains. We got to
Banff and checked in by dinner. We ordered pizza and tried to meet up with my
sister-in-law and the cousins. Finally we all ended up at the hotel waterslides
for some good fun. The next day the kids played at the indoor playground, which
is 3 stories of good times. The place we stayed has condos which are amazing,
we used to stay there every Christmas when my dad would take us skiing. The
kids love it, and so do I, a little splurge but worth it. So nice having the
kids in their own beds up in a loft and us with our own bedroom. Also an oven
to make a huge berry crisp with our berries and ingredients we bought in
Chilliwack. We enjoyed that for a few days with ice cream. We went up to a waterfall and dodged mosquitoes
with Pam, the cousins had so much fun. My Auntie Jean drove in from Edmonton
just to see us (she also doesn’t take much arm-twisting to go to Banff) and we
had a good visit. We went to the Cave and Basin and to dinner with her. After
she left we poked around in the stores on main street, and then we headed out
for Calgary.
We stayed with my old pal Stacey and her family. She
spoiled us with food. Her husband is on the helicopter team for Calgary PD so
of course Scott got to go visit him. Not surprisingly within an hour we got the
call that they had made an emergency landing, but everyone was ok. A maintenance
light had come on. They went back and got another helicopter and proceeded to
have a good time. When they visited us last year, Scott took Lane on a 4
wheeler ride along. My mom came to visit while we were there and then she
babysat so we could go out on a double date. We went canoeing on the lake in
their neighborhood and walked around Calgary. It was really nice. The next day we all met up at Telus Spark which
is the science center in Calgary. My two brothers and their families were
there. It is a really cool place, we could have spent all day. Sunday we went
to church with Mom and Stacey and then just hung out on a rainy day. Monday we
got up and left, stopped in High River to pick up Abby who had slept over and
to see the flood damage. High River had been completely flooded and evacuated
this spring. Luckily my brother’s house just lost the basement, and hopefully
they will be able to get the insurance figured out and rebuild soon. We left there and drove to Butte, Montana. We
got up in the morning and went to the Lewis and Clark Caverns. We had gone
there as children and I wanted to take ours now that they were old enough to do
the hike. It is huge and takes almost 2 hours to go through. They all did well,
so did really tall Scott. After that we
took the scenic route past Yellowstone and through Rexburg and Idaho Falls,
back to Orem. I did a bit of school shopping, we had a picnic in a wind storm with some amazing friends, then home and back to reality as
Scott immediately headed back to his busy schedule. It was a good trip…not
relaxing for the mom but a lot of amazing things I was able to share with my
family.
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