Day 13 - The Lakes

Today we drove up to Lake Louise to admire it's beauty!  Again, it is stunning as ever.  The blue water is magnificent.  We started at Lake Louise and decided to take a walk along a trail that took us around the lake.  The staff were setting up chairs just in front of the lake for what we think was a wedding! OMG! What a setting!

Lake Louise

The Wheelers in front of Lake Louise

Baby Girl playing with her favourite keys Nanny W gave her

The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise

We then took the 10 minute drive to Moraine Lake which is only 14kms away from the village of Lake Louise.  Moraine Lake is just as beautiful as Lake Louise.  Funny story for today is that I had checked the weather for today and was really surprised to see that the expected high was 30 feels like 35.  I didn't realise that my weather app had added Japser On, as opposed to Jasper, AB.  Needless to say, it was no where near the 30C.  We actually cut our visit short because we didn't want Baby Girl to catch a cold.  We have been so lucky.  She has never been sick yet and we plan on keeping it that way as long as we can.  We fed Baby Girl on a bench looking over the lake and headed out.  On our way out we noticed a rock pile that had a lookout and Justin decided to climb it real quick while we watched.  Of course he couldn't follow the crowd so he made his way down through the big rock piles! What a guy!

Moraine Lake

What a view for Baby Girl's lunch

Our country is BEAUTIFUL!

BONES! What a looker!

 

Justin at the top

Justin making his way down the unbeaten path

Justin taking a picture of us at the bottom

We made our way back to the campsite taking highway 1A to see a different view.  A bunch of cars were stopped to see an elk on the side of the road.  I didn't get a good shot of him.

We took it easy for the rest of the day.  Took a bike ride before putting Baby Girl down. Biking in the Rockies is not for the faint of heart! I ended up switching for Justin's bike so that he could have Baby Girl because my lungs couldn't handle it!  

Belle cocotte d'amour!

Baby Girl went to bed and we enjoyed a nice supper!  So nice not to be packing up and moving! 

Day 12 - We are in!

The plan was to leave early today but we didn't get going very fast.  Non the less we arrived in Banff for 1100.  We had a really chatty neighbour behind us slowing down Justin for the pack up.  Hey! The man was more chatty than Justin, is that even possible?!!  :)

We paid our park entry fee on our way to Banff and crossed our fingers that there would be a camping spot for us.  Tunnel mountain is the only campsite in Banff that has services and is the most popular one with trailers/RVs.  We pulled up to the gate and asked with the sweetest voice if they had any room for us! Well, it was our lucky day because not only did we get a site but we got a private site.  They have double sites there which aren't that bad but having our own spot was great. The Aussie serving us had a good laugh with us when he saw how excited we were to get a lot!

Oh! Yeah! We are in!

We unpacked and decided to go to town.  Once in town, we walked the main drag and then took a hike up to the Bow Falls.  The falls are not outstanding but it felt nice to go for a nice walk.  Bones was loving the walk and drinking the fresh water of the Bow river.

View from the bridge off Banf Ave

Bow Falls

Bow Falls

Bow River

High waters - path flooded

Banff Ave Bridge

On our way back, I stopped in a little shop to browse.  That's when Justin noticed that Bones was bleeding everywhere.  Poor Bonsey Bones cut his paw.  10 minutes prior he had wondered off in the bush and I saw the broken glass but he never flinched or complained so we didn't think he was hurt.  We couldn't get a good picture of the cut but it was deep enough.

Banff Avenue

Sweet Bones is injured

We came back and put baby girl down for a nap.  We each picked up our books and began to read but we both fell asleep and the whole family had a nice nap.  It feels good today to know that we are in one spot for three days!  Longest stop to date!

Some pics for matante doudounne to brighten up her day!

Day 11 - Our first glimpse of the ROCKIES!

BB girl was up early at 0730 and we got ready as Mel (I'm going to call him Bob from now on so that it's not too confusing), the RV repair guy was supposed to come at 1000.  Justin noticed when he brought Bones outside that there was a sign indicating no overnight parking. No wonder we were the only ones! On top of that, Bob told us that we were right on the edge of Calgary's GHETTO!!!  Justin had thought that last night but Bob confirmed it!  He says there was a drive by shooting a block away last year!  Oh well!  We spent a good night.  While Bob and Justin looked over the trailer, baby girl and I went to Walmart to pick up a few things.  I picked up a block of cheese that was on sale for 6$.  Cheese is ridiculously expensive out West.  I remember when my sister lived in Lethbridge, she asked mom and dad when they came up to visit her to bring some cheese because she couldn't afford it! It's regular price 12.50$ for a 500g block! Crazy! On my return, Bob and Justin were just about done.  Bob thinks that the thread on the shower was too tight and that may have been causing our leak but it is really hard to pinpoint a leak in a trailer. He also fixed two cracks on our slide out and gave Justin a bunch of tips. I had taken out a fair amount of money thinking this on location service would be quite expensive but  he ended up charging us 40$ for over an hour of work.  We were so happy, we gave him 50$!

Next on the agenda was to replace the spare tire, get some caulking at the hardware store and hit a camping store to replace the gutter that we lost while we were travelling through Manitoba on Day 5.  Everything was within a city block but it seemed to take a long time to get everything done. I waited for Justin in the truck while he went to the camping store and we he returned he asked me 'Mel - Did you notice yet?', 'Notice what?' I said.  Justin pointed up.  AHHHHH!! Through the buildings we could see our first peak of the Rockies!   It doesn't matter how many times you have seen them, they are always jaw dropping!  It made all the pain of the errands go away!  Well, just about.When we returned to the tire shop to pick up the tire ready on the rim, Justin was not happy.  They put the wrong tire on and tried to tell Justin that it was ok.  They had a Lamborghini in their garage, you would think they know what they are doing.  Turns out we left Calgary without a spare.  We drove by the Calgary Olympic installations.  Both Justin and I have been there before.  A highly recommended stop but seeing as we had both been there we snapped a picture driving by and reminisced about our bobsledding adventures from a previous visit.

We headed out of town and called  Spring Creek campground in Canmore and thankfully, they had a spot for us. Driving towards the Rockies is just unreal!  It is so beautiful!  No words to describe it and the pictures don't do it justice!

We arrived in Canmore at 1330 and were awestruck by the beauty surrounding us!  The campsite was beautiful but the lots were very small.  Justin set up the trailer and we hoped on our bikes to go tour the small village.

Justin setting up

Two of several rabbits roaming the campsite! They had Bones going CRAZY!

Maman! Je veux sortir voir les montagnes!

A not so bad backdrop!

We rode alongside the Bow river.  The water is extremely high here and we saw a few houses pumping their basements.  Oh the horror! Don't we know how that feels!  The village is gorgeous and it was very easy to get around on our bikes.

The people in the trailer in front of us were from Calgary and were taking their new trailer out for the first time.  After putting baby girl to bed, we sat at the fire with them.  It was nice talking with some locals.  We asked about the Stampede and just like all the other locals we spoke to, they get out of town during the Stampede.  We would have stayed up chatting with our friends but our plan is to get going really early tomorrow as it is Canada Day weekend and we have no sites booked.  The National Parks keep aside a fair amount of sites that are on a first come first serve basis so we want to be there early tomorrow.

Hello Beautiful Sunset!

The updates are coming...

We are a couple of days behind on the blog but not to worry - the updates are coming!!! We have met up with some family and are spending some quality time with them!  Also, internet connections have been hard to come by! Stay tuned... our adventure continues.

Day 10 - Flat tire on flat land on the way to the Bad Lands!

This morning we left the campsite at 1000.  Before leaving, I made online reservations for a bus tour of Dinosaur Provincial Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  We've decided that we will call around in Calgary today to see if we can have the trailer looked at.  At 1045 one of the tires on the trailer goes.

Man!  What a start to the day!  I get on the phone and call Good Sam's (they are our roadside assistance providers - again, thanks to my Mom for insisting that I purchase the membership before we left).  Again, the iphone comes in really handy as I am able to pinpoint our locations quite accurately to the lady on the phone.  She tells us that  tow truck will be there at 1155.  At this point, I am a little concerned that we will not make it on time for our tour.  While we are waiting for help, I decide to take out the camera and take some shots.  Justin is not at all happy that we are waiting for a tow truck!  He fells unmanly because he figures he should be able to change it but we don't have the necessary tools.

The tow truck driver, a real cowboy, arrives at 1130.  He wasn't a really talkative guy but he got the job done, checked the rest of our tires and told us to make sure we check them often.

A real cowboy to change our tire!

At least we had some beautiful prairie skies to look at during our wait!

He thinks that the blow out could have been a result of the changes in temperature. We are back on the road at noon!

I'm stressing out a bit and trying to see if there are any faster ways to get to the park but apart from the main roads, all other roads are mainly gravel and we don't really want to be adventuring in those with the trailer. So we follow the Main Highways and thankfully, we made it and with time to spare.  The both of us were expecting to see mountains at any times.  We had seen pictures of bad lands so we were expecting to see them from far away especially that we are in the prairies. But to our surprise, the bad lands actually drop.  They are holes in the ground.  We were both in awe when we arrived and caught our first glimpse of the park.  It is spectacular. We hopped on the bus with our tour guide, Sydney.  She was a great tour guide.  She was passionate about everything she was telling us.  The park is well known for being one of the richest dinosaur fossil locales in the world.  Forty dinosaur species have been discovered at the park and more than 500 specimens have been removed and exhibited in museums across the globe.  The tour bus was unable to go off the beaten path because of the rain.  The ground is almost like clay and is very slippery when wet. The tour was well worth it regardless.  There were many other tours available that would have been amazing for kids interested in Dinosaurs but we were mostly there for the terrain and a quick visit.  We are really happy that we decided to stick to HWY 1 to see the Canadian Bad Lands!

Canadian Badlands

Baby Girl ready for the tour

The little family -minus Bones

Wheeler's in the Badlands

Dinosaur skin fossil

Baby Girl having a look at a piece of petrified wood

Dinosaur fossils resting as they were found

The tour finished just as a downpour came down.  We are back on HWY 1 and Justin is on the phone.  The wipers go crazy on us.  We pull over and Justin has a look a the situation.  The only remedy for now is to take the passenger side one off and continue on!  Small issue but annoying as Justin had just fixed the problem yesterday.  Next, Justin got on the phone with some RV shops in Calgary.  The first place told us the earliest spot they had was in Mid August!  The next Rv repair shop recommended us to a place called Solis.  Solis recommended we call a guy called Mel! Thankfully when we spoke to Mel, he told us he can meet up with us in the morning. He suggested a campsite on the east end of the city. Perfect for us, but when I called, they said they only accepted small dogs (30lbs or less).  That really upsets me because, in most cases, it`s the small one that are yappy!  Anyhow, we decided we would park in the first Walmart we found.  I was surprised when we got there that we were the only trailer in the parking lot but we parked for the night.  It was raining and VERY cold.  We made some pizzas - bbq chicken! yum! - and put bb girl to bed.  Justin stayed in the trailer and read and I went in the truck and blogged for a bit.  When the trailer is running on batteries, the electrical outlets don't work so I went used the converter in the truck. Mel, the repair man, told us he would meet us at 1000 tomorrow morning.