Our trip began on the morning of July 3rd....the van was loaded, all passengers buckled in, and the vehicle engaged into drive.....then Keely decided to throw up! Everyone bales out because it REEKED. So needless to say we were a little delayed with the start of our trip. Finally we hit the road with a few other minor incidents, such as....spilled pop.
We made a stop in the small town of Cusick, WA (about an hour northeast of Spokane) to visit Doug and Hazel Cole. They are building a vacation/retirement home on the Pend O'reille River. What an absolutely beautiful location. It made me want to stay, and stay ....and stay. After a nice visit and supper with them we loaded back up and continued our trip. Unfortunately, Brandt hadn't been feeling that well and we made a fairly rapid stop about a half and hour out of Sandpoint for him to lose breakfast, lunch and supper! Of course, Randy and Ashley have sympathy reactions to this type of activity and they made and exit out the other side of the van. Yep....once again Mom to the rescue and acting as the complementary clean up committee...:)
Our original plan was to drive straight through to Canmore, Alberta....but with all the delays we decided to stop in Cranbrook, BC for the evening. One slight problem, due to the 4th of July and summer travelers there were few rooms available. We finally found A room a the Traveler's Inn.....yes....one room! I think I may have been the only one who slept well, but I was the one driving too, so I guess that's all that really mattered...right? We all rose the next morning to the fragrant smell of pot being inhaled somewhere nearby...funny stuff. We had a nice breakfast at the local Denny's who give complementary birthday breakfasts...So...happy birthday to me!
We finally reached Canmore about 2 pm Wednesday a
fternoon and checked into our accommodations at the beautiful WorldMark resorts (our timeshare) Canmore is just 15 minutes out of Banff National Park and is quickly turning into a wonderful little resort town. Every direction a person turns the scenery is beautiful and very pleasing to the eyes and senses. Our location was at the base of the mountains just out of town. Very peaceful and quiet, with lots of wildlife to view. We setttled in to our rooms then left to explore the town.
The rest of the family began to arrive on Thursday evening and Friday. It was so nice to see everyone...some who have not been seen in almost 20 years! Now all the activities will begin. This is a very active family who enjoy hiking, biking, rock climbing, cycling.....you name it.....they'll try it.
Brandt and Ashley were able to try their skills at rock climbing and I do believe they liked it!
I had an absolutely beautiful hike up to the sight where the kids were climbing....it just couldn't get any better than this!
Our week was spent traveling to Foothills Campmeeting on Saturday for Jasper's baptism and getting to visit with friends and family we haven't seen in a long time. We were blessed with beautiful weather the whole time and that was a big plus!
It seemed like every time all the siblings got together another group shot was taken. Kinda funny...but very cool. This picture was taken immediately after Jaspers baptism by the river.
The rest of the week involved alot of meals together, trips to Banff, some went to the Calgary Stampede, golfing in Kananaskis and more hiking and mountain biking!
A wonderful time was had by all! Here are a few more candid pics on the last full day we were there.......family pictures up by the Canmore Nordic Center.
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