Entries about the girls

I have been delinquent in updating you all on our Arrradventures. Been having too much fun in the Canadian Rockies and focused on planning activities for us and the girls to stop and write. And truth be told I've been avoiding thinking too much since our little one has been suffering neurological issues but we're gonna ignore that for now and focus on the positive - a wonderful week vacation with Morgan and Courtney.

As I write this, we are on the road again, headed to Fort Collins. Two long days of driving ahead of us to reposition and then we settle down in Colorado for a month. Plenty of time to catch you up.

Canmore and Canada Day

After picking the girls up in Calgary, we headed to Canmore, Alberta. About a half hour south of Banff, it's also set right in the heart of the Rockies in the Bow River Valley. We had a beautiful condo with amazing views of the mountains up and down the valley.

This is a view of the Three Sisters from town - loved these mountains.

The best part was we were there for Canada Day! We went into town and watched the parade. They had pipers! and Mounties! and Stampede princesses! And it didn't rain on our parade!

And to cap it off we even had an awesome fireworks show that we were able to watch from our rooftop hot tub!

The girls were definitely in the spirit!

Canmore is just outside Banff National Park but it is surrounded by beautiful Provincial Parks. The girls got in a hike up to the Grassi Lakes and Scott, Cadeau and I did our form of hiking - we hit the dirt roads.

We took the 60+ km loop through Spray Valley Provincial Park and Kananaskis Country that passed by the Grassi Lakes, the Spray Lakes Reservoir, and wound it's way between snow covered mountain ranges. While the clouds were hanging low, the scenery was beautiful.

We even saw some elk. Wildlife viewings have been rare up here so we felt lucky.

Playing Chicken with the Weather in Banff

We had watched the weather forecast for our vacation closely and it looked like we were going to be totally rained out for the entire trip. As it turned out, we had more sunny/partly cloudy days than rainy ones but almost every day felt like playing chicken with the rain as almost everyday at least one shower would come through. I don't think we've used raincoats so much since Bocas del Toro! The days we spent in Banff felt especially touch and go. When you're trying to time going up in the gondola to the top of Sulphur Mountain, not a cheap endeavor, you don't want to get up there and be socked inn by clouds. We thought we had it timed just right but as it turned out not 10 minutes after Scott and the girls got to the top, they were in the middle of a thunderstorm.

What a difference a half hour can make!

Luckily it was lunch time so they grabbed some food and waited it out and were rewarded with awesome sunny pictures and views.

We also had beautiful weather to grab a cocktail on the deck of the Fairmont Chateau...

...to walk along the Bow River Falls...

...and vist the Cascade Gardens.

Courtney and Morgan

I would be remiss if I didn't include some thoughts on our daughters, yes I have finally accepted the term "stepmother" into my life. We are constantly amazed by both the inner and outer beauty of these young women (who I invariably refer to as "the girls"). Each time we see them - either in person or on FaceTime - their humor and intelligence, and their growing maturity strike us and make us glad they are a part of our lives. Our ability to participate in their activities this trip, especially mine, was limited by Cadeau's troubles but we all really enjoyed the time we had together.

We did hike the Fenland Trail along the Bow River...

...and drove to the Vermillion Lakes for a great view of my favorite mountain, Mount Rundle.

And they were troopers in pursuing activities other own like rafting, hiking, swimming in the hot springs, and shopping in Banff. They even took advantage of Canada's public transportation to do what they wanted when we couldn't be available or make the truck available. Here are some of my favorite pics of them from the trip.
Being silly...

Being Beautiful...

Being Sisters

Part 2 tomorrow takes us to Upper Banff, Field, Golden, and Yoho National Park. Stay Tuned. And don't forget to follow us on InstaGram at Arrradventures.