Adventures in Jasper

Saturday in Jasper National Park was great. We walked around the town of Jasper in the morning before setting out for Athabasca Falls, about a 20 minute drive from our camp. The falls are glacial melt water and the most brilliant aqua blue, especially in abundant sunshine. There's just something so amazing about the roar of thundering water. Ada likes water, and as always, I was so thankful she was on her daddy's back. Otherwise, she would have wanted to take a dip! 

 

In the afternoon, we rode the Whistler Mountain Gondola. This one was even
worse in the nerve wracking department than Sulphur Mountain. It was a nail biting 7 minute journey up, elbow to elbow in the gondola car with 20 other people. I wanted to pass out. Ha!   

The views were incredibly beautiful. Colin's favorite was Mount Colin in the Colin Range!  We were unable to make it to the peak due to lots of slippery snow and ice, so maybe next time. We got some fun pics regardless. 

At both the Falls and Whistler, we had so many people looking at us! I guess no one has ever seen a daddy carrying two babies, front and back. I've also never had so many people come up and touch my kids. (Pinching a cheek, shaking a hand, etc.) It's kind of annoying, but I also felt bad for the people - many of them were grandparent age people who we guessed, don't have grandkids. How sad. 

Whistler Mountain was right up the road from camp, so we went home and made hotdogs and s'mores on the fire. Mmmmmm. Little Sis approved. 

 

Journey to Jasper

Friday morning arrived cold and gray. Many of the surrounding mountains were wrapped in clouds and mist. We left Banff National Park and headed west towards Jasper National Park. It was a four hour trip without stops, but babies love stops, especially Little Sis! 

The road leading to The Township of Jasper is called the Icefeilds Parkway, and is suppose to be one of the top ten most scenic drives in the world. But, due to the clouds and snow we saw at higher elevations, we couldn't see its full glory. We did see some mountain goats being chased by Japanese tourists with cameras and a massive bull elk at our campground in Jasper. I thought the elk looked pretty tasty! 

Fortunately, the girls were great the whole drive and we pulled into our campsite at 4pm. Earliest ever! Colin took Big Sis to play at the campground playground to burn off pent up energy and I dealt with a teething baby. Why do my babies alway cut their first teeth while we are away from home? She also has learned to say "mama" and calls for me when she's hungry and wants out of her car seat. Stinker. More on Jasper to come...

(Sweet sleeping sisters on the long drive to Jasper) 

Up the Mountain!

Wow. Today was gorgeous! As we drove into Banff National Park yesterday, the land was shrouded in gray, snowy mist. Today, the sun rose bright, revealing freshly powered peaks beneath endless blue skies. Perfect weather for a gondola ride up Suphur Mountain...but how would our little people like it, we wondered? 

We stayed at a campsite about 30 minutes from Sulphur Mountain, so by the time we woke up, ate breakfast, ran errands, etc., it was practically nap time, and luckily, the girls slept on the way there. 

I don't know what it is about becoming a parent, but I'm such a scaredy cat now. I've ridden gondolas and ski lifts many, many times. But, oh my. Sulphur Mountain was terrifying! I had to close my eyes part of the way. Luckily, the girls didn't mind it. Ada even said "Weeeee" as we started ascending.  

When we arrived at the visitor center at the top of the gondola, we saw a deck plank style path leading to the tip top of the mountain. So, we thought we'd go down the trail for a bit, and then before we knew it, we went all the way to the top. Unfortunately, snow and ice covered most of the path. Good thing the girls were riding dad-pram style! Also, good thing we were wearing good shoes!  

(Colin, the mountain climbing dad pram)

The views from Sulphur Mountain are breath taking.  

The girls were so GOOD! They enjoyed the ride and sun. Little Sis even fell asleep. We heard so many people commenting on the dad carrying two babies. One Chinese lady even had to take their picture she thought they were so cute. So yeah, our kiddoes became a side attraction on Sulphur Mountain. Oh yes, they conked out on our way back to our campsite too. 

I am thankful they are now sleeping peacefully after a long day. More adventures await tomorrow! 

Crazy!

"I love crazy."

If you've seen the Disney movie, Frozen, you might remember the lines between Anna and Hans, where Anna says, "Okay, can I just say something crazy?" To which Hans replies "I love crazy." 

Traveling with two under two really does seem CRAZY! But we keep doing it. We must LOVE crazy. 

All Frozen references aside, this trip has been a wild ride, filled with ups and downs. Each day we learn a little more about how to keep the kids happy on the road. Each day gets a little better as we fall into some kind of groove. Snacks, movies, music, stickers, books, new cheap toys, are making the long hours on the road bearable. They are little troopers and we are enjoying this adventure as a family.  

We finally arrived in Canmore today. Guess what? It's FROZEN. 3-5 inches of SNOW. In September. It's not officially autumn yet! It is truly crazy. Good thing we love crazy. (Sorry, one more Frozen reference!) 

Canmore, Alberta campground. 

Canadian Rockies. Please?

"ARE WE NOT MEANT TO GO ON THIS TRIP, COLIN?!?!" 

This quote sums up last week pretty well.  It was insanely crazy and we thought more than once that we may never go on our Canadian Rockies adventure. 

On Labor Day, our one and only car got sick. It was in the shop for four days, holding up last minute preparations for our trip. Then we got it back and problem came back the same day (oil sensor issue). Two tows in one week! Colin was going to have to get a ride to Spokane to pick up our RV when Cruise America called. Our RV in Spokane was damaged, and the only replacement they could find us was in Missoula MT, 4.5 hours away. So, Colin, being the determined fellow that he is, drove a one-way rental car to Missoula, picked up the RV and came home in one day. Exhausting! On our way home, we will have to drive through Missoula, drop off the RV there, and get a minivan one way rental to get home. Thank goodness they are giving us the RV for half about half the cost! Colin works so hard and has wanted to do this trip for a long time, so I'm glad it's all working out so far! 

This change of plans means we have to drive back through Glacier National Park on our way to Missoula. Oh drat!!! ;-)  

Pic below from our road trip to Glacier Sep 2013. 

Canadian Rockies, here we come! Maybe....

Welcome to our page! We are glad to see you!

When Colin and I met, we had one thing in common that has proven to be both a blessing and a curse...we love to travel! It's great that we share the same sense of adventure and love of exploring new places...but since we've had two kids, we've discovered the curse side of our adventurism. Traveling with kids is not easy. It's not impossible, but it is definitely harder than I had anticipated. But, we are determined to keep on traveling and our two little people are becoming travelers whether they like it or not! We hope to share some of our experiences here in the hope that we inspire other parents to travel with their kids. As Rick Steves, travel book author and TV personality says, "Traveling with children is character building." 

Our next adventure begins in approximately 48 hours to the Canadian Rockies. However, we've been holding our breath on this trip for a while. More on that for my next post!