Sorrento to Jasper

Another exciting day today. This is the day that we finally camp in the mountains. We had a 5 hr trip through Kamloops and north in to Jasper. It was a beautiful drive and since Matthew said he didn’t really feel like he was in the mountains in Sorrento, he was happy to be headed back to where we could see the snow peaks. We got to drive by the highest mountain in the Canadian Rockies, Mount Robson.

A pretty classic shot of Mt Robson

As we passed Mt Robson and started to look ahead in the direction of Jasper, we could see a large rain cloud in the sky. Fortunately, it didn’t mean any real rain for us except for a light smattering of rain on our tent after we had gone to bed.  

The view ahead of us as we got close to Jasper

Fluffy got to have his own campfire

David and Tricia had arrived from Lake Louise a couple of hours before us and so their site was already set up when we arrived.  Dave and Kathy arrived a couple of hours later.

our campsite

another angle of the campsite with Dave and Kathy's site in the background

Thanks to Farm Grandma for the sleeping bags for Matthew and Rachel’s stuffies. Here are some pics of the kids and their stuffies all ready for bed in their sleeping bags.

Touring the Shuswap

Shuswap Lake is shaped in kind of an X with a narrow point in the centre where all the arms of the lake meet. We packed up the boat and all 11 of us along with some neighbours in their boat and made our way out to the little narrow centre of the lake. We met up with some more friends of the Kidd family and all 19 of us had lunch in the Shark Shack which is a small pub type restaurant on a barge in the middle of the narrows. Have a look…

The Shark Shack

There are really, really big houseboats on this lake

We took up most of the restaurant and had a whole table full of kids, so they probably weren’t sorry to see us leave. It is not a big restaurant, but what would you expect in the middle of the lake.

After some food, drink and visiting we boated up Seymour Arm a little bit and jumped off the boats for a beautiful and perfectly refreshing swim. It was a really hot, hot day and there couldn’t have been anything better than a dip in that lake. We said goodbye to Danica’s friend, Bella, who had been visiting while we were there. Hers was the family that met us on the barge. We enjoyed getting to know her and Rachel, especially, loved playing with her. Hopefully we might see her again sometime.

Later on, we did a little geocaching...

At supper time, we were excited for the arrival of Brent, Jenn and their two little ones, Sydney and Morgan. Sydney and Rachel are the same age and so there was more fun to be had. I haven’t seen Brent since their wedding in 2007, which is where I also met Jenn for the first time. However, she was pretty busy being the bride, so it was nice to actually get to talk to her, even if only for a short time, since we are going to be up early in the morning for the next leg of our journey to Jasper. 

We had a really nice visit in the evening around the picnic table on the deck playing for the Crib Championship of the World.

our last night at Shuswap

Baby Cuddles and Margaret Falls

We got to meet this sweet little thing this morning. She arrived in the morning with her parents, Megan and Tom and stayed for a short visit on their way back to the coast before flying home. She is a little sweetheart and we were really glad for the chance to meet her, even if just for a couple of hours.

Today’s adventure involved a trip to Margaret Falls near Salmon Arm. It was a short and pretty easy walk, but it was sure beautiful. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

walking up to the falls

Margaret Falls

Margaret Falls

Matthew, Danica, Bella and Rachel on the rocks by the falls

a view from the path

Later in the day, we went for a ride in the boat while some of the others did some watersports. Tracy was up first to show everyone how it was done. And show them, she sure did!

Tracy wakesurfing

Calgary to Sorrento

This is the day we have been waiting for. After several months of talking about mountains, planning for this trip and worrying about falling off the mountain while camping (mostly that was Matthew) we are finally here. In Calgary, we could see them off in the distance and so we knew which direction we were headed that day.  There had been a big thunderstorm the night before, but this morning the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day to see those big ol’ rockies.

The kids were pretty excited to see the mountains and were craning their necks to look out all the windows. We stopped for a little stretch and view at Johnston Canyon and got this lovely little family road trip shot…

Then we continued on up the highway to Lake Louise to stop for a little picnic lunch and a look at the lake. Being Canada Day, the traffic into Lake Louise was crazy and we inched our way along the road and managed to find a parking space. Down at the lake there were hordes of people along the shore and tons of little red canoes out in the middle. We managed to find a good spot for a family shot…

After Lake Louise it was time to get to Sorrento. I really couldn’t say how long it took because there was some confusion in our car about what time it actually was as we had both played with the car clock at some point and there was no service for our phones, so we couldn’t use the cell tower to tell us.  So in the end, we arrived at Uncle Gaynor’s cabin just in time for supper, which worked out just fine.

Tracy was there with her family and our kids have never met each other. It didn’t take long though and they were all playing together nicely. There is a little playground just down from the cabin and all the kids in the area congregate there and were soon good friends.  Matthew was helping Avery and another little boy build a snail village, complete with snail hot tub for their large collection of snails from the gardens. Later they would do snail races. Avery’s snail, Rainbow Dash, was in the lead, blowing Logan’s snail, Turbo, out of the water.  Unfortunately for him, his other snail, Super Sonic, wasn’t a whole lot faster.

Rachel was having fun with some other little girls on the swings and teeter totters.  That is until she got a little bit too much air on one of her bumps and landed on her diaphragm on the handle.  She didn’t fall hard and I watched the whole thing so I didn’t think she was hurt too bad.  I went to pick her up and she cried on my shoulder for a second, taking an exceptionally long inhale and then as she turned to face me, her eyes were wild and she fell backward like she had passed out.  I called Adam and by the time he got to her, she was finally getting her breath back.  She had knocked the wind out of herself and also scared the crap out of me. Luckily there was an ER nurse in the cabin nearby and she was able to reassure us that she had just been winded and would be fine.

And so, we were officially initiated into the friendly little community at Uncle Gaynor’s cabin on Shuswap Lake.

Day in Calgary

This was a day to spend in Calgary. Adam spent the day in the Calgary office and the rest of us went and found something fun to do.  As members at the Manitoba Museum, we were able to get free entry into the Calgary Science Centre and so that is what we did. It is a fantastic place! Here are some pictures of our day and the things we did...

Rachel climbed to the top of this structure and then down the slide...twice!

A climbing wall

Cousins in matching outfits

The girls designing outfits for Anna and Elsa

This one is for Anna, I believe

Matthew and Uncle David building a...something.

Ah.  A box.

We also saw a movie in the Dome theatre about the Milky Way. Now Matthew is worried about falling into a black hole.

Tomorrow is another big driving day. We caught a glimpse of the mountains from Calgary but tomorrow we get to see them up close!

Regina to Calgary

Today was a long day of driving. After a short visit at the new RANA office that opened in Regina last year, we were on the road just after 9:00. We got to Gull Lake and stopped for a picnic lunch and to run the kids for awhile. When that ended in tears, it was time to get back in the car. The only other stop we made was at Tillebrook Provinical Park for a bathroom break.  Our timing was perfect because there was a horse trailer in the parking lot with a couple of park horses. Their handler - a conservation officer brought Charlie out for us to get to know a little better.  Check it out...

With two days of long drives under our belts, the kids have been doing really well. The sit in the back and they draw pictures, colour or play with Lego. We even played a game of I Spy in that stretch after Medicine Hat where the only thing to see is brown grass and brown fence posts: "I spy with my little eye something that is brown"; "the grass!": "right! first guess". Not a lot of variety, but the kids thought it was great fun!

We arrived in Calgary with enough time for a short swim and some dinner before bed. A bit late going to bed, but it sure didn't take long for the little Gerhards to fall asleep. Dreaming of more adventures to come.

Day In Regina

We spent the day in Regina with the Regina Gerhards today. The day began with church at Sunset United where Auntie Tricia was preaching. A nice surprise was to see some Winnipeg friends walk in. Eli and Greer are visiting their grandparents here in Regina this week.

It was a hot day today and so in the afternoon we opted to spend some time at at spray pad. There is a little spray pad at the nearby school that was built in 1984. It is made of wood and is showing its 31 years but it sprayed water and we were hot and so it was all good. All that water draining away eventually led to the building of a dam, which is the best fun ever, especially for a particular little boy we know. We have some great pictures of this, but they are on the big camera and we don't have any way to download the pictures right now because the cable we need was left in Winnipeg.  So either I will edit this when we get home (probably not) or just tell you that lots of fun was had.