Our family took a little road trip in July and we took so many pictures, a photo summary is in order… Part of the trip looked like this:
On the way to Alberta, we stopped in Regina and visited Wascana Park for the first time…
Among the activities was a visit to iFly. It is a wind tunnel… it can be described as indoor skydiving. The setup makes it safe for kids.
There was the Calgary Zoo, which dwarfs Winnipeg’s, and our favourite animal enclosures included the penguins, the hippos, the gorillas and gibbons, and the lemurs who chased each other right past our legs.
We ate out one night at a Japanese teppanyaki restaurant - our first experience as a family having food cooked “on a hot steel plate” that is “the center of the dining table”. Our cook made us laugh, pulled gags on our kids and scared them with flames that practically jumped to the ceiling.
We took a hike in Kananaskis to a waterfall and back...
… and a dip in the lake it bordered.
We visited West Edmonton Mall… more specifically its Lego store and waterslides.
We took a leisurely hike at Sunshine Meadows…
… and had a picnic at a spot normally crowded by skiers in winter…
It was the kids’ first experience of riding a chair lift. The Meadows made for a stunning background.
We embraced the touristy feeling in Banff, stopped in a few shops (Wildly was my favourite), and left the crowd for nachos at Magpie and Stump.
Back at home base, the boys tested spray painting for the first time.
And there was the novelty of riding e-scooters in a city that permitted them.
When we were in Banff, it’s library was a quiet nook discovered amid the hubbub - it had accessible washrooms, while the ones at the end of Bear Street were closed for cleaning.
By contrast, the Calgary library is a destination in itself. It’s new and fancy and I told the kids that we were visiting to admire the architecture.
Big expanses, lighted bookshelves, quiet reading areas, and quote-filled museum-like nooks… it was impressive.
One evening we stopped at an Italian market called Lina’s and their balsamic vinegar selection overwhelmed me.
Another evening we ordered sushi.
It was a pretty fun change of scenery.
Anna and Luke, we miss you already!