The last morning in Edmonton. Another pack up. We had to pack up and move seven out of the eight mornings. It becomes a routine.

Before going home we stopped at the Edmonton Zoo. It's a smaller zoo, but still has some neat things to see.

The otter was swimming around. There was just one. He didn't have a significant otter.

Seeing farm animals isn't quite as big a deal for us, but I like that we were able to go pet them. 

The GOAT with the goat.

More train rides. 

I forget what these guys were called. Let's call them giant gopher-pigs.

Meerkats really are the best.

The mighty red panda.

"Let's get out of here..."

"Ohhh say can you seeeeee!"

You haven't lived until you've seen a zebra pee. It was super impressive. More impressive than any of the falls we saw on our trip.

A more flattering picture.

Unfortunately Joseph's ear started hurting while at the zoo. We'd been swimming, had ears popping from going up and down mountains, and stood in some cold breezes. Finally his ears couldn't take it. We later had to take him to the hospital in Tisdale to deal with it. He's doing fine now though.

So on the road we went. Emilie was a champ. She didn't cry once in the vehicle from Jasper all the way home. She was so tired she mainly slept.

Stopping in Lloydminster to nab some McDonalds $0.99 cones, and play at the play zone. Becca freaks out at these things. So many germs. I'll tell you what, they're nicer than when I was a kid.

And maybe the best thing I saw all trip. In the bathroom you could play a little soccer. A tribute to the World Cup I guess. I'll bet the zebra would've been a champ at this.

We arrived in Saskatoon just after 7pm. Had it not been a Saturday night we would've kept going. But there's Mass to consider. So we crashed at the condo for the night.

The next morning we bookended our trip with another Latin Mass.



And then one last two hour drive (which seemed very short comparatively).

As we pulled into the driveway Emilie woke up. I told her: "We're at Emilie's house! We're home!"

This is the smile she gave:

Final Thoughts:

- Bathroom breaks control your trip when you have little ones. We even brought the potty along for John Paul. Imagine stopping for a break, driving for 15 minutes and then hearing one of the boys call for another break. And don't get me started about the needed breaks when on a hike. "I just asked if you needed to go!" "But I didn't need to go then..." And then there were all the trips at the World Water Park. Free drinks... Lots of water everywhere... What could go wrong?

- It is amazing how little we need all our "stuff." We own so many toys and gadgets, yet deep down we sure could do without. Well, almost. Becca wanted to declutter as soon as we got home but I reminded her that there's this thing called winter, and we end up spending way more time inside, and thus need things to do.

- I loved the mountains, but still could never live there. I need open skies.

- The license plate and animal games were super fun. Make sure you play them when on trips. Next to Alberta/BC, the most popular license plates we saw in Jasper were from California.

- We never toured much of the actual town of Jasper. But we kept a lookout for the Catholic Church, which we never did find. We found just about everything other denomination though.

- A the campground John Paul had his spray bottle and kept saying: "Come here and I will give you bear spray!" "But I'm not a bear!" "NO! This is to keep the bears away!" I guess he thought bear spray was like mosquito spray.

- Finally, what a vacation! Everyone is itching to go back. Again. Right now. I would go at the drop of a hat. But life must go on. We'll go back to the mountains someday. Of course we will. The final word I will give to the kids. Actually to a picture of them. We got back Sunday afternoon. We were beat down exhausted. The kids put their pajamas on and... promptly started playing that they were camping in the mountains.

Post Script:

"In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him" (Psalm 95:4). 

Amen.

Vacation: Day 6: Rain on Our Parade

I remember a time back when Becca and I were first married. We were passing through Melfort *spit* and decided to stop at the Canadian Tire. There we found a tent on sale for a cool $80. Wanting to get into camping, we eagerly picked it up. We've slept in the tent many times, though not since our third child came along. It's been a good little tent.

When people heard we would be tenting in Jasper they thought we were crazy. Meh. In Jasper everyone tents. It's normal. One lady we talked to, who also had three kids, had been tenting for 11 days already at various points in the Rockies. They hadn't showered in those 11 days, and had used every trick in the book to reuse dirty clothes. So three days of tenting is really nothing. Except that our tent is on the cheaper end. And inevitably rain must fall all around. On fields and trees. On the umbrellas, and on the Millettes camping.

So Becca woke me up at 2:30am. "There's water everywhere!" Our tent has a waterproof top which covers, well, only the top. Water started to pool near the edges. It didn't help that I had been moving the tent around so much, so it wasn't stretched out as much as possible. And so we had water. Everywhere.

When morning finally came, to overcast and slightly wet skies, we knew our dream of camping was over. Whether we wanted it to end or not. Maybe we're not the expert campers we thought we were. Oddly enough, we had our best sleep yet.

Now, how to get this wet gear to Tisdale over a three night period without getting mouldy? Hmm. A combination of rotating outstretched gear, inside of our van, did the trick.

We packed up, said goodbye to the campground, promised to buy a great new tent using Visa points, and headed to Jasper.






In Jasper the boys went to see one of the National Park interpreters. You see, they completed some booklets of adventure which meant they were eligible to be official Junior Explorers.

And so the ceremony:

Touring the place. Buckets of animal poop.

Emilie, with her three days of camping look.

Well, we knew this moment was coming, though we dreaded it. Time to leave the mountains...

One last spotting of elk, and then off we went. 

It was an empty feeling driving away. Who knows when we would ever return? But, I offered a cheesy line to Becca as consolation: Don't be sad it's over, be happy it happened.

They slept most of the way to Edmonton. Once there I headed for the basilica. While there we stumbled upon someone we knew from our Academy days: Jonathan Quist. He's a seminarian for the diocese of Edmonton, and was stationed to be a caretaker at the church all summer. I can't imagine what he thought when he saw us, all tired and smelly... "Great to see you... you guys are doing... er, well...." 

Racing some sports cars on a bridge as we headed back to our hotel, the south side Travelodge. It seemed a bit rundown the first two nights, but after camping for three nights it was more like a 5 start spa.

While driving through Edmonton we got a call from a neighbour in Tisdale. Something about a package on our doorstep. It shocked us to think that we had completely forgotten about Tisdale while we were camping!

That night we treated ourselves to Boston Pizza. Becca then went to visit her sister, while I took the kids for a little swim and then to bed. It rained some more. And we slept very well. 

Vacation: Day 5 - Eau de Source

Our last full day in Jasper National Park. It's important to keep up on exercise, though by this point I was really missing my weights.

We kept the routine going. An awesome breakfast with a warming fire. Pack up and move to a new site. Buy lunch groceries. And then we were on our way.

South was the direction of the day. We started by driving to the Athabasca Falls. I liked these much better than the Maligne Falls. It's pretty sad that you get fussy over which falls/mountains are better after a couple of days. I mean, they're all amazing.

Apparently there is one species of fish that live above the falls. Some type of trout. No one knows how they got there.

We carefully descended to the bottom of the falls. It was another gorgeous place. 

"Look! There's water bubbling up in this little pit!"

Back up we go.

We were pretty hungry by this point. But we hung on from not eating. There was word of this super awesome place to eat just off of the highway up ahead. So away we went.

It turned out to be the lunch of the trip. The Athabasca river flowed lazily across while more stunning mountains rested next to the quiet eating area. Even the food was top notch. Though food always tastes better outside.

On a spur of the moment we stopped at Sunwapta Falls. They might have been the best.

We wanted to do more hiking here, but the kids were a little tired, and we still had one more stop to make. Maybe some day. There were some people preparing to go on overnight hikes while we were there. I thought about how it would be neat to do something like this once the kids are all gone, and it's just Becca and I. And then I thought about how boring it would be to do that without the kids. Seeing the mountains is much better with the little ones along!

Now for the source. Driving down the main highway one soon realizes a change. The mountains get bigger, the river gets thinner, and the ice and snow become prominent. It was a quiet drive. You realize how small you are compared to what is around you. These are the real mountains. They own this land. You're just visiting. You do what they say. The only word that describes them is majestic.

Finally, we arrived at the source. The Columbia Icefields. It is a heavy tourist area... on the other side of the road. I guess people stop in at the restaurant area, cram in and look at the glacier. Some might even book a ride on the ice with one of their crazy buses. Not nearly as many people do the walk, as we did. It's an intense walk when carrying a kid. Becca had Emilie. I had John Paul. The air is cold and not overly abundant. 

I remember coming here in 2001. I walked on the ice. The week before we walked there was a boy from Calgary who fell in a crack in the ice and, presumably, was never seen again. Now there's a little stream in the way, and the ice level has clearly dropped down. I wonder how many bodies they find as the ice level drops? Either way, this is still a wonder to behold. 

If our trip were a chiasm (Scripture Course reference), the Latin Mass would be the bookend, with Edmonton following that. The centre of the chiasm would be this mountain. Very fitting. This is the source of water. It is majestic to behold. 

"They speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty-- and I will meditate on your wonderful works." - Psalm 145:5

- - -

Down we go.

Time for a beautiful drive home

More groceries to buy in Jasper.

John Paul and I did the shopping. And then we waiting for the rest of the family to join us. We snuck in a quick little nap. Some Asian tourists sure loved this, and snapped pictures of us.

Supper and more camping. Joseph is building his own tent here.

Hiking and touring is great, but ultimately kids just want to play.

Time for some cold beverages. Kept cold by the stream which was right beside our campsite.

A funny play on bats.

The boys sure enjoyed it. Emilie was getting tired. It's pretty bright for an overcast sky at 9:30pm

What a wonderful day! Yep, we were feeling pretty high on life. And then, as if to remind us to be humble and know who is in charge. The rain started...