Rocky Mountain Road Trip: Part 9

Did you read Part 1 and Part 2 and Part 3 and Part 4 and Part 5 and Part 6 and Part 7  and Part 8 of our adventure?

 

Day 14 + 15 + 16: DRIVE back to Montana + a day in Whitefish, MT + FLY home


Corey stayed up late on our last night in Golden to photograph the big dipper. He's quite the budding photographer :)


Good bye Golden!

On the road again. The drive from Golden, BC, to Kalispell, MT, is about 5 hours plus the border crossing, which added about 45 minutes to our trip.
 


 
The next morning was our last full day before flying home so the guys cleaned both vehicles (they needed it after road tripping our crew for two weeks) and us gals had a morning coffee date.


Then we headed to our favorite lake beach—Whitefish!


Not sure what the fuss was about, but we sure had a blast!



 
Later that evening, we were relaxing in my grandma's backyard when Gavin disappeared behind a tree. He came out holding red berries saying he ate them.  We were alarmed and startled but this behavior wasn't a huge surprise since we safely sampled many berries while hiking (thanks to Grandma Z's expertise). Upon googling the mysterious red berries he said he ate, we discovered they are extremely poisonous so we brought him to the emergency room to be evaluated. This was our first bout with ingesting bad things, and we learned that in these cases it is best to call Poison Control FIRST ... since that's all the hospital did anyway. Good news: Gavin was just fine!
What did he eat? Bittersweet Nightshade berries


The next day we said goodbye to Grandma Katy and flew home to North Dakota. What a great vacation, thank you Canada and extra thanks to you Grandma for letting us use your vehicles!

Rocky Mountain Road Trip: Part 8

Did you read Part 1 and Part 2 and Part 3 and Part 4 and Part 5 and Part 6 and Part 7 of our adventure?

 

Day 13: EXPLORE Radium Hot Springs

Our last full day before heading back across the border to Montana, we decided to find the natural hot springs near Radium Hot Springs, about an hour south of our cabin. The drive included 20 miles on an active logging steep and narrow gravel access road. I closed my eyes for most of that drive.



 
I think Kya had a new appreciation for a warm bed inside a cabin.


Gavin was the most adorable little roadtripper, complete with many diaper changes in the trunk.

 
We had breakfast at the amazingly cool and delicious Kicking Horse Coffee near Radium Springs, BC

After breakfast (yes, you read the right ... after breakfast!) we stopped at a Arrowhead Brewery for refreshments! Canada knows how to rock the breakfast scene. Corey ended up with an impressive logo growler collection from Canada and we managed to get them all back to North Dakota in one piece.


Oh my golly, the natural hot springs were a highlight of this trip!


Our Cananda crew (plus a photo-bomber in the background)



Grandpa Z is so much fun!


Each rocked-in pool was a different temperature (the ones closest to the river were the coolest temperature).

After the hot springs we be-bopped our way back to our cabin with a stop for ice cream en route.

Rocky Mountain Road Trip: Part 7

Did you read Part 1 and Part 2 and Part 3 and Part 4 and Part 5 and Part 6 of our adventure?

 

Day 10 + 11 + 12: EXPLORE Banff town and return to Golden and O'Hara camping

This is the part of our vacation where our "must-sees" were completed so our plans became a little more relaxed and a lot more silly.

Strangely, I don't have many (or any) photos for Day 10, but we checked out of Johnston Canyon Resort and headed to Banff town for Mass and breakfast. We found the most amazing breakfast bakery.

Remember back in the Part 4 blog I mentioned booking a "seize the day" one night of back-country camping for our group? Our day in Banff was time to organize and decide if this was going to happen or not. We shopped at all the rental stores and used camping equipment suppliers. We found a Helly Hansen store and North Face store (loved these two!) and bought a couple rain jackets for me and Gavin, and Corey bought waterproof hiking pants. Now that we've spent a week up here we know rain gear is a must. But gear for camping—nothing fit our needs so we returned to Golden empty-handed still looking for camping gear.

After returning to Golden my dad and Corey drove about 45 minutes south to anther town with a Canadian version of WalMart/Runnings. They picked up enough camping basics for one night of back-country tenting.

That evening, Gavin started teething his big second year molars and became quite cranky and wasn't sleeping well. The forecast for camping was chilly and rainy and Gavin is always chilled even in 90* weather, so I made the decision to keep Gavin at the cabin with me, while everyone else would camp at Lake O'Hara the following night.

Day 11: Gavin and I explored the trails around our Golden Cabin while the rest of our crew hiked and camped at Lake O'Hara

Since I wasn't physically with them, I will let the photos do most of the talking ...
(I'd say they had an unforgettable experience!)

Since they had a camping reservation, they were able to take the bus rather than hiking in the 7+ miles. Which left plenty of energy in their legs for hiking around Lake O'Hara.








Oh how I love these two!




















Cooking dinner around the campfire with hikers from all over the world.


The report that I heard was that camping went well but was very cold (Kya didn't complain once).






Breakfast of champions (and a much needed warm up) in the day hike shelter.


The next morning, the Corey, my mom, and Kya planned to hike up to Lake Oesa. This photo was taken about half-way up to the lake. Way to go Kya!


Kya hiked some very advanced trails and got the the top of a ridge above Lake O'Hara!




Corey was the only one that made it all the way up, the others stopped about 1/2 mile short.


Lake Oesa, Yoho National Park


Rafters exploring Lake Oesa and mountain sheep spotted on the drive back to Golden.





My crew arrived back at Golden safe and sound with lots of stories to tell — AND they brought me a piece of O'Hara carrot cake!

Rocky Mountain Road Trip: Part 6

Did you read Part 1 and Part 2 and Part 3 and Part 4 and Part 5 of our adventure?

Day 9: DRIVE  Icefields Parkway and Jasper National Park

This was a (very) scenic driving day north about 3.5 hours along the Icefields Parkway to Jasper town in Jasper National Park, and then returning the same route back to Johnston Canyon for our last night at that location.

 
The Icefields Parkway drive met and surpassed all heightened expectations we had of it.


I don't know if there are any other roads on earth that get you to this extreme closeness with monstrous mountains and glaciers. It was breathtaking.

 
The drive was LONG. Really LONG. The kids were troopers and Kya especially loved the  free Canada National Parks "Xplorers" children's activity books for each park, so that was extra fun for her in the car.



By comparison, Gavin asked for many pit-stops and rests along the way.

 
The Columbia Glacier was the most accessible glacier along the drive, so we stretched our legs and hiked up close to the ice. It was very chilly and snowing!



 




We finally made it to Jasper town, where we had lunch and shopped at downtown local stores.


Jasper Brewing was a hit!
The noisy restaurant with quite a few other rambunctious kids made us feel right at home. And the food was excellent too.

Those nachos!

 
While in Jasper National Park, we did a short Maligne Canyon hike that was crazy unusual with many canyon bridge crossings. There were far too many people and too much cement for my liking, but it was still a great stop en-route.

Back at Johnston Canyon after our long day of driving, the kids relaxed with their favorite past-time: throwing stuff in the creek.
 
Their pile of "supplies" for throwing.