Friday, July 25, 2014

Banff Canada

Five minutes.

That's all it took this time to cross the boarder into Canada. I guess we looked less like criminals with our shotgun missing.


After a few wrong turns we finally made it to our campsite in Banff exhausted, but happy to discover the Canadian Rockies. In my opinion the best mountain towns are those with plenty of wilderness to explore coupled with modern convenience, such a perfect combo for this semi-high maintenance girl. Banff easily passed my checklist for it's beauty, outdoor recreation, restaurants and specialty stores.

The town of Banff, AB.


Patagonia...one of my favorite stores. Just going inside makes me want to exercise or go hiking. Real hiking, where you spend days traveling with only a backpack and sleep in a tent. Secretly I wish I was more of an outdoor girl. Who am I kidding, I would never survive.

We spent a lot of time enjoying the town of Banff partnered with day's of hiking to glacier fed lakes, waterfalls and hot springs.

Lake Moraine.

Picnic lunch with a breathtaking view.

Lake Louise.

Blake and I, canoeing Lake Louise with Victoria glacier in the background.

Oh the beauty, it's breathtaking. The water in Lake Louise was a cloudy turquoise.

Justin and the girls with the Fairmont in the background.

We hiked Johnston Canyon.





And spent some time soaking our tired muscles in Banff Hot Springs.

Back at camp we were surrounded by the most beautiful views. It rained off and on making the clouds in the sky amazing.



The girls collected wild flowers.

Banff has surpassed all our expectations. It seems the more North we travel the more beautiful it gets. I didn't think I would enjoy this part of our trip as much as I have, I just might be a mountain girl after all.

With these beautiful pictures I post I do not want to give anyone the impression that our days are perfect. We sometimes struggle as a family, learning to have patience with one another. Annoyances that seemed little before our trip magnify because we are around each other all the time. I am praying continually that the Lord would help me speak words of love. Some day's are hard, but I see progress and I am learning to let go of frustrations.

We are a real family with real issues, but thankfully we have the Lord to help us through them.

Heading onto Revelstoke tomorrow. Right now wi-fi is courtesy of McDonalds, it's nice to disconnect, but also nice to be connected to the outside world once in a while.










Thursday, July 17, 2014

Glacier National Park

It was an uneventful drive from Yellowstone to Glacier...although Layne did get a bloody nose and ruined our duvet in the back room. Since our bedding was already trashed to begin with we stopped at Target in Missoula, MT to replace it. Being from California, where we are used to paying high sales tax, we were shocked to find out that Montana has none. Score!

During our drive we passed this beautiful field full of yellow flowers.

The field went on for miles, it was amazing.

We also drove by tons of cherry trees and had to stop at a stand.


Some of the best cherries we have ever tasted.

After a long day of driving we reached West Glacier.

On our first full day in Glacier NP we drove the Going-to-the-Sun Road, which is arguably the most beautiful drive in the US.

We drove by teal colored lakes smooth as glass, rushing rivers with turquoise water and cascading waterfalls that get your car wet. We even saw a bear cross the road right in front of us.






Stopping off at Logan's Pass we decided to hike to Hidden Lake. Most of the path was still under snow making it hilariously funny hiking to and from, everyone was slipping and sliding. I even saw some people in flip flops attempting this hike, must be from CA.



Part way through the snow cleared making the path easier.

We were able to see mountain goats.

Hidden Lake. Can you see it?

Since we have had a few busy weeks we decided to alternate days of going into Glacier and staying at camp. Its always nice to relax, do a little laundry and let the kids play without driving anywhere.

For our last day in Glacier NP we attempted the hike to Avalanche Lake. We only made it half way, but it was still incredibly beautiful.


Looks like snow but it is actually a river flowing fast through a narrow gorge.

The girls jumping over a stream, they look like twins.



Some of the trees had the thickest bark.


The colors in the river were amazing.


I was taken aback by the beauty of Glacier NP.

Knowing that we may never get to experience this again I tried to enjoy every minute of our stay here.

We are headed to Banff tomorrow. I am a little nervous crossing the boarder into Canada again because of our previous experience. Praying that all goes smoothly tomorrow and we will not have anything confiscated this time. Internet access will be scarce for the next few weeks, hopefully I can update soon.












Saturday, July 12, 2014

Yellowstone

Yellowstone is the Disneyland of National Parks.

From meadows bright with blue, purple and yellow wildflowers to snow covered mountain peaks with deep caverns and cliffs. Trails to waterfalls, lakes and sparkling rivers. Thermal pools and geysers, each one unique. An assortment of wildlife...bears, buffalo, moose, elk and deer, all roaming free.

For the nature lover Yellowstone has it all.


My absolute favorite were the hot springs and geysers, the colors were breathtaking.












I am slightly obsessed with thermal waters, can you tell? I have hundreds of pictures.

We also visited Old Faithful...

Blake is smashing Reagan into the sign. Typical sibling stuff.

This cracked us up. Notice the dad walking away.

Justin taking a picture of me taking a video of Old Faithful. It was crowded.

These two...I have no words.

We ate dinner at The Old Faithful Lodge.

Yellowstone is beautiful in so many ways...

waterfalls, canyons and wildflowers.





Drive by animal sightings.

Rocks of all shapes and sizes.


Picnic lunches.

We loved Yellowstone.

Back at camp...

My parents were able to stay in this cute cabin.

Justin washed the bugs off the front of Berkie...they were caked on from miles and miles of driving.

Reagan set up shop with a friend and sold paper flowers and candy.


Our time in Yellowstone was great, we enjoyed discovering the many aspects of the park.

Sadly we say goodbye to Nana and Papa tomorrow, they will head South while we go North.

I will miss the four adult to three kid ratio. I will miss simply having my Mom and Dad around.

We have about four months left on our trip and are past the half way mark. We are heading to Glacier National Park tomorrow, then onto Canada again.

It has been nice seeing all the California license plates around reminding us that we are not far from home.