Banff National Park

I will try and keep this post short...Banff and Lake Louise! Wow, the beauty is unreal, every turn is a postcard and more incredible then the next..

Johnny and I have been doing research as we arrive in a new place (basically I have been sitting on my phone on our way somewhere figuring out the “best of” so we don’t miss anything too spectacular. Trip advisor has been amazing, they have a “best of” list for everything, (from hikes, to places to eat, to things to do), so far they have been bang on. I have also been cross checking it with Lonely Planet and a “Families Who Travel” group (FOTM) that I am part of (to make sure to get off the beaten path suggestions). What we are finding is that some activities are not always great for a 6 year old (or kids in general) so in some cases we have had to omit, even if it was something we really wanted to do….

Back to Banff National Park- first of all if you come here and camp you can spend an amazing, relatively cheap, two weeks exploring. Almost all of the major attractions are completely free, as well there are shuttles everywhere, so if you plan it properly you can hit all the places you want to see. The hiking is incredible, I am amazed how the kiddies hardly complained (there was some grumbles for sure, but for the most part they were awesome). We met a couple in Saskatchewan that just came from Banff and they warned us you have to wake up quite early to hit the more popular sites. Otherwise the parking lots get full and the Rangers close the road.Johnson Canyon and Lake Moraine were at the top of our list so we decided to brave those places waking at 6:30am. TOTALLY WORTH IT! Johnson Canyon is a stunning relatively easy 6 k hike  (Anneka only had to be carried in a few places) that walks you past 7 waterfalls. Lake Moraine, was probably the most beautiful place I have ever been.  After those two it was hard to compare anything. else, that said EVERYTHING here is unbelievable, from Caves and Basin (this is the “Birthplace” of all National Parks) Banff hot springs, Lake Louise, downtown Banff...we really rammed in a ton, spending only $450 for 3 nights. That includes, accommodations, food (we cooked most meals), a stop at an amazing rooftop for beers and Nachos in downtown Banff and gas. Not too shabby. We decided to cancel Jasper, we are heading to Revelstoke and Glacier National Park instead...in doing that we couldn't go to the ice fields (highly recommended by Kath) or 2 hikes I was dying to do that were highly recommended-Parker Ridge Trail and Plains of Six Glaciers.

So Banff National Park, I officially love you, and definitely want to come back.

Johnson Canyon

Waiting for the shuttle to downtown Banff

Selfie Lake Moraine 

,

Lake Louise

Lake Morraine

In the blink of an eye we were in Calgary...

We only had a couple more stops left in Ontario, arriving first at Sleeping Giant Provincial Park, it was quite lovely, but weather was not cooperating beautiful beach but cool temperatures kept us out of the water...lucky for us we met our first friends as a traveling family. Thank you to the Andrews! We had a great time with you and hope our paths cross again.

We left early as we had a long ride ahead of us- next stop- Lake of Woods- Rushing River Provincial Park. Driving past Thunder Bay we stopped at the Terry Fox memorial, very inspiring, worth a stop if your driving through. 

A quick visit with my mothers cousin, who lives in a tiny place called Ignace, some delicious treats and wild blueberries (thanks Barb and Riel) and on to Rushing River.

My friends Nick and Kath mentioned when they went to "Lake of Woods" how truly spectacular it is there, ever since I have been dying to go. I was not disappointed. The park we stayed in was so pretty, with a massive river full of rapids, literally "rushing through", (hence the name). The park itself is quite small but it sits on a beautiful lake where we were able to rent kayaks and tour around. We then ventured on another hike (the girls are just about done with those!), to our surprise we found a section of rapids that had cascading falls, flat rocks and small pools just beckoning us to stay for a swim...what an amazing place....

I can honestly say our Ontario adventure was so great, really something to consider doing at least once.

Manitoba then Saskatchewan ....(one night here and one night there) .

Before we knew it  we arrived in Alberta...Banff I am so excited to meet you!

The most scenic drive in Ontario

Grundy Lake turned out to be a spectacular surprise. From amazing jumping cliffs, to a place the locals call “Slippery Rock” (basically it's a natural slip and slide that is tons of fun), and nice flat biking trails (Anneka is still a newbie but conquered a 5 k ride!). We originally booked this place because Kilarnney was full and we are thrilled we did. It is only an hour away our property, so we will for sure make it a yearly day trip. On our way out we stopped in French River, visited an awesome tourist store called French River Trading Post, went into the park and a short walk to an amazing suspension bridge and then back in the car to start the trek to Sault St Marie and beyond…

Grundy Lake

Overnight hotel stay in the Sault, swimming in the pool, new bike for Anneka, (yup she already progressed to a bike with gears!) and then on the rode to White Lake Provincial Park. The trip was about 4 hours and I have to say, was one of the most beautiful rides I have seen (up there with Hawaii’s Hanna Hwy and Bali’s crazy north shore through the volcanoes). From Sault St Marie to Wawa, you drive right through Lake Superior Park and it is rated the top ten most scenic drives in Canada.

Look out Wawa

Wawa Information centre

I never realized how mountainous this part of the province was. I cannot believe I have never been. Every new turn felt like I was looking at one of the Group of Seven’s paintings (even seeing a bear just walking along the side of the rode). Definitely worth the trip.We arrived at White Lake Provincial Park yesterday to pouring rain, a bit of a struggle setting up the trailer on uneven ground, but eventually we were all cozy and ready to explore this new park. When we woke we went for a long bike ride and then a hike that was recommended for kids. The hike was pretty for sure,  but the best thing was a curious and bold black and orange fox that was following us. Of course we did not have our camera, but honestly this pup was basically on our tails for quite a while. We thought maybe he was known to the local park rangers perhaps he was looking for food and that's why he was so fearless?? But to our surprise when we asked about him, they had only heard about him that day and he was new to these parts, (yikes!not sure what he was after but it was pretty cool all the same..

Not much to see here so we decided to drive 45 minutes to Pukasawa National Park, and we are so glad we did. So much incredible beauty, I fear words or pictures cannot capture what we saw,
                                       

                                                 
                                                 

Leading up to our trip, everyone keep asking me what I am most looking forward to, there are for sure a few places I have always been dying to see, but this Canadian tour has been something I have most looked forward to. So far I have not been disappointed. Next stop, Thunder Bay then Kenora...I am sure will rival what we have just seen.

Bon Voyage

The month of June was a whirlwind, we had our going away party at the end of the month and had so many people come to bid us a farewell- but, we were still home for another month, there was this build up of anticipation then it was kind of halted. I was so lucky to be able to have the summer off to get ready to leave. Our departure date was set for July 26th and there was still so much to do. From packing up the house to packing for our trip, I was kept busy until the moment we left. We went to Johnny’s home town for 5 days saying goodbye to his family and our friends.

Our Clinton Besties

We connected with an old friend Johnny went to high school with. Spending the day at their pool while our kids played.  Coincidently, his family is going to the Gold Coast in Austraillia for a year, arriving around the same time we are, hopefully we will be able to connect with them. After our Clinton goodbyes it was back home for another round. I had no idea I would be so emotional that last week. Every time Liv  and I would look at Jesse and Stewie we would start crying, I knew how ridiculous it was, knowing I would be seeing Jess in a few short months, but I hate saying Goodbye and usually try to avoid it at all cost. We were able to spend time with all our close friends and family, feeling very loved and supported. We were finally off…

Anneka and her baby cousin Henk

Our property on Lake Wah-Wash-Kesh was our first stop. Truly one of the most beautiful places. Johnny’s family joined us for the weekend and all the Wah-Wash-Kesh crew was there. We had a huge feast on Saturday night (thanks WWK peeps) and had the perfect weather, cliff jumping, camp fires, swimming and fishing what an amazing start to this adventure.
Now I am sitting here in our trailer (did I mention that we bought this amazing Hybrid), at Grundy Lake Provincial Park in Kilarny having a coffee thinking about what today is going to bring.

Here are some moments from our final days....


                                         WWK crew (minus Jeaner and the Langley Taylor's)

My besties 

                                        The girls with Stewie for a final swim at the beach in Toronto

Jesse and the girls- their last date night

On our way....

Two weeks until departure!

With a little over two weeks to go we have been busy getting the house ready for our renters, packing up and tossing out. It is amazing how much crap you collect, and how little you actually need. I pride myself on not having clutter, thinking my house was pretty organized, but you don't realize how much gets accumulated over the years. Two  car loads of stuff off to Value Village, (pretending to the kids that I put it all in "storage"). The house is almost ready. Pictures off the walls, plaster and touch up paint to all the holes I made (sorry Johnny), a couple of new windows and a partial new roof....we have 2 weeks to go and my head is spinning. Insurance (travel, house, car, property), the rest of our meds (did I mention that we all received a bazillion needles? OK maybe not a bazillion, but I got 5!) and saying our goodbyes. My friend Kathy said it perfect "stressed out until you actually leave, then freedom once you hit the road". As sad as I will be to say goodbye to Jesse, my family and friends and poor old Stewie, I know once we hit that road it will all be worth it.

Less than two months!

As we enter the month of June and school is starting to wind down, this trip is starting to seem less like a dream and more like a, "HOLY CRAP, WE ARE ACTUALLY DOING THIS' kind of thought.

As you may remember from a few posts ago, we bought an RV, (it was sort of an impulse buy) and didn't quite fit what we thought we wanted. Needed a ton of work and we had since decided that we were looking for something we could pull. We ended up selling it, (to a retired diesel mechanic, YAY-win- win!) and started the search...

Johnny finally got himself a truck- a great big, hauling Dodge Ram Quad Cab 1500- it's quite a beauty! We also bought a 19 ft Hybrid Trailer (where the ends pop out). We figured this would be a better fit so we can drop it at a campsite and do groceries or anything else that may come up while being on the road for two months.

Many have been asking about the various parks we ended up booking- I have listed all the campgrounds we are staying at, just in case any of you fancy a trip to the Canadian Wilderness. We would love the company and will have more then enough room on many of our sites.
We will start our adventure at our property, Lake Wahwashkesh- North of Parry sound,

Canada
July 29-Aug 1- Wahwashkesh
Aug 2- 4- Grundy Lake (booo! we were too late for Killarney so got a campsite close by)
Aug 4-5- one hotel stay in Sault Ste Marie
Aug 5-7-White lake Park
Aug 7-10- Sleeping Giant Park
Aug 9-12 -Lake of Woods Rushing River
Aug 12-13- Hotel stay in Winnepeg
Aug 13-14- Saskatchewan Landing
Aug 14-17- Banff
Aug 17-19- Jasper
Aug 19-21- Cutlas Lake
Aug 21-24- Vancouver-Capilano RV Park
Aug 24-26-Whistler RV Park
Aug 26-29- Tofino Bella Pacific Camp Ground
Aug 29- Sept 1- Victoria BC- Gulf Islands National Park

USA
Sep 1st- 2nd -Seattle- one hotel night
September 2-4th- Olympic National Park (Elwha Dam RV park)
September 4th -8th- Winging it
September 9-10 Jedediah State Park
September 10th- 13th-Winging it
September 13-18th- Yosemiti

From here we have to meet my dad and step mom (Jerome and Carol) in San Diego, July 29th for a two day visit where he will be driving the Truck/camper home. We fly into Panama on October 2nd.


I have been told that the internet is spotty in some places but will try and update the blog with pictures much more regularly, as we are into the trip- for now I just figure to only inundate you with our actual booked plans, in case some of you need an excuse to come and visit:)

Did I mention we will be staying in Playa Del Carmen for 4 weeks over Christmas???

Yellow fever, Dangue fever, Malaria, Oh MY!

Vaccinations

A couple of weeks ago we had our visit to the travel clinic here in Toronto. After a couple of hours of paper work we left with nothing but a prescription to our Malaria pills and an appointment to come back in June for our needles. Unknown to us, some vaccines are only good for 6 months, so better to get the shots as close to the trip as possible. When budgeting, be sure to price this into your cost, it sure is expensive! $2100 for the malaria pills alone, thinking the rest of the shots will cost about 200/pp. YIKES! A necessary part of travel, and something we have to take very seriously when travelling with the kids. Maybe my younger days I may have skipped the Malaria pills, but its just not worth it.

Provincial, National and State Parks

A few weeks ago Johnny and I sat down and spent the entire weekend plotting, mapping and booking our Canada/ US portion of the trip. This is definitely something you cannot do "by the seat of your pants" especially when travelling through Canada during its 150 anniversary year, Canada Parks is really marketing all that this beautiful country has to offer, for good reason...some of the most beautiful places are right in our own backyard. That said, each, province, state and country have their own booking timelines. Some of the Provincial and State Parks you can't book yet, while the National parks are open for business. Makes for a very complicated booking nightmare. You have to figure out when you will arrive at a place, how long you will want to stay and what site you want in the park. We decided to only worry about the parks we absolutely want to see: Kilarny, White lake, Sleeping Giant, Lake of Woods (Rushing River), Banff, Jasper, Lake Louise, Cultas Lake,Capilano Provincial Park, Whistler, Tofino,  Gulf Islands (near Victoria), the Redwoods, Jedediah state park and Yosmite 

Phew! If there is a park I missed and you think is a must see please let me know and we can try and fit it in....