West Coast - Day 20

Our final day of vacation was a long travel day, as we drove the 700+ km from Calgary to Regina. The day did not start out well, as neither kid went to sleep until real late and neither was very interested in breakfast. However, we made the trip from Calgary to Medicine Hat without problems. After lunch in Medicine Hat, we drove home. Both kids fell asleep fairly quickly, and there were no real problems until between Swift Current and Moose Jaw, when Evan got pretty restless. We put the DVD on for the rest of the trip.

My biggest difficulty during the drive was that it was very windy and the wind was blowing straight across the highway. We passed a semi-trailer that had flipped over just outside Swift Current, and I had to fight the steering wheel all the way home. In fact, my hands and forearms really started hurting in the evening.

The boys (and myself) were very happy to see their home and all their toys. Thus ends our family vacation for this year.

West Coast - Day 19

With Calaway Park out of the question, our various contacts in the Calgary area advised us to go to Heritage Park, which is what we did. We arrived at the park around the middle of the morning and made our way into the park. There is a steam train ride, so we went to the station to find out when it would be leaving. There was about a 1/2 hour before it left, so we wandered around the station area and looked at some of the old buildings and a really old steam engine. We then took the train around the park, which was enjoyed by everyone. I was really excited that the train was pulled by a real live steam engine, while everyone else just had a good time watching the scenery go by.

Heritage Park is full of historical buildings and people in historical costumes, so we took some time after the train ride to visit a few of the buildings. By this point, Evan was getting very hungry, so we stopped for lunch in the carnival area, so that we could go on some of the rides after eating. For the first ride, Xander declared that he wanted to go on the kids ferris wheel, even though we stressed that he would have to ride it alone. He made Sandra walk him up to the wheel, but after that he got on and even sat quietly near the top while some other kids were loaded. However, he only made it one revolution before he decided he wanted to get off. I don't think it was fear, but likely the fact that he did not expect it to be a long ride - the kid has a very short attention span. It took a couple of revolutions, but the workers stopped the ride and let him off.

The next ride was the carousel, which the whole family could go on. Evan rode on a horse and even held the reins properly. It was very cute, but unfortunately, I was in front of Sandra, so we did not get a picture of it. After that was The Whip - a bunch of metal cars that would fling around a corner. Xander and I went on that ride, as Evan was too small, and he got very upset that he couldn't go on the ride. Xander loved it though. The final ride was The Caterpillar, a metal train that went in a circle and where the entire train got covered by a cloth cover during the ride, which Sandra and Xander went on.

During the last ride, Evan stayed with me and played with his stroller, which is his absolute most favorite thing to do. After the ride was finished, we wanted to go on the steamboat, so I put Evan in his stroller, in order to make it to the boat in time, but he did not want to go in his stroller. He started screaming and he did not stop until the steamboat ride was over, 30 minutes later. It's fairly aggravating because once he gets worked up, there is no way to stop him, and he is not quiet.

Our next stop was the old roundhouse, where there was a bunch of old railroad equipment, including a car used by the Duke and Duchess of York when they visited Canada, as well as a car used by various Canadian Pacific officials and some Prime Ministers. We then took a horse cart ride through the park, since Evan is a big fan of the animals. The horses were called Splinter and Shredder, and I was the only person in the cart who knew where those names came from - I guess the Turtles aren't as big as they used to be. Evan fell asleep as soon as the cart started moving and stayed asleep when we stopped and I put him in his stroller. While he was sleeping, we grabbed a snack and then took Xander back to the rides so that he could go on them a few more times before we left.

We returned to the hotel, where everyone had a quick nap before Jules arrived for supper. We had a good evening visiting with her and then got the kids into bed. Tomorrow we are getting up early and heading for home.

West Coast - Day 18

Despite being another travel day, we managed to fit in some extremely lucky railfanning today. We got up really early and left Salmon Arm immediately after breakfast. Our first stop of the day was at Craigellachie, which is where the last spike of the Canadian Pacific Railway was driven. We got the boys out and wandered towards the monument right before a tour bus arrived and flooded the area with Japanese tourists. However, the cool part was that the tracks run right beside the monument, and as Sandra was taking our picture, we heard the horn of on oncoming train, and we got to see a short freight (with 4 engines (!)) run by the last spike.

After lunch, we stopped at the spiral tunnels at Kicking Horse Pass, which is where the CP line crosses over itself twice in order to make the grade through the mountains more manageable. I wasn't expecting to see a train, as even though the line is busy, there are large gaps between the trains. Luckily for me, as I was showing Xander a model of the area, there was a horn blast from under the Trans-Canada and a train appeared, heading for the tunnel. That meant we were able to stand and watch a container train pass under itself as it headed down out of the mountains and towards Field. <Train Geek>I have run this route in Microsoft Train Simulator, so it was pretty cool to see it in real life - and to see a train going through the tunnel.</Train Geek>

Our final stop of the day was Lake Louise, where we just stopped for a short photo opportunity. The lake is a very beautiful spot, but it was kind of hard to appreciate the beauty with Xander complaining about the wind and wanting to go back to the car. Oh well. At least we were able to have a family picture taken in front of the lake. It was kind of funny, as there were two guys who obviously wanted their picture taken, but were too shy to ask, so the one guy offered to take our picture and after that was done, he then asked if we would return the favour.

After Lake Louise, we drove into Calgary, leaving the mountains behind. Upon arriving in Calgary, Sandra discovered that while Calaway Park is open, it is only open on the weekends, which means we won't be taking the boys there tomorrow. Sandra is pretty annoyed that the park is closed, since she was really looking forward to going to it. As we reserved a hotel for two nights, we have to do something tomorrow, so it sounds like we are going to go to Heritage Park and then spend the evening visiting with my cousin. I don't think she has ever met Evan. Oh, and he rode in the car fine today - 6 hours and we did not even show him a DVD. I think it was partially because we left early, partially because he woke up from his nap at the tunnels, so we could immediately take him out of the car and partially because we ate lunch on time. If I can get those three things working together on the way back to Regina, we should be able to get home without any problems.

West Coast - Day 17

Today was just a travel day. I decided to pass on visiting Microsoft, since it would mean more driving in Seattle for what is really nothing more than a small museum. We stayed in our hotel until around 10:00am to give the morning rush hour a chance to calm down and then we left and headed north. We took a small country road from Bellingham so that we could cross the border at Abbotsford and therefore miss any Vancouver area traffic.

From Abbotsford, we headed to Hope, where we stopped for lunch, before driving up to Kamloops and then Salmon Arm, where we stopped for the night. That puts us half way to Calgary, so we should be able to drive to Calgary tomorrow, where Sandra wants to take the boys to Calaway Park.

Evan continues to be a challenge while driving. He woke up around 30km from Hope and had another meltdown and would not calm down until there was food on the table at Dairy Queen, despite being offered lots of different kinds of food in the car. He started screeching again not long after we left Hope, so we put Backyardigans on my laptop and let him watch that for the entire rest of the trip. That worked, but that is also as long as my battery will last - just under 3 hours. I'm concerned that he will start screaming as soon as we start tomorrow, and since we have a six hour drive, half of it will have to be made without a DVD playing. We're going to try and leave early so that more of the driving is done in the morning and see if that helps.