Okanagan - Day 9

We are finally back on the prairies and have left the mountains behind, which is good, because I was getting a little tired of mountain driving.  The roads are definitely busier in July than they are in May.  We started the day in Revelstoke and drove all the way to Banff, where we took a bit of a detour to go to the waterfall at Johnston Canyon.  I wasn't expecting it to be a huge detour, as it was only 18km off the #1, but it was 18km of other drivers driving 40km / hr and stopping in the middle of the road to take pictures of moose and bears.

Scary Path

The waterfall hike was quite busy, but we found a parking spot and started down the trail.  We just walked the short way (1km) to the bottom waterfall, which is along a prepared path, with a fence on one side to keep you out of the water.  Unfortunately for me, some of the path is on bridges over top of the water, and I could see how high we were as we walked, which made me a bit nervous.  The kids loved the rapids though - Jonathan could not get enough of the moving water.

Eventually we arrived at the bottom waterfall, which was quite impressive, even though it is only 1/3 the height of the top waterfall.  You can view the waterfall from one side of the river, or you can cross a bridge and go into a cave where you can see the waterfall up close and personal.  That was the only part that Jonathan didn't like, though I thought it was pretty cool.

After hiking back to our car, we got back on the road and sped into Calgary.  It was getting pretty late, so we found our hotel, checked in and then immediately headed to the Chinook Centre, with the plan to eat supper at the food court and then hit the LEGO store.  I managed to survive the roads in Calgary and we made it to the mall.  There was a minor snag at supper, when I was carrying our food back to our table and someone hit my tray, knocking the fries and pop to the floor.  I was actually a bit surprised at how busy the mall was on a Tuesday night.  I told Sandra that if I lived in Calgary, I'm not sure I would visit this mall any more times than I do living outside of Calgary.  There must be easier places to shop in this city.

Regardless, after supper we went to the LEGO store, where we were greeted by the site of fully built LEGO Super Star Destroyer and some very friendly and helpful employees.  Xander found the Cars 2 Oil Platform kit that he had saved up all his money for, and Evan bought a few collectible minifigures with his money.  I had each of the kids build their own minifigure at the minifigure bar, which meant that I didn't get to build one.  :(

We shopped for awhile, with Jonathan holding the minifigure box and spending most of his time scrolling the mouse on the computers that are available for accessing the LEGO website.  Xander and Evan wanted to buy some bulk LEGO, so we let them each fill a small container.  Somehow, I managed to forget to bring my container with me - I never even thought of it until we sat down for supper in the mall.  In the bulk bins they had horses (due to Stampede), so Xander stuffed five into his small container and "convinced" Evan to take three more.

We then paid for our stuff, with Xander counting out $70 worth of loonies and toonies from his savings.  Apparently, they get this all the time, so they were quite happy to help him count out his money and ensure he got his own bag and his own receipt, which they also did for Evan.  We then left the mall, went back to our hotel and eventually put everyone to bed.

Tomorrow we head to Calaway Park for our last official day of vacation, since after that, we just have one last travel day to get home.

Three Very Excited Children