Blackfoot Inn Hotel Calgary

Crossing the Alberta border, the land continued to flatten out and we were surrounded by pleasant farmland scenery. We stopped for the night at Spirit River, a small, tidy town with a municipal campground. There was a slightly warm breeze blowing and we marvelled that it was the first night we had cooked dinner without the mosquitoes driving us crazy.


The following day was another big driving day, filled with more gentle rolling hills and flat ...

... my toast, arranged the photos in Kodak Easyshare and am on my second coffee. Time to wake up the kids and head out for the day. The plan is the zoo and then back to the Olympic park.

This morning I needed a boost! We had been charging things like the camera and the phones over night on the one outlet that works when the car is off and had never had a problem. Well….it turns out you shouldn’t try to charge your laptop that way! Luckily I ...

... transportation hub at the Termini station. Our travel agent assured us that it was super easy to do, no worries. We are saving money and it will be faster (if we can figure it out). The signage at the airport is not the best but we find someone to ask and are soon at the departure area and for 12 euros each we have out tickets. The tricky part is figuring out how to validate it. We find the validation box ok but it takes an Italian to show us the right ...

So we just got off a plane that we've been stuck in for 6:30 hours! We're tiered but thats not enough to stop us. We're waiting to board onto the plane to Vancouver. Great... Another couple hours in a plane. It's okay though cause looking on the bright side, we have many wonderful things awaiting us. Hope everyone is doing well in Sudbury! Gab and Dad. xoxox

... us!), and at 11pm I finished the book I wanted to read before she was born. I finished reading, shut the light out, and moments later felt something. "huh. that feels different." So for the next hour I clocked it and then finally called John upstairs and told him I thought I was in labour. By 1am they were already 3 mins apart (which is usually when they tell you to head to the hospital). We called our doula, but stayed home until about 7:30am. Got to ...

... all. With that said... ...I'm freaking out, or to put it mildly...I'm scared Sh*tless! Now why? It's not the lack of money as a few hundred dollars did come in (my neighbour owed me) and so I'll be OK for a week or so if I stay in hostels instead of the hotels I had planned on staying in (until the big cheque I'm expecting arrives). Guess I need to have a different experience then I had planned. I also have faith in my family and ...

We packed up our campsite and headed north through Kootenay National Park on Hwy 93. We stopped at a lookout where you can see an entire side of a series of mountains being burned to control Mountain Pine Beetle. There are huge areas of burned trees all along the highway as well, where natural fires in 2001 and 2003 burned over 12% of the park. We stopped at the Paint Pots, an area where iron-rich minerals stain the mud ochre-coloured. The mud was used by native people as a ...

... are moving to Beaumont Alberta as soon as they find a new commanding officer for the cadet Squadron. John is an electrician and he's been offered a great position to go wire new houses there. I don't know if there's a baby boom in Calgary these days, but there were babies everywhere, in the restaurant and later I noticed a lot of them in the mall as I walked about. What outrageous story can I make with these signs? Maybe I should hire myself out as a nanny? I ...

... which was even better in that it wasn't expected. The campground in Montana was incredibly beautiful, right by the biggest earth filled dam in the world in Fort Peck. What else? We saw the world's biggest cow and buffalo statues in North Dakota and Montana, and it's been nothing but sunshine for about three days. We came home to a house cleaner than we left it - thanks Marcella and Kevin. We drove 17,382 km since we ...

... a bit of poker. Now these casinos are nothing like the big casinos of Vegas as they a very small but full of local characters especially around the poker tables. We stayed for a few hours and I won some money (especially off Mike) and then head back to the hotel. The next morning I head over to the airport said goodbye to Canada and flew out for the USA. Along the way I had more dramas with the airlines but that is a tale for another time. Hope to hear from you all soon. Mick