DAY 13

I need to start off by apologizing to everyone.  I jumped on the "I LOVE ALBERTA" band wagon a little too quickly.  My perception of the red and white was skewed by shopping.  I need to learn to NEVER let shopping affect my judgement again.  After yesterday, I hate Albertans again. 

Yesterday began with a beautiful sunny morning, overlooking the city of Calgary.  We packed up and were BC bound.  We weren't sure how far we would get, but decided to just wing it and see how we felt. 


The drive was great since it is a 4 lane divided highway! 

Heading for the beautiful mountains!

Things were going great and the drive was beautiful.  We were about 2 minutes west of Banff when the events took a turn for the worse.  There were car fulls of Chinese tourists everywhere on the side of the highway, pulled over to take pictures.  We came upon one car, and let me remind you, were were literally about 2 minutes outside of Banff.  Banff - a community where they have gas stations and restrooms.  Anyways, we came upon this car pulled over to the side of the road.  All 4 members of the family are outside the car.  The mom and dad are standing there holding up a naked 4 year old boy while he is taking a shit on the side of the road!!!  SERIOUSLY - I don't know what they do in China, but come on people!!  Could you REALLY not wait for the first exit into Banff to stop at a gas station??  We were DISGUSTED!!  It was so completely unnecessary.  Thank god it wasn't our final image of Banff.  On to better scenery.........

I will not disgust you all with a picture of the shitting kid.....

From Banff the road got a little more narrow and a lot more twistier through the mountains.  We encountered a lot of construction through Banff and into Golden.  It is CRAZY what they are doing with the highway and how many people are involved. 

An interesting shot just east of Golden



As we were coming into Golden, we were stopped in the construction.  On the side of the road was no, not a shitting Chinese family, but a family of mountain sheep.  Or rams as Trent likes to call them.  They were right on the side of the road and I can assure you, there was no shit coming out of the smallest one's butt!! 

Cute little ram family

We choked back Sophie to stop her from barking and scaring them into running into the truck or trailer.  After the mountain sheep and Golden, we were headed for hell - or as everyone else calls it, Roger's Pass. 

Why would a mountain pass be hell, one might ask?  Let's see.......the combination of Albertans, the long weekend, Funtastic ball tournament in Vernon and the final destination of all JAFA's - the Okanagan.  It was surprising how thick the traffic was on the Wednesday before the long weekend.  Every vehicle was a JAFA and as we all know, every JAFA drives like shit.  I was AS appalled with the JAFA driving as I was with the Chinese Shitting Baby - CSB.  The traffic was car for car and the JAFA's seem to have no problem passing on a double line, on a curve, with nowhere to go and a car coming in the opposite lane.  I can't even count how many times we were almost involved in an accident because of a stupid JAFA.  And mental note to anyone out there planning to drive the Roger's Pass - DO NOT drive like a JAFA, with a cigarette hanging out of your mouth, while either texting or talking on your cell phone.  REALLY!?  Trent was white knuckling it the whole way and I was ready to pull a CSB just from the stress of it all!!

We made it through the worst and stopped in at 3 Valley Gap for a break. 

Gluten free hating Mo-Fo's!!

3 Valley Gap is just outside of Revelstoke and apparently, they aren't dog friendly.  BASTARDS!!!

No pets, but CSB friendly??!!  Come on now - at least we pick up after ours!

By this time it was pissing down rain, but I did manage to stop for a photo op with the donkey and weird mining guy!  Not sure what he's trying to get the donkey to do.........I have heard stories about sheep, but I guess with being so isolated and all, a donkey will do...........

After the photo op, we decided to stop into the restaurant for a quick bite to eat.  I scanned the menu for any Jodie appropriate items and asked if the fries or sweet potato fries were gluten free.  Of course they weren't.  Why wouldn't you coat fries in flour!?  Seriously - she did say that they had gluten free bread, but it had egg in it.  We decided to leave and eat in the trailer, rather than risk a CSB episode.  After a quick bite to eat, we were homeward bound. 

A butt load more of JAFA's were encountered and we were finally in the Okanagan.  Ahhhhhhh - the beauty of BC.  We pulled into the Sicamous Truck and RV wash to clean the prairie bugs off the truck and trailer.  I really wish I would have taken a picture and given props to this place.  The best car wash ever!!  The bays are huge to accommodate big RV's and the water was hot!  They even have showers and a laundromat if the need arises!  After our wash we were off and headed towards the beautiful Mara Lake. 

Mara Lake is one of my favourite lakes in the area.  We pulled into the Provincial Park so the girls could have a walk and a swim.  There was nobody there, so they were able to go off leash for a quick dip.

Nothing like a refreshing swim to cool off and revive!!

After seeing the CSB in Banff, Sadie was APPALLED at the "No Dogs on Beach" sign.  She didn't care.  She is a rebel so swam anyways.

It should be duly noted that even the girls didn't pee or poop at the park.  They have respect for our parks.  They just needed a dip to refresh and cool off!!  After a quick roll to dry off, we were on our way home - only another 40 minutes!  We were all VERY excited.  





Nothing like a roll on the lush grass to finish off a swim!

We finished off the last leg of our drive and found a new appreciation for the area we call home.  After seeing the flooding through the prairies and the JAFA's and CSB in Alberta, we can see why everyone heads for the Okanagan.  We are VERY lucky to live where we live and there is nowhere else in the world that we would rather call home.  Oh sweet Okanagan how we love you!!

We pulled in and parked at about 5:30 our time......oh wait.......there is no more their time!!!  We unpacked everything, had showers, made a bite to eat and were on the couch cleaning up the PVR by about 8:00.  It was great to be home.  It was even better to sleep in our wonderful bed.  Ahhhhh sweet king size.  Trent didn't punch me in the head or hit his arms or head on the side table.  We had a great vacation, but it is good to be home. 

Today we plan on doing yard work and cleaning the trailer.  That is, if Trent EVER wakes up.  Maybe I should hold a mirror under his nose to make sure he is still breathing.  If not, then I have a lot of work ahead of me. 

Once he is up, we will head out to the Farmer's Market, pick up some veggies then come home and start the work.  Oh well - we still have 5 days off to enjoy the end of our vacation!  Be sure to check back often as I WILL be continuing with the blog and keeping you updated on our oh so exciting life! 

Have a wonderful day!!