A very nice start to our holiday…

…we left Calgary at 10am, with no real time goals to get to Radium Hot Springs. I think that is probably the best plan yet, to have no plan. We even decided to meander through the city instead of taking the secondary highways around (which probably would have taken longer today). This gave us the chance to see a few things we normally don’t see as we are pretty sheltered down in our quadrant of Calgary. The North end of Sarcee Trail is very scenic as we are high up the valley before we drop down to the Trans Canada Highway to head out of town toward the mountains.  Here we have a shot toward downtown, it is very smoky today, normally this picture is stunning.  This is a long shot of Alberta Children's Hospital, where Andrew had such amazing care with his broken leg.

After we exit off Sarcee onto the TransCanada Highway heading west, we pass right by the Ski Jump locations from the 88 winter Olympics. This is also the location of the bobsled track that was made famous by the Jamaican bobsled team, and the film location for Cool Runnings, the story of that same team. Good movie. 

As we head west toward the mountains, we talk about how lucky we are to be so close to such amazing sights, and incredible camping and nature experiences. We don’t seem to visit these areas enough, but we are here now, so that has to be good enough for now. Let’s go enjoy it.

Here is the West side of Scott Lake hill which is the highest point of the TransCanada Highway in Alberta. it is a slow decline from the high plains of Alberta down into the mountain valleys before you head back up through the passes in British Columbia. These also are the first of the Rocky Mountains you see as you travel west toward Banff.After the long downhill, you travel on a very flat valley approaching the exit to Kananaskis Country, Mt Kidd RV Park, where we will stay come this Thursday for 4 nights, and also Mount Allan, the site of the alpine events for the 88 winter Olympics.There are a millions of amazing views to see on this 1 hour drive to Banff.

This is Hau Ling (Chinamans Peak) Mountain. My sister(who has Cystic Fibrosis) has been to the summit. It was an amazing feat for her a couple years ago.

It feels kind of funny to drive this way and go right past Banff with no inkling of stopping. 

We stopped for some minor supplies in Canmore, The peak to the far right is Hau Ling again.    

As we headed west we approached the exit onto the Bow Valley Parkway. It is a very slow winding road, but has amazing scenery and terrific places to stop and picnic, hike and generally enjoy the scenery. Once we decided to go that way, we were immediately rewarded with some funky mountain sheep. Looking good Mister, and KIDS! 

It’s just Gorgeous here. If we were to drive straight to this spot from our home in SE Calgary it would take us 1hr 15 minutes. We are very fortunate to live where we do. 

The Parkway continues on to Lake Louise, however we turn off on Highway 93 and head South to Radium Hot Springs. While the scenery is nothing to sneeze at, it isn’t what is is in Banff Park, Plus the road is fairly demanding so the Camera got put away until we arrived at our destination. Here is the entry into Radium. Cool huh? This is the last bit of Rocky Mountains, as the other side of the Columbia Valley are the Purcell Mountains and a whole different travelling challenge that we don’t have to conquer this trip.

We have arrived at our destination for the next 4 nights. Canyon RV Park is a very pleasant surprise, not to mention we think we got the best site in the entire park. We are in a level lot with a large grassy area, concrete patio and it backs RIGHT on the swift moving Sinclair Creek. our firepit is halfway down the slope to the creek. As I type this tonight, All I can hear is the rushing of the water, it’s very hypnotic.

Here is our view out the backdoor of the trailer. wow. 

They have probably 6 of these little bridges crossing the creek in the park.

We love it here! Full Hookups, Cable TV, and as nice (or nicer) as most provincial Campgrounds we have stayed at!

We went for a walk and I got stung by a wasp in the back of my knee.

It was only 6pm so we decided to drive into town to get some afterbite and wasp spray. Radium didn’t have anything so we drove the 10 miles down to Invermere. We got our supplies, except the afterbite… and then went to check out the beaches we are going to sit on for the next few days. it all looks good! Andrew really wanted to go straight into the water, but since he was dressed, we figured it wasn't a good idea.    Can’t wait for all the swimming and beach frolicking tomorrow! Oh yeah, we had Tasty Taber corn and Chicken Apple Spolumbos Sausage for supper, it was very good for a travel day supper!