Biking by the Sea
Oh Canada! We had a hankerin’ for some mountains, some camping, and to spend some time with family up in the Great White North! (It’s also nice to have a bit of a break from the summer heat here in Bermuda.) Little did we realize that we would actually get some heat when back in Canada for a change – we had some great weather for the majority of our trip.
So, our first stop was Vancouver to hang out with Wendy, Tim & Ruby. Our flights technically get there the same day we leave Bermuda – we left around noon Bermuda time and arrived in Vancouver around 8:00pm and were settled in our hotel by 9:30 or so… which is 1:30am Bermuda time! Needless to say we are a little out of whack (and the kids are just plain wacky)! Wendy surprised us at the hotel upon our arrival, however, bearing food (and beer for me!) – so that helped settle us all in and got our holiday started!
The Boys girls like their itineraries (we all know Jenn sure does)! Wendy had our three days in the city efficiently planned out, as evidenced by a neatly typed itinerary displayed on her fridge. We made good use of our time; we swam at the Kitsilano swimming pool, went for a bike ride around Stanley Park, visited Science World, and hung out at Granville Island during our short stay. We also took in a Taylor Swift concert with Wendy at BC place, which was really fun (Tim opted out and played babysitter instead)!
Roughin’ It
It was fun to see Ruby and how big she’s getting, she’s a little cutie for sure! She was unfortunately in the middle of teething during our visit; Josh and Ryley kept her fairly happy / distracted however. It was fun to see the kids hanging out! Our three days flew by, we look forward to our next Vancouver visit!
From Vancouver we flew to Edmonton, en route to Wainwright for an afternoon visit with Jenn’s Grandma before heading on to Stettler to hang with Jenn’s folks for a week or so.
Our first few days in Stettler were fairly uneventful (read: chilled out, as you should be on vacation); we did the Tyrrell Museum for a day and then we started getting ready to head out to Rocky Mountain House to do a little camping. We had to take a little detour to the hospital in Red Deer before going to Rocky, however… Josh had been nursing an itchy rash for a few days, and the night before we were to head out to go camping he started complaining of some soreness in a few of his joints. By the time bedtime arrived he was in extreme pain – we rushed him to the Stettler hospital and ultimately we ended up having to bring him to the better equipped Red Deer hospital (Jenn’s brother Andrew drove them there after midnight while I stayed in Stettler with Ryley – we drove to meet them the following day).
Island in the Stream
Long story short, it was a viral infection; the doc prescribed some drugs, told us not to worry as the virus had to run it’s course… Josh felt 100% better by the time we left the hospital, thank goodness!
As Red Deer is on the way to Rocky we had Jenn’s family go on to the campsite earlier that day and the rest of us joined them by 9:30 or so that night after being released from the hospital and filling his prescription. What a crazy 24 hours, not something we wish to do again!
Anyway, we spent about two days or so in and around Rocky Mountain house and Nordegg; we weren’t really familiar with the area but found areas like Crimson Lake and Crescent Falls to do a little hiking and picnicking during the daytime. Our actual camping area was just south of Rocky at the Grandview Stage Resort. It wasn’t really a resort, nor was it really camping in a strict sense; we were in a small cabin with proper beds and facilities – Jenn’s folks and her brother were in an adjoining room in the same cabin (think duplex). It did the job, though – we got our fix of mountains, campfires, roasted marshmallow s’mores, and hobo pies. Good times.
Family Dinner
It was back to Stettler for a few more days of R&R, then up to Fort Saskatchewan to see Nana and Papa. This visit we were happy to be able to spend some time with my sister Cass and our nephew Cameron, my brother Kyle, as well as my Uncle Denis / Aunt Loretta and a few of their kids, plus my grandma and grandpa were able to pop up for a bit as well. It had been too long since the last time we saw all these guys; we had a good time playing at the spray park with the kids, doing a little golfing, and making good use of all the crazy toys Nana & Papa have for the kids at the house. We also made good use of their outdoor patio set (they always say it gets used more when we are there than the rest of the year!), we had a big outdoor turkey dinner (cooked on the BBQ!) one evening when everyone was there.
We were also fortunate to be able to catch up with a few friends while back in Alberta – dinner with Kirsty & Joe, Leanne brought the kids to the Fort for an afternoon playdate, and Jenn met Colleen in Wetaskiwin for an afternoon with the kids as well. (Yes, Jenn is much bettter at keeping in touch with friends than I am!)
That was pretty much it, a nice low-key vacation, plenty of relaxing accomplished.
Check out the gallery of photos below per usual!
