Summer 09 Road Trip - Part Two ...

Monday 10 August the next part of our road trip took us from Canmore through the Banff National Park up to Jasper. Although the weather was not great, more like a UK summer's day rain - the scenery was breathtaking with so many amazing mountains and glaciers to look at and even our 4th bear (black) walked across the road for us all to see. Our hotel was a 5 minute drive just outside Jasper town and situated on Lake Pyramid framed by rocky mountains. We ate in the hotel that night and had a superb meal including elk, bison and lobster - followed by cheesecake for me! Unfortunately the weather didn't improve the following day so after a soggy walk around Jasper town, which actually didn't have a lot to offer, we decided to go swimming in the local pool. The pool was great, baby pool, huge indoor flume and large pool with diving board - so the flume and diving board was a magnet for Fraser who thought he was in with all the 14yr old boys as he took his turn in the line and then proudly jump off the diving board, luckily he decided not to copy them doing their somersaults. Unknown to us it was Jasper's rodeo week so we went to a local ranch that evening who were hosting the towns barn dance. All the locals were there including the rodeo princess who Tegan thought was lovely. There was the usual bbq along with horse rides for the kids, face painting, wagon rides, throwing the horse shoe, bucking bronco and a band. Everyone with children had to leave by 9pm by this time some of the local cowboys had had a few beers and the bucking bronco was becoming very entertaining.

Wednesday morning we took a boat out onto Lake Pyramid which started off very scenic then a large grey cloud popped over a mountain top and the wind and rain got up and we couldn't get back to the shore quick enough - which wasn't made easy as it was into a strong wind. That night we went to Jasper's rodeo - our first rodeo since arriving in Canada. What a great night and all respect to cowboys who are 'hard as nails' riding bulls. The rodeo was held in an indoor arena so the atmosphere with everyone cheering was great Tegan and Fraser got into their 'yeeehaa & yahoos'. The rodeo started off with lots of pom and ceremony then out came the cowboys on bucking horses, roping calves, catching larger cows, team events, womens speed riding and finally cowboys riding the bulls with a few of the cowboys walking rather strange afterwards. It was a brilliant evening and Tegan and Fraser thought it was great - although they were a little concerned for the calves when they were pushed to the ground and roped - however were quite happy when they saw them get up and trot away, but a true cowboy rodeo experience.

As the previous night was a late one we had a slow start and then the final leg of our trip across to Edmonton. After checking into our hotel we jumped on a local bus and went to West Edmonton Mall - this is the largest mall in Canada. The mall has over 800 stores, galaxyland theme park, waterworld which is a 5 acre indoor waterpark with waterslides, wave machine and bungee jumping. As you walk along the corridors in the mall you come across sea lion shows, indoor iceskating rink, mini golf, a full size pirate ship, deep sea derby bumper boats and there was a lot more that we didn't see. That evening we just had dinner and tried to take everything in then back to the hotel ready for our full day in the mall. With 2 small children shopping is not really an option for the Leonards so we decided to get a day pass to Galaxyland and all be kids for the day - hoping that we could get Tegan and Fraser to pop into a few shops in between. Chris and I both went on the Mindbender, where gravity forces you into your seat as you go through the triple loop rollercoaster, I have to admit feeling a little strange as I walked off the ride. The day went so quickly before we knew it it was time to go back to the hotel, we had intended to go to the waterpark but we all needed our beds. But we did manage to buy our cowboy hats, shirts and Tegan and Fraser now have cowboy boots.

Saturday morning we started the 5 hour drive back to Ralston and intended to get back in time to go to Ralston's own rodeo. All our previous journeys had been interesting with the ever changing scenary suddenly we noticed that all mountains and trees started to disappear as the prairie took over along with awful weather. We didn't go to the rodeo as the weather was so bad but later that evening found our friends Andy & Sam who have just arrived in Ralston so armed with a bottle we finished off a fantastic holiday.