In May, we took an awesome trip to Calgary and Banff (both in Alberta). We planned to travel the 6 plus hours to Calgary at some point anyway to visit the US consulate to declare Hadley's birth abroad and obtain her U.S. Social Security Number and for both of the girls' U.S. passports, so my parents flew to Calgary and saw the mountains with us. We rented a mini-van for our drive so we could travel as a group for the week. May is definitely off-season for travel, so we had no traffic or competition at any site-seeing or restaurants. It was wonderful!
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| Annabel was soooo cute with her rolling luggage. She followed Eric and did everything he did with his: set it on it's end, pushed down the handle, carried it. |
We spent three nights in Calgary, so we could go to the consulate one day and my parents arrived that night. The next day we went to the Calgary Tower and OEB restaurant for the best breakfast in the world before going to see Thomas the Tank Engine and then driving an hour to Canmore/Banff area to our rented condo.
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| Annabel showed no fear on the glass look down. |
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| Looks like my mom showed a little. |
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| She is such a cuddle bug! |
We knew Day Out with Thomas, a traveling Thomas the Train festival was going to be in Calgary, so we planned the trip around it. Annabel is the Thomas show's biggest fan, so she had the best day! We were so impressed with the organization of the event....it could have been nuts, but instead they pre-sold a set amount of tickets, so Heritage Park wasn't crowded and we didn't wait in lines.
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| We rode in Annie for a nice 20 min ride or so around the park, with Thomas leading the way. |
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| Free rides!! This was Annabel's first experience on any type of fair ride. She yelled in delight the entire time!! A guy standing by me said, " I think she likes it." |
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| This was a neat old style rocking swing. I had never seen anything like it. Annabel loved this too. She looked to her sides and would say "look, I'm just like those kids." |
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In Banff National Park, we thought we would head to the famous Lake Louise first to let my parents get a look at the pristine, turquoise water, but it was still frozen!!! But, there wasn't a crowd.
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| Lake Louise |
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| Good thing we had a king sized bed! Wish I could say the same for at home. |
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| A beautiful walk along Bow River in the town of Banff, Alberta. |
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| Fly fisherman |
We hung around this area for quite awhile, skipping rocks and enjoying this beautiful scene. It got a bit chilly and we had forgotten Annabel's hat, so Hadley's bonnet worked.
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| What a rough place to take a break and rest from our walk. |
We took an incredible gondola ride. The views from that height were really beautiful.
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| Earlier this day we say a bear on the side of the road, but didn't get a picture. Enjoyed watching about 10 elk eating fresh grass. |
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| Top of the Banff Gondola. It was freezing up there and started to snow so we didn't stay long. Despite the look on Annabel's face, she claims that the gondola ride was her favorite part of the trip. |
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| Hadley, four months, was a great traveler! |
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| View from the porch of the condo in Canmore. Annabel made Grandpa laugh when he said, "wow, look at those mountains." Annabel pointed to the parking lot below and said, "whoa, look at that green car!" |
On our final day, we spent the entire afternoon at the Calgary Zoo, staying until closing. Just like the Griswolds, we were the only car in the parking lot when we left!! It was a great zoo and again, no crowds!!
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| Eric with his favorite. |
I'll close with a few cute shots of Hadley in the hotel bed. Can't beat a tiny baby in a big, comfy bed.
Thank you, mom and dad, for joining us on a fun trip. We look forward to more!
