just home....

I am just home from a 9 day trip through the Canadian Rockies with my family.

We traveled 3101 km by car.

We went through Jasper, The Fraser Canyon, Kamloops and onto Whistler.

We returned through Salmon Arm, Kelowna, Rogers Pass, Lake Lousie & Banff.

The scenery we encountered was breathtaking. Coming from Nova Scotia, almost all of this beauty was a first for us. We are very used to ocean beauty.  However, the newness of the mountain beauty was quite captivating to us.

Many of these pictures were taken from the inside of the car.

"Love of beauty and of all lovely and wonderful things is indispensable for our growth."

~Julian Huxley

This post has been linked to:

Friday~Finding Beauty @ Dipity Road

freak lunchbox....

One of our favourite things to do when we visit a city is to scope out  the local 'candy' store. Some places have fabulous candy stores. Our very favourite store is "Freak Lunchbox" in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

This store has punch. This store has flavour. You absolutely cannot miss it's "big personality" streetscape. It's fun and unsual name...it's bright colour scheme and it's party atmosphere inside make it a must see destination. I have been in candy stores in other big cities...but this one is unforgettable.

My kids love, love, love it here. Look at the inside...the candy glued to the ceiling....cool!

Inside is an amazing riot of colour and pattern that goes perfectly with the "kid in the candy store" adventure.

I am not sure which is more fun...choosing candy or just looking around.

We always make sure that a visit to a candy store is part of our summer fun!

Colorado Springs...

Hunter and I just returned from a 4 day trip to Colorado Springs in Colorado.

It was a short trip, but very fun.

We went to Colorado to watch the ISU World Synchronized Skating Championships.

23 teams competed for the title of World Champions.

Teams came from Germany, Switzerland, Finland, Sweden, Croatia, Austria, Australia,

New Zealand,....just to name a few.

Canada had 2 teams competing in the Championships.

We had quite a large cheering section for the Canadian teams.

A group of about 25 attended from our synchro club here in Alberta.

Colorado is a gorgeous state.

Full of beautiful landscape.

It reminds us of the rockies here in Alberta.

In between the skating events, we took time to enjoy the local sites.

We visited a rock park called "The Garden of the Gods".

It's a park of rock formations that are thousands of years old.

Spectacular to see in real life.

The red clay-look of the rocks remind me of the Bay of Fundy mud we see in Nova Scotia.

The park had a walking trail of about a mile long where you can observe most of the rock formations.

The formation below is called "The Three Graces".

The weather was perfect for our walk through the park.

We even came upon a wedding.

We marveled at the beauty of these gigantic rocks.

Canada placed 4th and 5th in the Worlds.

Finland placed 1st and 2nd.

Team USA placed 3rd.

It was a really enjoyable 4 days of skating, eating out, hanging with friends,

seeing the local sights and shopping.

A  great girls trip!

The long, long journey home.

After a great weekend of skating, we poured back on the bus for our journey home. The ceremonies ended around 5pm and we left shortly after. The plan was for us to drive all night and arrive back in Edmonton around 4am Monday morning. That was the plan anyway. We stopped in Kamploops around 8pm for a late dinner. While we were there, one of the girls on the Novice team sitting at our table got a phone call from her Mom & Dad, who were driving back to Edmonton in their own car, except that they were 4 hours ahead of us. She told her daughter that the roads ahead were very "treacherous" and to stay awake and to stay seated. My heart just sank because this in not what someone who already worries too much needs to hear. We got back on the road, and the girls put on a movie and the volume on the bus was a dull roar. I was sitting 3 rows back from the driver, and I contemplated asking Hunter to sit with me instead of at the back of the bus. The roads were not too bad until we got to Jasper. I was keeping my eye on my friend Allison, who is from Penticton, B.C., and has driven these roads many times over her 27 years of residing in Edmonton. She looked perfectly calm. I decided that if Allison was calm, then I should be calm and I stopped watching the road. Really, unless I was going to get off the bus in the middle of nowhere, how was watching the road going to help? We made it to about 20 minutes outside of Edson, when we came upon a very bad accident, and traffic was completely stopped for 2. 5 hours. Thankfully, alot of the girls slept thru this. Going to the bathroom at the back of the bus was an obstacle course. Girls were sleeping on the floor, in the aisles, under seats. Bodies were littered everywhere. We finally made it into Edmonton around 10 am, 6 hours past our original estimated time of arrival. Of course, I had been calling Ron on my cell since 4am to give him updates on our progress. He and Tyler were waiting for us in the parking lot when the bus pulled in. I went home and went to bed. I was exhausted. On Friday night we went to skating practice. I was chatting with Allison in the bleachers, as usual, when she told me that our trip was the worst she had ever seen the roads in 27 years. She didn't sleep a wink on the bus. I was so thankful that she chose not to share that information with me when we were on the bus!!!! As an endnote, the club has decided that the next time Westerns are hosted in B.C. , our club will be flying. Amen to that.