Cancun Nov 19/2023

 For several months we have been planning for our whole family to come to Cancun. Michelle selected Barcelo Maya Palace near Tulum ( a five star kid friendly resort).

We all came down on the same Westjet flight, direct from Edmonton and at about 5:45 PM local time we were on the ground.

After quite a bit of waiting everyone retrieved their luggage and so we went to the appropriate location to get our private transportation. Before leaving the area we asked the driver to please take us to another part of the airport where Hector,Tete and Ruben were waiting to be introduced to Nathan and all the grandkids (they had met the rest of our kids on other trips).

After lots of hugs and kisses we said our temporary goodbyes and were off to the resort.

First impressions are WOW! What a place! We are in the section that allows us access to all of the  various hotels,restaraunts and facilities. The people in the other sections cannot come to our area (apparently).

We arrived quite late so with everyone quite hungry (and getting very tired) so we quickly found the buffet.

After that it was lights out for everyone!

 

Home Again

 Sunday night

We were up about 8 AM and lazed around for a while before going to the motel continental breakfast.

Shortly before 10 AM we went to the Remington Carriage Museum. After spending two enjoyable hours there we gassed up and left town at noon. I forgot to take photos so snagged this one off the net.

We drove through beautiful pasture lands (Blood Reserve) and continued until Nanton where we stopped at Tim Horton's for lunch (yummy new menu items!).

We drove through Calgary using Deerfoot Trail (very quick as it is Sunday) with our next stop at about 3:40 PM  at Veronica and Serge's place, "just for a coffee break". Two hours (plus) later after being fed another meal by Veronica we were on our way!

Caro drove the remainder of the way home with us pulling into the driveway at 8:20 PM.

Waterton Park

 After a great night in Pincher Creek we ate our breakfast at A+W and by 10 AM we were in Waterton Park. I had forgotten to bring my park pass however the fellow at the park gate said I could keep today's paid receipt and within thirty days take it to another national park office where, along with my yearly park pass, show today's receipt and get reimbursed. Excellent!

Today was stunningly beautiful and according to a guide we had later on in the day this weather was exceptionally good. 

We started our hiking by heading up to Cameron Lake where we walked the west side as far as we could before the trail ended. It was beautiful.

This was a 3.4 km round trip hike over rooted dirt path with occasional muddy spots to deal with.

From the parking lot there we also completed a 1 km round trip hike to Akamina Lake.

On the drive back to town we took the opportunity to stop and read the information on Western Canada's first commercially viable oil well. Really interesting.

At Waterton town site we had a snack type lunch and then headed over to the marina to catch the 2 PM boat trip on the big lake; we had purchased these tickets earlier in the day which was probably a good thing as even though the town itself is not crowded the boat seemed quite full. We were just able to get seats on the top (open) deck.

After a beautiful blue sky, nice temperature, and some great guide commentary our one hour, 15 minute boat tour ended and we were back in town.

More hiking followed at Cameron Falls in town followed by walking around just viewing things,

Tonight we had a great supper and are in Cardston enjoying a bottle of bubbly (courtesy of Mike and Michelle).

The drives in this part of the province are simply the best! We love all the beautiful vistas and endless changes of scenery. An example (taken this morning) gives an idea but the photo simply cannot do the scenery justice!

It seems like,time and time again, we have a great day when travelling.

Another Road Trip

 We left town about 9:15,heading to the south of the province.

Caro drove to Olds at which point we gassed up, ate lunch at Tim Horton/Wendy's and I took over.

We had decided to drive southward down highway 22 which is slower but the scenery is beautiful.

While going though Black Diamond I missed the turn to continue on highway 22. It turned out for the best as at Okotoks  we saw the glacier erratic rock (I haven't seen that in decades). Another missed turnoff and we ended up on highway 2A to High River which was interesting as we went by a huge series of solar panels near the Cargill facility.

We finally got to our main stop of the day at 1600 hours. Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump was really good. I remember being there many years ago however my memories of it were faint therefore today was like seeing it for the first time again. We had one hour to visit before closing time and that turned out to be pretty much all we needed.

Upon leaving the Jump site we headed directly west (and later south) on a secondary highway that was mostly gravel (but not bad to drive on). We ended up going through a shower or two before entering an area FULL of power producing wind turbines. COOL!!

Our stop for the night was Pincher Creek. I hadn't really checked prices ahead of time so we were very surprised to see $250/night costs. Caro suggested we try a motel that looked "OK" but wasn't on Hotels.com or Booking.com. The sign on the counter inside the office said "no vacancy" however we hit the jackpot as a guest had just cancelled a minute before so we got the room at a very reasonable rate of $118. The room is perfect for us tonight.

We ate at the Chinese food place we had eaten at many years ago and had LOVED then. There was no difference with this visit. The place was packed and it was buffet night with a wonderful selection. OMG, another spectacular meal at the Bright Pearl!

Caro remembers us camping at the local campground.We drove around but I remember nothing. Caro remembered the laundry/office building. The place is pretty run down now.

A great day today!

Peace River to home

We left Peace River at 0930.

The fields of canola were stunningly beautiful with mile after mile of yellow.

First stop of the day was Winagami Lake Provincial Park. where I was able to point out to Caro various locations of some memories I had. Really though, it was was so long ago (almost 50 years) that things have changed quite a bit.

Next was a drive by of the farming area where Glen Buchta lived while we were in high school. The farmhouse is gone and it was impossible to tell exactly where it had been.

High Prairie was next on my list. We drove around town quite a bit as I showed Caro where many of the stories that Glen Buchta and I talk about (when we are all together) occurred.

It used to be a red colour (if I remember properly)

The school is still there as well

I think we probably spent somewhere around an hour driving around town talking about some of my memories.

In early afternoon went to Grouard. I wanted to show Caro the bridge where I caught a huge jack fish in about 1974. I don't recall ever being in the town itself so we drove through it. The 120 year old church had been burned by arsonists earlier in the year and as of the day I write this (July 10/2023) two middle aged men from High Prairie are due in court for this offense.

The drive back home seemed long. I was very surprised how prosperous Slave Lake has become. There is a very large shopping district on the highway across from town. 

We popped into Edmonton to Costco to pick up some items before stopping at a Five Guys burger place for our last vacation meal before heading home.

Grand Cache to Peace River

 After a hotel supplied breakfast we started our planned hiking. We got to the first trail head of an interesting hike to a couple of waterfalls but there was no real parking (that we felt comfortable with ) so we ended up going back to the Sulphur Gates area where we were last night. This time we headed out on a rocky trail down along side the Smokey River. We followed a tiny creek off the main trail where the following photo was taken.

After this we headed back into town to walk some of the local in-town trails. One trail had a magnificent view. Just behind where I took this photo is a home with a large second story balcony. I mentioned to the home owner that he had a million dollar view and he agreed.

We were on the highway north bound around noon. After a quick stop in Grande Prairie we continued up to Dunvegan Crossing. This was a great stop as we took a tour at the Provincial Park there. Very informative and well worth the time. We got there quite late so although we could have easily spent more time looking around we had to carry on.

We got to our planned stopping point of Peace River where, due to fire evacuee's being lodged in our preferred hotels up on the top the river bank we ended up downtown in a less desirable motel location.

Interestingly Caro decided to take a walk to a park area near by so I sat in a chair in the open doorway of our room so I could hear if Caro was having any "issues" with anyone. She ended up coming back relatively quickly due to some unsavory characters lurking around. As I watched her walking back towards our room a 30-35 year old lady came up and asked if she could come inside my room to have a "chat". Hmmm- I don't think so! Just then Caro showed up so the lady started talking to her about the scenery in the area.

Our motel had a restaurant in it so I had Chinese food (AWESOME) and Caro had liver and onions (just plain "yuck" in my opinion!).

Grande Cache road trip

 It was time for a road trip so we decided to do a trip, starting at Grande Cache (we had never been there before).

Caro drove to Edson where we gassed up. After a further stop in Hinton I took over driving.

We had a very nice 4 hour drive and were looking forward to doing some hiking in the area. About ten minutes before arriving in Grande Cache (somewhere around 3:30 PM) the clouds opened up and a major rain storm hit.

We went first to the wonderful (highly recommended) tourist information centre. It had some great information of the area as well as some wonderful exhibits of taxidermy. I particularly loved this painting.

Because of the rain we checked into our hotel; waited an hour for the rain to stop, then headed a short ways out of town to the top attraction in the area called Sulphur Gates. This viewpoint is located high above the joining of two rivers. It really is beautiful

Supper was at a recommended Chinese food restaurant. Yummy!

Due to rain showers all around town we decided to stay in our room for the evening.