Rest and Relaxation?

The weeks leading up to my parents coming here for vacation were really busy. I was really looking forward to having time off to go camping with my parents. My parents arrived on Saturday and I had a wedding to do yet that day. On Sunday we had our normal service in the morning, followed by our church picnic and then an outdoor service. When that was done, it felt good to be able to relax. The problem I had though, was the fact that my parents have never been to Alberta for an extended period of time, so we wanted to show them everything.

On Monday, my dad and I got up and went and golfed. He beat me by one stroke. We got home and we hooked everything up and were ready for the road. On the way to Banff, we got hit by some heavy rain at times. My new bike rack worked really well, I just needed to make sure the straps stayed tied down. We got to Banff and set up camp. We had dinner and went to check out the town of Banff and the water fall near the hotel. We decided to take a cruise through the golf course, where we saw a heard of elk right on the course, it was pretty awesome.

Tuesday we went to Lake Louise. We walked a bit around the lake and took some awesome pictures. We then went to Moraine Lake which was absolutely amazing. From there we grabbed some lunch. During this time it started to rain a bit. On the way back we went to Johnston Canyon. We hiked here to the lower falls, and then my mom, Brenda and myself continued to the upper falls. On our hike to the upper falls, we got rained on a bit, but when we returned, dad had gotten hit a lot harder by the rain, he was soaked.

On Wednesday we decided to sleep in a bit, then we headed into Calgary to go to the Stampede. Of course that had to be the day that it decided to rain a lot. We managed to miss most of it, but we did get wet. The Chuck wagon races were fun because it was completely muddy. The evening program was good, but we didnt get to see everything due to the rain. But it was still a good show.

Thursday, my dad and I drove to Kananaskis to an old Ranch turned into a golf course. This course had amazing scenery. We were at the base of the rocky mountains. THis time, I was able to beat him by three strokes, since we didnt golf again the rest of the week, I beat him by a total of 2 strokes if you count total strokes. He will tell you were were tied, one to one. That afternoon we stayed around the trailer mostly.

Friday we packed up and headed home. We took the scenic drive home through Kananaskis Country. It was absolutely beautiful to drive through here. That along with the fact it wasnt that much longer to drive made it definitely worth while.

Saturday we headed to Waterton National Park. Every time we go I am simply amazed at the beauty of God's creation. On the way home, we were able to stop at this little place that said they had mexican food. This is something that I really miss living here in Canada. Some really good Authentic Mexican food. This place was awesome. My parents even raved about it saying it compared to places down in California. This will definitely be a stopping point every time we go to Waterton!

Sunday we went to Church and relaxed at home more. It was a busy week, but we wanted to see everything. There were other things that I would have loved to shown my parents, but we just didnt have enough time. It was really good to have them see where we live and what we can enjoy here. I was really glad that even though we had rain almost every day, it didnt stop us from doing what we wanted to do. Now the hard part, getting back into the swing of things. I always find it challenging to get back into the mindset of work after taking a week off. But, I am glad I was able to do it, and am a bit re-energized to get back to it.