Oct 3rd - Give the highlights of your last trip.

 This is Maligne Canyon in Jasper, curtesy of Albertawow.com. Words can hardly do justice and neither can pictures. This beautiful spot is hot on a summer day and cools down to shivery cold as you hike the five kilometres down to the bottom. There is nothing to explain the grand awe and majesty of God's glorious mountains. I came home with my heart full to the brim and overflowing.


We took a ten day trip this summer to Bill & Penny in Quesnel, B.C. and Jerry & Karen in Creston, B.C. This is a trip we've hoped to do for a long time so it was extra special.


One day we went with Bill & Penny to Barkerville, a revived gold mining town. It was full of actors and actresses and everything from bygone days came to life again. That was especially special to me because my dad took our family there when I was little. We went to church in Quesnel, met Bill's friends, had Sunday lunch with old friends, toured Penny's lovely yard and just loved being together. Penny and I even got a little bit of sister time together, shopping and going for chai lattes to the neatest little joint town. Bill took the men touring down by the river and the boys went gold-panning. Kajsa had a little sidekick named Wyatt Benjamin.


On our way out we stopped at the Ancient Forest where huge old cedar trees grow. It was just breathtaking, the lush undergrowth and flowing creek and the walk. One thing I probably won't forget is Zach walking most of that hiking trail on the wooden handrails. We set up our tent in Jasper at a beautiful little spot by a splashing dashing river. We shopped little souvenir shops in the town of Jasper and bought a couple groceries for a picnic by Maligne Canyon. We toured Lake Louise and Athabaska Falls and Johnston's Canyon and many other little spots along the way.


We stopped in Radium for night on our way to Jerry's at little hick joint. We ate funny food from a little grocery store and trail mix from Costco and chips from a tiny little service station where the man asked many questions and told us where to find the best coffee and where to drive down to the local river beach. We toured way out to Lussier Hot Springs (still too many people for our liking), down a long gravel road with many hairpins and drop-offs and wonderful camping spots.


We had a wonderful time with Jerry's. They went all out of their way for Zach's 13th birthday, including a Dairy Queen icecream cake. The men and older children went zip-lining on the Kokanee Mountain Zipline while Karen and Wyatt and I talked and waited. We toured an ancient forest with the hugest tree I've ever seen in my life. It took eight of us, fingertip to fingertip, to reach around the biggest one. That gorgeous mountainside we walked with them was luscious with ferny undergrowth, gigantic rocks covered in moss and the most beautiful stream bouncing and singing and praising its way downhill. We picnicked for supper one night, rode the ferry, had supper with Carl & Teresa and Danny & Marcie, shopped the local market, ate fresh fruit from the road-stands and swam in Jerry's lovely pool.


On our way home we watched a for-real-and-true forest fire break forth before our eyes. We toured through Banff again on our way home, stopped in Calgary for night and then my man took me to Cross Iron Mills, a huge mall near Calgary. I came home so inspired, so full in heart, so thankful for my dear sisters. It was truly a trip of a lifetime.