We have been tossing around the idea of going to Banff with the Hays for a few years now, and this is the year that we made it happen! The Hays are the absolute best travel buddies because they are organizational wizards. Robb is the best when it comes to picking the "must see" spots along our way, and Lakin made us laminated sheets showing our itinerary with columns for how long we will be in the car, where we are going, what we are doing, and what we will eat for dinner. The plan was a work of art.
Our flight to Seattle ended up being delayed about 4 hours- it was one of those situations where we fully boarded the plane but then had to get off because something went wrong. They offered food vouchers as an apology. Through a clerical error, they gave the 5 members of our family 5 meal vouchers EACH. That meant that we had a total of $375 in $15 meal vouchers that expired at midnight. Aaron spent our flight downloading pretty much every fast food app to see which ones would let him pre-load a balance (buying gift cards didn't work). Wendy's and Chick-Fil-A were the only two that he could get to work, but Wendy's would only accept one voucher per account. The moral of the story is that we are now LOADED with Chick-Fil-A bucks. It was an absolute rush trying to enter in the last few voucher codes as the clock counted down to midnight.
We spent a day at the Hays house helping get ready for the road trip. We mooched like crazy- they furnished us with their other car, a tent, sleeping bags, and all the other camping supplies we needed for our adventure. We managed to get by with just 1 suitcase and a backpack each for the whole trip, including the bonus trip over to Alpine before heading home.
We were there on a Friday, so we got to partake in their weekly family pizza movie night tradition! They are working their way through the old batman cartoons. It was fun seeing how our kids still got along after not seeing each other for years, but the match ups were not what we expected. Elliot (8) and Colby (11) loved to wander around talking about Zelda, Minecraft, and Calvin & Hobbes. Annie (5) and Claire (7) were joined at the hip, and Alice (9) became Isaac's mother for the week. She cried about missing Isaac when we left - it was adorable.
Our first stop was Vancouver. We saw Capilano Suspension Bridge Park and Stanley Island.
Capilano had a 450 ft long suspension bridge. If you put the Statue of Liberty in the canyon below, the bridge would reach her shoulder. It was just wobbly enough to get the heart rate elevated.
The far side of the bridge had a network of connected bridges in the treetops. It was like an Ewok village.
Isaac tried so hard to climb over this wall and fall into the water.
She's almost a full Raven!
More suspension bridges, this time built into the cliff face!
The floor grate was a nice touch. I loved how integrated with nature this place was.
It was Robb's birthday, so we stopped by a Bakery for treats and went to Nando's Chicken for dinner
Isaac spent the whole time crying because we were trying to get him to eat a meal. The kid loves snacks but protests heavily if the food is labeled as "dinner." We are hoping he grows out of it soon. The rest of us enjoyed our meal, and we only broke one glass cup!
That night we slept in an Airbnb in Surrey (a suburb of Vancouver) and went to church at a random ward there on Sunday morning. It turned out to be a very Filipino ward, which made Robb super happy because he served his mission there. They announced a pig roast for an upcoming activity and were recruiting people to be in a float representing the church at a Filipino cultural parade.
After Church, we went for a picnic and stroll at Stanley Park. One cool thing about this trip is that we used this app called GuideAlong to give us audio tours. We would be driving along, and the app would kick on to tell us the history of the old cannon on our right, or what the deal is with the pile of yellow stuff across the harbor. It added a lot to the drive.
A lighthouse! With the sulfur shipping area across the harbor!
Some very serious gals posing with the First Nations tribute
On our way to Whistler, the audio tour helpfully told us that the turn out to Shannon Falls was worth our time. We were glad we listened!
They were feeling the call of the wild
Shannon Falls, the first of many waterfalls that we went chasing
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