Beautiful British Columbia

 After leaving the familiar territory of Lethbridge, we were excited to see some new sites in "Beautiful British Columbia", as they say. And let me tell you, that is not just a clever catchphrase. British Columbia was one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. Amazing! The first thing we did in BC was stop off at a rest stop which I was pretty sure we would not be leaving alive. Peeing in a hole? Check. Creepy cobwebs? Indeed. Jason hiding behind a tree, ready to slaughter us? Most likely, but we booked it out of there. Yikes. I would have expected more from the self-proclaimed "best place on earth".

In Simon's opinion Sparwood, BC WAS the best place on earth, as it is home to the world's biggest truck. Majorly impressive! I love a biggest, oldest, weirdest anything, so I was stoked. Very fun pit stop to enjoy our PB&Js that day!

 From there it was on to Ft. Steele, a restored pioneer town where we did laundry the old-fashioned way, panned for gold and experienced a one-room schoolhouse.

 Hands down the saddest moment of the trip came in the form of a missed train ride. By the time we got there there were 2 train rides of the day left...one leaving pretty soon and one leaving later on in the afternoon. We figured we'd check out the town for a bit, then head back to catch the train. As we were leisurely cooling off in the gold panning troughs (We could NOT beat the heat on this trip...so hot almost everywhere we went!) I offhandedly asked how we were doing on time. It was then Chris realized that the train was leaving in 4 minutes. "You'll never make it", said the downer of a gold-panning host. But Chris took off with Simon and Lucy in hand, Maya sprinting right along (Mason & I were skipping the train ride from the get-go.). A bit later back they came, Simon sobbing. They had missed it by moments. Saddest day of his life so far. 

 There was no consoling Simon that day. We headed back to the car and up the road a bit to Fairmont Hot Springs.

Fairmont is easily one of my favorite places ever and comes in as my #2 favorite trip memory. Sitting in the hot springs with my family surrounded by the mountains as the sun set was just a little bit of heaven. I loved it. And Mason's maiden voyage off the high dive is probably the epic shot of the trip. I only wish I'd taken more pictures. But I guess some moments you just have to experience and appreciate without snapping photos of every second. It was fabulous.

After this our Canadian adventure comes to an end but lots more fun awaits us in the wonderful state of Washington.