**And... MORE Summer**

Our Epic Canadian Adventure

(Sorry this post is HUGE!!)

We went to Canada this summer for 2 weeks! We went with Matt's family and his Grandpa. We started our trip by driving to Lethbridge, where we stayed with Matt's great Aunt Goldie. We did poorly at getting pictures during this part of the trip, but the one to the side at least shows a few of the relatives we met. They made me feel like a giant! The reason we stopped here is because this is where Matt's Grandma Wahlquist grew up. We were able to go to the farm where she lived. It was pretty crazy to think that a family of 11 could live in such a small home... and back then there home was even smaller. Matt's grandma had 7 sisters and 1 brother. All the girls slept together in one room and the lucky boy got his very own. It was fun to hear stories and to put faces together from the people we met. I really really loved the farm! They aren't really running it anymore though. They had a few horses, tons of stray cats, and a dog. I just loved the feel of it though. It made me want a farm... sort of. I don't think I would really enjoy living far away from everything, but the laid back feeling and all the animals, it just seems nice(although I know it would be hard work). Also I loved their thick Canadian accents! I tried to talk like them, but it just didn't work. 

Funny quick story about the horses. So I found the horses and decided well I wanted to pet them. So I hopped a few fences and started heading to them. I don't know too much about horses... Anyhow I start getting closer and they start slowly walking towards me. I stop and slowly start moving backwards. They start galloping towards me. I run! I ran until I was back over the fence. I don't think they would have hurt me or anything, but to see these 3 horses start coming after you was kind of scary. I did end up petting them and actually found out one of them wasn't broken..so it's probably a good thing I ran.

So we visited a lot with family. We got to go tubing and water skiing, which was awesome! I got to prove that I really do know how to water ski. I'm not really that good. I have only been a few times, but I stayed up longer than Matt. We also went frisbee golfing! I really enjoy Frolf, but it's been hard to go because they took the course down, here in Logan. It was fun, even with the crazy wind and accidentally throwing a few discs in the pond. Thank you brother Cameron for being our retriever. Oh and we also got to go see HARRRY POTTER 7 the day it came out! I was so excited, because I didn't think I would be able to see it till we got home. So that about sums up our time in Lethbridge. 

Overload of Nature is the next part of our Adventure. We then headed to Banff National Park! We stayed in a town called Canmore and ventured into the park everyday from there. We saw tons of beautiful lakes, waterfalls, mountains, glaciers, and GREEN! Oh and so many forest friends!

This is Lake Moraine! I think this was my favorite lake, because it's color is one of my favorites! It was just so turquoise and bright. I mean all the lakes were very pretty here, because of the glaciers, but this one takes the belt for me. It's actually been kind of disappointing seeing other water forms here in Utah - just not the same.

Then came the Bears - many many Bears! We saw a couple of grizzly bears and a ton of black bears on this trip. One night while we were in Jasper National Park we saw 7 bears! They were so cute, especially the babies!! All in all we ended up sing 10 big bears and 5 baby bears - that's 15 BEARS!! And the crazy thing was that most of them were just a few feet off of the road. My favorite was seeing a momma bear with her 3 little cubs. We didn't get good pictures of all of the bears we saw, but we did get some. Also way cool thing... we saw a bear swim across a river like it was nothing. We drove into the place we were staying in Jasper and right there be the cabins was a black bear. We kind of chased it, but in a safe way. It was crazy how fast it could swim the river and then bound up the mountain side. You definitely don't want to mess with bears - even if they look cute and cuddly. I really wanted to pet one. I bet they would like it, if they gave it a chance.

I don't really remember the names of some of the other hikes and things we did, but this was a fun one. It was really windy when we got up there, so it was nice to find this rock wall wind breakers.

Kate - Ryan - Matt - Cameron.... Kyle was taking the Picture. 

This was a beautiful picture that Matt took. He is becoming quite the photographer. He basically took every picture while on this trip. 

Some more forest friends! 

These guys were all over the road. They were licking it and what not. Kind of weird. 

Mr. Coyote. This was way cool. He was pretty close and staring right at us. I kept telling Matt to close the window, because I thought he would jump in. I think he really just wanted us to throw him some food, like the other car. 

We saw a pack of Wolves!! about 4-5 of them just prowling around. Luckily all of the wild life we encountered was while feeling safe in the car and not on a hike. 

Water Falls

A couple random hiking photos. 

This is Lake Louise. This was another way cool Lake surrounded by glacier mountains. We went on a hike here so we could get a closer look. There was a Tea House at the top where we got some bread and hot chocolate. I think all hikes should end with some delicious restaurant. Yes, that would be nice. And you may or may not believe this, but I'm pretty sure we saw a Wolverine! We saw a animal while on this hike and none of us knew what it was. Later we found out that Wolverines were in this area and its description fit what we saw. So kind of crazy if it really was one - pretty rare and luckily it didn't want to eat us.

We got to stand on top of a GLACIER! We got to go on a little bus ride to go on another bus ride, which then took us on top of the glacier. The 2nd bus had monster wheels so it wouldn't slip on the glacier.

To end our epic adventure we got to hang out with some of our friends - Warren and Kelsey. We almost weren't able to see them, but I'm glad we did. We went to lunch and got slurpees and cheap candy. We walked around a park and just hung out. This picture is absolutely the worst, but it's all that we got.

The End

P.S. Thank you Mom and Dad Wahlquist for making this a fun and cheap trip for us! I guess we didn't get a picture of them, but they were there.