and the sky is not cloudy all day

My dreams of battling evil with Transformers by my side were rudely interrupted by some famous person rocking on the radio; it was time to get up to get ready for church. Sunday mornings at the deGroot house are much like home, the battle for the bathroom, blow-dryers all going at once, having to drinking your orange juice with already brushed teeth, sharing of the coloured comics... except for the fact that we arrived at church on time. The pastor’s message was a memorable one, delivered with confidence, passion, and a wicked accent (maybe my word choice isn’t the most appropriate). After church we went back to the deGroots for Sunday pie and ice cream. Since Ryan and I were donned the guests of honour (Ontarians are a rare species in Alberta), we scored on having the option of having one of each pie and an extra scoop of ice cream! Of course I fully capitalized on this. Don’t worry Levi, if you ever come to Ontario you can have a whole apple pie to yourself with a tub of Rolo ice cream to top it off. That night we were invited to hang out with the gang at Lindsay’s house. I am pretty jealous of her house, because it is right next to a park and a baseball diamond. So, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to gel as a group playing a great game of baseball. Apparently everyone likes Ultimate Frisbee better, I do have to admit it’s a pretty stellar game; James I can see why you love ‘disk’ so much. We did play soccer baseball for a bit, although turning for two is a little more difficult when you have to throw a ball the size of your head. All this activity wore us out so we headed back to watch a lame Simpson episode; I am crushed by the lack of humour lately from Homer and the gang, so much so that I don’t even want to see the movie. Instead, we got our laughs watching Dodgeball.

Monday, Monday. Robo and I woke up with crack of dawn to prepare for camping. We had a great challenge ahead of us, to fit everything that we needed into one car that also needed to fit four people in it. I have to admit I was not very optimistic about it all, I thought for sure we would have to resort to plan B, tying Ryan and Tim to the roof rack. But we surprised everyone, even ourselves, by fitting everything in with room to spare. This room to spare didn’t last very long, because Tim thought it would be completely necessary to bring foam along to protect us from the jagged rocks while we sleep. I haven’t really made my mind up whether it was a wise decision, being squishy for about an hour and a half versus having gashes in my sides... On the way to our Waterton camping experience, we made a little detour to tour a Ladder Day Saint temple. The gardens were nice and the lady was very persistent, I think I must have had a sign on my forehead that says “I want to know everything you can tell me about the history of your religion and temple, oh and I also want all your pamphlets too.” They almost had me with the whole wide road thing, because if the roads that we have here on earth are going to be changed into gold that town is going to be worth trillions. And if it wasn’t for the secret spy cameras that we suspected they had hidden we would have snuck into the inner temple to see what they were hiding in there.

And then there were mountains. Mountains, what can I even begin to say to describe the feeling of seeing them for the first time. I won’t even try; I’ll be what I was for the last 45 minutes of the drive – speechless. Not only were there mountains but fields of wildflowers around them, so there was a mandatory moment to get out of the car to frolic, turn our gazes upwards, and let it all soak in. We have arrived. The next thing we had to do is find the perfect campsite, and find one we did. It had the perfect amount of trees, it was in the perfect location for bathroom and the water tap facilities, and it was the perfect size... there were a couple of times when a huge RV would slowly pass our campsite and throw daggers our way for occupying ‘their space’ with our beauty tent. The guys then went on a wood hunt and brought back loads of free firewood. We were pretty stoked about this until we found out we could pick up free forewood at the entrance. After settling in we took a little stroll down to the river, where we tested our throwing accuracy with rocks and trees, waded up to our ankles in ice, and Ryan left our mark with a Mento. All these happenings made us work up and appetite, so it was time for Ryan to grill us up some burgers. The first two burgers were the tastiest by far, and the rest were must have been good too because they made fast friends with the neighbours – especially Laney. Once supper was finished we thought it would be high time to hit up the town Waterton. If I could live anywhere when I am retired I think I would live there and take over the little fudge shop so that I can give free fudge to everyone passing through. This little town is surrounded by mountains and is on the edge of a lake. It is also a great place for a honeymoon – eh Danielle and Jordan? I think it would be only appropriate as it was the place where we all crowded around the phone booth to hear the fantastic news. By the lake there were stones, great skipping stones and great throwing stones, so of course I had to challenge Ryan and Tim to a throwing contest. They made me go first, which I was fine with. I casually set up and threw with ease at least half-way across the lake. They on the other hand, took a running start and propelled the rocks as far as they could. I have to admit that they did throw a little farther, and if we were going to measure it would have been about 5cm. I was pretty impressed. We then tested the accuracy of their throws by throwing a rock into the air and then trying to hit it before it hit the water. After we stopped playing with stones we decided to check out a store that sold special stones, worth $1000. In that same little shop they thought it would be hilarious to make me look like a fool. It involved a frozen TV screen and a random passerby... yup, all I have to say is that I am really glad I am full of myself or else I could have been damaged for life. It was getting dark so we decided to head back where we had an awesome campfire. Even though we did so much during the day and did so many memorable things, I think the campfire stands out, Robyn’s beautiful song, Tim playing the guitar, the great talks and laughs – it was golden.

The next morning I was the first one to wake up and there waiting to keep me company for the whole 3 minutes was Laney. Before I knew what he was doing he went up to the tent and unzipped it and told everyone else to get up. Gosh, I still think it’s hilarious, although if I would have been woken up like that I’m pretty sure I would have reacted just like Tim - telling him in no uncertain terms to get lost. We had bacon and eggs for breakfast and when Ryan offered to make the eggs, I responded by spraying him with hot bacon grease in appreciation. Great start to a great day. Today we went on a hike; this hike was not for amateurs. We crossed the BC border into foreign terrain where we crossed a raging river to conquer a waterfall and then went on to battle the glaciers and we did it all without those hiking spears that the ‘experts’ use. Waiting for us at the end of our hike was a great mountain with a crystal clear lake – it was breathtaking, in more ways than one for the guys. The reason that this lake is clear is because it is too cold for life to live in it, but Ryan and Tim decided to take a dip anyways. It was pretty amusing to watch, although the couple beside didn’t think so... they didn’t even break a smirk. Man, if I was hiking and I saw two hooligans jumping into a glacier lake in their boxers I would have a good laugh and even take home the tale to the super table that night. We also met Gordon the chipmunk, Ryan was the first one to coax him to eat the sunflower seeds out of his hand and then from there he became our best little buddy. He just kept stuffing those little cheeks in the cute chipmunky way. The hike was fantastic, no one got lost, except for Tim’s bag that we forgot that we left on the top of the car as we drove off singing away to The Barenaked Ladies. Jesse came down that night to hang out with us in his four wheel drive truck. That truck came in handy as on our way back to the campsite we saw an entire herd of about 200 elk cross the road into the field. So what do you do when there is a big herd of elk and you are in a truck? You chase the elk of course and so we did. It was a pretty bumpy ride as we raced through the long grass and ground hog holes, thrilling in fact. That night the guys went back to look for Tim’s bag, so me and Robo wrecked havoc around the campsite. When the guys came back we chilled by the campfire for a bit, but it wasn’t long before everyone headed off to bed, we were all tuckered out. But since I had thrown ten huge logs on the fire right before everyone decided to hit the hay the fire was still roaring, so I decided to stay up a bit longer and just enjoy the night. No complaints here, because I think I could stay up all night just looking up at the Alberta sky, especially at night when it seems like you can see every single star in the universe.

The next morning we weren’t woken up by Laney. There were pancakes for breakfast and if I wasn’t given a limit I probably would have eaten at least 10. Since we were supposed to be out of our campsite by 12pm, we decided that at 12:30pm we should probably start to pack up, especially considering a couple who had booked our site had already asked us when we were going to be leaving. We went on one last little hike through the red rock canyon. Good thing we had tour guide Jesse along for this one, we didn’t even need to read the information signs. And yet again the guys went swimming in the glacier water... We then said our good-byes to the little beautiful town of Waterton and to Tim’s bag. That night we went to see Tim play soccer, his team destroyed their opponents 9-1. I also got to hang out with my cousin Andrew, who is ranching in Alberta for the summer. We met at the Tim Hortens and when I got there all I could see was this tall guy in a flannel shirt and cowboy hat from behind, so I ran up and gave him a big hug, thankfully it was him and not just some other rancher. It was so great to catch up with him and see that he was doing great. Although his near death stories from riding broncos and bulls worry me a bit...

Since we have been going full tilt since the day that we got to Alberta, we decided that today would be a day where we just chilled and did nothing. Robyn and I headed over to Tim and Ryan’s to watch Madagascar, listen to the Live Earth David Gray and Damien Rice duo *sigh*, and just really doing nothing... it was nice. That night Robo and I spent time with her wonderful family. We watched LOTR and even though Levi was seeing it for the first time I think he handled the scary parts better than I did. After the movie we made Robyn’s birthday cake because it was her birthday the next day! I suggested that we should do something crazy in her last minutes as a 19 year old, we came up with skinny dipping in her neighbours dugout, but since we didn’t want to get shot we decided not to. Instead we talked about what the future might hold and all those good things chats like that entail.

Today was Robyn’s birthday! Robyn chose to have steak as her birthday supper. If there was only one thing that would make me come back to Alberta, it would be for Mr. deGroot’s steaks. They are the best I have ever had. But of course we had to wait a bit for supper, so in the meantime we listened to Ryan and Tim’s rocking rendition of Babylon - 'let go of your heart, let go of your head...', got in a great game of catch in with Ryan, and swum in the dugout with the family – the girls clearly defeated the guys in keep away. Then it was suppertime, mmmmm. I had the privilege of sharing my milk with King, he’s a such great sharer. Then the whole gang came on out for the campfire. Tim had to miss a bit of it to make the trek out to Waterton to retrieve his lost bag that was found! Except on the way he blew a tire... his luck just wasn’t improving, oh and I think I failed to mention the fact that he swam with his cell phone so that broke too. (Tim I’m putting this in just for you, I know that you would never want to forget a day like this). Once again the campfire was awesome. It was a great way of ending off our last time that we would all be together in Alberta. We didn’t get to sleep until 3am.

At 6am we woke up to get ready to pick up Ryan so that he could meet Uncle Henry in Calgary. On the drive up we were given a sweet lesson on recycling and sharing by Jack Johnson himself, what a guy. It was then time to say our good-bye’s to Ryan and watched him ride off into the distance... and then there was three. We were originally going to stay in Calgary for the day and night until I had to catch my flight the next morning, but then we decided to head on back to Lethbridge, something I was very happy to do! So that day we just chilled out at Robyn’s. I got to see the deck being completed and had one last swim in the dugout, one last supper, and one last campfire. The deGroots showed me how to make colourful fire and what a Rachellamellow is. Meaghan was the best marshmallow toaster. Sorry Josh, you would have come close if you hadn’t dropped that one in the fire. I am so glad that I had that last night with the family and that I got to say a proper good-bye, because I think the world of you all!
Once again Robo and I did not get very much sleep. That morning we woke up to someone singing about how great life was... at 3am in the morning that is the last thing that you want to hear. As we drove to Calgary we got to see the sunrise and I just want to state that Robyn deGroot is the best trooper I know. For the first hour I fought to keep my eyes open at times sticking my head out of the window, but then I promised myself that I just needed to rest my eyelids for 5 minutes... Through this all Robyn was able to drive on and get us safely there. Once we were at the airport I knew that it was time to say good-bye... good-bye to great people and great times. Airport good-byes are bitter like salt. My flight was a lot less exciting than the trip up, although I met some really nice people.

My family was waiting for me in Ottawa and it was so great to see them... It’s always a nice feeling to come home.

Our time out in Alberta was a dream in reality form. Thanks for making it what it was, I will remember it and you for always and forever.