How we spent our summer vacation

It has certainly been a very long time and, as usual there is no excuse.
P and I did spent 10 wonderful days in Kananaskis with the OCV.  We hiked most days other than the Wednesday which we spent restocking groceries in Canmore and going for a shortened hike part way around Upper Kananaskis Lake.

Upper Kananaskis Lake

One other day P went to Rossum Lake with a group of hikers while I went horseback riding with some friends at Boundary Ranch.  I hadn't been on a horse for years but it came back fairly quickly.  My horse was a lazy girl.  When I tried to show her who was boss, and that I didn't plan to plod along slowly on the back of her, she tried to scrape me off of her by edging close to trees growing along the trail.  I was bossier.  

Another day P and I went to Chester Lakes with another couple from the OCV.  Not only did we see a momma moose with her baby and another adult moose, we also saw a grizzly bear.  

Chester Lake grizzly 

We had been heading back to the vehicle when we met up with a couple from Florida.  We stopped near the only outhouse in the park when a group of about 7 people came by warning us about a bear near the meadow in the direction we were heading for.  They continued on in the direction we had been going only to come running back yelling that the bear was swimming across the lake in our direction.  

Needless to say P, B, and I went running toward the bear who seemed to be fixated only on digging up some tasty ground squirrels.  S strongly suggested that we leave since she wasn't too comfortable with the bear.  We figure that Mr(s) Bear was about 100 meters or so from us.  (Yes, I know that they can out run us). 

The couple from Florida asked if they would be able to walk out with us, as did the group of 7 who had originally spotted the bear.  We agreed and headed off.  Unfortunately we hiked along at our usual hiking pace and left the others in our dirt.  

After leaving Kananaskis our group parted, some to head directly back home, some to visit friends and relatives.  

We had planned to visit our son and daughter-in-law in Edmonton.  On the way we stopped at Drumheller to visit the Royal Tyrell Museum.  P was thrilled and both he and I could have spent longer there but I was eager to see my son.  (Unfortunately my DIL was babysitting her brother's children in Hawaii while his wife visited her dying father).

E had made some plans to show us around Elk Island National Park which is a 45 minute drive away from his house.  We were going to do a 16 km loop hike, hopefully with some bison sightings.  

We saw lots of bison on the road into the park but none on the soggy trail.  There were billions of mosquitoes, a few coyotes, and some birds though. 

Coyotes

 The bottoms of my pants after trekking through foot deep marshes.  

Despite the mosquitoes and the wet hike, we had a great time.  Thank you again E.

E had to work on the day after the bison hike so P and I sat in the backyard and contemplated whether we wanted to walk around the area where E lived or do some sightseeing in Edmonton.  Before we could decide, E and A's neighbour peeked in and insisted on showing us around kidnapped us.  Don't get me wrong, she was very friendly.  She fed us lunch and then took us to Fort Edmonton, Edmonton's oldest schoolhouse, and the MacKay Avenue School.  By then it was long past dinner time and I had to contact my son to say that we'd been kidnapped and we would be late for dinner.
After we finally escaped the MacKay Avenue School our host insisted that we walk around the Alberta Legislative Building while she waited in the car.  We had just reached the front steps when, wouldn't ya know, it started to rain, so gosh darn it, we had to head back to the car without making the trek all the way around the building.
We figured that we were done but no, we then had to have a drive through town to see where not to go (too many druggies, etc.).
Well, enough for one day.  I'll try my best to be good and post more soon.