The EH Team

Holmes Family Reunion- Waterton, Canada 2010-- Round 1

So we've returned from our trip & just when we think we recovered nicely, we all got sick. Damn airline travel and all its germs!

However, we did have a blast in Canadia!

Day 1: Our first day was spent driving on Going-to-the-sun Road from Montana to Canada. Gorgeous drive that I will never do again. 75% of it you are driving on a cliffs edge. Oh, and the road was originally paved in the 30's- NOT for modern day SUV's. I spent a good portion of the drive trying to distract myself from crying. I have this nutty a fear of driving off a cliff that stems from my youth- another blog, another time.

Family at Big Chief Mtn.

(side bar: My mom told us a story that when the Cardston, Alberta temple was built, the Temple President, President Wood said that the temple would stand until Big Chief fell. Big Chief now has large fissures in it.)

Day 2: We did a hike up to Bear's Hump that Grandpa claimed was an "easy" one. As If!!! this hike was basically steep "s" curves for almost 2 miles. I'm totally out of shape & dragging Max while Mike had to carry Tate. We made it to the top where we met up with some cousins on the Holmes side of the family who were vacationing the same time as us. Fun to visit with them.

My mom really wanted a family picture at the top of this hike. So while we set up to take one, a lady noticed her coat was in our way. She ended up crashing our photo. can you spot her? she's our new friend Marsha from Jamaica who did the hike in flip flops!

Every time we get together for a reunion my parents are under the allusion that every family wants to share a talent. Do we want to see other families perform a talent? Yes. Do we want to perform a talent? No. So instead of a talent (Tate refused to read his flash cards & Max wouldn't sing one of his mash-ups) Mike & I split the family into teams for competing in Minute-to-Win-it games. It was h.i.l.a.r.i.o.u.s.
Day 3: Was supposed to be the tough crew hiking up to Crypt Lake. Crawl through a 4ft wide tunnel blasted out of a cliff wall? Hiking a cliff wall while holding a safety cable? All while dragging Max... No, thank you. turns out the weather report was for rain so we decided to head into Magrath & Raymond- my parents home towns about an hr. away.

We stopped for a picture on the front porch of the house where my mom grew up & drove by the farm & barn where my dad grew up. We then visited the Magrath Cemetery where my Maternal Grandparents, brother & family members from my mom's side are buried. We found a headstone for a young Max Hindley (my mom's maiden name). We didn't know we had Max's on both sides of the family.

On the drive home Our car swung by the Alberta Temple where my parents were married for a picture. It's a beautiful building.

Here's a sampling of the fauna to be found in Waterton. Literally our first 48 hrs in the park we saw: a grizzly bear & her 2 cubs, a black bear, a mountain goat & her baby, tons of deer & squirrels so tame you could feed them.

Stay tuned for days 4-6 :)