We were overdue for another Canadian adventure! A two-week trip was planned.

We left Truckee on Saturday morning with a planned overnight in Sandpoint, Idaho - which is an awesome town in a spectacular setting, has a sweet FBO (free popcorn!) and great fuel prices... basically a no-brainer stop on the way up to Canada, as far as I'm concerned! The weather was clear up until northern Idaho where it was supposed to have a chance of rain, but the TAF (weather forecast) called for high ceilings (6000 feet broken clouds), certainly no problem. Un-forecast, however, in the morning there were low clouds (200 feet OVC). This happens pretty often in mountain valleys after some precipitation followed by clear/cold nights and a mild valley inversion... and it was certainly going to improve later in the day.

Our plan was to leave as early as possible, and we were feeding the kids breakfast before 7:30am (as they luckily woke up early that morning so we didn't even have to wake them up). Of course by the time we had everything loaded in the plane and took off, it was 9:30am... that's how things go with the twins :) The flight to Sandpoint was quite bumpy and Melissa was feeling less than stellar towards the end... we had a solid 20-30 knot headwind the whole way too - ugh! Sandpoint had lower ceilings (3000 feet) and some rain in the area but apart from the bumps, we landed uneventfully. By the time we got the rental car and started loading it up, it started raining lightly. We went to the park/beach and hung out for a bit, but the weather was a bit miserable between the wind and rain, so we drove around some more and eventually went to dinner in a great restaurant by the lake!

The next day was Canada Day! So we had to better hurry and get to Canada! :) we had breakfast at the hotel and again tried to get out as early as possible, which was just after 9. There was a scattered/broken cloud layer and underneath was bumpy, so we elected to go on top at 11,500'. Of course as it usually happens in these cases, the clouds kept getting higher and we had to go to 12,500' to stay a sufficient distance above them, and even a bit higher for 5-10 mins. In Canada, VFR is supposed to be max 12.5k, which the controller reminded me about when I asked for a climb to 13.5. Temperature was -3C at 12.5 so going into the clouds wasn't an option due to the possibility of ice and the minimum IFR altitude was 15k. Soon the clouds were over and we were minutes from Calgary! Baba and diado were happy to meet us there and we convoyed home with both of their cars stuffed to the max, after which we went to check out the Canada Day celebrations downtown. :)

Calgary included a few highlights like going to the zoo, a water park (on a scorching hot day), Bowness park a couple of times (where Bodie fell out of the paddle boat, for a second!), as well as a trip to Lake Louise and a little rock climbing by Canmore (in Cougar Canyon). Oh yes, and lots of biking for the twins as we brought their bikes along... :)

The next stop was Invermere's airport and Radium Hot Springs, where we stayed overnight at a friend's condo. (BTW, Invermere is a private airport but Babin Air was super friendly and welcoming, give them a call!) The flight itself was spectacular - I was hoping to fly close to Mt Assiniboine for some scenic photos, but there were some clouds & wind so we gave it a wider berth. We were planning to spend 2 nights in Invermere, but the weather for flying on Tuesday didn't look awesome, and we decided to move up our departure to Tsuniah Lake by 1 day and leave on Monday instead. On Sunday, after flying in, we went to Lake Windermere for a couple of hours and the kids mostly dug around the sand and rocks on the beach, and didn't go in the water. Another little girl (3-year old or so?) was playing in the shallow water for a long time, and at one point came complaining to her mom... it turned out, she had over a dozen leeches on her including a gigantic one on her back! We watched in horror and wondered why there was no warning about leeches anywhere (indeed a Google search for leeches and Lake Windermere reveals nothing). We were happy our kids avoided the water, as they likely would have fallen victims to the same thing! In the afternoon, we went to Radium Hot Springs which was as awesome as usual (and has no leeches), and the kids enjoyed the cold pool. After lots of attention from baba and diado, the kids rode bikes and we walked in the morning to the Radium Wood Carver place. The highlight for the kids was feeding the goats. We had lunch at the Kicking Horse Cafe next to the airport, and it was time to go onto the next chapter - Tsuniah Lake!

	Loaded and excited to hit the sky!	Departing Truckee over Prosser, northbound	Playing with their "toy" cameras!

	Nap time.	A whole lot of this kind of scenery

		Beautiful scenery and someone's private grass strip	Cool looking bloom somewhere in southern Idaho

	Arriving in Sandpoint under gloomy skies	A little rain...	The landmark Sandpoint bridge

	On downwind for landing runway 20 at Sandpoint (winds were gusty)	Hank is tied down just as it starts to rain

	At the park in Sandpoint before the rain hit there too

		Taking off from Sandpoint. Looks like a future development at the airport?

		Bye-bye, Sandpoint!	Climbing on top of the clouds

	Cruising on top at 11,500	Busy with projects and books in the back seat

			Calgary

	On the ground in Calgary! At the flying club

	Checking out a cool teepee on Canada Day

		Bodie and his lego creation

			Checking out the penguins at the Calgary zoo

	Snoozing panda bear

			Snack time and a quick break

	The kids loved the camel

		The peacock was a hit

	Zoe pointing out the bison's beard		Probably the last time they'll tolerate this :)

		Canmore!

			Snacking and watching mommy climb

		Cougar canyon looking very different after the floods

			Cascade!

	Castle mountain

		Zoe and diado!

	Family portrait at Lake Louise

		Zoe loves posing for photos

	Pizza in Canmore!

	At the splash park on a hot day

		Picnic in the park	On the train in Bowness park

			On the paddle boat

		Bodie shortly before falling in the water :)

	Nakiska and Kananaskis country	Spray Lakes reservoir	Spray Lakes dam

			Mt Assiniboine

	Assiniboine!

		Invermere	Lake Windermere

	Invermere Airpor (CAA8) on the lower left	The north end of Lake Windermere

	Reviewing the take-off part of the POH the day before departing (on a 90 deg F day)		Playing on Lake Windermere beach

	Building a sand castle, while the girl on the left in the background unknowingly picks up some leeches! Lake Windermere definitely has leeches (she picked up a dozen including a huge one on her back)

			Riding in Radium

		Asleep within 5 minutes of departing Invermere towards Tsuniah Lake (CAA8 to CAF4)