We had hoped to rise early and drive out to Johnston Canyon for a hike before the crowds, but it wasn’t to be. Those Johnston Kids had stayed up late watching the old (bad) version of The Fantastic Four and consequently slept in. I did not sleep in, or at all, as Alison had taken the bedroom, and the kids the Murphy bed, leaving me with the scratchy 5 foot sofa and a blanket.

After a hearty breakfast of blueberry pancakes, Alison took Baby Girl and Short Pants to the hotel’s Playzone, an indoor climbing playground. In the resulting quiet time, I packed the car and made ready to leave.

We hadn’t actually seen anything of Banff except the hotel so far, so we walked downtown to browse the shops and mail a postcard home. I don’t think we came away with anything except candy. Banff has great candy stores. The main street was dense with tourists and the day was heating up quickly, so we didn’t stay long, but Banff is worthy of a week’s stay. Maybe later in the year when it’s cooler.

Well then it was just a run for the Calgary airport to drop off Alison for her flight home. She was also taking Short Pants’ bicycle, which had been rendered extraneous by the loss of our other bikes in Vancouver, the City of Thieves. Unfortunately, she was just a bit too late for her flight, so they bumped her to the next. That gave us time for lunch anyway. We went to Kelsey’s, where our Asian waiter pronounced ‘Thai’ like ‘thigh’ and could not distinguish fusilli from penne. The food was otherwise okay.

Those Johnston Kids and I, on our own again, had an enjoyable drive to the town of Drumheller, in the badlands of Alberta. We were early for a change! I took the rare opportunity to just do nothing for a bit, while the kids made friends with children from a neighbouring campsite. We had a late dinner of spicy KD and hit the hay.