4 Wheels 4 Girls

In British Columbia, we spotted moose
A ton of deer, a black bear, a goose
Icefields and glaciers so high above
Oh Canada!, you have so much to love
Vast forests and lakes so awesome, so neato
But then we encountered the dreaded mosquito
Now wherever we go they are there to greet us
Wherever we go they are waiting to eat us
In wind and in rain, they hover around
All day and all night, mosquitos abound
They gather for miles to engulf everyone
They swarm so thick, they block out the sun
They whine in our ears, they buzz in our face
Must they inhabit such a beautiful place?
Scourge of the north, attacking banditos
Blood sucking devils, begone you mosquitos!

June 21 we drove to the youcoc. Thar a persen in ruodoff cold youcon coneleyis. And the Alaska highway I was so happy that i spelled that i that thy and i robd dady back. on the way dad spoted a crter a red fox i thote it had arabeyzy . In then we drove for alittle wile and came ocrose ether they were mountain goats or goats or big horn sheep. an then i spoted a big warterfall . And onlementen little ouense

At the start of Canada Highway 37

[Editor’s translation:
June 21, we drove toward the Yukon. There is a person in Rudolph (the Red-nosed Reindeer) called Yukon Cornelius. On the Alaska highway I was so happy. And I rubbed Daddy’s back. On the way, Dad spotted a critter: a red fox. I thought it had rabies. And then we drove for a little while and came across goats. Either they were mountain goats or goats or big horn sheep. And then I spotted a big waterfall. And countless little ones. ]

The road north, toward Yukon and the Alaska Highway

A red fox on the road

Lakes, forest, and snow-capped mountains

A mountain goat

On June 20th, we arrived at Glacier View campground in Smithers, British Columbia. So far I like it a lot.

The campground is called Glacier View for a pretty good reason

I like it even better than yesterday’s campground. This one has a really good internet connection, a great place to run around, nice bathrooms and showers, a gift shop, a tire swing, and lots more cool stuff. The only thing is.. the mosquitoes are TERRIBLE here. Unfortunately a pine tree, which the mosquitoes picked as their favorite hideout, is directly outside the door of our camper. It’s quite annoying. 🙁

We’re about to eat lunch, which is angel hair pasta and shrimp. It smells REALLY good. Yummmmmmm.

More later!!!

On June 20, after leaving the campground we drove to Smithers. We drove along a forest. We were looking out for critters. I was not, I was busy playing with my toy horses. We drove for about a hour looking for our campground. Then Daddy said, “deer.” We all looked and saw a deer. Then somebody said, there’s twin fawns. When we saw the fawns we all thought they were the cutest things in the world. They looked so fuzzy that I wanted to hop out and go pet them. They had so many spots. They looked like they were just born because they were so small. Their mom licked them. I loved when they jumped. They were so cute. We got like a hundred pictures of them. After that we said goodbye to the cutest fawns in the world. Daddy said we should watch the movie Bambi. Mommy said we should not watch it because it was sad. After that we hit the road again.

Here are the cutest fawns in the world!

Every night Daddy reads To Kill a Mocking Bird. Every night when we got closer to the end we all begged him to read more, even Mommy did. When he finished we all felt really sad. My favorite character was Atticus. Why because he was real nice and he stood up for a black man and he also thought that every one was equal. I think so too.

June 19, after the drive from Prince George, (on that drive by the way, Ana saw a moose!!!) we found a nice campground called Shady Rest RV Park. It is a good rest from the drive and it IS shady, but the one problem is the mosquitoes. Otherwise it’s great. 🙂

Playing in the field

The temperature is nice, and there’s a great grassy field right in front of our RV that’s perfect for running around in. My sisters immediately went outside, and I did as soon as I finished my algebra. We ran around and got rid of some of the energy that was bottled up inside us from the long drive. It was fun.

Campground field and flowers

Now I’m inside writing this post, and it’s almost dinnertime. We’re having a pork roast and potatoes. Yum! (I hope.)

This is a nice place. I’m glad we came here. ;P

June 19th, it was suddenly Father’s Day! I didn’t have any time to make a card! I wish I did. But when I told Dad that I didn’t make one, and I told him that I still loved him, he said it was okay.

We were driving along when we pulled into a parking lot. I looked out the window and we were at Michael’s! I hopped up and got my shoes on. I love Michael’s! And I have a gift card, also. We went inside and looked around. There were tons of crafts and artsy things to do. Greta pulled me over to a rack filled with charms. A lot of them were on sale. I looked along the rows and one of them caught my eye. A trumpet! I wouldn’t have been excited if I was a stranger to it, but I play the trumpet. The charm was really cute. It was silver and small, just how I like it. Jean, Ellie, Ana, and Greta were up at the check out line, so I went up there quickly and asked if I could get it. I was not surprised to hear that Jean thought it was great. So I got it.

After we left Michael’s, we went to Dairy Queen! What a wonderful day! We ordered six shakes and brought them back to the RV. They were delicious! We had them with lunch, which was turkey, ham, cheese, and lettuce sandwiches. They were good, too.

Then we drove until it was time for dinner. We had enchiladas that Jean made. I always love Jean’s cooking. Before we went to bed a little while later, Dad read the cards that we had made for him. It was a nice Father’s Day.

June 19, we drove from Prince George to Houston, British Columbia.

I thought we would not see anymore animals, but we did see more animals. Like moose. My dad tried to spot a porcupine, but I didn’t think he would spot one. He did spot a log that he said was a P.L.T. (porcupine-like-thing). I corrected him. It was a W.L.T. That’s a wood-like-thing. We did see a lot of cows and horses, and we did see some glaciers. I spotted a deer, and I said, “deer!” It was actually a big girl moose standing in some water, drinking. We stopped to look at it, and it ran out of the water. Everybody got to see it. Then it ran into the woods.

Our best picture of a moose so far

At the end of our day traveling up the Icefields Parkway, we stayed at a Jasper National Park campground. The next day, June 18 (happy birthday, Brother!), we explored Jasper. Jasper was a very nice little town; it was surrounded by snow-capped mountains. And it was busy. It was full of cute, alpine houses and felt a lot like Banff, but a little less touristy.

From Jasper, we drove west to Prince George. I have never seen so much untouched, contiguous forest in all my life, as on that four hour trip. It was simply amazing. Aside from the road and the occasional rest area, there were few signs of man. No houses, no farms, no crossroads, nothing. There was one town somewhere in the middle, McBride, and even that was quietly nestled into the pine forest.

Along the way, we spotted two black bears and a fox. We stopped for lunch at a rest area. Jean made homemade egg mcmuffins, and they were wonderful! Another shout-out goes to our pal, Lori, who the kids praise for introducing them to this and so many other culinary treats.

After the cool grizzly bear we continued up the Icefields Parkway. We drove along the Sunwapta River and then the Athabasca River. We went to Athabasca Falls. When we got there we put on our tennis shoes and groaned. We walked though a small forest until we came to the Athabasca River.

Athabasca River, on its way to the Arctic Ocean

We walked along the river to a bridge and we looked at the waterfall. It was roaring down. We also saw a rainbow. We could feel the mist. After that we went across another bridge. Mommy said she was going to go start dinner. After that we walked though a forest and came to another lookout. We listened to the waterfall for a few minutes and then we went down in this small canyon. We were surrounded by rock walls. We went to this pit place. Dad says it was called a pothole. It was like a small swamp with dirty water. After that we went to another lookout over the waterfall. It was roaring and then it became a calm river again. We looked at the color of it and then headed back. It was frosty blue, like Bow Lake.

Athabasca Falls

We passed the roaring waterfall on the way back up. When we got back to the RV we had pasta, the kind that Lori made. It was really good.