It was hard to believe that it was time to go home.  After two weeks in Canada, having the epic adventure of a lifetime, we now had to return to Arizona and get back to reality.  (Sigh!)

The good news was, our flight didn't depart until 3:30 p.m., which meant that we had enough time for one last hurrah.  John had been reading about the Kananaski Country, which included several provincial parks near Canmore.  We decided to go for a little explore through these parks, to kill time before our flight.

Upon leaving Canmore, we turned onto Road 742, or otherwise known as the Smith-Dorrien/Spray Road - a dirt highway that traverses several of the provincial parks.  Right away, we entered the Bow Valley Wildland Provincial Park and drove by Grassi Lakes, where there appeared to be some sort of power plant nearby.  Although there were pull-outs along the way, we didn't bother to stop.

The road soon curved away from the lakes and entered the forest; at that point, the road followed the boundary between Bow Valley Wildland and Spray Valley Provincial Parks.  Once in the forest, the scenery was much more pleasant - and much less industrial.  We also started to see lots of animal life; it was still quite early in the morning, so there were many deer out grazing in the trees.

The highlight of Spray Valley Provincial Park is Spray Lake - a long, narrow lake that is several miles in length.  In the cool, early morning, the lake was absolutely stunning, with clouds hanging low over the base of the surrounding mountains.  Nearby, on the opposite shores of the lake, we could see the campground, where people were just getting up to start their day.  How lovely it must have been to wake up to that splendor every morning!

While driving along Spray Lake, we came across a coyote - the first one we had seen in Canada!  Having believed that coyotes were indigenous to the southwest, I was surprised to learn that these wily animals lived so far north.  I had seen coyotes before - in fact, I had once seen one run across 32nd Street at Acoma in Phoenix one morning - but I certainly did not expect to see one in Canada. 

Towards the southern end of Spray Lake, Road 742 left Bow Valley Wildland Provincial Park entirely and cut across Spray Valley to Peter Lougheed Provincial Park.  Named for the former premier of Alberta, Peter Lougheed Park lies in the southern tip of the Kananaskis Country and borders on British Columbia.  According to the map that we had picked up at the Radium Information Center, one day earlier, there is a Visitor's Center about two-thirds of the way through the park, near the Lower Kananaski Lake and William Watson Lodge.  We thought that would be a good place for us to stop to gather information about trails in the Alberta provincial parks.

While at the Visitor's Center at Peter Lougheed Park, we did some last minute souvenir shopping - not that we needed any other souvenirs.  Mary bought a stuffed black bear because it reminded her of the two black bears that we had seen during our trip.  I, on the other hand, found two books, both compiled by author Matt Jackson - one called Mugged By a Moose, and the other called A Beaver Is Eating My Canoe.  Both books are, like Naked in the Woods, compilations of stories about adventures in the Great Outdoors, only these stories were submitted by various storytellers.  Some of the tales are inspiring; some of the tales are laugh-out-loud funny.  And some of the stories bear an eerie resemblance to my own life.  I should probably submit some of my own stories to this author...

Upon leaving the Visitor's Center, we drove down Kananaskis Lake Road - which was paved - to both the Lower and the Upper Kananaskis Lakes, to stop and take pictures.  Lower Kananaskis Lake was pretty, but the upper lake was even more impressive.  Since it was still early in the morning, there was no one out on the lake, so the water was like glass, bearing a perfect reflection of the mountains that surrounded it.  We could have stayed out there all day, admiring its beauty, if we didn't have a plane to catch.

As we got back into the car, John noticed something on top of the mountain nearby.  Sitting on top of the peak was a small red dot that appeared to be a backcountry tent.  Using the lens on the Nikon D80, I tried to zoom in on it the best that I could and found that it was indeed a tent!  Now that, we agreed, was the best place to pitch a tent!

At that point, we had reached the end of the road, so from there, we started driving north again, until we reached the junction with Alberta Highway 40.  On Highway 40, as we made our way north to the Trans-Canadian Highway, we saw several more deer, as well as another coyote.  Two coyotes in one day?  Now that was a surprise!

It was along Highway 40 that we came to Kananaskis Village, a resort in the Evan-Thomas Provincial Recreation Area.  This resort includes several hotels, a golf course, trails, mountain bike and outdoor gear rentals, and cross-country skiing during the winter.  We stopped there to take a break from driving and to check out the facilities; since it was still early - only ten in the morning - most of the shops were closed, and there weren't many people out and about.  We did find a convenience store where we bought a couple of sodas and a snack to get us through until lunchtime; we took these back to the car and continued our drive.

Eventually, Highway 40 returned us to the Trans-Canadian Highway.  As we started heading east, towards Calgary, we could see those magnificent peaks of the Canadian Rockies grow smaller and smaller in the mirror, as we drover further and further away.  It wasn't long before we were in the grassy plains and farmlands again...

It was hard to leave the Rockies behind like that, after two wonderful weeks there; but, at the same time, we were taking with us some of the best memories - it was a trip that we would never forget.  To celebrate the end of our grand vacation, we stopped at Earl's in Calgary for a nice, relaxing pre-flight lunch.  There, we talked about the highlights of our trip: our favorite activities, our favorite hikes, our favorite moments...

After a long, relaxing lunch, we continued on our way to the Calgary Airport.  At 1:00 p.m., we turned in the rental car; and then we slowly made our way to the ticket counter to check our bags.  It was a good thing that we were there early, too; the ticketing agent started having computer problems and had to complete our baggage check at another terminal.  She was very pleasant about it - and we didn't mind either.  It wasn't like we were in a hurry to leave.

Next, we had to go through Customs.  When flying from Canada to the United States, you go through US Customs in Canada.  This process, of course, was quick and painless, because we had all of our paperwork done and ready to go before we approached the Customs agent.

Finally, we had to go through Security; and, for the first time ever, both John and Mary managed to hold us up.  Mary had to have her backpack searched - I'm sure all of those Webkinz raised some red flags with the TSA agent - and John forgot to take his metal sunglasses off of his head before going through the metal detector.  As a result, he had to be "wanded" by the TSA agent.  I had to laugh at John; as frequently as he travels, he has a routine for passing through Security as quickly and efficiently as possible.  Apparently, it had been too long since he had traveled...

Once we were past Security, we relaxed at the bar until it was time to board our flight.  At 3:00 p.m., the plane opened up for boarding; and, at 3:30, our flight departed on time, for Phoenix.

After an uneventful flight, we landed in Phoenix; and as soon as we stepped off of the plane and into the jetway, we knew that we were home.  It was about one hundred ten degrees at 5:30, when we landed, and it was just oppressive.  I said to John, "No, forget it; I'm getting back on the plane and going to back to Calgary!"

Well, there was no denying it; we were home.  Once we had our bags, we met Erika outside, curbside, and she drove us back to our house.  We were greeted warmly and affectionately by Bootsie the cat, who had missed us while we were gone; he rubbed against our legs as if to say, "Never leave again."  (I think he missed Mary's Webkinz more, though; two hours later, he had a hold of Mary's cheeky monkey and was dragging him down the hallway.)

But, of course, you know that won't happen... There are many more years of adventures to be had, many more beautiful places to visit.  In the meantime, it was good to be home...

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