Road Trip - Day 1: Icefields - part 2

As I am sitting here typing and the kids are watching this movie, I suddenly realize it is NOT 10:30 - it is 11:30! That time change thingy again!! Caught me unawares! Off to bed, boys! Okay, finish the movie first - just a few minutes more.

They very quickly and quietly settle to sleep - two in each bed - and I begin typing again. A few minutes after midnight I hear an alarm begin beeping. Kind of quiet - I listen very hard to see if my alarm is on low down quiet. Nope, don't think so. But I can't be sure. Where can it be coming from? I try all the switches to see if I can turn it OFF. Nope.

Suddenly I realize it is coming from next door. But it has been beeping now for five minutes. Obviously they are in a stupor. So I thump on the wall. No response. Thump, thump, thump again. No response.

But now I have woken a sleepy teenager. "I was just falling asleep," he groans. He tells me it is my alarm. No it isn't, I tell him. His brother wakes up beside him. Then the little guy who has just broken into a cold (great timing!) wakes up. Aiy yigh yigh!!!

I call the front desk and tell them I think the neighbour's alarm clock is going off. She fixes the problem, I settle the children, and I resume typing. Gotta keep my hubby and son up to date on the home front!

So where was I?

Right, the Icefields. We got on the bus and headed out. The first bus took us through an 8 minute ride and then stopped. It could only take us on a road that was paved for so long and then it was gravel. Why? Cause the road shifts 3 feet a year!!!

We get on the Snow Explorer and take off. What a cool ride. We hit bumps and it is like being on a marshmallow. The tires are super soft so they don't dent the glacier. They go down a hill that is a 32% grade!!! WOW! It was like being on a fair ride! There is something in the engine that causes the vehicle to hold itself back. He doesn't even have to touch the brake. His foot was on the floor the whole time going down - it controls itself. Very powerful!

We rode through water at the bottom, so that the wheels were spotless so that there was no dirt taken to the icefield. Any drop of dirt will attract the sun and then it will cause melting in that spot. It was kind of creepy cause as I was walking around I could see these black clear like spots and I wondered if this was a 'soft spot'. Very freaky!

When we got out of the bus the ice was very slushy and we immediately got a bit wet. Some people, namely little people who were with big brothers, got very wet feet, before Mum came along and scooped the littlest up.

We climbed up to the area we were to see and were told to be careful of 'soft spots'. ZING - a lady beside disappeared up to her upper leg!! Whoa! Freaky!!! I was so careful. I had heard stories of crevaces and didn't want any of us disappearing down one!! *laugh*

Well, apparently, those soft spots are not crevaces, but just soft snow. But that was too much for me. How do *you* know how far down you are going to go before you stop? Some people dropped to their upper thighs!!!

The ice where we were standing was 3000 feet deep!! Can you imagine!!!

The glaciers are creeping forward down the mountains and you can see them sitting on the top of the mountain. It is an amazing site. The glacier is hanging directly above the boys head in the above picture.

This stream of water is on the side of the road. Because winter is just over, there is so much snow on the glacier - they get 30 feet in the winter!! But as spring is happening, it is starting to thaw. As it thaws, the water trickles, streams down the side of the road. As you can see it is a beautiful blue colour. Apparently, the lower down you go, the bluer it becomes.

Right in front of the boys in these two above pictures there is a huge glacier. It is like two shelves. If the boys walked forward about 1/2 km they would be in danger of falling into crevaces that are 300 - 400 feet deep!! And these crevaces open and close as the glacier moves, so there would be no hope of them getting out before they froze to death! Whoa!

I didn't mention this before, but as we were heading down highway 93, I saw a sign that said the next gas would be in 126 km. I looked at my tank and saw it was over half way and tossed around the idea of going back to Jasper. I didn't go back and headed out, thinking the whole way if I had made a mistake.

As I got closer to the Icefields (and after coasting when I could) I could see I was going to be at risk if I tried to get back to Jasper on the same tank of gas. So after we did our tour we had to head another 53 km in the *wrong* direction to get gas. How frustrating. But God is good. I tell you, I prayed to make it go fast, and it flew. Before I knew it I had gas and was on my way back. We lost about 1 hour that way, plus the ridiculous hour I lost to the time change. Talk about feeling gypped!! *laugh*

These are pictures of our drive out of Jasper Park. And this is my navigator, Dane.

As we drove through the Jasper Parkway again, we began seeing these signs:

And immediately after, we would see the animals it was telling us to be cautious of. Dane was so thrilled. He had a magazine that showed us the animals we might see in the park, and he assured us we had seen most of the big ones!

The following picture was the most amazing. We were driving along and then saw all these cars pulled over. We knew it had to be animals again, so I quickly pulled in and then looked out. I could see nothing. Everyone was looking *way* up the rock face - about 40-50 feet up. Way up there on sheer vertical edges with only little lips to jump from and to, were a handful of small mountain goats! They were so neat to watch!

And then there were my children - traveling so nicely! We left home at 6:20 am and got into our stop in Edson, Alberta, at 9:00 pm. They all did so well. Only Briton got a little upset at the end of the journey. But who can fault the little guy - he has the beginning of a cold and doesn't feel so good, plus having to sit in one of those nasty car seats all day!

Boys in the backseat are enjoying their turn on the car tv. And then we quickly found a nice hotel to stay in: managed to get all five boys in one room, free cot, free breakfast, clean room, clean bathroom. Nice place! All for $107, including tax! Can't beat that!

We got into our hotel, ordered in the special pizza from the pizza place, relaxed, bathed the little ones, blogged. And now here they all are crashed out from their busy day! See you tomorrow with tomorrows adventures!