Partial solar eclipse

 I love our little ravine and also Kaya's kite from school. Fill your heat with love. Be truthful. Don't steal. Be safe. Smile! Say "Please and thank you."

 The kids filled stitch the homemade pumpkin with leaves.

The astronomers had set up a special viewing of the eclipse and I also read about how the shadows are semi-circles during a partial solar eclipse. Low and behold - it's true.

Fish creek park

 We returned to my childhood haunts and enjoyed a walk by the stream in the setting sun.

Charlston, South Carolina

It took us 14 hours and three airports and lots of sprinting but we finally made it to Charleston after United informed us when we landed in Houston that our connecting flight was cancelled.

 We took a horse drawn carriage tour of the downtown.

 Here is the house where George Washington stayed.

 The haberdashery man made of hats.

 A tree growing into the building had the wall built around it.

 Our trusty steed.

Yes, there is an alligator in the swamp on the hotel grounds. 

My favorite sight on the boardwalk to the beach.

The badlands and the Royal Tyrrell Museum

 Black beauty.

 An action shot a few million years in the making.

 The kids enjoyed shooting the balls in the play area and watching the brightly coloured bubbles.

We took a guided tour of the badlands and the kids found all of the items on their scavenger hunt checklist.

Elbow lake on horseback

It seems it is the time for high adventure. We journeyed over sharp paths into alpine moraine and a crystal clear lake.

Rat's Nest Cave

 Portrait compliments of my eight year old.

 Bryan and I head out for our first spelunking adventure to Rat's Nest cave near Canmore.

The bushy tailed wood rat, a type of pack rat, carries prehistoric animal bones dating to over 3,000 years ago around the vast 12 km (so far explored) cave network.

 We slide our way down the entrance.

 Once down the chute, we log roll and squeeze through various parts of the cave.

 The grotto is as far as we descend. The formations here accumulate at only 1 cm per 100 years.

Bryan does the challenge squeeze, emerging from the pitch black after a solid effort. It is so narrow you need to stretch one arm forward and one arm back or else your shoulders will get stuck.

I was surprised to realize I had to turn my head sideways to avoid wedging my chin against limestone at various points. It was a good exercise in mental control to be in a very small space with 8 other people in the blackness far underground and to have the exit blocked by someone who got stuck (or temporarily immobilized as the guides like to say). Realizing that there is no immediate threat but only imaginings of what might be helped to calm my heart rate a bit. Plus, everything was fine and it feels amazing to have explored somewhere I did not even know existed so near to home.