Bergjord Boarding

August 2018

By: Luke

It is time to start making our way back home. We aren’t just packing up and heading straight home. We have a ski town to visit, glaciers to see, and a highway calling our name.

We start by visiting Banff. It is home to the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel. This is an absolute behemoth estate at the edge of this town. It was out of season for the skiers, but it was still very busy.

I remember parking being a pain, but the town was very walkable once you found a spot. There were many dining options and souvenir shops everywhere you looked. It was a beautiful town!

We also went on a glacier sight seeing drive at some point. There were multiple glaciers in view from the highway that we pulled over to see. There were off in the distance, but any excuse to pull over and stand and admire the beautiful British Columbia view is a good one.

We have our drive home looming over us. Specifically, we have a drive to James town where we left my sister’s car in a McDonalds parking lot, and then a drive to Aberdeen. The beauty of BC can not be overstated, and neither can the boredom of Saskatchewan. We drove on Trans Canada Highway 1 for a long chunk.

Our horizon got pretty flat pretty fast. We left the dramatic landscape behind for a more familiar one. It’s funny how your brain automatically forgets the long boring stretches. Though, we did have one stand out moment.

We are used to rest stops at regular intervals on US interstates. In Canada they had similar things. Instead of buildings with vending machines and indoor plumbing, they have glorified outhouses. The buildings are brick and mortar, but you did you business into a deep hole.

I mention that to give a little context to a story my family loves. We had pulled over to one of these lovely establishments and were the only ones there. We took turns taking care of business and it was my turn. I was in the middle of the paper work when a random man burst into the room and said, “oh!” as I said. “Sorry!”.

I didn’t lock that dang door and my family laughed about it for miles.