Athabasca River

I'm finally getting around to posting some of our Alberta adventures. Mark's camera was full of pictures, but I have been so crazy busy since we got home and the kids started school that it took a couple of weeks to get around to unloading his memory card.

If you ask the kids what their favorite thing we did in Canada was, they will all tell you it was rafting on the Athabasca River. It is a big, wild, crazy river, and the section they did was through the Athabasca Canyon, starting right below Athabasca Falls. But I did not get to go on this adventure. Mark took the 6 oldest kids, and I stayed back with Zack. To do the really fun rapids section of the river, you have to be 6 years old, which Zack is not. We could have ALL gone on a lame, calm section of the river, but why? What fun is a river without steep canyon walls at least class 3 rapids? We needed some clean clothes, anyway, so Zack and I spent the afternoon at the laundromat and walking around the town of Jasper while everyone else was on the river.

The rafting company outfitted everyone with wetsuits, wet shoes and splash jackets, and they were off for the time of their lives in 38 degree water.

Zack and I had a fun afternoon by ourselves. Zack thought it was fascinating to put money into washing machines. I was annoyed to pay $5 to use the same Dexter triple load washers I have in my basement at home. We washed and dried and took the laundry back to the hotel, and then we got an ice cream cone and sat on a bench and watched the trains come and go at the Jasper station. Zack is such a curious and talkative kid. It really was fun to spend the afternoon with just him after all the craziness and claustrophobia of 9 of us in a van or hotel room.