Sliding Doors: Banff 2009

Door #1

A short trip to Banff. The sun was shining, the mountains were majestic, and the road was clear and dry. There was a little snow spray coming off the top of one peak from the breeze. Beautiful! We ate lunch in the car as we drove to our one day vacation. When we got to our hotel, the boys were so excited. "Is this where we live?" they asked, as they checked out the bedroom, kitchen and loft. I'm sure they would have been happy to spend the entire time in the hotel, which may have had something to do with the fact that they were allowed to play their DS after several days without it.

We spent half an hour relaxing, letting the baby get used to his new surroundings, and allowing the older boys to play video games. Then we headed to the Banff Museum, where we discovered a ridiculous number of stuffed birds and animals from 120 years ago. Fascinating! Following that was a delicious dinner at the Keg, I had an amazing chicken and mushroom with balsamic sauce, and a mango daiquiri. Mmmmmmm. Back at the hotel for cupcakes, and then a family movie with popcorn and Twizzlers.

We woke up in the morning to a baby deer standing outside our window. A relaxing morning, breakfast in the hotel room, then Starbucks and a walk by the river. We picked up some fudge (of course!) and then ended the trip with a soak at the Hot Springs.

Door #2

A short trip to Banff. A week ago I decided to book a hotel, and plan a little vacation to celebrate Spring Break and my husband's birthday. I tried to plan everything so we would have a nice, relaxing time. You know what they say about the best laid plans.

I think it all started to go wrong when we got to the hotel. I should have put the baby down for a quick nap before we did anything else. That way he would have been refreshed for the afternoon, and he would have had a short sleeping experience in this strange place before we expected him to go down for the night. What actually happened is we did not let him nap, so by the time we got to the restaurant for dinner, he was sooooooo cranky I had to walk him around almost the entire time, and ate my food so fast I could barely taste it. Then I sat in the car with him while the rest of the family finished their dinner in peace.

We headed straight back to the hotel, during which drive the baby slept, which was bad timing. We had birthday cupcakes, after whispering "Happy Birthday to You" so as not to wake him. We watched a movie, in between his screaming fits. We had to watch it on the tiny portable DVD screen, because I forgot to pack the TV connector. I also forgot the remote, so when someone pressed stop instead of pause, during one of the screams, we had to watch the movie from the beginning again.

The baby did not sleep all night. I mean, he would pass out from sheer exhaustion, but then wake up screaming 20 minutes later. After hours of trying everything we could think of, including taking him for a drive around silent Banff at 1:30am, I decided I would just stay awake and calm him quickly when he stirred, so my husband could sleep a few hours. The next day, after one kid complained about having to walk too far, and the other insisted on getting a candy apple, which (of course!) he didn't eat, the baby slept in the stroller (thank god!). We finally had a relaxing moment in the Hot Springs, and headed home. We picked up McDonald's when we got into the city, which neither of the older boys ate, because they were too carsick.


Both of these description apply to the same 27 hour period. I will try, try, try to file the first one into my memory, and forget the second. But we all know that the negative tends to stand out in our minds, and in the end, it will make a more entertaining story. (Some day, when I have caught up on my sleep.)

By the way, there are no pictures for this post. I forgot to charge the camera battery before we went.