fracas

This is the last of the four things I said I’d come clean about in this, the original post about the fraccy holiday. So indeed, after you read this post, you’ll realize that everything else on that list was a lie. It’s not that I haven’t done those things or plan to do those things… just that I didn’t do them on this particular trip!

So far, to recap, I’ll bold the three things I’ve already ‘fessed up to. The list was as such:

1. I experienced a wee bit of Africa on the back of a donkey.
2. I viewed the mountainside from a gondola almost 8,000 feet above sea level.
3. I bought five pairs of kick-ass shoes from stores we don’t have here in Saskatchewan.
4. I ate delicious (though overpriced) food in a five star restaurant.
5. I laid on a bed of nails because I’m cool like that Criss Angel guy.
6. I changed a flat tire on the side of a highway.
7. I experienced the joy of a sulphur pool.
8. I saw a bear, therefore I bought new pants.
9. I stood on a glass floor in a tower 5,000 feet above sea level.
10. I won $780.00 gambling at a casino in Manitoba.
11. I lost $78.00 gambling at a casino in Manitoba.
12. I enjoyed a hot air balloon ride over Southern California.
13. I joined the Alberta Speleological Society and went caving.
14. I crossed Ontario’s longest suspension foot-bridge (overlooking Georgian Bay).
15. I photographed nature at its finest in Glacier National Park in Montana.
16. I spent four days touring wineries

To complete the list, I am compelled first, to give you a bit of history. I know, I know. You aren’t really interested in history.

I mean fraccy history… that oughta make a difference. (Shameless self promotion, isn’t it?)

I don’t like heights. I believe that’s called Acrophobia.

When I was but a young fraccy lass, I used to work in a very tall building that one could go out on the rooftop of and freak out at the very thought of falling off of enjoy the city lights. I’ve known since then, that I just don’t like heights. A common thing to do where I live, is to walk the trails down by the river that runs through the city, and at one point, stop and climb the train bridge. The stairs are those kind made of metal bars, where you can see through them all the way up. I can’t stand to climb the dumb thing, even though it’s only a few flights high. It’s creepy.

What do you think then, that the last of the four things I did would be?

Though # 16. “I spent four days touring wineries” would be more likely, if you said #2. I viewed the mountainside from a gondola almost 8,000 feet above sea level, then you would be correct.

Indeed, to please a certain eleven year old boy whom I love more than he will ever understand, I climbed into the seat of a very tiny little gondola car with he and his older brother, and told myself I would be fine if I just took pictures and remembered that I believe in God and if it’s my time to go, it’ll happen on the ground, by someone else’s gondola car falling on my head… only I will have missed out on the chance to do something wonderful.

So I went.

And it was wonderful.

The photo above is of one of the actual gondola cars I rode in, on the actual gondola track at Banff’s Sulphur Mountain. At the top of Sulphur Mountain, is an observation station that allows you to walk under the area where the gondolas arrive, around the back to a lookout area that leads to some footpaths that allow you to hike about the mountain as much as you want, and around to a stairway that takes you on a hike over to yet another mountain.  If anyone is planning on holidaying to Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada, I recommend that you plan to spend most of a day up at the top. There’s a restaurant so you can stop for a bite, and if I went again, I would plan to spend more time up there. Though the day was warm, the ice on the observation deck (from overnight) still hadn’t melted yet because the air up there is colder, so remember to take a jacket.

You may read about the location by clicking on this link to the Banff Goldola site. They have a live webcam feature that takes a picture every five minutes.

The photos in this post are fracas photos, taken with the fraccy fingers while on the actual gondola. Unless I choose to place the photos on the Images page, (which I may decide to do) please respect my copyright since Banff photos are available in other places online. I’m placing mine here to tell a story. You may also view any of the pictures by clicking; they’ll open up in a new window.

Above: Photo left is the what the ride up the mountain looks like from the bottom; photo right is what the ride looks like from the gondola exit station at the top of the mountain.

Above: Photo left is the view of the trees from inside the gondola car, photo right is the mountain view from inside the gondola car.

Above: Photo left is the view of the stairway to the other mountain, from the observation deck; photo right is the view of the observation deck atop Sulhpur Mountain, from the other mountain (yep, we did the stairs and it was a lovely walk).

Above: Photo left is another view of the Banff area from the observation deck atop Sulphur Mountain; photo right is another view from one of the hiking trails.

So there you have it. You might have thought the answers to numbers 3 or 4, 10 or 11 or even 16 would have been the correct answers, but truth be told, those who love their kids do all kinds of things they might never have otherwise done in order to give their kids some great memories. In the process, sometimes we learn things about ourselves we’d never have otherwise learned.

And isn’t that one of the rewards for having the little tykes?