This was such a last minute trip for the kids and I. Dan’s dad told us about this Walton Family Reunion awhile ago, but we had decided that Dan would just go up for it. There was just no easy way of getting us all there. The nearest airport is like 4 hours away (and really expensive for us to fly) and we decided that a 18 hour drive each way was just way too long for just a 2 day reunion. Well, the closer it got, the more I felt we needed to go. The last Walton Reunion was 5 years ago in Idaho and we didn’t go to that one since we were in Ohio. And we’ve never been up to Cardston, where Dan’s grandparents live, and this could very well be the last time we see them. And Scott and Elisha were really wanting us to come:) So, I sucked it up and decided to go. To make the drive. “Family Duty,” I said. “I’m going out of Family Duty.” I needed a good reason to go. But the truth was, I didn’t have a good reason not to go. Just because I didn’t want to drive 18 hours? That was a good enough reason for awhile. But not in the end. So we went. And it actually only ended up being 16 hours. We did half of it Wednesday night after work, and the rest of it on Thursday. The kids were champs. We got in around 4:00. Just in time to check into the hotel and then head over to Dan’s grandparents house for dinner.
And Thursday night, as I watched Dan play Bocce with his grandfather, for perhaps maybe the last time on earth (I’m pretty sure Bocce will be part of heaven for the Walton’s. And Rook:), I couldn’t help but feel overwhelming appreciation that duty brought us here. To Cardston.
This man loves his Bocce. And he’s good at it!
Four generations of Walton boys, playing Bocce.
Friday was a great day. David was so excited to take us all to the Remington Carriage Museum right there in Cardston. He is fascinated by all types of “vehicles” and this place houses the largest collection of horse drawn vehicles in North America with over 270 carriages, buggies, wagons, and sleighs.
And look, right as we entered we could tell this place was going to be awesome!
It actually was a really neat place and very interesting. It was fun trying to imagine ourselves living during that time period, being chauffeured around in a horse drawn carriage, sending our kids to school on the “bus” wagon, watching the fire wagons put out fires, etc. It makes you realize how good we have it today. Oh so very good. It’s nice not having to go out to the barn and hitch up our horses any time we want to go somewhere. I just walk out to my garage, start up my car, and drive to California if I want to. And our streets don’t reek of horse poop. That’s another plus.
The warehouse, filled with tons of old carriages and wagons and all kinds of things. They even had the very handcart that Charles Ora Card and his wife (one of Brigham Young’s daughters) pushed from Salt Lake when they established Cardston.
Never too old to play cowboys.
David pulled out some toy guns he got the little boys. Definitely added to their Wild West playing!
Our little ride was fun too!
I just couldn’t resist posing them like this! These three had so much fun together on this trip. 
We then drove an hour through the beautiful southern Alberta countryside to Waterton Lakes National Park.
“Where the Mountains Meet the Prairie.” (that’s what the website says)
It was so beautiful hiking around in the Canadian Rockies.
The plan was to come to Red Rock Canyon in swimsuits and let the kids walk up the shallow stream, but it ended up being a cold day. Too bad, because the kids would have loved that. They still took off their shoes and rolled up their jeans, and had fun playing around the water.
Too bad it takes 18 hours to drive to this place . . . . because I really want to go back! It was gorgeous and just the perfect place for kids to play and walk up the creek.
Beautiful Canada:
These little guy were all over the place, just wanting some food:)
We drove further into the park to see the Prince of Wales Lodge. Isn’t that gorgeous?? I got the photo below off the internet, but I just love how it shows the setting.
The Lodge opened in 1927 and was named after Prince Edward. It was so cool inside and still retains its British atmosphere. 
Gorgeous views:
It was so windy!! This day was so funny because any time we were in the car driving around the park it would rain. Sometimes pretty hard. And then right when we would arrive somewhere where we wanted to get out and explore around, the sun would come out and give us enough sunshine to do what we wanted to do. Then it would start raining again as we headed back to the cars. Blessings I tell ya! haha.
Our next stop was Cameron Falls right in Waterton Village. See? The sun came out again:)
We were all admiring the waterfall, when Foster decided he wanted to pet one of the chipmunks that was scampering around. After all, it had stopped right by him and was holding perfectly still, just asking to be petted by a curious little 3 year old. Foster moved in as slowly as he could. He didn’t want to frighten the thing away.
Apparently chipmunks don’t like to be touched by 3 year olds, because as soon as Foster did, the chipmunk whipped around, sprang on his hand, and bit the top of his thumb. Poor Foster. He was crying pretty hard. Not only did he have a bite on his hand, but I think it really scared him. It reminded us all of when Foster purposely stepped on a bee with his bare foot in Vancouver a few months ago. This kid has to learn things the hard way:(
The chipmunk after the attack. Staring us down.
Then on the way back to the cars we saw some deer.
We thought the baby was cute. Foster asked if he could pet it.
Mary and David said it’s tradition to stop at this little place on the way home and get ice cream. Sounds good to us! They gave huge scoops.
Then we made a quick little stop to visit the Kearls, a family that recently moved to Cardston from B.C. Dan grew up with their son, Eldon. They have a pet pig which the kids thought was just the coolest thing!
