75th Birthday Celebrated at the Upper Hot Springs

What an afternoon it was! My kids love the hot springs any time of year, so when we found out that the Banff Upper Hot Springs were celebrating their 75th Birthday, we knew we just had to bring the family! The festivities began in the morning with free admission being offered to seniors who wanted to celebrate with a soak. At 2o'clock we were entertained with some great music and memorable singing with pieces from all over the globe, representing the Spring's international popularity of the past and present.

The fun continued with the lighting of the candles on the floating tiered birthday cake! Everyone waited with itchy trigger-fingers as the staff tried to get the candles lit! We were asked to bring water guns so we could shoot out the flames... and believe me, the kids were armed and dangerous!


Next up - water games and races with children and parents. The weather was beautiful and made you wish that summer could last just a little longer!!

It was nice to see all of the people who felt brave enough to wear the vintage suits common to the early years of the Springs. Available in all sizes, the young and old were thrown back to an earlier time where life was a little slower.


HAPPY BIRTHDAY UPPER HOT SPRINGS!


And thanks for the fun!!

The outdoor spring-fed hot pool is open year-round. The kids will love the children’s wading area and you will love the great views of Banff's famous Mount Rundle and appreciate the restored 1930s heritage bathhouse!

Okotoks Erratic

When driving 10 kilometers west of Okotoks, a town located just south of Calgary, on highway 7, you will come upon an interesting sight: a leftover from the times when glacial ice covered the landscape known as "The Big Rock".

It really is an amazing bolder. As you get out of your car and walk towards the boulder, it only gets bigger - much bigger. You look up and look beyond the many cracks and faults and realize that this big quartzite rock once travelled on an advancing glacier from Jasper, until it came to its present location. This is just one erratic of a trail stretching from Jasper, Alberta to Montana in the United States called the Foothills Erratics Train.

Our children were amazed and couldn't believe that such a big rock would be in the middle of the flat prairie. They are of course used to seeing mountains and wondered where the mountain is that dropped this big boulder!

This is a great way to show children what the ice age was like and the power of glacial ice. This erratic even became part of the Blackfoot tribe with a charming story of how the big rock split. You may even be able to see some Aboriginal pictographs which also grace these rocks.

Now, for your own safety and the rock's preservation you will have to fight your urge to climb the "Big Rock". This Provincial Historical Site is roped off and to be admired from a distance!