Canada Day proved to be simply splendid. In most ways if maple leaves were switched for stars and strips it would not be obvious we were not celebrating the Fourth of July. With that said there were enough differences that it kept things interesting. Some of the differences were external and some of the differences were internal. Externally something we would have never noticed on our own but was pointed out to us by a local resident is that Canada does not use as many flags on Canada Day as the United States uses on Independence Day. Another difference which was pointed out to us is that Canada Day was not mentioned in church over the pulpit. The largest internal difference was that we were observing the day without preconception of what should happen in the day. Anything nice that happened was allowed to happen and be enjoyed without the overhead of a comparison of previous years and fear of missing an optimal holiday experience. We were able to approach Canada Day without what I will call for lack of more creativity the "should" and "have to" lists. Also as a mix of an internal and external difference in our experience is that in as much as we were away from extended family we chose to celebrate with many more community events. So many of the things we did were available and done in the United States it was just that for what ever reason they weren't things we did on the Fourth of July.
We started Canada Day at a community pancake breakfast. Something fun there is the way they would get the pancakes off the grill. The cook would flip the pancake high into the air and then a boy would catch them (most of the time) in a large serving pan. I was happy with the quality of the pancakes and delighted with the quality of the ham they served with it. There really is something to ham and maple syrup. Seating was a bit limited which proved to be a good thing in that the limitation pushed us into sitting next to people where as if there were open tables I am sure that inhibition and practicality would have put us at our own table. The gentleman I visited with through breakfast was very politically oriented so he was a great person to provide information about Canada Day. He was the person who pointed out the difference in flag count and lack mention of the holiday in churches.
Finishing breakfast left just enough time to get back to the parade. The parade was very much like parades we watch in the United States. Differences if any I believe were a reflection of the community rather than the country. After the we took the kids back to the splash park under the 100 foot dinosaur. The weather was hot enough that Lexie and I put spent some time in the splash park ourselves not really playing but just getting some water on us to beat the heat. After spending much less time than the kids would have liked in the splash park we headed over toward lunch. Even though we had just finished breakfast 2 hours prior lunch was only available from noon to 1:30 PM and we didn't want to miss it. From church we had learned that the grocery store did a beef on a bun barbeque. We weren't quite sure what beef on a bun was but figured it would be hard to go wrong with it. I am not sure if they did anything special to it but it turned out to be exactly what it sounded like a roast beef sandwich. There was a car show next to the grocery store which I am sure we would have skipped were it not for its proximity to our lunch spot and our excitement to do as many of the Canada Day activities as possible. None of the cars were mind blowing but it was obvious that a lot of time and love had been put into the cars. I kind of got excited about the idea taking on a project like one of those cars but the reality is that I don't think a project like that really suits my composition. I can almost count the times I have actually hand washed a car as opposed to simply hoping that a good rain storm did a good enough job and then deciding to wait for the next rain storm if it didn't.
We enjoyed the parade.
The kids had a lot of fun at the splash park.
On the map and on some signs we had seen some things call hoodoos about 10 miles out of town. We didn't know what they were but had gathered from towns folk that they were worth seeing, an interesting geological formation where a cap of sandstone slows erosion of material underneath to create little mushroom like protrusions. On the way out to the hoodoos we took a detour to follow a section of road that was in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the highest number of bridges in the shortest space of road, 11 bridges in 6 kilometers. I like bridges and not having the trailer seemed like a good time to explore them. For something that held a world record I was a bit under whelmed however it was a nice drive.
The hoodoos were a lot of fun. They were at the base of the valley with a trail that went to the top. The trail got steeper and steeper as we went up so between observation and advice of others on their way down it was decided that Lexie would wait with David and Natalyn while I took Ty and Dallin to the top. The trail proved to be a bit beyond what even the older boys were up for and they took a lot of encouragement to get to the top and even more to get back down. I was disappointed that their fear of injury and death was keeping them from enjoying the fun climbing but also amused to think of the role reversal. For all of the time it seems that the boys spend in much more danger than they realize they are in it was enjoyable in a way to see them exaggerating a danger. I tried to make up something of a listen to you parents lecture but I don't have much optimism that any of it stuck. By the time we were in the parking lot I was barking at them to pay attention and explaining that they were in more danger there than they were when they were on the hill scared. In the end I was proud of how well the boys did on the hill. Next time I will try to get them on something a little more gentle. David and Natalyn had a lot of fun sliding on their bottoms to get down the hill.
The hoodoos are very interesting geologic formations.
Climbing the hill behind the hoodoos.
Looking down on the hoodoos.
Taking a break in a small cave.
Ty and Dallin were a bit nervous on the way down.
On the way back to town we saw a sign for a suspension bridge. I thought it was a car bridge and thought it odd to have a sign for it but being a bridge junky followed the sign anyway. It turned out to be a foot bridge over the river. The view of the river off the bridge was great and I was delighted to find what I am reasonably sure was fossilized bone fragment on the other side. Other than the museum class which is hard to count I think that was my first time finding a fossil.
Crossing the suspension bridge.
Back in town there was a small festival with face painting a few games and a blow up slide. The kids had a ball on the slide. The line for face painting was too long so we missed that which was a shame because the people doing the face painting were doing some great faces.
In the evening there was a free concert featuring a local celebrity JD Bixby a runner up on Canadian Idol, the Canadian equivalent of American Idol. People told us that he was expected to get very popular. If he does get extremely famous it will be fun to have seen him when he wasn't. By the end of the concert Lexie and I concluded that JD would certainly be able to make a living singing if he wanted but would need to clean up a few things if he was going to get bigger. The fireworks were fun to watch. The closest place to view the fireworks put us behind some trees so we missed a few of them but in a way the framing of the trees made a nice effect.
The kids had fun playing on a blowup slide.
David showing us how big his piece of Canada's birthday cake would be.
Dallin and David enjoying cake on the grass.
Natalyn I guess you do have to watch out for those things.
An evening concert.
Partied out!
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