Getting Ready for Alberta

I spent the greater part of my weekend readying myself, and my car, for Alberta.

Saturday I ordered my new Rogers phone online, which I am hoping will be shipped before I leave. Then I spent the afternoon on Map Quest, guesstimating travel times, stops/rests and sightseeing. Here is my tentative plan so far:

July 1st: Leave mom and dads and drive to Heather and Dana’s in Parry Sound for the night.
July 2nd: Early start, and 14 hour drive through Northern Ontario to Thunder Bay to stay at Sleeping Giant Provincial Park with Kiersten and Kerry.
July 3rd: Stop in to visit Uncle Ronnie and Aunt Qwen, and then drive to Brandon (12 hours) or Moose Jaw (15 hours), depending on traffic and fatigue.
July 4th: Drive to Calgary (12 or 14 hours, depending on where we stay the night before)
July 5th: Sleep in and spend the morning in Calgary. Visit the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame. Have lunch and head to Banff. Stay in Banff for the night and enjoy some mountain time.
July 6th: Sleep in and spend the morning and afternoon in Banff. Leave Banff for Edmonton. It’s about a 5-6 hour drive, depending on which way we go.
July 7th: Drop Chris off at the airport in Edmonton. Depending on his flight time, I will either head to La Crete after I drop him off, or stay another night and then head to La Crete bright and early in the morning.

Yesterday I decided I would start to cross off some of the things on my “Things to Buy” list on the white board in Mom’s kitchen. I spent way too much money. I went to Canadian Tire and bought a pair of really good, all season tires and then drove over to Future Shop and bought a laptop. And if that wasn’t enough, I went to Chapters to buy more maps of Canada and then out for dinner with some girlfriends. Needless to say, my pockets are empty now!