Saturday morning, time to head out.

We got up, finished getting ready and packed the final bits, and headed out.

We, again, opted to eat breakfast out for the same reason as the previous day's dinner. We got a recomendation from someone in town the previous night and headed to Craig's Way Station. Breakfast was tasty.

We then headed for Calgary & the airport. We opted to take the slower drive back, the more scenic route. Also known as 1A. It took a different path back to Calgary, but was pretty. And we saw a herd of bighorn sheep along the way too. The elevation between where we were staying in Canmore and Calgary is not very different, just a few hundred feet difference, but the difference in vegetation is dramatic. Once you get out of the valley (we were in Bow Valley) it changes a lot. There's lots of green space but the plants are so different. Gone were the aspen trees and the evergreens (pine or whatever they were), pretty much the trees were gone.

We knew we'd left town with plenty of time to spare, so when we got to Calgary, we needed to kill some time, and thought that LB would probably do better on the flight if we didn't spend our extra time in the airport. So Phil spotted a big natural park area on our way and directed us there. We went for a bit of a walk, then LB declared that he needed to poop, so we headed back to the car, then down the road just a little bit to the police station, figuring they'd have a restroom he could use. And, indeed they did. While Phil and LB took care of business, I asked the officer at the desk if there was a park nearby with benches or tables where we could eat lunch. He was pretty useless, but did give LB an activity book. So I pulled out the GPS and found a park on the map that was nearby. We headed there to eat lunch. Lunch consisted mostly of leftovers-hard boiled eggs, ham, fruit, etc... As we sat in the residential park at 12:30 on a Saturday (complete with playground, lacrosse fields, soccer field, and baseball diamond) it struck me as very odd that the place was completely empty. It was just weird. We had a pleasant lunch and LB was introduced to the teeter-totter. They also had horse swings, sort of like carousel horses, but with 4 chains and hanging from a swing set like structure. And then it was time to head to the airport. We stopped along the way to refill the tank and headed in. We just beat the Hertz rental car return rush but when we got into the terminal, there was a HUGE line for United. Eventually we got our seats and headed into customs. Yes, that's right, US customs is in Calgary, not at the other end of the flight. I wonder if that's new or what. But, at least we got through and didn't have to deal with it at the other end in San Francisco.

So we flew to SF with no problems. LB napped for maybe an hour on the flight (it was 3 pm so he was quite ready for some sleep). He continued his pattern of being a good traveler.

We arrived at SFO and had some time to kill before our connection left. We found our departing gate and then opted for dinner. Then Phil and LB wandered the airport (intrepid explorers).

Eventually we got on the flight-this was the only flight that was a bigger plane. All the previous flights were 2-2 seat configurations, this one was 3-3 and the rows were closer together too. I think LB might have annoyed the woman in front of him by wanting to play with the tray table and just generally being talkative, but oh well.

We made it to Burbank, got our luggage, and got our ride home. It's a mixed bag to be back home. Happy to be in my own bed, my own house, and in familiar digs, but vacation was NICE!! I hope LB can remember it and appreciate it.

And so this ends the vacation journaling. Rest assured, there will be pictures coming, but with 900+ pictures (that's over a gig of memory, BTW) it'll take some sorting and choosing before a decent album can be made.