The Lane's next BIG trip: Day 7. Banff. Thursday 26th December

Chelsea was finally feeling better, and wanted to go outside after breakfast and play in the snow followed by a soak in the hot pool. It was good to have her almost back to 100% again. After an early lunch we were picked up by a mini bus and driven 40 minutes away into the hills near Canmore to go Dog Sledding. We booked this some months ago knowing how popular it is and were all really looking forward to it.. The 'tour' started with introductions to the dogs and then a run down on what commands are required to drive the sleds. Christine and Jake teamed up in one sled and Andrew, Chels and Cam in another. There was a total of 16 sleds with tour guides strategically placed between every 2nd or 3rd sled driving people that didn't want to drive themselves. The tour route went through the beautiful countryside along a sometimes bumpy track for a few kms before heading back to the start via an ice lake and more tracks next to a river. Andrew and Christine drove the first half. Each sled had 6 dogs and they were all very, very excited to get going. In fact they were so hard to control for the first couple of minutes that Christine was quite worried she wouldn't be able to handle them. Once we got started though, she found the dogs and the sled very easy to control. At the half way point Christine swapped driving with Jacob and Chelsea joined Andrew as a driver. (Both Chels and Cam were not heavy enough to be solo drivers). After a couple more kms Chelsea and Cameron then swapped over. The ~~funniest~~ most serious part of the day was when Jacob lost control and fell off the back of his sled while trying to negotiate a corner over some bumps. That left a petrified Christine sitting in a driverless sled and she was worried she'd end up in the middle of the ice lake. Luckily the tour guide in front of Andrew saw what had happened and managed to catch the runaway sled. Most of this ~~hilarious~~ commotion (but not the fall itself) was captured on Andrew's new camera that he was wearing attached to his sunglasses. Jacob can be seen walking/jogging back to the sled. See this YouTube Link for a laugh! (It's only a low resolution video as the high version couldn't be uploaded on the hotel WiFi.) Jake managed to hold on the rest of the 'ride'. We finished and thanked the dogs for their great work and enjoyed a hot apple cider and a cookie around a fire. It was a great experience and another memory that none of us will forget. We returned back to our accommodation and Andrew and Christine spent some time in the hot pools for a well deserved soak, while the kids caught up with their friends via various social media sites. For dinner Andrew cooked steak on a BBQ in the -3 degree evening. We lit the fire and relaxed in our lodge watching tv until we couldn't keep our eyes open any more.