So I called one of my paddling buddies to tell him the news that I was stuck in town:
Nat: Hey! How's it going?
Kayak Buddy: Omg-I'm-so-excited-this-river-is-awesome-it's-gonna-be-so-much-fun!
Nat: Um, yeah. I have some bad news...
Kayak Buddy: ... I'm going to hang up the phone now.
Nat: *explains situation with childcare*
Kayak Buddy (excited): That's not a problem at all - Megan, my girlfriend can watch her while we're on the river!!
Nat (sceptical): Really?
Kayak Buddy: Yes! Here! Talk to her!
So.
It turns out she was genuinely happy to watch Frances while we were paddling. (She's an elementary school teacher. And is awesome.)
Which made for a frantic hour of omg-have-to-pack-camping-gear-for-toddler! And it all turned out fine. (It was a blast.)
The group ended up deciding last-minute that we were going to camp at a common paddling spot called The Rocky Mountain House National Historic Site. Which turned out to be a fantastic idea...
We didn't know it when we decided on the site, but the historic site was having all their Canada Day celebrations that evening - which meant that we listened to live music and watched fireworks in between hanging out around the campfire. It was pretty sweet.
Frances was pretty stoked that, not only did she get a balloon out of the deal, but also got to spend hours running around the camp/historic site before bed - and she didn't have to go inside once! (She hates being inside if she can help it.)
(Yes, she really looks that awful first thing in the morning. But she loved sleeping in the tent. Have to do that with her more.)
In the morning, we headed to Banff National Park for a run on one of my favourite rivers, The Mistaya.
"Mommy's bote."
"Mommy's hat."
And she had a blast with Megan - got to spend a couple of hours playing in mud-puddles and making piles with rocks and/or flowers. (She talked about Megan for a half-hour straight before falling asleep on the drive home.)
Gotta do that more often.
