Up bright and early with the kids exploring outside. the girls enjoyed racing up and down a gulley and walking across a ‘beam’ and then exploring the stream/creek behind. DH was asleep or resting for a bit, but when he woke up he took them paddling in the creek whilst i got dressed and brekkie ready. we were all very excited 
and had woken up pretty early too. time to go to Miette hot springs itself for a swim. we had wondered whether we would do this the night before, but with the shopping at Edson just hadn’t had time, and the girls had been quite sleepy.
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oh I do love a motorhome holiday we packed up and set off. we stopped at some great view points started to breathe the fresh air and feel revitalised. looked at the different wild plants, mountain ranges and other peoples motorhomes fantastic . it had a feel of the first day of freedom for me
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, realised it was an earthcache and went swimming at miette. there are 2 hot pools and 2 v cold pools, all outdoors with the fabulous view of mountains. we bathed, relaxed, girls got bored so had an icecream – nearly £3 each!!! a bit more lounging about and swimming and then we got out and dried and back to motorhome for lunch. actually, we had an icepop first, as hot 
but then cheese, olives etc etc.
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After lunch we went for a walk to see the old pool and up to the source of the hot springs. the girls enjoyed paddling in the warm water outflow, and seeing the butterflies drinking. we also so a herd of female bighorn sheep – moulting their winter coats. As we got to the old pool, SB saw a beaver, and we were all really excited. we then all saw it again. [shhh, it is really a yellow bellied marmot, but it does look v beavery.
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the walk ws v peaceful, and following this hot stream up, and we found all the outflows, some particularly stinky unfortunately we didn’t find the geocache… we carried on a bit further and came to a bit where we could go in the pools of the icy stream water, with stepping stones and games to play, so had a chill out there before returning back for snack at motor home. we caught some more wildlife – further female bighorn sheep, red squirrels, and then on our drive down from miette springs – 2 black bears how v v exciting. we stayed in motorhome and just slowed down for all to view rather than harrassing with a camera.
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We drove on to Wabasso camp near Jasper, thinking we had had a near perfect day . The drive took us along the athabasca river, which is lovely. we saw more bighorn sheep – female herd, and the girls looked at leaflets and started their journals. We settled in Wabasso, and the girls explored the bag of crafts and bits Aunty M had thoughtfully provided for us. A peaceful sharing, and an immediate start by doing a bag craft before general playing on the site as I got dinner ready. we had planned BBQ, but realised no tinfoil – oops.
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After dinner we explored the camp a bit and walked along the athabasca river. I have to say i was a bit bear nervous, having seen 2 that day, and didn’t relax properly. i remained a bit bear nervous TBH for most of the trip! the walk was peceful, the river fast flowing, and the only wildlife squirrels and birds
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Wow. Am loving your updates.
Impatient lass, didn’t wait for the rest of that days piccies
And I was up first, I remeber taking the piccies of the campervan in the woods 
Wow! What superb wildlife.
also loving the blogs, keep them coming. Josiah enjoyed looking at the photos too
Have to say that bears make me feel a bit anxious! What kind of bears were there?
these were black bears, but not to give the game away, there are a lot more bears to come, including grizzlies…
I’ve made a return visit so now seen them all :-). How many visitors get attacked by bears in that region? Cant imagine its many. I did hear oncce of campers further north attacked in their tent at night but think they were not sensible with storing food.
some bear attack data. actually, my aunt had bear jump all over the top of their car once. she has walked past quite a few on trails – says always nerve wracking as you just don’t know. some of the higher trails you have to take bear spray and bells and travel in minimum numbers. the storing food is the big thing, but we did see a grizzly just before turn off for our camp ground.
A parks canada toving interpretations person told us all about how to act if we saw a bear, and in what order. we were careful to always be noisy and trvel as a 4
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_bear_attacks_in_North_America
http://www.cbc.ca/news/interactives/bear-attacks/
http://www.calgaryherald.com/travel/Message+getting+bear+spray+rules/5187656/story.html
http://www.vancouversun.com/travel/Avoiding+bear+attacks/5100427/story.html
Am so enjoying these posts, a real treat! Loved what you said about the feeling of freedom
Bear encounters whilst hiking seem not uncommon, bears attacks are very rare – mostly bears want to keep out of the way of people (hence making noise etc.). It is if they feel threatened/surprised they are most likley to attack (classic mum with cubs etc.) Of course the thought of bears didn’t really bother me
I wanted to wait and save up the holiday posts, but couldnt wait any longer! It is so beautiful. Cant wait for the rest….
Am not even able to imagine how bear nervous I would be!
This really does read like a holiday of a lifetime!! I grew up in New Jersey and we had black bears–and I never stopped being thrilled by seeing them. Though I think you saw more on this trip than I did in a lifetime!
it was truly wonderful. i doubt i will ever spend so much money on a holiday again though.
Really loving your holiday blog posts
fab photos, gorgeous scenery.