The fun begins...

After nearly two full days on the road (about 15 hours of driving), Mark, David, our border collies Maddie and Sophie, and I finally arrived at the resort. The roads were typical for winter - snowy, icy, and covered in sand, salt and gravel. Our rented Ford Escape performed admirably and the grrls showed us once again what great travelers they can be. This was perhaps Mark's longest road trip ever. He did almost as well as the grrls but did require chocolate for reinforcement along the way.

It was dark and cold when we pulled up to the Lodge. Everyone was tired from the long day, including the dogs, who didn't seem to notice the banks of snow surrounding us. Sophie was especially happy to snuggle up and go to sleep.


We awoke the next morning to glorious (nearly blinding) sunshine. Despite an amazing view of the snow covered trees outside of our room window, Maddie still didn't seem to know what was in store for her.














It wasn't until I took them O-U-T-S-I-D-E for their morning constitutional that they figured out that "kananaskis" is another word for one of their very most favorite things...S-N-O-W!

Some of you may be offended to see the dogs lounging about on the (formerly) crisp, white sheets of the beds. Afterall, tufts of dog hair strewn about hardly disguises the presence of furry moppets from the maid! Happily, the Delta Lodge is exceptionally dog friendly. Dogs are required to keep their owners on a leash, but are welcome anywhere in the hotel except the food serving areas and pool/spa. There were so many dogs at the resort, we began to wonder if bringing a dog wasn't one of the requirements to stay!














Unfortunately, neither Maddie or I remembered to pack our sunglasses so we did a lot of squinting.


















Sophie spent most of her time outside burrowing nose-first through the snow so she fared better.












Mark, of course, remembered his Maui Jims. And good thing too - it was sunny every day we were there!