Thursday 18th - Sunday 21st June 2015

So we left Banff to head to Edmonton! We had a four hour drive, which wasn't too bad apart from in Calgary it was a little busy! The mall was on the outskirts of the city so we didn't have to battle with the city traffic!

We stayed in the fantasy hotel which is part of Edmonton Mall, the room was actually insane! It had a hot tub...a HOT TUB in the room! It was crazy!

The mall was insane as well! It was huge, had two mini golf courses, roller coasters, water park, bowling and so much more!

We went swimming in the water park which had so many flumes and a wave pool! I think we stayed in there for hours! Had so much fun! Unfortunately there was a school trip with five schools there so it was a little crazy there!!

We also played glow in the dark mini golf which is always fun! Spent a lot of money shopping, watched a sealion show, looked at the aquarium! We had a great time!

We headed out towards North of Edmonton to Elk Island National park for camping for the night. Within entering the park we had already seen some bison!

Elk Island is Canada's 8th smallest in area, but largest fully enclosed national park, with an area of 194 square km. Elk Island plays host to both the largest and the smallest terrestrial mammals in North America, the wood bison and pygmy shrew respectively.

Elk Island National Park also remains a seed herd for repopulation efforts in other areas. Elk Island elk have been relocated to various parts North America, including Ontario and the foothills of the Rockies. Plains bison have been reintroduced to conservation areas scattered throughout their historic domain. In early post-Contact history, the Beaverhills area was primarily used for commercial hunting. This led to over-hunting and the virtual elimination of beaver from the area by the 1830s and of large ungulates by the 1860s.

We drove into our campsite and passed a lake where we saw beavers!! I was super excited! Actually seeing a beaver was super! The campsite was pretty small, but we made a little camp fire until a big storm came through so we had to hide inside the van for the rest of the night!

On the Sunday we went on a couple of short walks in search of bison and moose, but we didn't see any. Saw lots of birds and butterflies but no big animals unfortunately. We had a really good time though! Wish I just saw some bigger animals!