Hoodoos having nothing to do with voodoo

While on our honeymoon, Chizm and I went on a hike to something called the Hoodoos. Before we went, I was all confused about what exactly we were going to go see. I thought perhaps it would be some ancient Indian site where they preformed rituals or something. Probably because Hoodoo rhymes with voodoo.

I was wrong. Hoodoos are sandstone cliffs that have been carved into crazy shapes by wind and water.

You can't really tell in this picture, but this kid is right at the edge.

The trail we went on took us right to the top of the cliffs. Chizm went right up to the edge, and the whole time I was thinking, "It will suck when he falls over the edge. The headline for the newspaper will be Honeymooner Falls to His Death. How sad will that be? Married for less than a week." Anyways, I was freaked out of my mind.

Looking over the edge. It is much freakier in real life.

And then Chizm pretended to throw me off the cliff. I was never really in danger, he held on to me the to me the entire time,  but he scared me enough to make me cry.  Those cliffs freaked me out. They just didn't look stable, and it had been raining a ton. I was sure the cliff was going to crumble and take me with it.

Me holding onto a branch so I wouldn't fall over the edge when it crumbled

This sign was not helpful to my state of mind

 But the view was spectacular.

 

The Best Things in Life Are Free

Chizm and I went to Fairmont Hot Springs Resort for our honeymoon. It was lovely there. All green and mountainous, basically exactly how I pictured all of Canada looking before I came to Alberta and found rolling hills.

View from our suite.

When we arrived, we realized that "Resort" was the most important word in the title of where we were staying. They were all about making money. We had to pay to get into the hot springs, and there were no natural pools that we could find. The Resort pool was huge, with two different sections that were different temperatures. There was even a diving board. But, $12 a person per visit seemed a little steep to us, so we just went once.

On the way back to our room, we noticed a little stone building just up the hill from the Resort pool. We decided to go visit it while we were there. So, on the last day of our stay, we walked up the hill. And were promptly upset that we had spent money on the Resort pool. The little stone building was a bathhouse that had been built in the early 1900s.

Old 1900s bathhouse

There were 3 rooms, that each had a little pool carved out of the rock floor. The hot springs flowed right into the building. And beyond the bathhouse were the actual natural hot springs themselves. There were no natural pools, just ones that had been carved by people. It was awesome. And the whole thing was free.

Outside looking in

Inside looking out

We immediately went and got our swim suits and hopped into those lovely, free pools. And they were way better than the one we had to pay $24 dollars to use. There were no people, no noise, and a beautiful view.

 The moral of this story is, if you ever go to the Fairmont Hot Springs Resort, don't pay to soak in the big pool. Walk 2 minutes up the hill and have a better experience. For free!!

That building you see in the distance is the pool you have to pay for. This one is free.