Our Son, the Pilot

Today was our oldest son's birthday, 45 years ago.  William was an adventurous kid who successfully pursued his dream to become a water bomber pilot.  Every year we stop and remember on his birthday.  This is my favourite photo of him.

Along the way Will had some wonderful adventures, flying in the Arctic and in the tropics as well as across most of Canada.  Each year I sit down and work through the list of posts you can find under the William tab above, just to remind myself.  And while he was still a kid we had some great family adventures, my favourite of which was our time in Banff and Jasper National Parks way back in '86.

Here we are climbing the narrow switchback trail above Lake Agnes to the Beehive, one of the prominent but gentle peaks you can see from Lake Louise.  Ninety percent of the tourists stop after walking 100 yards around the lake, most of the rest fall away when the slope gets steep, perhaps 1% make it as far as the teahouse on Lake Agnes. I've always been impressed that our kids made it not only that far but beyond, up a very steep slope to get to the Beehive, and its spectacular view.  These are Will, his mom and little sister on that steep switchback trail.