Hi, everyone.

Thanks for joining us today.

It's a great pleasure to have you listening in on our conversation with our oldest grandson, Leland.

It's interesting.

Over the years, we, of course, have had many adventures together with Leland in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta, Canada.

With our adventures, of course, we have spent time creating a children's book series, the Adventures of Caboose the Rocky Mountain Bear.

Leland has been part of these adventures, beginning of his life.

What's exciting is that now we've been able to write stories and he's been able to inspire these stories, add suggestions and changing the wording and making it more.

The words more relevant to children 4 to 10.

So it's a neat thing to actually have someone who, you know, closer to the age of our readers.

So it's very exciting, and I'm proud to have Leland as a co author and a narrator behind many of our stories.

For those of you who have been following our podcast, you may be aware that Leland and Kira, Kira, who is the inspiration behind Caboose, have a special bond.

When Leland became part of our lives, Kira was five years old and immediately took him under her wing as a grandfather.

It was a delightful experience to have a grandchild, Kira, who was old enough to join in on the fun and help keep Leland engaged and entertained in our adventures.

Part of the idea behind today's podcast show is that recollections of going to Camor and the Rocky Mountains, how those adventures unfolded through the years.

So we hope you enjoy the listen.

Well, thanks for joining me today, Leland.

Yeah, no worries.

Fantastic.

Fantastic.

So today we're talking about the adventures of Caboose the Rocky Mountain Bear.

The whole idea behind developing the stories behind the adventures, how that all came about.

And it's interesting because the idea of Caboose the Rocky Mountain Bear happened about a year before you were born.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

Isn't that neat?

Yeah, that's pretty cool.

So it was perfect timing when Leland entered Keir's and our life because his arrival had the new dimension to many adventures in Caboose, the Rocky Mountain Bears stories, making them even more intriguing and exciting.

The neat thing about developing children's books with your grandkids is you create stories that are true to the story's heart.

A lot of these stories have a basis in reality.

They actually happen to us.

Each grandchild plays a significant role in our book series to boost the Rocky Mountain Bear.

Leland, for instance, chose a Red Hawk as his character, a decision that added a unique perspective to our stories.

So, Leland, maybe you can just Explain why you thought about becoming Red Hawk in the stories.

I honestly think that birds in my eyes are really cool creatures.

I like the way that they can fly in the sky and see everything from a totally different perspective.

Right.

I like how they can basically do whatever they want, be wherever they want, depending on the temperature.

Right.

I think I picked it based on.

Had, like, a calling to me.

And I don't know if you remember, but the Red Hawk is actually one of the birds that is natural to the Cammore, Banff, Bow Valley area.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So it's neat because a lot of people don't realize the Red Hawk is definitely natural to that area.

So.

Leland, we're truly grateful for your participation in our podcast today.

Your willingness to share your life adventures and the stories about spending part of your young life and youth in the Rocky Mountains has helped develop a testament to the special bond we share as a family.

Luckily, we've captured many pictures of your adventures in the Rocky Mountains over the years.

Can you remember your first moment?

I know you went down there when you're very young, but can you remember one of the first moments that you actually remembered?

Oh, I'm going down to came from the Bow Valley.

And what sticks with you from that first moment?

Oh, one of my first moments, or a memory that stuck with me forever.

It's something that always reminds me of Canmore.

It's that one song that we used to play always heading up to Canmore.

It was the man in the Mirror, but it was sung by Michael Jackson.

Right.

I remember that song always being played.

And that was just instantly, oh, yeah, that song's being played.

We're going to Canmore.

Right.

I also remember the.

Typically we'd get there and the sun would be already setting kind of by the mountains, behind the mountains, so it'd be a little darker and cooler.

I always remember going into the building complex and stuff and going up that elevator, and that distinct smell is always like a.

I don't know, it was clean, but also a dusty smell.

I just remember that being always a tell that we were finally there.

Right.

A good point.

And actually, I think what happened that the dusty smell that you remember is that the complex had underground parking.

Yeah.

And so of course, the vehicles would come in off the road, they would bring in dirt, and then the dirt would turn to dust, and that would create that kind of smell.

And then the cleanliness that you smell would be, of course, that we had folks taking care of the building.

And when you walk the elevator, they.

Somebody had gone in and washed the floors and all that.

You always get that kind of clean smell.

And then same in the, in the hallway also.

Yeah.

So interesting.

That's an interesting dynamic that you talk about.

You never think about.

It was always like a road trip.

Right.

Because we, it was a four hour drive.

We jump in the jeep, down we go.

A lot of times we're going down because we took our skis with us, we're going skiing.

Yeah.

And, and, and away we go and put on the tunes and sing out to this tune.

Yeah, totally.

Yeah.

Right on.

I'm also thinking about when we discuss our adventures together in the Rocky Mountains, did you ever think they would actually turn in these moments would turn into stories?

Oh, no, I had no.

There was no thought in my mind that these would be written on paper or anything like that.

But to be honest, now seeing them on paper, it makes a whole lot of sense.

Like these are great stories lived through.

Yes.

These are memories.

Absolutely.

And now they're getting written out in.

Books and stuff and we're getting to use our creative minds to enhance them.

Yeah.

And now you've, you're recording some of these stories.

Yeah.

And help write them and add to them and.

Yeah.

Actually turning them into audio books is a neat thing in itself also.

Right, exactly.

Because in today's world we've got the written word, we've got the audio word.

Maybe someday we do video, who knows?

It just has a really neat.

All neat elements that you can add to storytelling now.

Yeah, totally.

Did you ever think of yourself as a storyteller?

Oh, not really, no.

Talk about us going down and, and staying at the condo that we had in Canmore.

And one of the things that was one of the highlights of the condo was my dad's.

Your great grandfather's train set.

Yeah.

Do you remember that?

Oh yeah.

I was always exciting to come in and see.

Always wanted to touch it, but never touched it.

One of the rules.

Do not touch the train set.

Yeah.

And folks, the.

What we did is my dad's train set was from, oh, the late 40s or early 50s.

What my wife and I, Brenda Lee, did is we actually had someone build us a cabinet which we put the train in and it was behind glass.

So I think Leland have a hard time touching it anyway.

But again, having the red caboose on the end of it.

You wouldn't have known what a caboose was.

Right.

Until you saw that train set.

Know like I, I think I second I saw that and learned more about it.

I was like, oh yeah, Exactly.

So you know what?

I think Cabooses disappeared from the end of the train 20 some odd years ago.

Yeah.

Pretty incredible.

Or maybe you can share your thoughts about being in the outdoors in the Rocky Mountains.

What are your thoughts about that over the years?

Oh, it's always developed.

I think initially it was more of a awesome, fun, go on a walk.

Like, I wasn't really aware of what was happening.

As I got older, I slowly realized that Cameron was truly.

It's truly a beautiful place, right?

Absolutely.

Learned to appreciate all the cool land structures and everything there.

Yeah.

Like, do you remember walking along the Bow river and throwing rocks in and.

All that kind of good stuff?

Yeah, totally.

That was.

Those created some really good memories.

Just I appreciate it way more now.

Absolutely.

And one of the things that Kenmore was actually named after a Scottish king.

Oh, yeah.

From the 1066 or something.

So a long time ago.

Yeah.

And Canmore actually translates to Big Head.

Oh.

And so that's how the fictional town of Big Head, where Caboose and Leland and Bailey and Caitlin and Cooper, the fictional characters in our children's books are from.

Oh, wow.

What is, what language is it translated from?

Gaelic.

Okay.

So that's.

I.

I think that's the language of the Scots, Gaelic.

So again, that's just cool.

It just adds on to it.

Absolutely.

And having that Big Head statue downtown, can you remember that?

Oh, yeah.

Every year.

Every year, every time we went up, we'd always stop by the Big Head, climb on top of it and take a family photo.

Yeah, we got a lot of family photos of everybody on top of the.

On top of the Big Head statue.

Yeah.

And I'm not sure if you can remember the coal trains and the coal engines that are spotted throughout the town of Camor.

Can you remember those?

I can remember a couple of them.

Like, I remember seeing some, but I just never really thought of what they really were, what the purpose was.

And.

And it's interesting because the Canmore was actually a coal town up until 1979, and the town survived because of the coal industry and wasn't originally known for tourism.

Yeah, it was known as a coal town.

And then in 1979, they closed the mine down.

Was not a great time.

It was almost 10 years that Camor really suffered because there was no industry.

And then what happened?

I don't know if you may not know this, but in 1988, Calgary got the Winter Olympics.

Oh, yeah.

And do you remember going up to the Nordic Center?

Yep, A couple times with the big Canadian flag and The.

And where you could.

The.

There's the track and the shooting range.

Yep.

That was from the 1988 Winter Olympics.

Oh, wow.

And so the biathlon was actually the competition for the biathlon for the Olympics.

Was there.

Oh, that's cool.

And that's why that building's there, and that's why it continues to grow and develop.

Yeah.

Quite interesting.

So that's why I'm sure if you and I looked through the pictures, we'd find you with the statue of the coal miner.

Right.

Yeah.

You remember that statue?

Maybe not exactly, but it.

He had.

He had the miner's hat on, helmet on top of his head with the light.

Yeah.

And the lunch bucket.

Oh, yeah, the lunch bucket guy.

Yeah, totally.

Yeah.

So that.

That was.

That statue is.

Was dedicated to the.

To the coal miners who helped found that.

The whole area.

Oh, that's really cool.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And I.

I was thinking about the.

So many different things we did.

Skiing was a lot of it, going to.

To Lake Louise.

And I remember the first time we went to Lake Louise.

Do you remember the magic carpet?

Oh, I don't think I do know.

Okay.

So that was May.

I think I'll tell you the story, and then maybe it'll jog your memory.

Kira was a pretty good skier by that time.

And we took you up and we put you in lessons.

And part of the lessons on Lake Louise is they have this huge magic carpet.

It must be, like, a hundred feet.

And you get on it and you glide up.

Yeah.

Like at Rabbit Hill or Snow Valley.

Yeah.

And you get on the magic carpet.

But this one went forever.

Oh, wow.

And I.

And at the end of the day, I don't know if you remember this, they actually had tubes, and you could get in the tubes and ride down them.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

Is that coming back?

Yeah, that's coming back.

Yeah.

That's still fun.

I remember enjoying, like, having a blast on the tubes.

Yeah, totally.

Okay.

Yeah.

Very neat area.

Very neat area.

Yeah.

And then also Sunshine and the multicolored colored cars.

Yeah.

The different cars have each other.

But for Leland, a lot of his lessons were up at Sunshine.

Yeah.

Ski lessons.

So that was a lot of fun.

Recently, we've done a couple of neat things out in the Camor area.

On your birthday or for your birthday, we went out and biked the Canada Trail.

Yeah.

From Camor to Banff.

Yeah.

That was.

That's such a cool ride.

So beautiful.

Yeah, absolutely.

So if someone gets a chance to do that, and I'm sure Leland and I will Develop a story about that whole riding a bike from Camor to Banff and creating some sort of adventure.

Yeah, for sure.

Yeah.

And even the golfing.

Yeah.

Oh, golf course is awesome.

So beautiful.

Yeah.

Real.

Really a neat place.

You're so.

It's like you said, Leland, there's so many vivid memories and all of these things that we've done there and there's so many other things that we can.

We will do there over the years to come.

Yeah.

Just absolutely amazing.

Yeah.

One of the things that happened after Leland was born is they actually built the recreational center in Camor.

It's actually called Elevation Place, but in our stories it's called Tilted Teepee.

Yeah.

And the reason we call it Tilted Teepee is because of the light posts.

All of the light posts in the parking lot are tilted, right.

Oh, slanted and slanted.

Yeah.

It's pretty wild.

So that.

That just led to its name.

It's also a very unique building.

Yeah.

One side of the building is all glass, so it actually looks onto what's called the three D Sisters Mountain range.

In our stories, it's called the Three Mothers Mountain range.

And it definitely adds to that.

Can you remember also Leland going to the folk festival in Camor?

Yep, I remember.

Didn't we go probably once or twice?

Yeah, twice for sure.

Remember the first time?

That was crazy experience.

Like just loud music, everybody having a good time.

Remember the many food trucks?

Yes.

Always being hungry.

Always wanting those little mini donuts coated in those.

Oh, yeah.

Those are always popular, right?

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Leland's talking about the camera.

Folk festival food area was always food trucks, and they always brought in different ones every year.

It's pretty amazing, the food offerings.

And then of course, there was always entertainers and the stilt walkers.

You remember those?

Oh, yeah, yeah.

And the people with hula hoops and a lot of different things that went on at the Camel Folk Festival, which you're now turning into our second book, Hijinks at the Big Head Folk Music Festival.

So hopefully next summer we are able to get that book published.

So that'd be a lot of fun.

Do you remember some of the hikes that you went on?

Definitely do.

I remember a bunch of them.

I remember the ones where we go by the hydro plant.

Yes, those ones are fun.

And then up to the.

Up to the two small lakes in the.

Do you remember that?

Oh, yeah.

Up in.

Yeah, that was so cool because it was like that big cave and stuff.

Yes.

And then those beautiful looking like mini lakes or.

Yeah, I guess you call Mini lakes.

Yeah.

Like two lakes.

Turquoise in color.

Yeah.

It was beautiful.

Oh, my gosh.

And then they.

The rock climbers on the.

Just climbing.

Yeah.

Just right.

The mountain faces right by the lake.

It's like, wow.

It's like.

That's totally random.

But I love that.

It's great to see that.

Yeah.

And it's neat.

We.

Again, we wrote a story about that.

So it.

It's just incredible when you've got.

It's almost like a canvas, Right?

Yeah.

Except in this case, it's a storytelling canvas.

That.

That's.

I think how we could really look at how Camor Banff and the Bow Valley is.

It's a storytelling campus where you get to write all these stories of all your adventures.

Yeah.

Yep.

Well, the best art, the best story is represented in whoever created that piece.

As long as that person can demonstrate and try to show you what they're mean, what they mean, and the emotions that they put behind there.

And you know what I.

I was thinking about even the times we went down and we went to the Wood, the kids favorite restaurant was the Wood.

And they always put up these big decorations.

Do you remember the Ghost and Witch?

And they must have been 10 or 15ft tall.

Yeah, totally.

Those things were massive.

I remember the one time we went.

It was pretty windy.

They were all flying all over, just everywhere.

All mess.

That was really exciting.

That's great.

Yeah.

So definitely a very special area and one that we can.

One that we'll continue to return to every year and come up with other stories of other adventures.

Yeah.

Is there anything special you'd like to do the next time we go down there?

You know what?

I think we should definitely go on another biking trip.

For sure.

Okay.

Maybe a different path.

Maybe not down to Bam.

Like the full length there.

Maybe through a different trail.

Or maybe we could try a.

I'm sure they had.

Like when the ski.

When there's no snow in the mountains.

We could do mountain biking.

I'm glad you mentioned that because I went with my brother, who's a big mountain biker.

Yeah.

Actually, should talk him into coming with us.

Yeah.

Because you guys could go off.

We actually went one year.

Yeah.

And we rented a guide, a mountain biking guide.

And she took my brother on the more difficult trails and I just mountain biked the easier trails.

She told me where to go, so it was pretty cool.

So I think you'd probably enjoy that.

Going up and mountain biking over logs and all that kind of good stuff.

For sure.

Yeah.

We'll have to plan for that.

I'll get a hold of my brother, and we'll have a look at that.

So, see, for everyone listening, you can see where your mind can go just based off of your experiences and the stories that you can create.

So, Leland, thanks for taking the time today to sit down, talk to me, and reminisce about our memories in Camor, Banff and the Bow Valley.

Yeah, no, thank you for letting me come out here and read a story and share my experiences at Camor.

Right on.

Thanks, Leland.

You're welcome.