Day 3 - August 20: Elk Island National Park

On Day 3, we decided that sitting around in a hotel for two days waiting for a flight was boring.  So we piled back into the car and headed to Elk Island National Park, just south of Edmonton.  We picked up some picnic food and had a nice little picnic at the main lake in the park.

On the way in, we saw some bison.  A whole herd of bison, in fact.  I came to the conclusion that if you can stick your head out the window and look at something and they don't even move, they are probably not very smart.  I mean, just look at them, do bison look very smart?  Unlike penguins, which are clearly geniuses in every way.  They are big and majestic looking, I'll give you that.

Our picnic table had a very cheeky squirrel.  It really wanted to have our lunch.  At one point, it actually came and sat at the table with us, before being shooed away (in other words, Heather starting throwing rocks at it).  There was also a seagull who was just about as cheeky as the squirrel.

Once lunch was finished, we went on a short hike through a swamp.  Luckily, there was a boardwalk, so the swamp was not actually being walked on.  We didn't see much in terms of wildlife there, but the view was pretty cool.

There was also a little bit longer hike through a forested area.  We were hoping to see some elk or moose, but instead we just came across a LOT of bison droppings.  Bison are massive animals, so just imagine how big their droppings are.  Bigger than me, that's for sure (although, I'm a penguin, so I'm not that big).  Also, my entire body fits into moose tracks!  Moose are also ridiculously huge.

That was our day in the park.  Heather's mom decided we shouldn't sit around and do nothing in the evening, but then we did anyway.  Did you know that television is REALLY stupid?  Eric likes watching awful, awful reality shows every time we end up in a hotel.  And then everyone else needs to watch them too, and you can slowly but surely see people's brains melting with the terribleness of it all.