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In the morning we finished packing up, then checked out of the hotel. We had a little bit
of time to kill before our flight, so we visited Manito Park in town. The park is home to
the Nishinomiya Tsutakawa Japanese Garden, a free public garden. It is small but pretty
and peaceful.
Nishinomiya Tsutakawa Japanese Garden in Manito Park
Maple tree at Japanese Garden
Bridge at Japanese Garden
Bridge and pond at Japanese Garden
The park is also home to a children's playground, where the kids played for a bit despite the
heat. We then visited another garden in the park -- Duncan Garden,
a very colorful arrangement of flowers with a fountain in the middle and Gaiser Conservatory
at one end.
Duncan Garden
Duncan Garden
After our park visit we headed to the airport, only to find out that our flight had been
delayed an hour. Then we were in for a rude awakening as United charged us an extra $125
because our bags were too heavy. At one point all four of our bags were over 50 pounds
each, but we managed to move things around to get it down to just one overweight bag.
It was 15 pounds overweight, and that would cost us $125. This was in addition to the
$20 per bag they charged us regardless of weight. In retrospect, I should have just
removed the stove I had in that bag, which would have brought us close to 50 pounds.
That stove is not worth $125 (more like $75), so I could just thrown it away or given it away,
then bought a new one later. By the time I thought of this, though, our bags were already
headed into the system. Needless to say, we were annoyed that we were being charged for
extra weight when we had to pay full price for plane tickets for our kids who combined
weighed less than half the weight of an average adult. Grr. If I had known we'd be over the
limit I would have shipped the stove back with the rest of our camping gear via UPS.
All in all, though, I'd say that the trip logistics worked out pretty well. Not sure if I
would have done much differently. Maybe spend one less day in Kelowna and use that extra
day in Jasper or Banff. Still, there is a lot of ground we didn't even get to cover in
all three parks, not to mention not spending any time in nearby Mt. Revelstoke,
Glacier (in Canada), Yoho, Kootenay, or Waterton Lakes National Parks. They'll all have to
wait for a future trip.
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