We are planning a 7-day summer road trip

I'll start by reading the family-travel skill references and checking what's already on disk, then write a `trip.json` skeleton before responding.

Now I have enough context. The user has a specific group (2 adults + 3yo + 68yo mom), a fixed destination cluster (Calgary → Canmore/Banff → Icefields Parkway → Jasper), and 5 substantive strategy asks. Per the skill's overnight-first-turn contract, I'll write `trip.json` first, run the check, then deliver the strategy.

Saved the skeleton to `trip-rockies-7d.json` — 2 bases (Canmore 4 nights + Jasper 2 nights), 6 base nights, no conflicts. Now the grounded strategy.

Family priority + skeleton headline

Priority: No sprint. One anchor per day, anchor back at the base by 4pm, toddler nap window protected, grandma never walks a steep grade she didn't pick. A day that ends at the hotel pool counts as success.

Skeleton (4 + 2):

• Canmore · 4 nights — Lake Louise/Moraine shuttle day, Banff town day, Icefields Parkway transfer, fly-out buffer
• Jasper · 2 nights — Maligne Lake day, return transfer
• 7 days = 6 nights = 2 hotel moves. The blog sprint is 4–6 moves for the same days. That's the entire savings.

1. Lodging base architecture — why 2-base beats hotel-hopping

Each move costs ~2 hours of real life: pack breakfast, pack car, strap the car seat, drive, check in, unpack kitchen, unpack toddler bed, orient grandma to the new neighborhood. Multiply by the4–6 moves the blogs recommend and you've burned half a day per move on logistics alone.

What actually matters for this group, in order:

Canmore vs Banff for base 1: Pick Canmore if you want quieter + cheaper + more condo inventory with kitchens + family pool options. Pick Banff town if you want walkable restaurants in the evening and don't mind paying more for less space. Both are roughly the same drive to the Lake Louise Park & Ride (~20–25 min from Canmore, ~45 min from Banff).

Jasper inventory is the tight one — book the kitchenette hotel or condo the moment you decide on dates; July weekends sell out by spring.

2. Moraine Lake & Lake Louise access — without the 5am panic

The "5am sunrise queue" is blog folklore, not a rule. The lake is beautiful all day.

Moraine Lake reality: Personal-vehicle access has been closed since 2023. Mandatory options:

• Parks Canada shuttle from the Lake Louise Park & Ride — reservations open months ahead, weekday slots are easier- Roam Transit Route 9 (Moraine Lake Express) — commercial, separate booking, same Park & Ride
• Concession tour (e.g., Discover Banff Tours) — hotel pickup, more $, often sold as a package

Book Parks Canada first; Roam Route 9 as a release valve. Verify current-season policy at Parks Canada before paying anything — the system has changed year to year.

For your group:

• Aim for a late-morning shuttle (~10am). Crowds thin, temps are warmer, grandma isn't up at 4am.
• Moraine Lake Rockpile viewpoint is steep, gravel, stairs — stroller fails, grandma fails, toddler in carrier works for one adult. The flat lakeshore path beyond is paved and stroller-friendly for a short stretch; the other adult can take grandma on that.
• Lake Louise lakeshore is paved flat all the way to the lake — full stroller, full grandma, café at the far end. Lower-stress than Moraine.
• If Moraine sells out, Lake Louise + Lake Agnes Tea House (tea house is closed on the stroller-path side, but the lower viewpoint works) is a real Plan B, not a downgrade.

3. Pacing the Icefields Parkway — 90-min blocks

The road is 230 km, ~3.5h without stops. With toddler + grandma, budget a full day (5–6 hours including stops) in one direction.

Three blocks, ~90 min each, each ending at a flat pull-off:

Skip entirely: Wilcox Pass (strenuous), Parker Ridge (900m gain). The flat pull-offs give you 80% of the views.

Reverse direction (Jasper → Canmore, day 6): Athabasca Falls first (flat, paved, ~30 min) is the only stop worth scheduling; toddler will nap in the car and grandma needs a quiet afternoon. Don't reverse the full itinerary — just get home.

4. Wildlife & bear safety — the rules that matter

Distance rules (Parks Canada, current): 30 m from bears and wolves, 25 m from elk/deer/moose, 100 m from cougars. These are minimums, not targets.

The actual hazards in order:

1. Elk in town — habituated, aggressive during rut (Sep–Oct) and calving (May–Jun). More dangerous than bears because they're everywhere in Banff/Canmore. Keep the3yo close, never between a calf and cow.
2. Bears on trails — grizzly in Bow Valley and Icefields corridor; black bear everywhere. Make noise (voices, not bells), stay in groups, never approach.
3. Mountain goats on the road — slow down, don't feed.

Bear spray:

• Rent in Banff or Jasper (~$10–15/day per can). Don't fly with it — pepper spray is a prohibited weapon in cabin baggage.
• One per responsible adult, on your belt (not in the pack). 1–2 seconds to deploy under stress is the design constraint.
• Practice removing it from the holster at the rental shop. The toddler is not the carrier of bear spray.
• Wind direction matters. Never spray downwind of the group.

Picnic food security:

• Hard-sided containers only in bear country. Soft coolers get opened.
• Eat in designated picnic areas, pack out everything, never leave food unattended even for 30 seconds.
• Most bear-aware hotels have metal food lockers — ask at check-in, use them.
• Day-use: keep all food in the car trunk when you're at the viewpoint (not visible).

Toddler-specific:

• Carrier on trails (can't run toward a bear).
• Practice "freeze" at home before the trip.
• Most wildlife sightings will be elk from the car window — that's the toddler's main wildlife experience and the safest.

5. Weather & wildfire smoke — Plan B is not Plan Q

Rain backup (the easy one):

• Cave & Basin National Historic Site (Banff) — indoor + short accessible trail
• Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies (Banff) — indoor, manageable in60–90 min
• Banff Upper Hot Springs — outdoor but warm and sheltered, ideal for tired senior
• Canmore Museum + Geoscience Centre
• Jasper-Yellowhead Museum + Jasper Library for Jasper rain days

Day 3 in the skeleton is the "Banff town" day — it's already a rain swap.

Smoke (the hard one):
Wildfire smoke has hit Banff and Jasper in 2017, 2018, 2021, 2023. Don't plan a Rockies summer without it. Check AQI the morning of every outdoor day at albertaairquality.ca or firesmoke.ca.

Smoke backup anchors (same list as rain): Whyte Museum, Cave & Basin, Banff Centre galleries, Canmore Museum, Jasper-Yellowhead Museum, Lux Cinema Banff, hotel pool. Ask the hotel for a HEPA filter room when booking (some Banff properties stock them, request at reservation).

If smoke hits on your Lake Louise shuttle day, that day becomes a museum + hot springs day and Moraine Lake gets moved to the Banff town slot (which was a rain backup anyway) — the skeleton absorbs it without rebooking the hotels.

Two gaps to confirm before booking

1. Passport country — Canada entry documents and the passport-validity rule depend on it. US citizens don't need an eTA; most other visa-exempt nationals do. I can give you the exact entry-document line and validity threshold once you tell me.
2. Exact dates — I placed this as Sat 10 Jul → Fri 16 Jul 2027 in the file as a smoke-aware placeholder (July is historically a bit cleaner than August, but neither is a guarantee). Shift one date in `trip-rockies-7d.json` and the skeleton re-computes.

We don't book flights, hotels, shuttles, or boat tours — those go to the booking checklist once dates and passport country are pinned. The two gaps above are the only variables that change the structure.