Sunday, August 16, 2009

We arrived back in Cedar Falls on Thursday afternoon. It's a little overwhelming thinking about storing all our personal stuff for the next couple of years. I also want to finish my boat so that we can take it with us when we leave. Hopefully we'll be back on the road by the 10th + of September. We have also traded our truck and 5th wheel trailer for a new Itasca Lattitude motor home. We will be trading Connie's van for a smaller vehicle that we can tow with the motorhome. We're thinking a Ford Escape.

Anyway, we're going to take a few week off the BLOG until we get back on the road.

Monday, August 10, 2009

Go back to whatever it was you were doing. Not much to report today.

We drove 532 miles and the best thing that happen was that we parked at a KOA in Bismark about 7:45 PM. That’s too much driving for one day.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Another travel day and today we reentered the USA. But, before we left Canada, we went to the Royal Tyrrell Museum of paleontology in Drumheller. This is one fantastic museum if you like old bones of dinosaurs. The presentation is great. The photo says a lot. The immediate area around the museum is called the ‘Bad Lands’ of Alberta.

We drove to Havre, MT, it’s a small town on Highway 2 in the middle of the state and it has a Walmart. So we are staying in the parking lot of Walmart and it’s a first for us. So far it’s a good deal. We did our grocery shopping and picked up a new DVD. We didn’t even have to load the groceries into the car; we just ran the cart to the RV and unloaded them there. Oh, there is one downside to this spot; it’s right across the street from a busy train track.

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Another travel day today; from Jasper to Drumheller. Drumheller is the home of the Royal Tyrell Paleontology. It’s the worlds largest display of old dinosaur bones. All day we drove in forests, then ranch land with fields of canola, and then when we get to Drumheller it looks like we’re in the middle of the Bad Lands. A lot of the area is marked “no trespassing” because they are still looking for more old dinosaur bones.

The campground we’re staying at will not make my list of acceptable places to stay. It’s another park that advertises WiFi, but doesn’t make good on the promise. The park also has unmarked ‘speed bumps’ that are the size of small hills; what a jolt. I’m already looking forward to leaving.

But, here’s the good news; we spotted a huge bull moose as we were driving. It looked big a ¼ mile away. It had a nice rack and it really was pretty good size. Connie also spotted three Mountain Sheep on our way out of Jasper Park.

Friday, August 7, 2009

Today was a great day for seeing wildlife. We saw a bear, mountain sheep, deer and an elk. The bear was along the side of the road eating foliage and there were ten carloads of amateur photographers taking his picture. I don't even think he noticed anyone was there. Less than 15 meters away there were two deer. They didn't notice the bear and he didn't notice them. Just a while later we came on eight mountain sheep blocking the road, in both directions. We had to wait until they decided to move. Earlier in the day we saw an Elk, but only from behind.

In the morning we went to Maligne Lake and took a hike along the lake. It is one of the most photographed lakes in the world. We also went to Maligne Canyon, Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge, Pyramid Lake and Patricia Lake.

Both of us agree that Jasper is a beautiful parks with lots to offer. It has mountains, lakes, trails, and a nice downtown. We will come here again.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

We drove the Icefield Highway to Jasper NP today. It rained most of the way and only a few of the glaciers were visible. We stopped at the Icefield Center and I was amazed how many people you can pack on a tour bus. The place was packed.

The picture tells what the weather conditions were like. But, as we got closer to Jasper, the town, the rain stopped. We’re hoping for a few clear days before we head over to Drumheller.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

I thought I should add some pictures so that you don’t lose interest in my boring dialogue.


On the right is a picture of Connie with Lake Louise in the background. On the left is Moraine Lake, not far from Lake Louise.

Tuesday started out raining and it’s cloudy and cool. In Banff the temperature is 7 C. That’s unseasonably cool.

The news today in Alberta was that a large oil refinery near Edmonton is shut down and that is causing shortages and some outages of fuel in many areas of Alberta. We were told that if we go to Jasper NP, which is where we are headed tomorrow, there will be no/short fuel. Before we left home I put in an auxiliary fuel tank that holds an extra 60 gallons. That now seems to have been a good idea. I have two full tanks and just calculated that I now have a range of 1,200 Km. We should be able to get to Jasper and back into the US.

Because of the fuel shortage my brother, his wife, and the other two fellow travelers decided to leave a day early in hopes of getting out of Canada and maybe beat the rush. We are now on our own until we get back to Cedar Falls around the 13th.

Monday, August 3, 2009

Today we went to Lake Louise and the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise. Lake Louise is regarded as one of the world’s seven natural wonders. The hotel is one of the most photographed hotels in the world. Over 10,000 tourists per day visit Lake Louise in the summer. It’s only summer here a short time each year, the lake doesn’t get above 39 degrees in August.

We also visited Moraine Lake, not too far from Lake Louise and almost as spectacular. We rode the ski lift/gondola up Mt. Whitehorn (near Lake Louise Village) 2,000 feet above the lodge and got some great views of the area. We took the Bow Valley Parkway back to Banff and spotted a Mountain Sheep right next to the road. No Moose have been seen yet.

One more day in the park and then on to Jasper National Park.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

We spent the morning in downtown Banff. There are hundreds of stores and thousands of people. It’s quite a job just to find a place to park. One of the major attractions of Banff is the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel. It was originally built in the castle-style in 1888 by the Canadian Pacific Railroad.

Banff NP must be one of Canada’s busiest parks and we choose a weekend that is a ‘holiday.'

My 65th birthday slipped quietly by today.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Today was a travel day from Waterton Lake to Banff National Park, about 400 Km. Banff NP is a very busy park. We waited twenty minutes at the entrance gate just to get in, there were four rows waiting. Banff NP has four million visitors each year; two million in July and August alone. We will be here for four nights.

Friday, July 31, 2009

Today we spent hiking and site seeing in Waterton Lake NP (CA). We hiked up to Crandall Lake and then drove to Cameron Lake. Cameron Lake is very beautiful with mountains on three sides. Lunch was at the Prince of Wales Hotel. The Hotel was built by the Great Northern Railroad in 1926 and it’s in the Swiss chateau style with spectacular views. In the afternoon we took a two hour boat ride on Upper Waterton Lake. The south end of the ride was back into the USA, to Goat Haunt, MT. Who has heard of Goat Haunt, MT?

Both Connie and I feel that if you are traveling in the Canadian Rockies or Glacier NP, you really need to think about Waterton Lake NP. It’s spectacular and not as crowded as the other Rocky Mountain national parks either in the US or CA. Waterton Lake NP and Glacier NP are combined as the Waterton Glacier International Peace Park.

We’ll talk again tomorrow.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Today we left the West Glacier area and drove around the south end of the park, through East Glacier, and stopped at St. Mary’s, which is the east entrance to the “Going to the Sun” Highway. We stopped at the Visitor’s Center and got our Passport Book stamped with the third stamp for Glacier NP. Diesel fuel was $3.49/gallon, a dollar higher than when we started, 75 miles back.

We drove into Canada and stopped at Waterton Lake National Park. We’re staying at the Park’s campground. The campground is nestled between two large mountains; it’s quite spectcular. There are more deer in the camp than you could count. They seem very tame and people are only a few feet from them taking pictures.

It was a travel day so we saw lots of beautiful scenery. We crossed the Rocky Mountains once today, although it seemed that we were up and down several large mountains.