May 23, 2013

 

Today we drove from Grande Cache, Alberta to Fort Nelson, BC – it was a long day but we decided we could have a short day tomorrow – into Watson Lake, BC.  We hope to be in Alaska on Sunday.  Most of the scenery today was prairie with a couple big hills.  It was mostly farmland and forests.  We had hoped to see some wildlife today (Moose and Bear), however, we had to settle for a deer.  Hopefully, we will have more luck tomorrow.  The good news on fuel is that diesel is about 5 cents a liter cheaper than unleaded; however, the bad news is that diesel costs about $5.07/gallon!!  It is more here in BC because of additional taxes.

We took a side road today to see the only wooden bridge from the original Alaska Highway that is still in use – it was only about an 8 mile side trip. 

All is going well -

The entrance to the Alaska Highway

The original wooden bridge sign

The bridge

May 22, 2013

Today we drove from Canmore, Alberta to Grande Cache, Alberta.  We went through Banff National Park again and then drove on Ice fields Parkway to Jasper.  The scenery again was more than spectacular.  We saw several glaciers and lots of waterfalls along the road.  One of the glaciers we saw was Columbian Glacier which is very old and is as deep as the Eiffel Tower.  We also saw some wildlife today:  Elk, a BEAR, Mountain Goat, and Big Horn Sheep along the highway.  There are signs everywhere that caution for wild animal crossing and lots for caribou - but we didn't see any today.  Tomorrow we will again be on Hwy 40 and will reach the Alaskan Highway so we should see lots of animals.  We are camping at a small campground in Grande Cache tonight (yes, they Wi-Fi).  Tomorrow we are hoping to reach Fort St. Johns but who knows!!!

Here are some pictures from today - the pictures just don't do the scenery justice.

Misc. Waterfall

Another Misc. Waterfall

Waterfall - white spot below waterfall is Mountain Goat (trust me)

Bridal Veil Waterall 

Crowsfoot Glacier

Columbia Glacier (small dot in lower left corner is a bus)

Our spot for lunch

Mountain Sheep butts

Our home for the night.

May 21, 2013

Today we stayed "home".  We did laundry and cleaned the camper in the morning and then went and walked around Canmore for the rest of the day.  We found a great place to have a pizza - Rocky Mountain Flatbread Company - and just enjoyed the day.  We have been watching trout swim by in the creek behind our campsite so Wayne took some pictures of them.  We also saw a really cool bubble maker at a soap shop in Canmore which he took a picture of. 

We plan to leave early in the morning and should be somewhere around Grand Prairie tomorrow.

Trout in creek behind campsite
 

Fun bubble blower

May 20, 2013

We woke up this morning to a beautiful sunny day and decided it was the day to go to Banff National Park.  It was a very short trip to the park and we arrived at the Gondola about 10:15 which was great because there were no lines.  Spectacular is not enough of a word to describe what we saw today.  The view from the top is amazing and the ride up in the gondola was really nice.  We have met several Asian couples and they have all been from California - haven't met any that were actually from Japan/China.

After having lunch in Banff we decided to drive on up to Lake Louise since it was such a nice day.  Turns out it was only about a 40 minute drive to Lake Louise and the drive was well worth it.  The Lake was still partially frozen and there was a lot of snow still on the mountains.  We both were wearing long sleeves and sweatshirts and we saw a lot of people in shorts and t-shirts - they must be used to the cold.  On the way back to our campsite we saw a herd of elk walking along the side of the road and I saw a caribou (I think - although I would not know one if it knocked me down).  All in all it was a great day.  Tomorrow is clean the trailer and do laundry day - yea!!

Waterfall we saw driving to Banff

View from the observation deck



View from the Gondola



View from the top



Another view from the top



Lake Louise



Snow around Lake Louise
 

 

May 19, 2013

 

We are now in Canmore, Alberta and it is beautiful.  It rained on us most of the day so we didn’t get a good view of the mountains as we were driving in although they were pretty cool with the snow and the clouds.  We are staying at a place called Spring Creek Mountain Village.  It is an RV resort and condos.  Canmore reminds us a lot of Breckenridge, CO or any other little ski town.  The mountains are gorgeous and there is still a lot of snow on them – you can see the ski runs all around.  Our camper backs up to a creek; the water is crystal clear and we can hear the water.  We have the awning out for the first time on this trip and are ready to enjoy the view.  We have a spectacular view of the mountains from the front of the camper.

 

We took a walk into town (only about 10 minutes) and had lunch at the Rose and Crown Pub.  We were talking to our waitress about not being able to buy alcohol in a grocery store and she had been in Buffalo and was amazed to find alcohol in a Wal-Mart!  The people here are so friendly and nice.  We have noticed that even other drivers are very nice, they are very good about letting us change lanes and they go the speed limit.  We had thought that we would take a tour to Banff National Park tomorrow but after talking to some travel agents we have decided we can just drive ourselves.  It is supposed to be only about a 15 minute drive and the roads are all good.  We have decided to stay here for 3 nights and will go to Banff either tomorrow or Tuesday depending on the weather.  It will be nice to stay in one place for a couple days.



Grain Silos
 

Calgary, Alberta

Home of the Calgary Olympics

Lake between Calgary and Canmore

Spring Creek that runs behind our campsite

Head buried in Canmore

Three Sisters Peaks

May 18, 2013

We crossed the border into Canada today at the Coutts crossing.  We had absolutely no problems and the people were very friendly. We are spending tonight in Fort Macleod, Alberta.  It is Memorial Weekend here in Canada so the park is pretty crowded but it is nice.  We got in here pretty early so took a walk to Historic Downtown Fort Macleod.  Since I haven't figured out how to put text below the pictures yet I will just explain them to you here.  The building with the windows boarded up was at customs - we just thought it was a cool old building.  There are also some pictures of the scenery as we were driving along.  The Queens Hotel was built in 1903 and is now a tavern and we think some kind of homeless shelter.  The dinosaur was at the visitor center just after crossing the border (I just thought it was cute).  We went into a grocery store to get some ice cream (yes our freezer does work) and asked for a bottle of wine.  After looking at us like we were crazy the clerk said we should "go to a liquor store".  Guess they don't sell alcoholic beverages in the grocery stores here.  We are also adjusting to Kilometers and Kilograms and military time (lucky for us we are used to military time).

Everything is going well and we are enjoying our trip.  Tomorrow we go north to the Calgary area where we think we will spend a couple nights.  We want to go into Banff National Park and are thinking about taking a tour so we don't have to drive. 

Here are the pictures.

May 17, 2013

May 17, 2013

 

We are in Great Falls, Montana this evening.  We drove about 4 hours today through some really beautiful country; however, it has been raining all day so not a good day for pictures.  I have included some pictures from our drive.  We crossed the Missouri River several times so I have included a couple pictures of the river.

 

Tomorrow we will be in Canada.  Since I am not sure about the internet availability once we get there, I'm not sure when the next post will happen.