Canada and month three wrapup

 The time had come to cross back over into the USA. We had very much enjoyed Canada and it had one more surprise for us.

 Our route took us thru the small town of Cardston, just a few miles north of the border. Well it happened to be the home of a wonderful museum of old buggies and sleighs. Wonderful place to visit and we even had lunch there as well. More information can be found HERE. If your route does not include Cardston, change your route and stop in

 Just a few of the over 400 in their collection

Now on to a condensed month three wrap up

 We picked up another hitchhiker in Washington. He is a Roosevelt elk, species that is most prevalent in the area. So much so we nearly hit a couple one night

 We call him Rosie, (think Rosie Greer the football player).

 Maggie has a magnet problem and needs counseling. Some how her magnet fix from just national parks and monuments was leaving her wanting. She has taken to acquiring magnets from memorable places. This activity has to stop!

 Now on to more serious stuff

mileage covered now sits at 4691, a gain of 1169 for the month

stayed at 6 parks

visited 2 provinces and 1 new state

Wow, it all starts to run together. This next part is mostly personal. We have seen and experienced things, met wonderful people along the way. It becomes hard to remember exact things. It will get worse with time. So I sat down and scratched out some memorable moments and places. Remember this blog entertains some and serves as a vehicle for me to look back on and remember. The following will not be in paragraphs, not grammatically correct, but it will be from the heart

dinner at the original Reata in Alpine with Mike and Cheryl
spending time with my brother who I gad not seen since our mothers funeral 5 years before
vast nothingness between Vegas and Barstow California
sheer magnitude of the giant Sequias
highway 245 leaving Kings Canyon. i loved it Mary nearly puked
beauty of Yosemite, thank you John Muir
first glimpse of snow covered Mt Shasta as we drove thru forest
the gin clear water of Spring creek near Chiloquin OR
the coastal redwoods near Crescent City Ca
the Oregon coast, stunningly beautiful
sheer magnitude of the Mt St Helens eruption
diversity of weather on Olympic peninsula, it is not all soggy. some areas less than 15 inches per year
watching the Orca whales in Pugent sound
the mighty Columbia river and the gorge
highway 1 in Canada
being greeted in French
rugged beauty of Rockies in Canada
bear aware, we have been and are now in bear country
the people we have met. some we will meet again, others sadly not but we shared some memories together


 Lest you think this party has peaked, well suck it up buttercup because it has not. Next on the agenda for August is a few lesser known places:
Glacier
Grand Tetons
Yellowstone
Custer
Devils tower
Mount Rushmore
and more

Get your popcorn ready...

too busy looking for bears to gather rosebuds...

Unintended consequences

 Change one thing and you never know what might happen. I could not get happy with a camp ground in Calgary so booked one in Crowsnest Pass. Just days before our reservations I decided to change to another location. So glad I did.

 Cheap prices, eh? Looks can be deceiving some times. While that looks good, it is for a litre not a gallon. To put it into prices you can relate to multiply by 4. Has your heart stopped? You breathing? Now remember my 100 gallon fuel tank. The only saving grace is the current exchange rate. 175 dollars on pump actually hit my card at around $135 US.

 Meanwhile back to those consequences I mentioned. Under our original plans we would have driven thru this area at 100kph. Revised plan has us staying at city owned park in Claresholm Alberta.

 We have left the mountains and the trees for a bit and are in the plains. Grow a lot of wheat up here, also big ranches. Nice park with full hook ups at a great price, $33 Canadian/$25 US. They also have a nice little museum with information on the history of the area.

mural at campground

 We then discovered a neat museum to visit in Fort MacLeod. More information can be found HERE. Very informative with a ton of information. The mounted musical review was started back in 1876 or so. Riders/mounties were all young people who did a great job

 That brings us to our next surprise. In the visitor center I saw a flyer for it and knew we must go. Website can be found HERE. Very nicely done exhibits covering ancient times till now. We also have learned of the First Nation, basically native Indian tribes who are very involved.

  They have both indoor exhibits and trails to the actual sites. We were going to walk the upper trail but they closed it right before we went to walk it. Seems local beer thought feeding on the berries was more important than our viewing historic sites. Not wanting to become bear scat we let him have his way.

 On our drive out to the location we saw a heard of bison in a nearby field. Did not stop and felt like perhaps we had let an opportunity go by. I had made note of where we last saw them. Upon leaving we left the pavement and drove down a gravel road aways till I found them. They tolerated me as I could not get too close due to fence. Magnificent creatures. We have been more keenly aware of the atrocities committed by the white man against the buffalo since we visited a museum outside Abilene Texas. Link to web page HERE. Instead of being celebrated Buffalo Bill and hundreds of others should have been in jail. Do your research on this issue

 We would in all likely hood have missed all of this had I not changed our planned stops. Unintended consequences indeed.

 Next stop back in the USA to see Glacier National Park. Plus our three month update, oh joy!


on the high prairies...

More Banff

Some more attempts to capture the beauty. My eyes are not working so good so these may not be the best. The overpass's you see are wildlife corridors.

Loc Louise (in French)

jagged peaks

Cascade gardens

yes, I am on this trip

 Last couple of stops we have been reminded we are in bear country. In fact in Banff you can not leave ANYTHING out at night, including your grill. Our foreign neighbors choose to ignore these warnings and were paid a visit. First by a bear, then the security guard.


trying to catch you up some



carpe diem

Banff

 We have been without internet several days so you are behind a bit.

TRAVEL MAP

 We had been told by many that the Canadian Rockies were something to see. After driving thru them I would agree completely. Highway 1, Trans Canadian highway is a very good road for the most parts. Now one does have to translate your mph speedometer to what it is in kph. All signage is in English and French.


 Banff is an incorporated town inside the National Park. A neat place, very crowded with tourist. Population of 8000, annual visitors of 4 million. The spectacular views were hampered during part of our visit by forest fires to the west. Enjoyed our visit and will return someday.

my happy hour buddy

 More to come as I try to catch you up


back to gathering regular rosebuds

Revelstoke

 Route Transcanadienne (highway 1) is something you should travel. From Kamloops eastward a ways it is divided four lane. So smooth and quiet I did not think we were moving, even while doing 100, (kph not mph!). We have been on highways in many states that are terrible, Oklahoma and Louisiana come quickly to mind. Beautiful scenery, nice roads, all a traveler could ask for.

 We got lazy here in Revelstoke and did not do a couple of things originally planned. But that was our decision. On to Lake Louise and Banff tomorrow for three days.

Notice how many are from Europe? Counting ours, 2 from Texas

What are these things???

We have about reached apogee, our farthest northern stop. Then we start drifting southward. Guest of the Canadians till 31st, unless US border patrol blocks us!


Carpe diem

Interesting Day

 While we enjoyed our time in Port Townsend, the time came to move along. Made some friends we hope to see again and really enjoyed the area as a whole.

 Leaving meant putting Maggie on a ferry, a first time thing. Also clearing Canadian customs, another first. Some pretty scenery but a long tiring day.

 Sunday night found us in Merrit for a one night stay. Then it is on to Revelstoke for a couple of nights. We will return to the US on the 31st according to our schedule.


TRAVEL MAP

 Per our cell plans we should have cell and data coverage in Canada. Mary has cell but not data, I have nothing. Call Mary if you need us



short nights this far north. And they are in a heat wave up here. Temps up to 80 degrees farenhight, 36 celcious.



carpe diem

Lavender festival

The town of Sequim, (pronounced squim) holds a annual lavender festival. 22nd year so they say. I have never seen so much purple, both the plants and people wearing purple. We did the festival and toured two farms. They even had lavender infused ice cream, Mary had two bowls.

 So as promised yesterday, all things lavender

beautiful colors that camera does not capture

harvesting her bundle

still used to extract oil

 Our time here is fast coming to an end. Like this area and hope to return one day. Plan a return to pikes market in Seattle tomorrow then Sunday it is on to Canada.



gathering lavender buds instead of rose buds...

Olympic NP

 Guess I got a little behind in posting.

 We drove over to Port Angeles to do some touring. Original plans where to take ferry over to Victoria Canada. However cost would have been $74 for ferry plus $10 to park plus lunch. Ferry travel time of three hours round trip. Seemed like a lot of money to walk around for an hour or so.

 We did a quick tour of Olympic NP. It is a very large, diverse park. From glaciers to rain forest and things only found there. You might think the northwest is all rainy but it is not. Parts of the peninsula are in the rain shadow of the mountains and receive little rain comparatively. Towns 40 miles apart can have a 50 inches per year difference in rain.

 Lavender festival coming up so next post will be all things lavender.

I really like that statement

 Back home in Texas it is summer

 Today's high here is low 70's at best and cloudy. We did have a couple of days with highs in the 80's



carpe diem