Lake Minnewanka - just a few miles from campground here in Banff

Aug. 8 - We got up early (for us) and drove the Icefields Parkway to Banff. That drive is extraordinarily beautiful. There are about 10 ice fields in the area, but the Columbia is the largest. We pulled off a couple of times for some photos, but I took most while riding. The township of Banff is larger than we thought it would be. The campground is very nice, and it is nice to have full hookups in a national park campground. We were also surprised to get a few television stations. Soon after we got set up, it started a light rain that continued most of the day.
Aug. 9 - We slept late and well. It has been really chilly the last few nights. We have needed both quilts. At 3:30 in the afternoon, it is just 61 degrees. We went downtown and walked around and went to the visitors’ center. We found out two coffee shops offer free wifi, so I may get these posted while we are here! We are also plotting what we want to do while we are here. There is so much beauty! We have great views from our campsite. We hope to spend a day going back to the Columbia Icefield Centre. For $49 plus tax, we could take a bus tour of the ice field and walk on ancient ice. I imagine we will pass. I would also like to go to Yoho National Park and go to Emerald Lake. There is a drive close by to Lake Minnewanka Loop that would be scenic. Of course, we want to take a day to go to Lake Louise. There is also the Bow Valley Parkway that we would like to drive. It was nice this morning, and then poured rain for a couple of hours this afternoon. I think there is a chance of rain or storms every day this week until Sunday.
Aug. 10 - We explored some more of Banff and found the Banff Springs Hotel - HUGE! Then we found Bow Falls and walked up steps to the top and got some photos of it and the back of Banff Springs Hotel. I got a photo of a male deer grazing right off the trail to the top of the falls. Then we went back and ate a sandwich and drove the Lake Minnewanka loop. When we pulled in the parking lot, there was a bear crossing the parking lot. I did not get a great shot, but I got a few of him or her. We also got some shots of a group of female bighorn sheet and one baby. Lake Minnewanka is beautiful and the largest in Banff National Park. There will be dragon boat races there this weekend. I imagine with its limited parking, we will miss it (but I’d LOVE to see the race!!!). My niece Lindsey does dragon boat racing with her club in Charleston, SC. We started to turn around and go back through the loop in the opposite direction, so I could take some photos as we rode over the dam. It was starting to get cloudy, so I told Phil we could do that another day. Within five minutes of the time we got back to the camper, it started storming. There was a good bit of hail mixed with the hard rain. I think after tomorrow, the chances of rain go down. I hope so! I’d sure like to see a caribou, wolf, and male bighorn sheep! Tomorrow is supposed to be downright rainy. We are going to try to go to one of the coffee houses and get on the Internet tomorrow morning. Then I can post the blog. I wish I could start posting photos! I can’t imagine how much time it is going to take to post photos since Kalispell!

Aug. 7 - Chillaxin' in Hinton

Well, not exactly chillaxin', but we have shopped and done laundry in preparation for the long trip to Banff tomorrow. We went to the Walmart here (Every one we have visited in Canada are right pitiful compared to ours.). Also, we went to Safeway to get a few groceries because we do not think there will be a big grocery store in Banff. It rained almost all day, and this evening, the sun is out and in. I hope we get a good day to travel tomorrow. There are going to be several really steep climbs on the Icefields Parkway. Phil has said he will stop at some of the pulloffs, so I can take some photos. The ones I took on the way here were mostly taken through the insect-splattered windshield. I got some really beautiful shots, if you can ignore the smudges.... I have no idea if we will be able to access wifi in Banff at all. We will be there for ten days, so if you don't hear from he, you will know why.

Aug. 6 - Hinton, AB

We woke up to the smell of smoke. It continued to get worse and worse. Later, a native Albertan told us it was from bunches of fires in British Columbia. We decided to go into Jasper and see what Lake Patricia and Pyramid Lake looked like, as well as the township. Some mountain goats grazed by the side of the road on the way there. I got some good photos. Walking around the town, I got some more photos. Lake Patricia was pretty, too. By the time we went back to the car, our eyes were burning, as well as our throats and sinues from the smoke. On the way back, the male elk were lying down in grass about where they were yesterday. Then down the road further we saw a huge herd of goats, babies included. I got a bunch of photos. The goats were hilarious. They walked down the middle of the lane and drove a truck driver crazy. Every time he tried to pass them, they’d wander over in front of him. We really got tickled. Then we went to Safeway in Hinton to buy some groceries. Gas is cheaper in Hinton than Calgary. It was 91.9 per liter in Hinton, and 95.9 and higher in Calgary. I saw something I have never seen. To use a grocery buggy, you must put a quarter in the change thingy on the handle to release it from the chained other buggies. I used a hand basket, thank you very much. Then back here to bbq some chicken and make potato salad for supper. Yum!

Update - July 29 - Aug. 5

July 29 - We had a great day going to Many Glacier. I will never visit the real Alps, but it really felt like I was there at Many Glacier Hotel. What a stunning view! The Lake McDonald Lodge was the more beautiful to me, but the view from Many Glacier Hotel was the best ever! I saw signs that said, “Do not feed the sheep,” so I was really looking for some bighorn sheep. I did not see any. I also saw a sign as we went into the Many Glacier area that said to report all bear and wolf sightings. I have not seen a wolf yet, so I was looking for those, too. Again, I was disappointed. I was totally delighted by the wildflowers. I have never seen so many varieties in such profusion anywhere - ever! I wish I had time to macro each different one I saw, but it would have taken all day. Also, the fragrance was heavenly! It was a great day. And we went back to the camper where I am trying to complete a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle before we leave. Next Wed. I am working it on the table extension, but it does not fit. I am working as much as I can before putting the extension in the table to have enough room. I guess I’ll learn to limit myself to 500 piece puzzles from now on. I have not worked a 1,000 piece puzzle in years. I am really enjoying it.
July 30 - We are following our tour guide‘s (Helen Gross) suggestions and going to Waterton National Park in Canada. It is only about 45 miles from us. Also we will go ahead and get our annual pass to the Canadian National Parks. Ouch! If you are in the parks more than six days, it pays to get the annual pass. We will be in them for two weeks.
Wow! Waterton Lakes National Park is truly beautiful. If you love wildflowers, definitely put East Glacier National Park and Waterton Lakes National Park on your bucket list. Crossing the border was very different than when we went to Vancouver. When we pulled up to the Canadian border, two RV’s in front of us were pulled over. They asked pretty much the same questions as they did when we went to Vancouver. It does make me wonder if we will be pulled over and have to pop the camper up when we cross next week. Of course, I have meat in the freezer and veggies that I hope to take with us, since I gave them away before we went to Vancouver and was never asked about them. THEN. When we came back to the USA. They opened our truck doors and examined everything in the truck and back of the truck. They did ask if we had any fruit or vegetables. Oh well, if they ask, I guess I’ll donate my food to the border patrol!
Now, back to Waterton Lakes. We went on the Red Rock Canyon Parkway and the Akamina Parkway roads. We were a little disappointed because they turn you around before you get to the Red Rock Canyon because they redoing the parking lot and rest rooms there. The drive was still gorgeous,. And I got to see my first wild tiger lilies, as well as tons and tons more wildflowers. Oh, we saw a big black bear on the side of the road before we got to the park. Cameron Lake at the end of the Akamina Parkway was very beautiful. We ate at Zums in downtown Waterton. What a quaint, waterside village! The Prince of Wales Hotel is quite striking sitting up on a hill overlooking Waterton. I took 168 photos today, and I cannot wait to post some. I will post four or five on here and lots more on FaceBook. I took my computer into Zum’s because they had a big Internet sign on their window, but you had to pay to use it. Forget that! Anyway, fabulous, awesome, worshipful day! Thank you, Heavenly Father!
July 31 - It rained and rained all morning and part of the afternoon. We read and I also worked on my 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle. Helen had told us about the Cattle Baron’s Supper Club in Babb eight miles up the road. I had also read reviews about their steaks being the best in the world. The club itself is pretty neat. I did not take my camera, but I did take a few photos with my phone. The place is owned by Blackfeet Indians and it is like a museum. It looks like a dive from the road and the tables and chairs are not that fancy, but the steaks were awesome! On the menu, there is no mention of how many ounces the steaks are. Phil got a filet mignon, and I got a rib eye. His filet was huge and my rib eye looked like a roast! We could have halved that easily. I brought home half for lunch the next day.
Aug. 1 - We did not sleep well because we had mosquitos in the camper. We killed a couple, but eventually we would hear another one. Then about 5:15 I had to brave the mountain lions and bears to trudge to the restroom, compliments of the Cattle Baron’s Supper Club. We are just chillaxin’ today. Phil is reading a book about the Yankees, and I finished my puzzle. I was at the point in the puzzle where every time I got a piece in, I’d want to stand up and do the Macarena. We had to pulled the table out and put in the extension, so we both rejoiced when I finished, so we could shorten the table and make it easier to get in and out of our sofas. We will ride the free shuttle to Logan Pass on the Going-to-the-Sun Rd. one day and the other we hope to make it to East Glacier and check out Two Medicine area.
Aug. 2 - We got up with the plan to ride up to Logan’s Pass. Phil decided to drive instead of taking the free shuttle because I like to stop so often to take photos. With the road construction going on, we got stopped going and coming. We were going to hike to Hidden Lake, but they closed the parking lot at Logan’s Pass because it was full. Cars were backed up both directions because of road construction stops. It was a mess! We decided to go back to the camper, eat lunch, and take the shuttle back to Logan’s Pass for our hike. When we got to the turn-off for the campground, we were met with a guy in a truck who told us they were putting down tar and gravel on top of that. It would be hours before we could get back in the campground. Change of plans! We decided to go to Two Medicine and East Glacier. We see many signs about watching for cattle, and finally we saw cattle right by the road. There was a whole herd, and it looked like they were licking the gravel/dirt in the right-of-way. Helen, we hiked! All of .3 mile to Running Eagle Falls at Two Medicine. That was .6 total. There was the warning of grizzlies in the area, and we had no bear spray, so we walked and talked loudly the whole way there and back. We did meet some people on the trail, so that was comforting. We were going into the general store at Two Medicine, but someone had “accidentally) released some bear spray in there just before we were to go in. We did a loop going Hwy 49 to East Glacier where I got some photos of the lodge there, and then to Browning and then back to St. Mary. As we neared St. Mary, the storm clouds were gathering. We had left our bedroom windows open. Just as we reached the campground in heavy rain and wind, the hail started….. The pillows and sheet were wet. I had a spare set of sheets, but I propped up the sheet and took off the pillow cases. The pillow cases did not dry, but the sheet did by the time we went to bed. Another good day! Tomorrow is our last full day here. We have the best view from our campsite from any place we have stayed. We will miss the view! Also, we are charging the cell phone once or twice a day in the 12 v. outlet in the camper, and it has not effected the battery. Thank you, solar panel!
Aug. 3 - We had hoped to ride the shuttle to Logan’s Pass and hike to Hidden Lake today, but it was rainy again. We could not even see the mountains, so we went to the Visitors’ Center and watched the video they had on Glacier National Park. It was nice. I got some more photos of the osprey nest.
Aug. 4 - We road about four hours to Calgary. We are on the west side and right off of Canada Hwy. 1. It will be easy to get back on and head up the Ice Fields Highway to Hinton, where we will be three days. We will have wifi there. Hooray! Crossing the border was a piece of cake, just like when we went to Vancouver. We expected a more difficult time. Also, there was no line at all where we crossed. We waited in line about ten or fifteen minutes when we went to Waterton Lakes N.P. I was so thankful they did not ask about fruits, vegetables, and meat! The US border does ask that every time. I’ll be sure to have none by the time we cross back to the US.
Aug. 5 - After a six and a half hour drive to Hinton through the Icefields Parkway through Banff and Jasper National Parks, we have finally gotten online. The glitch is that they have Internet through satellite, and it is extremely slow. They say uploading photos takes forever and slows the Internet down for everyone. I have taken hundreds of photos today, and I want to post them so badly…. I am so disappointed that I cannot upload some. I guess they will wait. The Canadian Rockies are amazing. Like ours, the looks change every curve or two. When we leave here in three days, we will go to a campground in Banff National Park. I hope the McDonalds or someone in Banff has free wifi, but I have no clue. We saw a huge elk on the way between Jasper and Hinton. I got photos. We also saw a bear. The color of the streams, rivers, and lakes are amazing. The Columbia Icefield is also amazing. That ice is THICK!!! It looks like the way back will be a LOT of climbing. We got 17 miles per gallon from Calgary to here (which is pretty good), so we will probably drop drastically going back to Banff. That is it for today. It was an awesome drive, just full of God’s beautiful creation.

July 27 - Last Day in Kalispell

Phil, finishing up the camper and truck washings.

We made the grocery store rounds and got gas for $2.70 a gallon (cheapest in a long, long time) at Smith's. We could not possibly get another thing in the frig. Phil is washing the camper and truck as I type. This campground allows that (which is unusual, especially for how cheap it is). I think we are going to get pizza for supper and then start organizing the inside for the move tomorrow. Although I will miss my toaster oven, microwave, wifi, and cable, I look forward to our week of roughing it. It is nice to have the change. We have enjoyed paying no sales tax on anything in Montana. I'm going to take a shower and then do a last load of laundry. By the way, yesterday got up to 91 degrees. Today the high has been 74 degrees (at 3:20 p.m.). I like that! If NOAA's forecast is right, we will have nights in the upper 40's and days in the low to mid 70's while we are at St. Mary's Campground. If you do not hear from me for a bit, it will be because we do not have access to wifi. It looks like we will have to each purchase an annual national park pass for Banff and Jasper National Parks' two weeks. From what I have read, the Icefields Highway (think that is what it is called) is going to be awesome. If we did not purchase the annual pass, we would have to get a daily pass every time we entered the park or exited and re-entered. The annual pass will be pricey, but we will probably never travel there again. It is cheaper than getting that many days' daily passes. Oh dear, I am rambling..... Have a good one! We still marvel at the beauty God has created!

Lake McDonald Lodge

We went back into Glacier National Park, west side, one more time. I wanted to go into the Lake McDonald Lodge and check out the back. It was really, really nice. I think I liked it better than Old Faithful Inn. It is smaller, but I liked it. There are a lot of small log cabins to larger house cabins there too. They have a general store there, restaurant in the lodge and a stand-alone restaurant, a post office, and place to catch the red Jammer tour buses. There is also a tour boat that gives a one hour tour of Lake McDonald from the dock at Lake McDonald Lodge. One thing that was a little surprising about the west side of Glacier is how few roads there are that are paved. The biggie is the Road-to-the-Sun Rd. We stopped at Walmart on the way back for the last time. Tomorrow we will shop at Smith's and Super 1 Food Store to finish stocking up for St. Mary and Canada. We leave here Wed. morning for St. Mary Campground in the east side of Glacier National Park. We will be there for a week. We have no idea if there will be a hot spot for internet anywhere near or phone service. We know we will take the battery out of the phone when we go to Canada.

July 24 - Two months on the road

We left Townsend two months ago today. We have enjoyed each day and look forward to more adventures. We leave here next Wed. for St. Mary Campground in Glacier National Park. We have enjoyed this campground and our campsite the most of all the private campgrounds so far. It is also one of the most economical (less than $25 a night). We will also enjoy our no-hook ups site at St. Mary's for a week. We hit a used book store and are ready for some serious reading! We will shop at Walmart and maybe Smith's to load up as much food as we can stuff into the frig and cabinets before we leave here. After St. Mary, we will head to the Calgary area for one night and then to Jasper for three nights. Then we head to Banff for 10 nights. That will be two weeks in Canada where we will disconnect our phone. I hope we will be able to hit some hot spots to keep up with e-mail. Yesterday Phil put some kind of quick disconnect on the battery, so when we connect the solar panel cord to the charge controller, he won't have to take off the battery cover. He also made an extension cord that he hopes will work. That will enable us to put the solar panel further back on top of the camper if that area gets more sun than the front.

This campground has a really nice stream/creek that I would love to paddle around in our raft. Phil does not want to go to all the trouble of blowing it up and then getting it back into the box..... I hope to talk him into it, even if I have to get all the air out and fold it to fit back into the box!