Yuppy Town & Rainy Day

Monday, May 16

The first picture is driving into Banff. The next is an elk we saw by the road driving up 1A to Lake Louise. The last is our campground at Lake Louise.

Driving to Banff was one spectacular view after another. The timber line was bright green with pines and the mountains were rugged with stripes of snow. Pictures and words just can't capture it.

Banff reminded me of Jackson Hole or any high end resort town. It's quaint, tucked into the mountains and using every tiny space for housing, expensive shops and interesting restaurants. People seem to be hikers, bikers, old hippies, and yuppies. Yes, Brad, Volvos would fit, but Jeeps were big too. We explored, stopped at a hardware, and had lunch and left after lots if walking.

We drove up 1A from Banff to Lake Louise and saw lots of deer and an elk. It was the wrong time of day to see much, but the scenery was well worth it.

Meanwhile, it started raining hard. We stopped in the Lake Louise Campground which had electricity, but no water, internet or sewer. We had snow all around our site and the shower was a bone chilling quarter of a mile walk. We plugged in the heater, had our own happy hour, and fixed soup and toast for dinner.

After dinner, it was too early for bed, so we went for a ride and saw Lake Louise. It was so beautiful tucked between mountains, but was still frozen. We were surprised to see the huge fancy hotel on the shores of the lake with people dressed for dinner sipping wine at tables with white tableclothes. It seemed so civilized after our rustic setting right down the road.

We drove back to snuggle in for the night and, as you might guess, we weren't there long before in disbelief, after all, this is a National Park, we heard the train whistle. We saw the tracks through the pines across the road from us. It was so close that in the night, we felt like we were on the train, tucked into our own little berth. Oh well, we were warm and cozy and I'm starting to love trains.

Old, Dust & Mountains

The first picture is of the Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump. The next is the dusty back road we took. And the third is last night's camp at Spring Creek in Canmore.

We hit another little road block as I woke up Sunday morning with a Urinary Tract Infection, on top of my yucky cold. I started thinking that I was finally falling apart and too old to travel. I whined to Bob about needing to trade me in for a newer model. We considered staying in Fort McCleod to try to let me get healthy. We went to Fort McCleod's small hospital and I got right in. No wait. There were two nurses and one young lady doctor that reminded me of Jessica Williams. They were great and so understanding and even gave me enough meds so it would take care of the infection and I didn't have to pick up a prescrption. We were back on the road in less than an hour. I was so impressed. Maybe Canada's health care system isn't so bad.

We decided to push on and went to Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump. It was very interesting with a beautiful interpretive center and trails to hike. What an ingenious way to hunt buffalo. It was good to get out and walk the grassy, windy trails (even though it said to watch for cougars and bear), but Ben couldn't go, so we didn't stay long.

We took a back road to cut across to Highway 22 north and the scenery was fabulous, but it turned into a dry dirt road with about 30 miles to go. Bob moaned as we watched the clouds of dirt and dust soak into the trailer and truck. We pushed on and Bob didn't let it affect his speed.

Highway 22, the Cowboy Trail, lived up to it's name with lots of very pretty range land and increasing hills with snow covered mountains in the back ground. We saw lots of deer and a herd of elk. We got on Highway 1 and headed west towards Banff and got a camp just east of there at Spring Creek in Canmore. A clear little stream flowed behind us and mountains surrounded us. We saw elk droppings all around the camp site. The view was breathtaking and it was so peacefully quiet. And, then, and then, wait for it...is that thunder?...no...the horn blasts and a train chugs by just on the other side of the pretty little stream behind a row of pines. Can you believe it?!

We spent the first hour at camp cleaning and cleaning the out the dust that thickly coated everything inside the trailer. Then, lovely hamburgers (mine Boca) cooked over the fire and deli potato salad out at the picnic table. We're doing good!

Today off to Banff, Lake Louise, and maybe Jasper, after we get the dust out of the back of the truck.

Saturday's Drive

Well, I'm learning. The pictures are in the wrong order. I guess I'll have to download them backwards. Anyway, this is what we saw a LOT of driving across Montana and up 15 into Canada yesterday. But, it was beautiful with so much sky and herds of cattle and pronghorns. Now I'll skip back for a minute for the next two pictures.

This is a picture of the Shady Rest Campground where there haven't been any shootin's in years.

And here is the welcome sign on the back of the pickup truck parked next to the campground. If you can't read it, it says, "Welcome to Montana. Now go home!" :)

Anyway, we had a beautiful drive and no trouble at the border crossing into Canada. The surprise was when we got to Lethridge. It was a beautiful college town built into the grassy hills. It was so clean and modern with coffee shops, malls, and bike trails. It was warmer and everything was in bloom. It was just such a contrast after driving through such stark, empty, windy terrain.

We drove on to Fort McLeod and found a nice campground on the Oldman River. It is beautiful and the river is just bubbling fast. We had a refreshing walk with Ben. Are all campgrounds built near railroad tracks? Do they have to be near crossings so the engine blows it's horn multiple times? We have hit three out of four and we're kind of getting used to it.

Today we have a short drive to Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump. It is a 1000 foot long cliff. Plains peoples stampeded buffalo to their deaths here for nearly 6000 years. It should be interesting. Then we are on up the Cowboy Trail (Hwy 22) around Calgary (which is a big city) and on to Banff and Lake Louise. We hope to stay at Lake Louise tonight and do some hiking.

Thanks for the comments. Have a great Sunday!

Two Things

Stripes in the hills of North Dakota.

Our first camp site in Ashby, ND.

Mike, Cindy, Todd, & Jodi and their new house in Illinois.

Gary & Carol in Wisconsin the morning we headed out.

I forgot to add two things and I wanted to start adding pictures. I am still learning to use this site. The pictures are out of order. Mike & Cindy should have been first, followed by Gary & Carol, the camp site and then the stripes in the hills. I'll get it. And,for those of you wondering, Ben is having a great time and is a good boy!

Ok, those two things -

We were surprised in the western part of North Dakota, that we started seeing patches of snow. We've seen even more in Montana. It is mostly down in little hollows and on eastern facing slopes. They may even get rain mixed with snow later today, but right now, the sky is bright blue and beautiful.

Next, last night when we registered at Shady Rest, it looked a little shabby in places and we saw some seedy looking characters walking around. Bob asked the owner if we were safe as he worried about the kayaks and bikes. But she replied, "Oh Heavens, yes. Why, we haven't had a shootin' around here in years!" I guess we're in the wild west and we did lock our doors last night. And, the shower was very clean. :)

Getting in the Routine

We are fine and doing well, but had kind of a rough beginning. It was a nice trip to Gary & Carol's and we got to see Mike and Cindy's beautiful new house. We had a cozy dinner with Gary and Carol and then the worst head cold I have had in years kicked in full gear and I had to crash. I have pretty much been in a blur since with my focus being on breathing, but I think I'm finally coming out of it. Bless Carol for the Puffs plus lotion she gave me. And, bless Carol and Linda for the cookies which have kept us going. But, Linda, the Tootsie Roll pops are going to send both of us to the dentist!

After we left Gary & Carol's we discovered we had computer problems and cell phone problems. We ended up in a small town less than an hour from our start and had to wait for stores to open as we were not sure where we might find another store and this was pretty convenient. Luckily there was a Starbucks right there so it wasn't all bad. We also had to stop for some stuff Bob needed for the trailer and we went through at least an hour and a half of stop and go traffic through St. Paul, so we sure didn't make the time we had hoped for our first day. However,we stayed in the nicest, small, very clean campground, Prairie Cove, right off the highway in Ashby, Minnesota about an hour east of the North Dakota line. It was an adjustment to go from near 90 degree, humid weather to a bone chilling 39 with rain. We had the space heater on last night and used all of our blankets. Also, I didn't post last night as the blog site was down.

Today I have felt better as the day went and we have seen beautiful country. We love the wide open spaces across North Dakota. At Dickinson we took 85 north and saw lots of oil fields and huge fields with dirt roads and cattle. Then we came into Theodore Roosevelt National Park and saw such interesting land formations and striped hills. Small herds of Pronghorn deer were in some of the fields and we saw Mule deer along a river bed,but no elk or bison yet. We were both surprised at all of the flooding. Bales of hay were half under water and there was lots of mud.

We picked up Highway 2 and headed west into Montana. It was beautiful big sky country and highway 2 was a hoot as it went up and down at pretty steep angles with grand views of the Missouri River and land that went on forever. We learned quickly what the signs that say "Rough Break" mean. The worst damage was all of coats on the floor of our little coat closet located at the bouncey back of our trailer.

We are now tucked in for the night at Shady Rest (sounds like a cemetary) Campground in Glasgow, Montana. We drove 630 miles today, which is more than we will normally do. Mountain time will be interesting as we'll probably be ready to hit the road around 5:00 AM. Our goal tomorrow is to be near Calgary in Canada.

Proposed Route

Because some of you have expressed an interest, here is our proposed route. If you have any advice, don’t hesitate.

As we leave Gary & Carol’s, we plan on getting right on I94 West across Wisconsin, Minnesota, and through most of N. Dakota. In Dickinson, N.D., we will take 85 north through the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. We've been in part of that park and will now be able to see the north section. There are wild horses, buffalo, and elk there.

Then we will get on Highway 2 West across Montana to just north of Great Falls. The town is Shelby where we will pick up 15 north into Canada. We are staying in the states as long as possible because of gas prices, which are not good either place, but better in the U.S.

In Canada we will jog north to Lethbridge and take the Crowsnest Trail and to Hwy. 3 to Fort MacLeod. Just west of Fort MacLeod on 785 is the Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump. We want to be sure to see that.

Then instead of the main highway, we'll take Hwy 22 north. It is called the Cowboy Hwy and is supposed to be interesting. In Calgary, we take Hwy 2 west to Hwy 1 to Banff and Lake Louise.

We want to spend some time in this area and then we will drive the Icefields Parkway to Jasper. Hopefully we'll see lots of mountains, waterfalls and wildlife. We are going to stop as we feel like it.

From Jasper, we'll take Hwy 16 to Hinton, then north on 40 to Grande Cache & Grande Prairie. From there we take 43 West to 2 north to Dawson Creek which is mile 0 for the Alaskan Highway.

From Dawson Creek, we’ll be actually traveling the Alaskan Highway and our dream comes true as we take 97 north to Watson Lake and then 1 to White Horse. In White Horse we will have to decide to either take 1 on to Tok, Alaska or take 2 to Dawson City, Chicken and on down to Tok. From Tok we work our way down and around to Denali and Talkeetna to meet up with our dear friend, Butch (Jon) Reynolds. We'll take the rest as it goes and as we decide.

We will probably laugh at this route later, but at least we have a plan.

A day and a half until departure and not even close to ready….we work best under stress. 

Excited

We leave for Gary & Carol's (my brother & sister-in-law's) one week from today. Then our trip starts in earnest on Thursday morning, May 12, from Wisconsin. Our excitement grows as we overwhelm ourselves trying to organize, pack and listen to tons of advice.

We had a wonderful grilled Salmon dinner last night at Butch & Bev's (Bob's brother and sister-in-law's). She is from Alaska and they have traveled there many times. They helped a lot with suggestions for routes and must sees.

Thank you to everyone who has shared with us and offered advice. Hopefully we will be as prepared as we can be. Maybe the best advice was to be open for adventure and take it as it comes. We're good at that!