Alberta and British Columbia; Summer of 2018

We headed north for a few weeks.  Our destination was the Canadian Province's of Alberta and British Columbia. Originally we had planned to travel with the Kirby's, but they couldn't make it this time...so off we went by ourselves 😢.  We went thru Winnemucca, Nevada and then stayed in several places in Idaho.  Winnemucca is going crazy.  They have opened up many of the old silver and copper mines and there are temporary housing set up for all the workers coming in to town.

Twin Falls is a nice town and we made time to go see Shoshone Falls.  The falls are higher than Niagara Falls by about 400 feet.  In addition, it wasn't as crowded and only cost $5 to get into the park. What a deal.

Twin Falls also has a bridge called Perrine that crosses the Snake River. It is one of the only bridges in the world that allows BASE jumping off the bridge year round without a permit.  We saw several jumpers packing their parachutes and preparing to jump. The record number of jumps for one person in one 24 hour time period is 63!  They climb up and then have a prepacked parachute and jump over and over again. There have been several fatalities.

We stopped in Boise to pick up our Arizona neighbors; the Hiatt's.  They joined us for a few days travel to McCall and Lewiston, Idaho.  Below are our rigs on White Bird Pass Idaho.

The trip up to McCall went thru beautiful country.  Most of the journey was along rivers; Salmon, Little Salmon and Payette.  Lots of fishermen on the Salmon; the silver Salmon were running.  Lots of rafting and kayaking too.   We also went thru the town of Grangeville, Idaho where one the locals in 1990's dug up an entire skeleton of a Whooly Mammoth. They found parts of some 200 Whooly Mammoths at Tolo Lake.  They have been extinct for 10-15,000 years.

We stayed at Hell's Gate State Park in Lewiston.  It is right on the Snake River and it was a very nice campground.  We gave it a 5!  Large grassy sites and lots of space between sites.
This little guy was in our campground one afternoon.  Did you know that Idaho has 14 species of owls?

We took a 6 hour jet boat trip up the Snake into Hell's Canyon.   Hell's Canyon is North America's deepest canyon.  Yes, even deeper than the Grand Canyon. Weather was great and we saw long horned sheep and petroglyphs.   Traveling up the Snake we went thru 3 states; Oregon, Washington and Idaho and saw basalt columns climbing vertical to the river.  They were caused by large lava flows cooling and breaking into geometric columns.

We parted company with Ron and April and headed for Montana.  We stayed on Blackwell Island Campground in Coeur d' Alene.  Great spot with a view of the lake and all the boat traffic on the Spokane River (outflow from the lake to the Columbia River).

One of the tourist spots in this town is the "floating boardwalk".  12 foot wide and 3/4 of a mile long. It is reported to be the longest boardwalk in the world and it circles the downtown marina.  To top that off, we ate at the floating restaurant called the Cedars.

We had to go to Glacier National Park again, it is so beautiful.   We drove the "Road to the Sun"  again but the sky was overcast that day and we didn't get the spectacular photos we got the last time.  Here is a photo we took on our 2013 trip to Glacier. 

Our plan was to go into Waterton Park (Canadian Glacier) from the town of St Mary Montana; however, road construction (single road with mud and rocks) made us change our plans and head for Canada a different way.  We went further east to Great Falls, Montana and then straight up to Fort Mac Leod, Alberta Canada.

The border crossing at Coutts, Montana was uneventful. The usual questions about alcohol, money, guns and cigarettes.  NO questions about food! Great, I had citrus, eggs, fruit and lots of meat.  Stopped at the Duty Free liquor store at the border and bought a bottle of Stoly for $22  US. Not bad at all. We paid $45 for a cheap brand of vodka while in Canada!! Holly smokes.  One of the major crops here is canola seed aka rape seed.  The yellow field below is canola.  Happy farm, huh?

The town of Fort MacLeod was established in 1874 and was the site of the first Mounted Police post which brought law and order to the Canadian west.  There is not much here.  We were close to  "Head Smashed-In Buffalo Jump" a UNESCO site and we took a day trip south to the US/Canada border to Waterton Park.

The Buffalo UNESCO site was great.  It is run by the Blackfoot "first people"; that is what Canadians call their native Indians.  Native people depended on the Buffalo for everything; especially before obtaining the horse.  For over 6500 years, they used this site to stampede Buffalo over a cliff to obtain enough meat to survive the winter.  It took a lot of team work and luck to succeed.  The name is a "turn off" but do go.  It has a wonderful visitor center and great displays.

The majority of Waterton Park was closed due to last years big fire.  They had saved the Prince of Wales Hotel and we could drive to that area only.    This hotel dates back to 1927 and was built by the Great Northern Railway.  Beautiful.

The area is said to be the Wildflower capital of Canada.  We were treated to a large field of flowers.

On to Calgary for the Calgary Stampede!!

This is the event that we planned this trip around.  One of those events that was on our "bucket list".  First surprise, Calgary is BIG.  1.2 million! It even has its own Space Needle!

Our campground was on the outskirts of the city and right next to the 1988 Calgary Olympic site.   We had a choice of riding a bus or take the subway from the Olympic site to the Calgary Stampede grounds.  Good place to stay if you travel this way.
Walt got to remember what is was like to be a young man in Boston.....got to play hockey!

The Stampede was a real hoot! Lots of fun.  Everyone becomes a COWBOY/GIRL for at least a day.

It is like a State Fair and the largest rodeo in the world all rolled into one!!  We spent 6 hours one day and 12 hours the next.  Fantastic AG displays of all types of farm animals, rides, rib cook-offs, zip lines, music, etc.  The night time show is great.  Fireworks throughout and at the end.  We had great weather too.   The famous Chuck Wagon races were the big draw!!  The horses are racing thoroughbreds and they go FAST!

Chuck wagon races starting

The FINISH

On to Banff and Lake Louise.  Stayed at Tunnel Mtn Trailer Park in Banff National Park (fits big rigs) just outside of the town of Banff.

Banff is very touristy but surrounded by mountains and rivers and just gorgeous. All of the sites were long pull thrus along the road.  Lots of space.

We heard that Lake Louise would be swamped with people and that parking fill up early in the am.  So we got there by 7am and got great parking near Fairmont Chateau Hotel before the tour buses arrived.  It was a beautiful crisp morning, 44 degrees and sunny.

Fairmont Chateau Hotel

Lake Louise

Had a small breakfast at the hotel (couldn't afford anything else) and then walked along the entire side of the lake; about 3 miles.  Easy walking and met a Cree Indian (First Nation People) along the way.  Beautiful outfit don't you think?

From there we headed to Jasper National Park after that.  What we learned is the park in on both sides of the highway we were traveling....you don't "arrive" at Jasper Ntl Park, you drive thru it.  The highway is called the Ice Field Parkway and every turn is like seeing another MORE fantastic view. We saw more glaciers then when we were in Alaska!  The town of Jasper is further on and not that big a deal; but the journey is the treat!

We also saw elk, black bears, mountain goats and eagles right along the main highway through Jasper.

We didn't go any further north that Hinton, Alberta. 
While we were in Hinton, we found this big haul truck.  155 tons and it is one of the smaller ones!

We chose to go back thru British Colombia and then into Washington State.  Very nice trip;  beautiful but we didn't visit any big parks.  Good roads and weather too.  We stayed in Vernon, BC on Swan Lake for a few days where we had a very sudden, short thunderstorm.  Sudden rain and very gusty winds.  Lightening strikes near-by started several forest fires and burned down a home. 

Swan Lake, Vernon BC

We hit some fires burning along 97 near Penticton; the road had been closed because of fire the previous day but we got through fine.

We stayed in Wenatchee State Park near Leavenworth.  Great park along the Wenatchee River.   Took a day trip to Chelan Lake; where the wonderful Chelan fruit is grown.  We are now headed to the barn.  A stop along the Columbia Gorge for a visit with an RN colleague (Cally), another stop in Mt Shasta City to see another RN colleague (Jenny) then on to Salem to see sister Joanne....then home.  Nice trip!!!  Wish you guys were along!!!

Ta Ta.  3956 miles.