Days 4 thru 11

We are finally in a park with WiFi! Those parks are few and far between, in fact, we've been without phone service a number of times as well.

On Thursday, June 10th, we drove out of Idaho into Montana. We were so excited when a park ranger directed us to a scenic drive to take us to Helena (we love the scenic drives) but the scenic drive turned out to be no fun at all. What the ranger didn't know was that about 6 miles of the road was under construction, which wouldn't have been too bad except we ended up in a really bad rain & hail storm. Our clean truck & trailer are now grossed out.

Friday, June 11th - We followed the Missouri River through beautiful mountains and canyons. We stopped in Great Falls to buy some groceries and to see the Great Falls. Unfortunately, the exit we chose to find a store took us right into downtown - crowded, narrow streets - not good when you're pulling a trailer. It was freezing cold, too. Today we crossed into Canada and stayed at a park in Milk River.

We've been kind of amused at the road signs in Canada, eh. The speed limit signs are white with a black number, that's it, just a number (not to mention that the numbers are metric). Jan was disappointed that 110 did not mean miles per hour. They also have a lot of signs that have pictures - no words. Like some stick people with binoculars means a scenic viewpoint, a picture of a traffic lane with what looks like a garbage truck means watch for trucks entering the highway. I'm a little disturbed at the one that has a black man holding a shovel in a pile of dirt -could it be some sort of racist jab at our president? Someone should call the ACLU (or would that be CCLU)! Or maybe it just means "men working".

Saturday June 12th - On to Banff via Calgary. The traffic in Calgary was awful but the scenery was awesome. We also made the mistake of driving into Banff trying to locate the Visitors Center - it too was jam packed with people & cars and the streets are very narrow. We went to a Provincial Park to camp but our trailers wouldn't fit so we wound up at Lake Louise RV Park. Our camp site was great - the Bow River went right behind us. Jan got to take a long bike ride, which he really enjoyed. We saw some bears along the road while we were driving. The only negative at this RV park was that it was also across the street from a very active railroad track. That train was lovely to listen to at 4:00 AM.

Sunday, June 13th - We stayed an extra night at Lake Louise so we could visit Lake Louise and Moraine Lake as well. Both lakes are crystal clear, surrounded by snow capped peaks. We ate lunch at the trailer and then ventured on to Emerald Lake in Yoho National Park. We were told there was a nice stroll around the lake that would take us about 2 hours - we decided to do it. Well, only half was a nice stroll and it took longer than 2 hours. We were pooped! A stop at the Natural Bridge (the Kicking Horse River eroded the rocks to form a bridge) and then back home.

Monday, June 14th - On to Jasper via the Icefields Parkway. We saw a big horn sheep just sitting by the road, Jan took pictures of a grizzly bear by the road, too. Beautiful, awesome, breathtaking - none of these words is adequate to describe this area. Majestic snow & glacier topped mountains, beautiful lakes and rivers, rugged peaks - amazing. We stopped at Athabasca Falls - they are so forceful you can feel the ground shake - beautiful as well. A mother elk and her baby came right through our camp today.

Tuesday, June 15th - We stayed over an extra night so we could go exploring around Jasper. We went up to the tram but didn't ride it - it was cloudy & freezing, there's no way I was going to the top of the mountain. Jasper is a quaint and cute little town - nothing like Banff. We drove to Medicine Lake and Maligne Lake where we ate lunch at the Lodge. Along the way we got to see 2 black bears (crossed the road in front of us), 3 deer, & an elk with thick velvet on his antlers. A female came through camp again tonight but she didn't have a baby with her. Jan got to take another long bike ride and saw a huge male elk.

Wednesday, June 16th - We drove Scenic Route 16 from Jasper to Prince George then on to Whiskers Point Provincial Park for the night. We were camped on McLeod Lake - very pretty. The Provincial Parks are great places to stay, they are well maintained and very inexpensive.

Thursday, June 17th - We arrived today in Dawson Creek British Columbia - mile 0 for the Alcan Highway. It's been an exciting day - I did laundry (lots of it) and went to Walmart for groceries. Strange Walmart - no produce or meat. We did go out for pizza - that was good. Jerry & Nancy want to stay here tomorrow which means we will head for the Yukon on Saturday.