Canadian Rockies

We're at a campsite tonight with no electricity and no internet service--Wabasso Campground in Jasper National Park--but I have my laptop connected to my cell phone (sporadic cell phone service) and running off the battery, so a quick update...not enough power or time for pictures, but a brief summary of the last couple days:

We thought Glacier and the Rockies in Montana were gorgeous, but . . . WOW!!! The Canadian Rockies are simply too spectacular for words. At one point yesterday, Ernie asked me how I'd describe them to someone, and I said words failed me . . . they just need to experience them for themselves. We drove from Pincher Creek up Hwy. 22 to Hwy. 40, the highest paved road in Canada, which we had been told was a scenic drive. Ernie deemed it the most beautiful drive he'd ever made in his entire life--and that's saying quite a lot, since he's driven thousands of miles over many years! I'll post pictures later when we have better internet service, but pictures just can't capture the beauty and magnificence of being surrounded by those awesome mountains. We pulled off for photo ops many times, including some wildlife along (and on) the road--Rocky Mountain sheep and elk--and hiked to Grizzly Creek, which a Canadian told us about at a pull-off. It was worth the trek! Highwood Pass, at about 7200 feet, was the highest point of the drive and worth every mile we drove to see it! We drove through Banff late yesterday afternoon/early evening, but it was getting late, cold, windy, and rainy, so we didn't stop to do any sightseeing. We spent the night last night in the Lake Louise Campground in Banff National Park.

This morning we drove to Lake Louise, but it was raining, sleeting, hailing, windy, and very cold--but even that didn't diminish the beauty! Then we continued driving up the Columbia Ice Fields Parkway toward Jasper, again stopping several times at various points. One of those was the Columbia Ice Fields, where we spent a little time in the visitor centre. We also had to stop several times for pictures of Bighorn sheep along the road. Much of the drive today was in snow, as well as wind and cold (42 was the coldest).

Our campsite tonight in Jasper National Park is a few feet from the Athabasca River, which we walked along after dinner tonight. Again, beautiful!! Speaking of dinner, tonight was our first attempt at cooking dinner over an open fire (of course, Ernie built another fire--where there's firewood, Ernie builds a fire). We had chicken and rice in mushroom soup sauce, baked beans, and toast all cooked on the fire--delicious! This morning we made toast on the fire.

I'm sure I've forgotten many details that impressed us immensely the last two days, but I'll add those with the pictures. Tomorrow we head northwest out of the national parks toward Prince George, British Columbia.

Montana and Canada!

Yesterday we started the true adventure part of our trip! Until yesterday afternoon, we had traveled the same route Ernie used when he drove Ross' truck out to Seattle six years ago right before Ross returned from Iraq. So even though I had never seen this territory, Ernie had, but now it's all new for both of us. Yesterday afternoon we arrived in Canada to begin our northward trek!

Sorry for the lack of frequent updating recently, but we've discovered that just because a campground advertises that they have wifi, doesn't mean they really have easily useable wifi. One only had access at the hotel next door, so we had to go inside and use their computer in the lobby; the place we stayed for four days had wifi, but it was sporadic and severely restricted--we could check email but weren't allowed enough bandwidth to upload much, especially pictures. I'll try to keep updating, but chances are internet service will probably only get more sporadic on the next part of our trip.

Many historic markers along the way have caught our attention, so of course we have to stop to check them out. This one is a monument to Lewis and Clark's "Camp Disappointment," which is explained in a later monument further north. It was atop a hill with a beautiful view and one of the first views of the mountains in Glacier.

From the hill, you can see miles of Montana countryside, mountains in the distance, and Highway 2, which we were traveling.

We spent from Thursday night until Monday morning in "Glacier Meadows" campground, southwest of the town of East Glacier. Ernie needed some rest and relaxation time...even Prater "driving machines" need a break from driving occasionally :) This is our campsite in the woods--very peaceful and relaxing--just what we needed!

View of the mountains from the campground. We spent some time every day walking through the meadows and along the woods, marveling at the beauty of the clear blue skies and majestic mountains--and Ernie looking for wildlife.

Ernie relaxing and reading one morning--pretty chilly in the mornings!

Another view from the campground

"Goat Lick Overlook" on our way to Glacier National Park

River and rapids at Goat Lick Overlook

Thursday was the first day of opening the "Going-to-the-Sun" Road through Glacier National Park. We decided to drive from the west side to the east side on Friday, to avoid the weekend crowds going for the first weekend of the season. It was a treacherous drive, closed to one lane in places for repairs, and not much room to spare in many places. Signs said that no vehicles longer than 21 feet or wider than 8 feet were allowed on the road. We didn't know exactly how big the truck and camper were, but we thought it was within limits, so we went ahead. The next day Ernie measured and discovered that bumper to bumper was exactly 21 feet, and mirror to mirror was 8 1/2 feet! That's why he only had inches to spare in some places and was glad we didn't meet another vehicle in those spots! He couldn't really enjoy the scenery, but it was breathtaking, awe-inspiring, majestic......not enough adjectives to adequately describe it!! I held my camera out the window snapping pictures as fast as I could, but we agreed that pictures just can't do justice to the gorgeous scenery. The song "Majesty,....." kept running through my mind! Below are only a few of the many shots....

While we were at Logan Pass, the highest point, a thunderstorm hit, with high winds and hail. Fortunately we had just entered the visitor center when the worst hit and just waited for it to pass. But we had some drizzle and lots of clouds and mist the rest of the way to the east side. Ernie got some shots of the piles of snow still standing and hail on the sidewalk at Logan Pass, but I forgot to upload those.

St. Mary's Lake with storm clouds and mist

Back at our campsite, woodsman Ernie built another wonderful fire.

We spent Saturday and Sunday just relaxing at the campground; after the tense driving Friday, Ernie definitely needed a break! He really prefers plains to mountains! We imported pictures to the computer, labeled them, did laundry, spent some time reading, took some walks, and just generally rested. Monday morning after packing up, we drove to Two Medicine Lake, another area inside Glacier National Park. The weather couldn't have been more perfect! Below are several shots of Two Medicine Lake and the surrounding mountains.

We stopped at Running Eagle Falls and hiked down to the falls (less than a half mile). Another beautiful location!

After exiting the park, we pulled off Highway 49 and just sat for awhile absorbing the peacefulness, quiet, and beauty of this mountain stream

We drove back east, then north, to pick up the road to enter Canada. Along the route was this marker, a few miles north of the Camp Disappointment monument. Hmm, it might be too small to read here (my version was a little larger and easier to read.)

Cutback Creek, with the mountains in the distance

Monday afternoon we entered Canada at the Del Bonita crossing, where we encountered no problems with the border crossing.

Then on to Lethbridge, where we did a little shopping, and spent the night at Pincher Creek. I spent a few hours last night sitting in the laundry room uploading pictures to the blog but was too tired to finish. So we're not exactly getting the early start we wanted this morning--but in a few minutes we'll be leaving to drive toward Banff! We're getting better at this camping thing, developing some routines that work for us. Maybe in a few more weeks, we'll be old pros :)

North Dakota

Even though we awoke to rain this morning, skies cleared, and we had an absolutely gorgeous day driving through North Dakota with incredibly blue skies, white fluffy clouds, and lush green fields! We stopped just east of the Montana state line in Williston, ND.

Ernie at the marker for the geographical center of North America in Rugby, ND, where we spent last night

Joanne posing in the same spot

For all of Ernie's GE buddies who've worked with him at wastewater treatment plants: he hasn't abandoned his wastewater treatment efforts :) . . . Dealing with the tank from the RV

Ernie texting the kids from Old Settlers Park outside Minot, ND, where we stopped for a picnic lunch

View from the picnic table

Our picnic site

Truck at the park where we had our picnic lunch

Some of the beautiful North Dakota scenery--yes, the skies really are that blue! Temperature was about 75! Perfect!

We just had to stop in the town of Ross, ND, for Ross :)

Post office in Ross, where the postmistress gave us a postmark to give to Ross

Well, somehow in trying to move pictures, I accidentally deleted the Welcome sign to Ross, ND. Other two pictures were from atop a hill about 5 miles west of Ross--beautiful scenery where we could see forever! North Dakota is another beautiful state!