July 4th. Calgary

We got up really early this morning to be ready to catch a bus, again the small school buses, to take us downtown to the Calgary Tower for breakfast.   This area of Calgary was under water just two short weeks ago.  It is amazing how this city worked together to clear out the mud and get electricity back on line in only two weeks.

The Tower is Calgary’s answer to the Seattle Space Needle. At the very top is the observation floor with a 360 degree view of Calgary, and one section is complete with glass floor looking straight down onto the street below! I hate heights, but we mugged a little for the  camera…there was no way I was looking down though!

The restaurant was the floor below the observation floor and there was not a bad seat in the house, as the entire restaurant rotated around continuously while we were served and ate breakfast! The food was very good and the view was wonderful!  At the same time it was a little sad as we were able to glimpse evidence of the damage the recent flooding had done.  Notably was the bridge that had been totally wiped out by debris floating down the river.

Left front is Phil and Nita and then a new couple from the tour.  Right side, me, Jim and Gail

Bridge destroyed by debris.  They are already rebuilding it.

Amazing view.  You can see the Saddledome and stampede grounds.

After breakfast we walked across the street to the Glenbow Museum. This is a combination of a Museum, Art Gallery, Library and Archives all under one roof, boasting nearly 200,000 artifacts, 30,000 works of art, and thousands of shelved archival materials.  We spent many hours there. 

Of course, we had to kid around in the gift shop:

After the museum, we walked over to Stephens Street where the street is closed off to vehicle traffic and vendors set up their wares in the street.  While there, we were able to purchase a couple of the coveted "Hell or High Water"  t-shirts.  The Stampede had these printed especially due to the flooding experienced just before the Stampede.   All the proceeds from the shirts goes directly to the people of Calgary affected by the flood.

We rode the C-Train home, which is Calgary’s mass transit system. We have been provided with free tickets for the train for the time we are here, and it’s very easy to use. The exit station is right across the highway from the stadium, with a walk bridge over the highway.


We took it easy for a couple hours, so we were both feeling a little more rested, just in time for our hot dog cookout in celebration for those of us from the states for the 4^th. We were suppose to have root beer floats afterwards, but a storm came up, sending all of us scurrying for our rigs to avoid the lightening and rain. We went back to Phil and Nita's rig for a couple of games of cards, and the girls won both games!

July 3rd - arrival in Calgary

Traveled today, had about 4 hours of driving ahead of us to get to Calgary, so we left the campground a little earlier, we were on the road by 9:00am, surprised even us!

Calgary is just about straight south of Edmonton, and we are now in the plains. Very much like Kansas or Nebraska, gentle rolling hills to the point of almost flat. Lots of cattle and horses, it’s called the Cowboy Valley (according to the map).

Weather is much better today, yesterday before the cold front came through we had a high of 87, today the high was 74. Suppose to be down in the 60’s over the week end with rain. Rodeo in the rain, sounds like fun uh?

We are ‘parked’ at McMahon Stadium, which is the football stadium for the college here in Calgary. So, we have electric and access to water, no sewer for a week and no WIFI. So, the only time I will be able to send updates is if we go to some sort of internet café. This is what I call camping rough!!

We caught up with Gail and Jim Cilioni and Randy and Terry Scott.  So good to see them again


Tonight we boarded school buses, that I think were meant for short legged pre-schoolers as there was absolutely NO leg room. We were taken to a place called the Winter Club where we were sworn in as Honorary Calgarians and then served a buffet dinner that was pretty good!

June 29 - July 2 - Relaxing in Edmonton

June 29 

We all decided that since we were going to be so busy in Calgary that we would just take care of business and mostly just sit around and relax.

July 1 
Today, the 1^st was Canada Day, but since everyone had to go to work tomorrow, the campground emptied out by noon. The campground was suppose to set off fireworks at 11:00pm (not dark until then), but we were playing cards and didn’t even hear them go off…if they did.


 July 2

…Strange things happening here, we are far to the north, in Edmonton, Alberta for heaven’s sake and we are under a Severe Thunderstorm and Tornado Watch!! The sky to the north and east of the campground was black, Edmonton really got hammered with heavy rains and hail! Can’t believe this kind of weather has come this far north!!

June 28 - Edmonton

One of the items on the “Must See” list of things to do is the West Edmonton Mall and WOW!! We have been to the Mall of America in Wisconsin, but this blew them out of the water!! You literally need a map to get around this place, and a scooter would be very handy!! If you don’t have a scooter, be prepared to be totally exhausted if you try to see everything, and we tried, we really did. It’s kind of like Disneyland, you just can’t see all of it in one day!

 This mall is totally enclosed, has three levels, covers 5,300,000 square feet, more than 800 shops and services, has parking for more than 20,000 vehicles and employs more than 23,000 people.

 But wait, there is more…included in this mall are several specialty areas:
 Galaxy Land Amusement Park-Features more than 24 exhilarating rides and play areas for all ages. Four distinctive roller coasters, kids play park, Turbo Ride Theater, carnival games, a rock climbing wall and more.

 Water Park-World’s largest indoor wave pool, located in a tropical oasis with an average temp of 29 C (84.2 F), has 17 unique water slides, including one that loops, a couple of hot tubs areas and a wading pool.

 Deep Sea Adventure-Worlds largest indoor lake features an exact replica of the Columbus flagship Santa Maria, water bumper cars and a Sea Lion/Seal show area.

 Two Miniature Golf Areas-One is a Glow in the Dark game and the other is a full 18 hole Mini Golf course.

Ice Palace-NHL sized Ice Rink, skating lessons, hockey lessons, open skating and hockey games.

 Ed’s Rec Room/300 Club Lounge-Cosmic Bowling, 14 projectors showing live music videos and sporting events. Arcade games and fully licensed bar and kitchen.

 Ropes Quest-Three story ropes course. While harnessed in, climb along a sea of beams and ropes all the way to the top to conquer this obstacle course.
 The ‘food court’ is amazing compared to what we are use to in most malls in the states! One area has full sit down restaurants with a variety of choices of types of food. The actual food court is an area about the size of a football field with every type of food vendor there is, and common seating in the middle. We splurged on handmade crapes with bananas, whipped cream and chocolate syrup…soooo good!!  

 This was an all day event for us and we didn’t even ‘do’ any of the special things, just walked through and looked! Oh, almost forgot, there are also two hotels, complete with conference rooms, a movie theater and a full service grocery store in the mall. You could live here, and never have to leave…unless you just felt the need for fresh air. If you are interested in more information you can check out the web page at: westedmontonmall.com.

June 27 Freightliner

We were out of the campground by 7:15 and in the freightliner shop by 11:30.  By 2pm they had us in the shop.  To our relief, the breaks looked fine and are actually in very good condition.  The tech recommended that he grease the mechanisms, so we went along with his recommendation.  Twenty minutes and $137 later we were on the road to the campground.  

We got to the campground around 3pm and Phil and Nita were just setting up. 

June 26 Town of Jasper

We did not want to take a long drive, but did not want to stay in the campground all day,  so we took a drive into the town of Jasper.   Parked the car and walked around the square and strolled in and out of the shops. Although there was a good crowd, the numbers were not excessive yet. We could still get into the shops without fighting for our personal space.

Jasper is a quaint little town with a mountain atmosphere. The buildings are older, but well maintained, and yet the wooden floors still creek as you walk through the shops.


Everywhere you look there are flowers and the bright colors are so pretty! The town itself is being maintained by the “Friends of the Town of Jasper” and their work is supported by the gift shop they run and donations. Quite an undertaking! Nita said she was involved with the “Friends of the Library” when we lived in Heber Springs, and that was a job in and of itself! She can’t imagine taking on a whole town. 

It was a cute little town with a lot of shops and restaurants.  We enjoyed just ambling around the different shops and had a very nice lunch.  Then it was back to the campground and another round of hand and foot.  Oh no! the guys won again.  We only played one game as we intend to get up early for our trip into Edmonton so we can get to the freightliner shop as early as possible.  We will meet up with Nita and Phil later in the day at the campground.

June 25 arrival in Hinton

Took the day off from site-seeing and went into Hinton to do some shopping. Had lunch at a local pizza place, where the meat lover’s pizza consisted of hamburger and Canadian Bacon. Interesting, but had enough cheese on it to make it really good.

On the way back to the RV Park we saw two male Caribou’s grazing along side of the highway. These were much more mature than the one we saw yesterday, both of these guys had full racks. Early in the season yet, they were still ‘in velvet’. This was the first time I had ever seen a rack ‘in velvet’ and I can totally understand why this term was applied, as they really do look like velvet! Makes you want to go right up and touch them, just to see if they are as soft as they look! 

We played two games of hand and foot and the guys won both.  They are starting to catch up and may soon take the lead in games won.  :-(

The news out of Calgary is encouraging and it looks like the Stampede is going to be a go!

June 24 - Columbia Ice Fields

Once Nita and Phil meet us at the Ice Field Experience Lodge, we got on a bus to go across the highway and to the beginning of the Ice Field.  We were then transferred to a special bus called an Ice Explorer, which is a massive bus designed for glacial travel. Our driver is our guide and he has plenty of tidbits of information for us on glaciers, ice fields and their impact on our environment.

 Our destination is the Athabasca Glacier, which is reported to be as thick as the Eiffel Tower is tall. It is hard to imagine ice that thick! We were allowed to get out of the Explorer and walk on this glacier. 

Glacier ice is blue, and the runoff water is clear as glass. I guess some people tasted the water, but not me! Clear it may be, but not necessarily clean!

After leaving the ice field, we continued with our trip north towards Jasper National Park. We made several stops at view points, but my favorite was Athabasca Falls, which is along the Athabasca River. As with all of the rivers up here right now, this one is flowing fast and furious. As it flows down through a narrow rock gorge, it makes a spectacular falls and the roar of the water is so loud, it’s hard to carry on a conversation.

Today was our day to finally see some wildlife along the road. A young male Caribou was feeding on the grass right along the highway. We also came across some young Big Horn Sheep in the middle of the highway, they were totally engrossed in licking the tar line where it had been put down to seal some of the cracks in the road. Traffic had to go around them, as they would not move! These little guys were part of a bigger herd of Big Horns that were climbing all over the rocks just around the bend. These antics were being watched by the rest of the herd as they lounged on a small hill right next to the road. Right now, the Big Horns are shedding their winter coats and looking a little ragged in the process!

When we reached the town of Jasper, we hooked a right onto Highway 16, heading for Hinton, AB, where we had reservations at the Hinton/Jasper KOA for the next couple of nights.

 While driving through Jasper, some of the declines were quite steep, and we starting smelling something burning.  It turned out to be our front passenger tire.  That put a new stop on our agenda.  We searched for a freightliner oasis shop (they work on motor homes).  The closest one is in Edmonton, and that will be our first stop when we leave Hinton.

June 23 - to detour or not to detour - Jasper here we come!

As we were preparing to leave this morning for our 800 mile detour, the campground owner came out with good news! He knew our plans so he wanted us to know we didn’t have to go that way, the road (Canadian Hwy 1) over the mountain from Golden to Lake Louise in Banff was open. We were so thrilled to not have to make that detour drive!!  Hurray!!!!

 Leaving Golden, driving east, you go through Yoho National Park, on the way to Banff. Yoho, named for a Cree word expressing awe, is a park of rock walls, waterfalls and glacial lakes. It's a park with snow-topped mountain peaks, roaring rivers and silent forests. It's a park whose history is bound up with a railroad: spiral tunnels inside mountains and stories of runaway trains.   

On our way into the park, we passed what we thought was a statue of a Big Horn Sheep, right on the side of the road. But, as we passed, it moved its head! It was real and we missed an opportunity for a picture!

 About half way up the mountain pass, was a view point for the railroad tunnels built into the mountain. When the rail first came to this area, the tracks went straight down the mountain and there was a high rate of accidents because of the sharp descent of the mountain grade. Long story short, they hired an engineer to look at the problem and his solution was a "crazy eight" tunnel, built into the mountain so that the descent could be made at a safer degree of grade and speed. Yoho is nearly solid rock so the tunnels are a marvel of engineering!  Here is the entrance to one:

Yoho is in British Columbia and borders Banff National Park on the east, which is in Alberta. In Banff we could get as far as Lake Louise and no farther as the roads are still closed due to flooding and mudslides. We ate lunch in the shopping center of Lake Louise Village, then drove the rigs up to the lake.


 A short hike from the parking lot and WOW!! Lake Louise is a picture perfect lake surrounded by towering mountains topped with massive glaciers. I have never seen anything so dramatically stunning! The only thing ruining this beautiful spot is the gigantic monstrosity of a hotel that boasts over 500 rooms.  One look at the lake and I was trying to figure out how we could take the kayak out on it. 

There is a small boat house over to the left and they rent canoes, Nita don’t even want to go near this place, but Phil, John and I head that direction.  We learned there was a guided boat tour leaving right away, and I was all for it.  Nita  swore she wouldn’t get into another canoe after the disaster in Nebraska.   But she agrees to go with us. Turns out, our “boat” is a large canoe that will seat 7-8 people. Phil is asking questions about how easy is it to roll this thing and the guide, Bruce, is telling him that we won’t be swimming. So, next thing we know is that we're putting on  life vests and we are getting lessons on how to paddle a canoe effectively, and how to get into this “boat” so it doesn’t tip over.  I think Nita was really to kill me at this point.



We managed to get into the thing without tipping it over, Phil is in the front, making him the captain, and he sets the rowing rhythm. Nita is really laughing at this, because she says he is the king of no rhythm!! John and I are directly behind Phil, then another couple from Quebec who barely speak English, then Nita, with Bruce behind her. And then we are off for our tour of the lake and our history lesson of the Hudson Bay Company and the canoes that delivered supplies to the fur trading outposts and then brought the furs back to the east coast for shipment to England.

Phil is taking the picture over his head so all you see is his hat

The lake was fairly calm, so it didn’t really take long to reach the turning around point and head back towards the hotel on the other side of the lake. This side has a walking trail and we become the “tourist attraction” as we paddled our little boat and sang rowing songs led by Bruce. This water is mostly snow melt and is freezing cold, but there are 4 or 5 guys practicing for a polar bear plunge (in their underwear!), and I’m wondering just how much these dudes have had to drink!!

We managed to get back to the dock, and per instructions from Bruce, managed to stop the canoe and back it into the dock, just like we were pros!! Safely back on land, we headed for the rigs to continue our journey up to the Ice Fields where we had planned to spend the night.

Along the way, we stopped in a few view points, the most spectacular to me was Bridal Veil Falls, not only because of the view of the falls, but the valley we had just driven through, really impressive!!

Bridal Veil Falls

We finally pulled into the Columbia Ice Fields parking lot where we paid $16.00 for the privilege of ‘camping’ in their lot for the night. We are dry camping, which means we have no electricity, water or sewer. John and I are used to this, but Phil and Nita are not really set up for it. Phil tried to wire in 12 volt plugs for their C-Pap machines, but that didn’t work, so they used a small battery pack charger for them.  It worked great and they said they slept like babies.  They must have as we could not raise them on the radio in the morning and went up to the lodge and had breakfast waiting for them to get up!!!!

July 22 Golden, BC

We drove into Golden this morning to take the Kicking Horse Resort Gondola up to the top of the mountain. It was drizzly and cool when we got on the Gondola and raining when we got to the top. We had reservations at the restaurant at the top of the mountain so we went in to eat. Lunch was included in the ride to the top and was pretty good. While we were eating, the clouds started to clear and the sun came out.

 The views from the top of the mountain were stunning! Just to the north west of the Kicking Horse property was the boundary for Glacier National Park, so we were seeing a part of the park that we couldn’t see from the road when we drove through a couple of days ago. From the top we could see to the town of Golden in the valley below, as well as the river valley on the other side of the mountain.

 During the winter this mountain is a hive of activity for skiers, snowboarding and other winter sports. At this time of year the paths are full of mountain bikers and hikers and the skies are colorful with paragliders. We watched some of the bikers take off down the mountain, the beginning of the trail is a steep downhill slope and by the time they reached the actual trail they were going pretty fast! The restaurant was at an altitude of 7700’, the bottom, where we got on the gondola is 3900’! That’s an adrenalin filled ride!! Not even when I was younger would I have attempted that.  Just going up in the Gondola was scary enough.  I only screamed part of the way though,  LOL.

Here is Grandpop being silly with a full size wood sculpture of the bear we did not see:

When we got back to the rig, we discovered that we forgot to close one of the overhead cabinets.  Look where we found Keys:

That night there was a beautiful sunset that turned the mountain red:

July 21 Day of rest

Because of the flooding problems, we have decided to stay in Donald for another couple of days to see if maybe the roads will reopen. So, today was a kind of lazy day, cleaned house, did laundry and basically took it easy.

June 20, Canadian Glacier National Park

Got up early this morning and headed for the Canadian Glacier National Park. Clouds and a light drizzle most of the day, along with fog or low lying clouds over the peaks of the mountains. There is also some snow still left on the peaks, covering the actual glaciers, but not to worry, the park was beautiful! We stopped a couple of times to do some short hikes through the forest.

The first hike was through the Giant Cedars of Glacier. This was an easy walk as it was all boardwalks with gentle steps through a Jurassic Park or rain forest sort of feeling. Peaceful and beautiful at the same time, not a combination you find often. The old trees are left where they fall so that they can replenish the forest floor and supply nutrients for the younger trees. The ground is covered with leafy ferns and their light green color against the reds of the rotting trees is quite a contrast and high above is the ever green canopy of the giant cedars.

The visitor’s center to the park was open and we stopped, but the gift shop was not open yet, neither was the hotel next door, once again we were too early, the summer season stops were not open yet. This time it worked to our advantage, as everything we stopped at was suppose to be charged for through Parks Canada, and we had all forgotten our passes. Ours is now in the car!!

Revelstoke National Park is about 16 km’s past Glacier, so we continued driving. Revelstoke’s landscape is much like Glacier’s, beautiful valley’s sandwiched by tall peaks covered with snow and glaciers. Just outside of the park is the city of Revelstoke where we gassed up, got some groceries and made a stop at Tim Horton’s donut shop before heading back home.

When we were at the visitor center in Glacier we found out that the south west part of Alberta had received a lot of rain overnight and that they were having trouble with flooding in Calgary and that there had been roads washed out or blocked with mud slides on the way to Banff National Park. The very same roads we are suppose to take to get to the park tomorrow.  YIKES!! The visitor center at Revelstoke told us the same thing, so it’s not looking good for our visit to Banff. After we got back home, we got a local channel to come in and boy what a mess! Not only are roads washed away, but so are bridges and the land they are anchored on! Don’t think this is going to be a simple fix, so we are studying the maps looking for an alternate route.

At this time, the Calgary Stampede site is completely flooded out as well and they aren’t sure if they will be able to get it ready in time or not. The Stampede is an important event to the economy of Calgary, so I’m sure they will do everything possible to get it cleaned up. We are supposed to go in on the 3^rd of July, so we’ll see.