Sept 28

We started our day in Jasper, Alberta, Canada. This town is in the Jasper National Park and joins the Banff National Park. While Banff is very commercialized, Jasper is still a quaint town whose specialty is “nature.” They advertise lots to do such as camping, hiking, canoeing, biking, etc. For this type of activity, we should have taken this trip 20 years ago! So we took a walk through town. They have a renovated train depot and James wanted his picture there because Brooks LOVES trains. As you can see from the pictures, the town is on one side of the street and is about 4 blocks long. After we stopped at the bakery and got a cup of coffee we headed out toward Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. We won’t make it tonight but we should be there tomorrow. The drive has been very pretty and we got a picture of the last glacier we will see in Canada. That picture is also taken in front of the welcome center that has such beautiful flowers. Just shows the variance in temperature based on the elevation. The sign at the welcome center indicated that glacier was on Mount Robson and the elevation there was 3,954m (that is meters – not miles.) We have decided to stay in Kamloop which is a city of approximately 90,000. We started our day at 7 a.m. Mountain Time and it is now 7 p.m. Pacific Time. That is a 13 hour day – it is time to stop for the night! Our last photo of the day is a beautiful sunset over the mountain and reflecting Thompson River.

September 27

We started our day by heading to the Banff gondola lift. As we were wandering through the gift shop, James made ANOTHER friend! I think he just likes to get his picture taken. We then took the gondola lift to the very top of the tallest mountain in the area (I have provided a picture of me in the gondola to prove to my daughters that I really did ride it.) You can see the great view from the top (I pointed out the Fairmont Lodge which had no vacancies last night.) We saw a small herd of mountain goats on the top of the mountain and one posed for that perfect picture. When we left Banff we headed to Lake Louise. We parked the car and walked to the lake. As we turned the bend in the path, the view took my breath. It is as beautiful as we had heard. Pictures just do not do it justice. There is also a Fairmont hotel at Lake Louise and I just had to get my picture made with their flowers. You can see how huge this hotel is by looking at the picture of James with the hotel in the background. We left there and headed to the ice field and on the road spotted our first moose! We have seen a litany of wildlife. We topped the day off by taking a trip to the Columbia Ice field in a Glacier Explorer (a special built vehicle that navigates up extremely steep embankments and navigates well on solid ice.) As you can tell from my picture it was FREEZING on the glacier. But what a great thrill. We actually WALKED on the glacier. After we left there we drove to Jasper for the night. On the way we saw more deer and another moose but it was too dark to make pictures. Another GREAT day!

Saturday Sep 26

Saturday – Sep 26
We started the day by leaving Calgary and heading to Banff Canadian National Park. As we were on the highway we spotted the Calgary Olympic Village Park. We just had to stop. Since it is still near 70 degrees, the ski slope and the bob sled slope were idle. Young people and adults brought their bikes and were riding a “jump” area in the park. We talked to some of the young people and they told us there were also great trails they could ride further up the mountain in the park. The picture included is of the Olympic cauldron surrounded by the flags of the various nations. James just had to get his picture made on the medal stand (I’m not sure which contest he won!) We left there and drove about 2 hours to Banff. I was really looking forward to staying at the Fairmont Lodge in Banff (I had read about it on the internet.) What we didn’t know was that this is the last major fall weekend in Banff and there was a huge road race (on foot) which draws thousands from the local area. Long story short – very few vacancies! We did not get to stay at the Fairmont but we found a nice hotel that was only one block from “downtown.” I had to have my picture made there because of the most unusual tree in the front flower garden. The temperature is very nice – the high was 16. That is the Celsius scale which equates to approximately 70. We walked downtown (wall to wall people) and were reminded of Gatlinburg in the 70’s. Very nice, unusual shops in really quaint buildings. James found another new friend – he just has to have his picture made with any “varmint.” We ate at the Spaghetti Factory and, as you can see from the picture, James wore his “game day” shirt. ROLL TIDE! The mountains from here are beautiful and tomorrow we plan to ride a gondola. Another great day.

Friday 25 Sep

We started the day to cool weather and a beautiful sunrise. Last night we met a really nice couple at the hotel. They were from Alberta, Canada. We ate breakfast with them this morning and had an interesting visit. They own a ranch in Alberta and were visiting the US for about 10 days. (He had a heavy British accent and wore a cowboy hat!) Just seemed ironic. We decided to take the last road into the Glacier National park that is open from the East side of the park, Many Glacier road. Believe me this ride was significantly more beautiful than the Road to the Sun (at least the part of it we were allowed to travel yesterday.) The picture of James shows Salamander glacier in the background. This is one of three glaciers we were able to view from this road. While we were stopped to make this picture, we heard our first “ROLL TIDE” of the trip. The guy was from Birmingham but is managing one of the hotels in the area. The picture that has the lake in the foreground also shows the tip of the largest glacier that you can view from the main road. The round dome in the center is the tip of the glacier. We came upon a beautiful waterfall and I got a little risky. I climbed to the top of a huge rock in order to get a good view of the waterfall. Scary but really worth it. As we were leaving the park, I remarked to James that the only wildlife we had seen were cows in the middle of the road. Just as we drove out of the park there was a BEAR! He was right on the side of the road, eating the leaves from a tree. We tried to get a good picture but didn’t want to get too close. MADE MY DAY! After we left the park, we headed toward Canada. While still on the Blackfoot Reservation, we spotted a teepee which appeared to be occupied. Then as we left the reservation, we saw the Indian sign that marks the boundary. We entered Canada without any problem. We had brought our passports and the questions asked at the border were pretty standard. You can see from the picture that the speed limit in Canada is different than the US. First time I have driven 100 and been legal! It is KPH – not MPH. We had a great experience with Enterprise Rental car company in Calgary. The rental car we are driving needed an oil change and we could not find the places that Enterprise in Athens had told us to use. We also didn't get a return call from the Athens office. We found the Enterprise here and they took care of everything (including the manager driving to the oil change place and getting them to take our car immediately so we didn't have to wait.) They also had us pull the car into their washing bay and gave it a quick wash job (which it really needed) and even provided us with bottles of cold water. I don't know if it was the southern accent but they certainly treated us as very special people. Then when we got to the hotel, they gave us a complimentary upgrade to a suite! Sure do like Canada. We are staying in Calgary tonight and heading to Banff tomorrow. Another GREAT day.

This is info from Thursday - Sep 24 which didn't post that day (I don't know why.)

Didn't have internet last night but this is the post from yesterday (Thursday). We left Havre, Mt. early this morning thinking we would get to Glacier National Park quickly. Didn’t happen. We were further away than we thought. The temperature is forecast to be 93 in the valley and 87 on the mountain. I am really glad it hasn’t turned cold yet. As we drove through Montana we saw another unusual silo. We had seen several and decided to photograph this one. We continued to see small herds of deer in the grain fields and also saw a coyote today. It was about 1 p.m. before we actually got to the park. We were encouraged by one of the ladies that worked for our hotel last night. She told us that the road to the sun was open to the top of the mountain. This was different than what we had been told at the Montana visitors’ center. As we drove into St. Mary (the eastern gateway to the park), it became clear that we needed to find a hotel room. There were only two facilities still open (most close when the pass over the mountain closes for construction.) We got a room but it is certainly not the HILTON! Oh well, it is just for one night! As the saying goes, at least it is clean! The view from this room is wonderful. Once we checked in we went to the park. Since we were facing the sun, we went to the top of the mountain first. This is Logan’s pass and the sign there indicated we were at the continental divide. We took our time on the way back down and made lots of photographs. We saw a huge waterfall in the distance and then later saw a waterfall by the roadside with a rainbow. There were beautiful creeks and I even got a picture of James being “up the creek.” We encountered the first real fall colors that we have seen. The park ranger said that this area would not have the red fall colors that are prevalent in the north east. We also made pictures of the mountain side and one picture which captured the Jackson glacier in the distance. It was really hazy in the mountain and made us think of the Smokies. It was difficult to find a place to eat tonight but we finally found a cute diner, Two Sisters. The food was really good. We met a couple from Canada at the hotel tonight and they said the temperature in Canada today was 33! As I shivered, they laughed and said that was 33 C. and equated to approximately 87 F! That is where we head tomorrow (after we go through the road – “Many Glaciers”.) No internet tonight so I will have to post this later.

early morning note - Thursday Sep 24

9:00 a.m. - we are heading to Glacier National Park and plan to spend the night there and then go into Canada. We don't know if we will have access to internet for a while. If not, I will save the reports and publish them when internet is available. In the meantime, if you don't hear from us - just know we are having a great time. Thanks for watching and thanks for continuing to pray for our safe travel. Dianne and James

We started the day knowing we had “miles to go before we sleep.” But…we could not pass up the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. We didn’t tour the entire park (and probably missed some good stuff) but we did tour Roosevelt’s hunting cabin and had a very interesting talk from the park ranger. We did not know that Roosevelt bought into a ranch in North Dakota and that is where he really learned the importance of conservation. Although congress would not agree to his idea of National Parks, they did allow him (and all subsequent presidents) to establish National Monuments. He established the first one – Devil’s Tower – which we visited yesterday. He also established National Forest. James probably already knew all of that – but I didn’t. While in North Dakota he had a hunting lodge built. It was considered a “mansion” because it had three rooms and a sleeping loft. This lodge was moved to its current site in the Theodore Roosevelt National Park and we toured it – James got his picture made at the lodge. There were a couple of original furniture pieces in the lodge – the writing desk and Roosevelt’s trunk. We left there heading for Montana. We got our picture made at the first rest stop. As you can tell, the landscape looks a lot like the badlands. It changed through the day to farm land and then to low mountain ranges. James made a picture of a helicopter landing on a semi-trailer. We think the pilot was learning to land in tight quarters. We took one side drive to the world’s largest earthen dam. This dam was built by the CCC during the depression. We didn’t get any real good pictures of the dam (because it is earthen, it looks just like huge earth barriers.) We did get a picture of DRY spillage. These were also built by the CCC to accommodate excess water and therefore prevent water topping the dam – sort of like insurance against levees being breached. (Smart folks weren’t they?) Once we left there we just rode, and rode, and rode. The most exciting thing that happened was a huge pheasant flew across the road in front of the car. No picture – they are too quick. Later we saw a covey of pheasants and a small herd of pronghorns (those weird deer.) These were sharing a field with cattle – I bet the ranchers love that! On one of the main highways we drove 25 miles without seeing a house! The speed limit on the two lane highways is 70 mph – there is very little traffic and the roads are very straight so it is safe. We stopped about 7 p.m. after driving over 400 miles. Now we are doing laundry! Great way to end the day.

Tuesday - September 22

Well this day didn’t start really great. James and I went to the hot tub last night and the chlorine level was extremely high. I didn’t shower when we got back and during the night I itched and stung from the chlorine. Not a lot of sleep. I got up at 5 a.m. and took a shower and then, after breakfast, I took a Benadryl to stop the itching and boy was I sleepy. We left Hill City, SD, headed to Spearfish Canyon but took a wrong turn and wound up in Deadwood. We didn’t stop there but it appeared to be a historic town where 70% of the buildings are now casinos! Since Spearfish Canyon was several miles in the opposite direction, we decided to continue to the geological center of the U.S., located in Belle Fourche, SD where we made pictures at the monument (that is me standing near the monument.) From there we went into Wyoming headed to Devil’s Tower. Again, another handiwork of God. This tower has literally RISEN out of the earth through erosion of the land around it. We have several pictures but I selected the one with James and the tower several miles in the background. That picture gives you a good idea of the size of the tower. There is another picture where an artist created a sculpture entitled the “Ring of Smoke” and it is positioned so that you can see the tower through the sculpture. This is one of the few pictures that we have together. We then headed toward North Dakota, following Mz Lizzie’s direction (our GPS). She took us on some more back roads named as highways through an old town named Hullet, Wyoming, where the stores reminded us of western pioneer days. The countryside is beautiful with hills that are three different colors (terracotta at the bottom, light gray beige in the middle, and a golden brown on the top.) We have really enjoyed the countryside. Then we entered North Dakota. There are miles and miles of road and pasture land. Very few homes and no towns. We stopped at one country store and there was a sign “TOWN for sale – store, gas pumps, house and 6 ½ acres.” That is how far apart everything is. We finally got to interstate 94 and thought it would be easy to find a hotel at Dickinson – no luck – EVERY hotel in town was full and we had to drive another 20 miles to find a room. There we learned that the rooms were full because a tornado hit Dickinson a couple of months ago and there was significant damage to two apartment complexes. Between the people living in hotels, the construction workers, and the fact that hunting season has opened, everything is full in that area. The one good thing about the late ride was the sunset. Absolutely beautiful! We are really tired and plan to sleep late tomorrow for a change.