June 9, 2009
Hinton, AB
Today was like a whole different season - sunny and warm. What snow? A distant memory...
We didn't put on too many miles today, making the short (<60 miles) trip from Jasper to Hinton, picking up TC-16 right in Jasper. We planned it that way so we could stop at Miette Hot Springs, which is "just off" the TC-16. In this case, "just off" meant about 10 miles of narrow, winding road, averaging 15-20 MPH in the coaches. It was well worth it, though, as Rod, Jean, Marlene, and Geri enjoyed a soak in the pools fed from the hottest natural springs in Canada. Since we're not "water people", Bob and I puttered around with various tasks around the coaches. Later, we walked the .6km round trip on the 200m trail (we still don't understand the math) to the source, checking out a group of Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep ewes on the way. As we drove back to TC-16, we saw another trio of bears (I'm really trying to avoid saying "the three bears") crossing the road; as the cubs scampered into the brush, Momma gave us the evil eye until I blew the horn, then she followed.
Once back on the TC-16, it was a short drive to Hinton, where we staked out nice spots at the Wal-Mart/Safeway among the 15 other RVs parked there for the night. We whipped up a batch of sautéed hot dogs and potatoes with onions and peppers - a quick and one-skillet meal. Even though it was still light out at 11:00 PM, we called it an "early night".
Click here for more pictures.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Monday, June 8, 2009
Icefields to Jasper
June 8, 2009
Whistlers Campground, Jasper NP, AB
What a day! Remember the nice snow from yesterday afternoon? Well, it made for a beautiful sight in the morning, covering the trees and the glacier across the road with a fresh blanket of white. Only one problem: it was a frozen mess on top of the slides, which we should have brought in the night before. It wasn't a huge problem, as a couple of sweeps with a borrowed broom (thanks, Bob & Marlene!) and just a little morning sunshine got things clean enough that we were able to put the slides in and hit the road pretty close to our scheduled departure.
While we waited for things to melt, we spent a few minutes talking with a nice couple from the Netherlands who were touring western Canada in a small van camper. Like last year, the somewhat favorable exchange rates are bringing a lot of Europeans to North America on holiday, and the RV rental outfits are doing a landslide business.
As we continued along PH-93 (Icefields Parkway), we stopped at Sunwapta Falls and Athabasca Falls for pictures, then got settled in Whistlers Campground (no Wal-Marts in the National Parks!). Once hooked up, we piled into the cars and headed off for a drive to Maligne Lake. The side road to the lake (48 km) was a twisty two-lane, passing Medicine Lake before getting to Maligne Lake at the end. Near Medicine Lake, we encountered an elk grazing on the side of the road, and then a group of bears (Momma and two cubs) in a meadow near the lake. I got out the 70-200mm lens with the 2x extender to get the long distance shots. Similar to Yellowstone, you can tell when there's wildlife by the number of cars parked dangerously along the side of the road.
Once we were at the lake, we spotted a White-tailed deer and a large group of rainbow trout swimming in the stream that exits the lake. After we got a few pictures, we found out that it was a spawning ritual. Felt like voyeurs after that...
Today's pictures: click here.
Whistlers Campground, Jasper NP, AB
What a day! Remember the nice snow from yesterday afternoon? Well, it made for a beautiful sight in the morning, covering the trees and the glacier across the road with a fresh blanket of white. Only one problem: it was a frozen mess on top of the slides, which we should have brought in the night before. It wasn't a huge problem, as a couple of sweeps with a borrowed broom (thanks, Bob & Marlene!) and just a little morning sunshine got things clean enough that we were able to put the slides in and hit the road pretty close to our scheduled departure.
While we waited for things to melt, we spent a few minutes talking with a nice couple from the Netherlands who were touring western Canada in a small van camper. Like last year, the somewhat favorable exchange rates are bringing a lot of Europeans to North America on holiday, and the RV rental outfits are doing a landslide business.
As we continued along PH-93 (Icefields Parkway), we stopped at Sunwapta Falls and Athabasca Falls for pictures, then got settled in Whistlers Campground (no Wal-Marts in the National Parks!). Once hooked up, we piled into the cars and headed off for a drive to Maligne Lake. The side road to the lake (48 km) was a twisty two-lane, passing Medicine Lake before getting to Maligne Lake at the end. Near Medicine Lake, we encountered an elk grazing on the side of the road, and then a group of bears (Momma and two cubs) in a meadow near the lake. I got out the 70-200mm lens with the 2x extender to get the long distance shots. Similar to Yellowstone, you can tell when there's wildlife by the number of cars parked dangerously along the side of the road.
Once we were at the lake, we spotted a White-tailed deer and a large group of rainbow trout swimming in the stream that exits the lake. After we got a few pictures, we found out that it was a spawning ritual. Felt like voyeurs after that...
Today's pictures: click here.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Columbia Icefields and Athabasca Glacier
June 7, 2009
Columbia Icefields, Jasper National Park, AB
Today's travel took us from Banff, along TC-1 (Trans-Canada 1), then PH-93 (Provincial Highway 93) toward the town of Jasper, located in the National Park of the same name. Just after we passed from Banff NP to Jasper NP, we stopped at the Columbia Icefields. We ended up staying the night, as it was getting late after we took the bus tour out onto Athabasca Glacier. It was about a 1.5 hour tour, with a shuttle bus that took us up the side of the mountain to the side of the glacier, then a "sno-cat" that drove about 1 km out onto the glacier itself. With a 32% slope down to the ice, then a steep slope up the mountain, it was quite a machine.
In the late afternoon, the snow flurries changed to squalls and then a steadier wet snow, which was quite nice to watch from the warmth of the coach.
Click here for pictures and commentary from today.
Columbia Icefields, Jasper National Park, AB
Today's travel took us from Banff, along TC-1 (Trans-Canada 1), then PH-93 (Provincial Highway 93) toward the town of Jasper, located in the National Park of the same name. Just after we passed from Banff NP to Jasper NP, we stopped at the Columbia Icefields. We ended up staying the night, as it was getting late after we took the bus tour out onto Athabasca Glacier. It was about a 1.5 hour tour, with a shuttle bus that took us up the side of the mountain to the side of the glacier, then a "sno-cat" that drove about 1 km out onto the glacier itself. With a 32% slope down to the ice, then a steep slope up the mountain, it was quite a machine.
In the late afternoon, the snow flurries changed to squalls and then a steadier wet snow, which was quite nice to watch from the warmth of the coach.
Click here for pictures and commentary from today.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Touring the Banff area
June 6, 2009
Banff, AB
Today, we woke up to a light coating of wet snow on the ground. Ouch! It's June, for crying out loud. Not wanting to let it get in the way of seeing the area, we took a drive to Lake Louise and Moraine Lake. We started with a stop at Lake Minnewanka, where we had a few photo opps. On the way back to Banff, we stopped at Johnson Canyon for an easy walk up to the lower waterfall (we passed on the extra 2.7 km hike to the upper falls - I think we've figured out the difference between a "walk" and a "hike").
It's beautiful country here, although the day started out a bit cloudy and blustery. We've got the "dress in layers" thing down. Wildlife sightings have included elk and deer, and a potentially rapid chipmunk at Johnson Canyon. Click here for pictures.
Back at the camp, Geri did some laundry and made dog food - gotta mix in the everyday stuff with the wonderful surroundings.
I'm getting behind on the blog since the days are so active and Internet access is becoming spotty, so I'll probably focus more on posting pictures with captions and put fewer words in the blog for a bit. I'm still having trouble posting pictures to the blog, so I apologize in advance for using links to albums.
Banff, AB
Today, we woke up to a light coating of wet snow on the ground. Ouch! It's June, for crying out loud. Not wanting to let it get in the way of seeing the area, we took a drive to Lake Louise and Moraine Lake. We started with a stop at Lake Minnewanka, where we had a few photo opps. On the way back to Banff, we stopped at Johnson Canyon for an easy walk up to the lower waterfall (we passed on the extra 2.7 km hike to the upper falls - I think we've figured out the difference between a "walk" and a "hike").
It's beautiful country here, although the day started out a bit cloudy and blustery. We've got the "dress in layers" thing down. Wildlife sightings have included elk and deer, and a potentially rapid chipmunk at Johnson Canyon. Click here for pictures.
Back at the camp, Geri did some laundry and made dog food - gotta mix in the everyday stuff with the wonderful surroundings.
I'm getting behind on the blog since the days are so active and Internet access is becoming spotty, so I'll probably focus more on posting pictures with captions and put fewer words in the blog for a bit. I'm still having trouble posting pictures to the blog, so I apologize in advance for using links to albums.
Friday, June 5, 2009
Back in Banff
June 5, 2009
Banff, AB
Today was a travel day. It actually started out very early, as the rains came - hard - in the middle of the night. After a week of nice days, what did we expect? We got an early start, around 8:30 AM, stopped at the local free dump station, and headed back toward Calgary, bypassing the city to the north. Back on the TC-1, we were soon in Canmore (fuel stop) and then back in Banff, where we stayed at the Tunnel Mountain campground where we stayed last weekend. This time, we actually paid the park fee (C$140 for the annual fee for Geri and I - you need to buy an annual pass if you're going to be in the parks for more than 4 days; nice ratio) and got full service sites. Once we arrived, it started to rain, but that didn't stop the small band of elk that were grazing right outside our coach. We made a quick trip into the town of Banff, with stops at the Visitor's Centre for information, and a tour of the overlooks for the Bow River Falls in town.
Click here for pictures.
Suitably cold and wet, we retreated to the coaches for the evening. Geri had done all the prep work for fajitas, and we dined well. Of course, as we started to make dinner, it started to flurry (yeah, snow) outside. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?
Banff, AB
Today was a travel day. It actually started out very early, as the rains came - hard - in the middle of the night. After a week of nice days, what did we expect? We got an early start, around 8:30 AM, stopped at the local free dump station, and headed back toward Calgary, bypassing the city to the north. Back on the TC-1, we were soon in Canmore (fuel stop) and then back in Banff, where we stayed at the Tunnel Mountain campground where we stayed last weekend. This time, we actually paid the park fee (C$140 for the annual fee for Geri and I - you need to buy an annual pass if you're going to be in the parks for more than 4 days; nice ratio) and got full service sites. Once we arrived, it started to rain, but that didn't stop the small band of elk that were grazing right outside our coach. We made a quick trip into the town of Banff, with stops at the Visitor's Centre for information, and a tour of the overlooks for the Bow River Falls in town.
Click here for pictures.
Suitably cold and wet, we retreated to the coaches for the evening. Geri had done all the prep work for fajitas, and we dined well. Of course, as we started to make dinner, it started to flurry (yeah, snow) outside. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Welcome to Drumheller
June 4, 2009
Drumheller, AB
The drive to Drumheller from the
western suburbs of Calgary was quite nice. We were able to dry camp at the local Wal-Mart (they allow parking for 72 hours) by mid-afternoon, and were able to explore the town for a day and a half.
On Wednesday afternoon, we visited a couple of local tourist spots: the suspension bridge, the "hoodoos", and the remains of a coal mine. This country was heavily mined for coal in the early-to-mid 20th Century, and the suspension bridge was used to transport miners across the Red Deer River, the hoodoos show the geology of the area and the veins of coal, and the Atlas Mine was, well, a coal mine. It was a nice, sunny, warm afternoon, even on the warm side with temperatures right around 80F. Then we watched a movie on loan from Bob, Gran Torino with Clint Eastwood - excellent film.
Today, we had a full day to explore. We started at the "world's largest dinosaur" - not a real one but the people who do these "world's largest" don't really care. For C$3, you can go to the top and take pictures like from the Statue of Liberty. Uh, no. From there, we headed for the Tyrell Museum, one of the best repositories for fossils in Canada. We finished up the morning touring the exhibits, stopped in town for a slice of pizza and some grocery shopping, and were able to walk the pups before heading out in the afternoon. Then, we drove the winding road to the small town of Wayne (across 11 one-lane bridges - supposedly a Guinness record for a short road) and the Last Chance Saloon. I had a beer (you can't go to a saloon without getting one) and we poked around their junk collection for a bit. Then, we drove to the other end of town and took in the view from Horseshow Canyon. Nice, but perhaps they shouldn't close up the Grand Canyon just yet. Actually, it looked a bit like a links course, with sand traps, greens, and lots of rough.
We got back to the coaches and walked the pups before "Happy Hour at the Reas". After cheese and crackers, nuts, and other snacks, we really didn't feel like making the fajitas we'd planned. I spent the evening reviewing, culling, and reformatting pictures. Sorry about not incorporating pictures, but Blogger isn't cooperating with the satellite connection right now.
Click here for some pictures...
Drumheller, AB
The drive to Drumheller from the
western suburbs of Calgary was quite nice. We were able to dry camp at the local Wal-Mart (they allow parking for 72 hours) by mid-afternoon, and were able to explore the town for a day and a half.On Wednesday afternoon, we visited a couple of local tourist spots: the suspension bridge, the "hoodoos", and the remains of a coal mine. This country was heavily mined for coal in the early-to-mid 20th Century, and the suspension bridge was used to transport miners across the Red Deer River, the hoodoos show the geology of the area and the veins of coal, and the Atlas Mine was, well, a coal mine. It was a nice, sunny, warm afternoon, even on the warm side with temperatures right around 80F. Then we watched a movie on loan from Bob, Gran Torino with Clint Eastwood - excellent film.
Today, we had a full day to explore. We started at the "world's largest dinosaur" - not a real one but the people who do these "world's largest" don't really care. For C$3, you can go to the top and take pictures like from the Statue of Liberty. Uh, no. From there, we headed for the Tyrell Museum, one of the best repositories for fossils in Canada. We finished up the morning touring the exhibits, stopped in town for a slice of pizza and some grocery shopping, and were able to walk the pups before heading out in the afternoon. Then, we drove the winding road to the small town of Wayne (across 11 one-lane bridges - supposedly a Guinness record for a short road) and the Last Chance Saloon. I had a beer (you can't go to a saloon without getting one) and we poked around their junk collection for a bit. Then, we drove to the other end of town and took in the view from Horseshow Canyon. Nice, but perhaps they shouldn't close up the Grand Canyon just yet. Actually, it looked a bit like a links course, with sand traps, greens, and lots of rough.
We got back to the coaches and walked the pups before "Happy Hour at the Reas". After cheese and crackers, nuts, and other snacks, we really didn't feel like making the fajitas we'd planned. I spent the evening reviewing, culling, and reformatting pictures. Sorry about not incorporating pictures, but Blogger isn't cooperating with the satellite connection right now.
Click here for some pictures...
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Meeting Point
June 3, 2009
Calgary, AB
On Monday, we made the short trip east from
Banff to the home of John and Kristine Fraser, just on the west side of Calgary, not far off TC-1. We "met" initially online on the Monaco Coach Yahoo Groups, and met "live" at some of the rallies over the years and Quartzsite in 2007. Since the Bahnsons (Rod and Jean) and Reas (Bob and Marlene) were already planning to meet there to start the trip north, we asked if we could "tag along".
We had a great visit. John and Kristine have a wonderful property, and the dogs were able to get their exercise. On Monday night, the ladies made a Costco run, so Geri picked up a whole beef tenderloin that was turned into Filet Mignon pretty quickly. Potatoes were baked and mushrooms sauteed, pasta salad and veggies were whipped up, and the Jello with fresh strawberries for dessert was just what we needed to "fill in the cracks".
On Tuesday while most people went off for touristy things, I spent the day fussing with the furnace. It started showing a "low coolant" fault intermittently last week. The nice thing about temporary problems is that they have a way of becoming permanent. The nice thing about this one is that there's an easy bypass for the float switch in the tank when it fails. I added the right jumper wire to the control board and the fault cleared. Before you do that, you need to make sure you actually don't have low coolant in the boiler, of course (we didn't) - and that's when the trouble really started. The boiler uses a standard automotive radiator cap, and after I checked the tank level it wouldn't seal. It's hard to get to, buried in one of the bays, and tough to get leverage to push and turn the cap at the same time. I finally got it off, and John was kind enough to take me to the local auto parts store for a replacement. 2 minutes later, all fixed. Day shot, but all fixed.
Merlin was a bit protective (OK, he was a downright pain in the you-know-where) with their Rottie, Elvis. Elvis was very patient, and within a day or so, he and Elvis were getting along - as long as there weren't any humans he needed to protect.
Tuesday night, we carpooled to a local Chinese restaurant where we had the "special dinner for eight", which meant enough food (only one substitution, please) for about 12 people. Everything was tasty and there were still two "people bags" to go home.
Today, we're heading to a small town called Drumheller, about two hours east of Calgary. I know, we're supposed to be heading north, but this place has some touristy stuff that was calling. More later...
Calgary, AB
On Monday, we made the short trip east from
Banff to the home of John and Kristine Fraser, just on the west side of Calgary, not far off TC-1. We "met" initially online on the Monaco Coach Yahoo Groups, and met "live" at some of the rallies over the years and Quartzsite in 2007. Since the Bahnsons (Rod and Jean) and Reas (Bob and Marlene) were already planning to meet there to start the trip north, we asked if we could "tag along".We had a great visit. John and Kristine have a wonderful property, and the dogs were able to get their exercise. On Monday night, the ladies made a Costco run, so Geri picked up a whole beef tenderloin that was turned into Filet Mignon pretty quickly. Potatoes were baked and mushrooms sauteed, pasta salad and veggies were whipped up, and the Jello with fresh strawberries for dessert was just what we needed to "fill in the cracks".
On Tuesday while most people went off for touristy things, I spent the day fussing with the furnace. It started showing a "low coolant" fault intermittently last week. The nice thing about temporary problems is that they have a way of becoming permanent. The nice thing about this one is that there's an easy bypass for the float switch in the tank when it fails. I added the right jumper wire to the control board and the fault cleared. Before you do that, you need to make sure you actually don't have low coolant in the boiler, of course (we didn't) - and that's when the trouble really started. The boiler uses a standard automotive radiator cap, and after I checked the tank level it wouldn't seal. It's hard to get to, buried in one of the bays, and tough to get leverage to push and turn the cap at the same time. I finally got it off, and John was kind enough to take me to the local auto parts store for a replacement. 2 minutes later, all fixed. Day shot, but all fixed.
Merlin was a bit protective (OK, he was a downright pain in the you-know-where) with their Rottie, Elvis. Elvis was very patient, and within a day or so, he and Elvis were getting along - as long as there weren't any humans he needed to protect.
Tuesday night, we carpooled to a local Chinese restaurant where we had the "special dinner for eight", which meant enough food (only one substitution, please) for about 12 people. Everything was tasty and there were still two "people bags" to go home.
Today, we're heading to a small town called Drumheller, about two hours east of Calgary. I know, we're supposed to be heading north, but this place has some touristy stuff that was calling. More later...
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