Banff and Jasper Follow-up

Well, it has been a busy week! Spencer has commented on the scenery, which is extraordinary. Even the photos don't do this area of Canada justice. However, they might entice you to visit. To fill in a few holes in the story, I'll add some details.

About the truck: Took a couple of days back and forth to Calgary to visit Big Dog Performance. Those wonderful gearheads in that shop completely took care of our exhaust brake, restoring our confidence in driving up and down mountains. Thanks much to Chris and the boys!

In Banff, we also enjoyed a visit from our Calgary friends, who we met in Denmark. Their two boys and our two boys were toddlers/babies together. Now teenagers, they reconnected over a good game of Texas Hold'em and juicy Alberta steaks! Thanks for a fabulous visit!

In Jasper, we took the Jasper Tramway (gondola) up to Whistler's Summit, offering a 360 degree view of the Canadian Rockies...that is...if you continued on foot up a significant mountain trail. Spencer went to the trail's end, while Philip and I saw the value of viewing Spencer's photos after making it partway up. (these photos will be coming soon).

We also drove further north to Maligne Lake. Folks, a body is really in the wilderness up here. Even a "recovering" tenter like me, who used to seek the most primitive sites possible, finds it quite scary to think about setting up camp in these woods. On this day trip, we saw a bear, more big horned sheep and elk. We looked and looked for the elusive caribou and moose, but no luck. Viewing the scenery, however, we knew it was just the wrong day...they are definitely here.

For Mark's birthday, we took a break from our beloved camper and stayed at a lodge for two nights. We enjoyed the meals served to us (!!!) and the beds made up for us...ha-ha! The boys took a kayak out for a spin, during which they saw a loon dive down and "do the breast stroke" through the crystal clear water. We could hear the loons in the evening...really great.

Leaving Jasper, we re-traveled the Icefields Parkway back south (Rt 93), taking a last look at these monolithic mountains. If we know nothing else, we know they will be here long after our last trip up here to see them again!

I am writing from Williston, ND, tonight. We plan to spend a few days in Minnesota lake country, hoping to actually catch some fish. Spencer will pick up from where I am leaving you off. However, I do hope to post some additional photos from the Canada trip very soon.

By the way, thanks to all of you who are leaving comments. We look forward to reading them and thank you for your encouragement and enthusiasm. It has all added to our momentous adventure!

Banff and Jasper, Alberta, Canada -- Part I

Of Banff, a Beautiful Drive, and Jasper... Part One

Well, seeing as my job as the administrator for the blog includes actually WRITING the blog, I should probably spare you guys the agony of waiting for the next post and tell you what has happened over the last week or so. Well, Mom hasn't posted any pictures yet, but when she does, you'll understand why Dad and I think our campsite in Banff National Park was among the top five of all the sites we've been to. We had a great time cruising around the town and the park, to places like Lake Louise and the Banff Rock & Gem Shop. We also had a bunch of "lazy days," where we either hung around and enjoyed the massive mountain that rose straight up, a mere mile in front of our site at Tunnel Mountain RV Park (no, the mountain I mentioned is NOT Tunnel Mountain, as I originally thought; it's called Mount Rundle), or walked around on the trails that laced the mountain road upon which our campground was next to. Bottom line, we had one of the best times we've had camping at Banff's Tunnel Mountain RV Park. Thanks, guys!

Anyway, after we left Banff for the town of Jasper, we travelled north on one of the most beautiful and scenic routes we've ever travelled. For nearly the entire 180-mile drive, we experienced wonderful alpine scenery, laced with milky-grey rivers and creeks. You'll understand what I'm talking about when Mom posts the pictures on Picasa tomorrow.

Our campsite at the Whistlers Campground is very nice. We've got a lot of space, nice neighbors, and awesome scenery (the scenery, of course, being elk which literally walk straight through our site, not ten feet from the camper - awesome picture opportunities). To save some material for later, I'm going to do the second half of my post tomorrow. Stay tuned, and don't be mad at me for delaying. This is Spencer, signing off.

A Followup On "Lightning and Fallen Limbs"

As you can see by the picture related to this post, something bad happened to a tree. In case you aren't aware exactly what tree that IS, it's a very large oak tree that is outside the kitchen of our North Carolina home. We were informed yesterday by our friends, the Nolans, that the tree had apparently been struck by lightning in a storm the day before yesterday. The limb bent down and is now resting in Mom's wonderful backyard garden, which she had worked so hard on. Fortunately, the tree is not currently in a position to destroy my bedroom, which happens to be directly across from the oak tree. Rather, if it fell, it would likely fall AWAY from the house, towards the pond. We just thought including this would be an entertaining little variation from the usual posts. We also want to give a big thank-you to the Nolans, for spotting the tree. Stay tuned - there's more to come on our vacation. This is Spencer, signing off.

Lightning and Fallen Limbs

 

Vertical Mountain Drive to Kamloops, BC

Footnotes to the Vertical Venture through the Mountains

Before I post these photos of the British Columbia mountains we saw. keep in mind several things. Many pictures were taken from the window, because there was no way we were stopping to photograph the spectacular scenery. Also, the mountain scenes may be somewhat out of order, as we had two and sometimes three cameras flicking away at one time. The key fact is that we did drive up and down most of them!

When we left Vancouver to head north toward Whistler, we marvelled at the great road. Funny thing, the quality quit just after Whistler. Thinking back, all that 2010 Olympics tourist traffic turned around at Whistler after viewing the skiing events and returned to Vancouver. We did not do that, of course. We continued on.

Just before we headed up the first STEEP grade, a two foot tall black bear cub scampered across the road, not 30 feet in front of us! It was so cute to see how it moved. We never saw it's mother, but we should have seen the omen for what it was...it was getting wild ahead.

To make the trip more exciting, we lost our exhaust brake (jake brake) that morning. We still haven't had a chance to have it looked at, and we have not been able to fix it ourselves. So, we have been braking with gears and camper brakes, as well as the truck brakes. Fun.

Today, we arrived in Banff National Park. We will try to catch up the blog during the next 6 days that we stay here. Everyone is ready for a break (...a brake, too...ha-ha).

Butchart Gardens, Vancouver Island, BC

Vancouver, BC

Of Vancouver, Victoria, and a Very Vertical Venture through the Mountains

Hello, again, everyone! Since I haven't posted for a while, a lot of work has piled up for me. You might want to get comfortable. This post will be a little bit longer than some of the others. On Tuesday of this past week, we crossed the border, and pulled into BCRV (British Columbia Recreational Vehicle) Park, in the town of Burnaby. Vancouver, a short distance away by public transit, was first on our list of visitations. Leaving at noon the day after we arrived in the park, Mom, Philip, and I walked to Vancouver's automated transport system, known as the "SkyTrain." From the station nearest to the campground, roughly fifteen minutes away on foot, we travelled to Waterfront Station in Vancouver. Once we reached the station, we stopped to eat an extremely nice (although somewhat expensive) restaurant that was adjacent to the station. We all got very different and very delicious lunches. Mom had halibut tacos, Philip had a chicken sandwich, and I had some exquisite Korean short ribs, with cucumbers and kim chi (a sort of spicy cabbage, which adds a great deal of flavor to the ribs). After consuming our respective meals, we walked across the street to the Harbour Centre, the site of the Vancouver Lookout. The Vancouver Lookout is another one of those observation towers, just like Seattle's Space Needle, or Toronto's CN Tower, except for the fact that it is not a lone structure; it is positioned on top of a building. Anyway, we got some great pictures from up at the top. After our trip to the top, we walked to Canada Place, home of Vancouver's World Trade Center, and a LOT of cruise ships - you can see some of them in our pictures from the Vancouver Lookout. We walked around the piers for a little while, then we went back to SkyTrain's Waterfront Station, and headed back for our campground.

The next day, we got up nice and early for our trip to Butchart Gardens ("Butchart" is pronounced like "Boo Shart," not "Butt Chart") on Victoria Island. Our driving was accompanied by a three-hour round trip ferry ride, so we got some great stretching and picture-taking opportunities. Butchart Gardens is amazing. It used to be some rich guy's private estate, but he converted the better part of his property into an expansive set of Gardens. Unlike many gardens, this one is divided into several different themes. There's the Sunken garden, which was created from an old quarry, the Italian Garden, the Japanese Garden, the Rose Garden, and the Mediterranean Garden. After arriving back at camp, we got to sleep pretty soon, as we had a long drive the next day.

We got up bright and early to disconnect and move out. We got out of our tight spot without damaging the camper. What we weren't prepared for, however, was the terrain of the drive. Before long, we were driving up and down a myriad of mountains. Although the scenery was beautiful, it was also tough to drive on. At one point we even ended up stopping because our brakes were smoking. We stopped around 6:40 pm at a very nice RV camp. Today isn't nearly as bad as yesterday (the driving), and the scenery is very nice. Thanks for staying with me on this post, if you read this far; stay tuned! This is Spencer, signing off.

North Cascades National Park

Goodbye to Washington

We are all amazed at the sights in the western part of this lush state. The three parks we visitied are quite different, which was a surprise to us. Spencer hinted at it. At Mt. Rainier, there were such huge Douglas Firs (we think), they reminded us of small redwoods. The roads in the park were built around the big ones. No pictures; we were intent on staying safely on the road.

In the Cascades, the road seemed to remain in the valleys, following the Skagit River. We found it hard to get up high enough to see many of the snow-capped peaks and glaciers that we know are there. The steepness of the mountains continues to be astonishing. The movie about the area in the Visitor Center even mentioned it. Early loggers left many of the trees standing, because the nearly vertical terrain was simply impossible to log.

Throughout this time, we have had gorgeous sunny weather and no bugs at all...even in the deep, green, shadowed forests. It seems impossible, but the "Off" has not come out of the camper. In this typically rainy corner of the world, we were blessed with the best -- wonderful weather and a very good friend's visit.

Yesterday, we headed to Vancouver after dropping Tommy at the airport. The Canadian Customs official was very thorough...questioned if we were carrying firearms. When I responded that we weren't, he asked me "Why not?" I sort of choked out a reply, "We aren't hunting." I guess that was an acceptable answer, as we got through without being searched.

We are in the tightest space in an RV Park we have ever been in. A special tractor with an arm that grabs the hitch pivoted us into our spot for the next two days. It's very nice here, once the camper got settled. We'll let you know what happens next...

Mt. Rainier National Park

At the End of our Stay in Seattle

Hey, everyone. It's Monday, and we've visited three national parks in Washington so far, all of them the same distance from our campground near Seattle. We've seen the snow-capped splendor of Mount Rainier, the beautiful river valleys of the North Cascades, and the lush forests of the Olympic Mountains. Overall, it's been a wonderful stay here in Washington, and the five-day visit of one of my dad's closest (and funniest) friends, Tommy, only made it better. Four days ago, he arrived in SEATAC airport from Anchorage, Alaska at 10:50 p.m. The next day, even though he was slightly jet-lagged, we drove to Mt. Rainier, the highest landmass in the state of Washington. The top of the mountain was completely COVERED in snow and ice. It's so interesting to see snow in the middle of July, when you consider North Carolina's 100-degree summers. Anyway, we all really enjoyed that day, although we were somewhat hindered by the traffic jams on the freeway back to the campground. The next day, a Saturday, was a lazy day for all of us. We hung around, got groceries, and watched the movie "Invictus." It's very good - I recommend it to all of you. Finally, yesterday we went to North Cascades National Park. Despite the fact that we never really made it all the way to the higher peaks of the Cascade Mountain Range, we all enjoyed ourselves. However, since we had a truck with five seats (and every one occcupied by somebody), we were a little bit tired of the dog, Scout, stealing our seats and squirming around looking for a more comfortable place to settle. Anyway, today is our last day, and since we've seen all the parks around here, we're taking the day off as another lazy day. I hope you guys are all following attentively - we have a lot more adventures to come on the way back! This is Spencer Paige, signing off.

Lazy Days, and Incredible Views

Hey, guys. Sorry I haven't been posting as much as last year. I've been a little busy, regardless of how ridiculous that sounds. We're on a huge vacation, on the opposite side of the country from where I WOULD have work, and somehow, I'm busy... sounds a little fishy, doesn't it? Well, believe it. Two days ago, Philip earned $20 by giving Mom a pedicure and a foot massage (Philip says he just did it for the money), while I worked on shining the truck's chrome details (such as the bumper - as of now, one can clearly see their face in it) and taking the dog on walks. Yesterday, after about three hours of driving, we arrived at the Olympic Peninsula, home of - you guessed it - Olympic National Park. Lack of creativity aside, Olympic is astoundingly beautiful. From the snow-capped peaks to its lush, teeming rainforests, Olympic seemed to have a bit of everything. It had snow, so Philip and I could paste each other with snowballs. It had great picture potential, which we took advantage of. It even had deer who, having pretty much never been threatened by the presence of humans, strolled up within mere feet of the oohing and ahhing tourists, who had their cameras in hand and in action (I do not regret being one of said tourists, as the deer provided some of the best shots). Today, we hung around, did a small amount of work, and mainly just enjoyed each other, and the fact that, for once, the sun decided to shine in Seattle (not just this day, but EVERY day so far - unbelievable). I hope we're keeping you interested! This is Spencer, signing off. Stay tuned!!

Olympic NP

After clouds in Montana, we have been blessed with exceptionally clear and warm weather in Seattle, expected for the entire next week! Although the ground is saturated, the air is perfectly comfortable. Wish we could bottle it up and send it to all of you broiling on the East coast! Spencer will tell you about the last couple of days later. For now, we are getting ready for our friend, Tommy, to arrive this evening.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes, everyone! We broke our pattern of preparing dinner at our camper, and we ate at a wonderful little Italian restaurant in Coeur d'Alene, ID. It was a great end to a fantastic birthday.

Olympic National Park, WA

Glacier National Park and Flathead Lake

July 4th at Glacier NP

It's a beautiful, sunny morning here in Kalispell...on the day we must leave! We have had rainy days with bookends of sun. Yesterday, we finally took the "Road to the Sun," the windy, narrow 28 mile road with "dead drop offs" as the boys called them. We got up very early and drove halfway up the mountain, left the truck, and took the park shuttle the rest of the way. The temperature dropped from 52 to 28 degrees at the top. It just snowed three feet up there on June 17th! I closed my eyes and prayed for part of the ride up. Ten foot snow drifts greeted us there, fog drifted around and obscured the views of the peaks. People were cross-country skiing.

The mountains are stunning and so steep! Water is running everywhere from the melting snow and ongoing rain. Glacier NP is a bit like the Smoky Mountains, a large land area bisected by only one road that gets REALLY crowded! It's a place for hiking, not driving. We were thankful to leave the park as the crowds loomed at the entrance.

The other incredible feature of this area is Flathead Lake, the largest natural lake in the west, according to the local literature. Glacier gets all the attention, but this lake is gorgeous, with islands and fishing galore. We didn't fish, however, because a boat is required and we didn't plan that far ahead. However, it's been a relaxed visit here, and we got quite a bit of "housekeeping" done during the rain. Sadly, cleaning and shopping must occur on vacation, too.

When we returned yesterday, there was a note on the door, instructing us to visit the campground office. Since we left Scout in the camper for the day, we assumed that he was barking, creating a disturbance. I walked up there, grumbling to myself that I was going to have to listen to the office matron chew me out for leaving the dog. Imagine my surprise when she beamed as I gave her my name and turned around to hand me a platter of pastries! My sister, Gail, had them delivered for my birthday breakfast! Thanks, Gail!!! We are enjoying them this morning.

Photos will be forthcoming. Off to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, today, and then to the Seattle area for eight days. We are looking forward to seeing Tommy H., Mark's friend from Alaska, who will fly down to visit us. Best wishes to all of you on our country's birthday...God bless America!

Of Glaciers and Goodies

Well, seeing as we're in the midst of another long stay, this time at Glacier National Park, we can also have some down time as well. Yesterday, we visited Glacier, but not to truly "see" it. We actually went to get some information on tours, fishing, and hiking. Of course, the myriad of high-priced tourist traps attracted Philip to buy a crow call and both of us to get five-dollar ice creams (ridiculous!). Besides that, Mom and I went to do some shopping. Naturally, since a full-fledged teenager was with her, I had to do a little arm-twisting to my own ends, such as to get a twelve-pack of Coca-Cola, some chips, some gum. You know, the typical teenage "necessities." After we got back with our spoils, we watched the final two episodes of season one of 24. After THAT, Dad (fully addicted by now) requested that we watch the first episode of season two. You know how that turned out, I'll bet. We watched the first episode, of course, but it didn't end there. We watched the first TWO episodes, instead. We're like couch potatoes! And Mom and Dad are just as bad as Philip and I! Anyway, from Glacier NP, this is Spencer Paige, signing off. Stay tuned!