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).