Monday, September 1, 2008
July 13th: Calgary and Banff National Park (Day 21)
We woke early and started making breakfast while we broke camp. The plan was yummy omelets with the left over veggies from Cheri’s fajitas but we ran out of Coleman fuel after the coffee was done. This turned out to be interesting because the closest and only place for breakfast turned out to be a Café Louisette’s owned by a Canadian born man whose mother was from new Orleans. He was living in Mississippi when Katrina hit and had the only house left standing, albeit without a roof, rescued 6 days later, still has $60,000 in insurance checks that can’t be cashed because made out to 5-6 different entities. Cat 4 0r 5? Ask NASA! Very interesting.
Banff National Park is awesome, most of the little towns (Banff, Canmore, etc.)
are just shopping centers in the woods but the park is great. We picnicked near a very cold, blue stream that was about 6 feet deep but looked much shallower because of how clear the water was. We skipped a really long line of cars waiting to buy park passes, then walked right up to a window in Banff and bought one. We got one of the last 3 tent spots at Lake Louise. The campsite was awesome and was surrounded by an electric fence to keep the grizzlies out(just the tent area). There was an amazing river running very fast through the park just outside of the campground. We got quite a show from the ground hogs, which must be mating because we watched one stand on his hind legs on a stump with his hands crossed in front of him singing until a female finally came up to listen. After that...what happens in Banff, stays in Banff. We took the dogs for a walk through one of the many pedestrian gates of the electric fence (basically a handle wrapped in a few layers of plastic was used to open the gate) to walk down the river to the bridge where we entered the tent area. We had a campfire dinner, washed up the dishes and headed to bed.
Pictures for Day 21
Banff National Park is awesome, most of the little towns (Banff, Canmore, etc.)
are just shopping centers in the woods but the park is great. We picnicked near a very cold, blue stream that was about 6 feet deep but looked much shallower because of how clear the water was. We skipped a really long line of cars waiting to buy park passes, then walked right up to a window in Banff and bought one. We got one of the last 3 tent spots at Lake Louise. The campsite was awesome and was surrounded by an electric fence to keep the grizzlies out(just the tent area). There was an amazing river running very fast through the park just outside of the campground. We got quite a show from the ground hogs, which must be mating because we watched one stand on his hind legs on a stump with his hands crossed in front of him singing until a female finally came up to listen. After that...what happens in Banff, stays in Banff. We took the dogs for a walk through one of the many pedestrian gates of the electric fence (basically a handle wrapped in a few layers of plastic was used to open the gate) to walk down the river to the bridge where we entered the tent area. We had a campfire dinner, washed up the dishes and headed to bed.
Pictures for Day 21
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
July 11th & July 12th: Calgary (Day 19 & Day 20)
We got a late start and headed to the closest coffee shop to try to catch some free wi-fi. Evidently, Canada doesn’t believe in free wi-fi, so in the interest of being cheap we headed downtown to check out the old buildings and the view from the space needle. The Calgary space needle has a glass floored section where you can look straight down about 30 floors. The theatre next door is aptly named "The Vertigo Theatre". From up top you can see the Stampede rodeo going on but it seemed kind of small compared to the Houston rodeo. Next we walked to an outdoor shopping area and talked to a local artist about the photographs he was selling. He showed us a picture of one of the mountains in the Canadian Rockies that we would be passing and was a pretty nice guy.
After being in the wilderness and small towns for so many weeks, the big city was kind of an overload so we left downtown and hit some thrift stores and an awesome Vietnamese restaurant in the artsy side of town. Finally, we remembered to mail back our hotel key from Cody. We also stopped in a camera store and got a tripod for the camera. Next, we decided to try to go to another local brew pub for dinner. We drove and drove and finally found it, but they had just closed for the day. I guess we looked really bummed out because the brewers that were still chatting in the tasting room, gave us two free glasses and some “belt buckles”. It was worth the trip – we found some of their beer in the local store – Big Rock (Warthog Cream Ale).
We headed to camping – found a great spot with lovely green grass and wi-fi. Even though we suspected the lovely grass might be from waste water runoff from the RV’s up the hill – it was still a nice spot with only the occasional smelly wind. The campsite also had a view of the site of the 1988 Winter Olympics. The ground hogs here have set up a tunnel system with a hole under each and every picnic table so they can get scraps without being seen.
We were too hungry and tired to cook so we set up camp and drove into the nearby suburbs for some food. We found Montana’s – which was good. I had a very interesting chicken faijitas with a apple butter salsa – weird but good. Kevin had the ribs with the “Texas Bold” sauce – Northerners really like their sugar! After dinner we were able to do all our laundry and check our email for a very reasonable price.
Pictures for Day 19 and Day 20
After being in the wilderness and small towns for so many weeks, the big city was kind of an overload so we left downtown and hit some thrift stores and an awesome Vietnamese restaurant in the artsy side of town. Finally, we remembered to mail back our hotel key from Cody. We also stopped in a camera store and got a tripod for the camera. Next, we decided to try to go to another local brew pub for dinner. We drove and drove and finally found it, but they had just closed for the day. I guess we looked really bummed out because the brewers that were still chatting in the tasting room, gave us two free glasses and some “belt buckles”. It was worth the trip – we found some of their beer in the local store – Big Rock (Warthog Cream Ale).
We headed to camping – found a great spot with lovely green grass and wi-fi. Even though we suspected the lovely grass might be from waste water runoff from the RV’s up the hill – it was still a nice spot with only the occasional smelly wind. The campsite also had a view of the site of the 1988 Winter Olympics. The ground hogs here have set up a tunnel system with a hole under each and every picnic table so they can get scraps without being seen.
We were too hungry and tired to cook so we set up camp and drove into the nearby suburbs for some food. We found Montana’s – which was good. I had a very interesting chicken faijitas with a apple butter salsa – weird but good. Kevin had the ribs with the “Texas Bold” sauce – Northerners really like their sugar! After dinner we were able to do all our laundry and check our email for a very reasonable price.
Pictures for Day 19 and Day 20
Thursday, August 21, 2008
July 10th: Drumheller, Vulcan, & Calgary (Day 18)
Drumheller (Royal Tyrrell Museum) was an amazing museum!
We drove onto Vulcan, Alberta just for the nerdiness of it. Besides almost getting lost and running out of gas, and all the rain, it was a still a worthwhile trip. Vulcan is desperately trying to lobby for the premier of the next Star Trek movie. We asked the guide at the Vulcan welcoming center if they had a theatre, she said “well no, but we have an auditorium and we are trying to get a screen and projector”. So if you get a chance…go to their facebook site and send an email to help them.
Afterwards, we drove to Calgary and got the nastiest and most expensive hotel of our trip so far. Calgary was in the middle of their “Stampede” and all the prices were jacked up for the event. The dogs loved the room because there was plenty of floor space and nasty smells for them to rub in. The only advantage to this hotel was the closeness to downtown and patch of grass that was right outside the door. We didn’t have to leash the dogs even once – they were so good. We showered, it had a been a while, and headed to a local brew pub (Wild Wood) for a sampler of beers and local food. All 7 of their beers were great, except for the pilsner which tasted like skunky honey. We didn’t even bother to finish that one. It had been a very long day, so we headed back to the hotel.
Pictures for Day 18
We drove onto Vulcan, Alberta just for the nerdiness of it. Besides almost getting lost and running out of gas, and all the rain, it was a still a worthwhile trip. Vulcan is desperately trying to lobby for the premier of the next Star Trek movie. We asked the guide at the Vulcan welcoming center if they had a theatre, she said “well no, but we have an auditorium and we are trying to get a screen and projector”. So if you get a chance…go to their facebook site and send an email to help them.
Afterwards, we drove to Calgary and got the nastiest and most expensive hotel of our trip so far. Calgary was in the middle of their “Stampede” and all the prices were jacked up for the event. The dogs loved the room because there was plenty of floor space and nasty smells for them to rub in. The only advantage to this hotel was the closeness to downtown and patch of grass that was right outside the door. We didn’t have to leash the dogs even once – they were so good. We showered, it had a been a while, and headed to a local brew pub (Wild Wood) for a sampler of beers and local food. All 7 of their beers were great, except for the pilsner which tasted like skunky honey. We didn’t even bother to finish that one. It had been a very long day, so we headed back to the hotel.
Pictures for Day 18
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