On the road

September 24, 2007 Leave Kalispell for Coeur d’Alene, ID. A resort city with a beautiful lake. Jim and I both had dental work at Lakeview Dental. We left a huge amount of $$$ in that city.

September 20, 2007 We left the Great White North of British Columbia to get back to Kalispell, MT for “some hunker down and get some work done”. Kalispell is a small city but big enough for a Walmart AND a K-Mart!

September 18, 2007 left Banff for Golden, BC via the Trans-Canadian HIghway.
What a gorgeous stretch of road.

We settled into a RV park in the little community of Nicholson, 5km south of Golden, BC. The Golden Eco-Adventure Park is a 400 acre park along the Columbia River, with a swimming hole, hiking trails, a para-sailing landing field, brand new deluxe washrooms and a treed rv parking area with fire rings. We were the only campers so we were quite isolated. It was great!

We took an afternoon trip on Wednesday, September 19 to see a bit more of Banff & Jasper National Parks. We took the Icefields Parkway, “one of the most spectacular journeys in the world” (a National Geographic quote) to the Columbia Icefield. It’s a glacier that covers an area five times the size of Manhattan, and is up to 365 metres thick. We walked on that glacier!

September 15, 2007 Ahhhhhh, Banff!!! Never thought the mountains would be even MORE spectacular after Glacier National, but then, there is Banff. And the Rockies north of Banff. Umphfff! Beautimous! Banff has hot springs, lots of tourist type attractions, and lots of beauty. We were fortunate to stay in a beautiful National Park for 3 nights. Tunnel Mountain RV Campground was an absolute joy. We didn’t have 50amp, but the surroundings made up for that shortage. On a short hike to the Bow River, we saw a buck elk, reclining with a look of satisfaction while chewing his cud.


And a big bonus for us: Tiffany, Chris and their crew of 3, drove from Calgary for a day hike to Johnston Canyon with us. Absolutely gorgeous pics of Johnston Canyon…

September 8, 2007. Off to Calgary, Alberta CA down the long, long, long and straight Highway 2, through Port of Piegan/Canway, the port of entry on the East side of Glacier National Park. After a full day of driving we found an RV park in NW Calgary, right next to the Winter Olympics facilitiy. It used to be the KOA. We found that most of the RV campgrounds in this general area of Alberta and BC do not have 50 amp service. So we limped along with 30 amps. Can’t use our grill nor the cook top without 50 amps. And we have to monitor our electrical panel when we turn on the microwave, or washer or dryer, and HVAC. It takes awareness, but manageable.

So, for our first night in Calgary, Jamie and Martino gave us the most energetic and enthusiastic welcome to their city. We were wisked out and about to the fave places of Becky & Patrick’s, plus a real treat, A Bar Named Sue with a live rock-a-billy group named “Black Coffee Cowboys”. We ended up back at Jamie & Martino’s for a musical odyssey and Martino’s Black Bush Irish Whiskey. We were escorted back to our bus by Jamie at 5:30am. Geez. These Calgarians know how to entertain!!! See ALL demented pics here.

Two days of recovery later, we took our fabulous tour guides out to dinner at the Original Joe’s, and dinner the next night was a homemade Greek affair put together by Jamie and her dear friend Antonia Andreou. Tiffany, Chris and their crew of children joined us. Mitch (Antonia’s son) along with Tiff & Chris’s kids made for a lively evening. It was special and yummy too! View all pics; no remote control needed.

Calgary is a pretty, cosmopolitan, Tulsa-like city. Friendly folks, great bike trails and beautiful parks. Our last day in Calgary was spent on a bike ride to Chinatown and dinner at the “Delicious Country Restaurant”.

I ran into a bee or wasp on the ride back. My ring finger and left hand became a a swollen, scary appendage. Preparation H and neosporin really helped alot (on the bee sting!!!). Out and about in Calgary pics.

9/06/07 Spent the morning working and took the afternoon off to take the famous “going to the sun road“.

Hiked to Avalanche Lake. This was a hike of tear-jerking beauty. There is no way our pathetic, beat-up snapshot camera can capture this beauty. See the pics. Evan, you need to go on this hike. I know that you can take the pictures that would express the awesomeness of this place.

Saw a black bear on the side of the road on our way home.

9/01/07 It’s a new month!
Our next stop is St. Mary, WY at the East entry of Glacier National Park. Ya know, we keep thinking that we have seen the most beautiful area of the country until we head into the next area. This is truly one of the most breathtakingly scenic mountain areas…yet! Some assorted pics.

9/02/07 Jim’s 60th birthday
Spent the day in Many Glaciers area of the National Park. There is a very interesting lodge (Many Glacier Hotel) on the shore of the Swiftcurrent Lake. The Great Northern Railroad built this historic hotel in 1915 to bring in tourists. We took a boat ride over two lakes and hiked to a third. Saw a moose eating a tree. The rivers and lakes are the color of the Caribbean waters. Clear and turquoise. We returned to the boat dock and rented a row boat for an hour. What a humorous ride that was! Jim was very happy to celebrate his 60th in such a place.