I'm back!

Yesterday was a little weird for me, I'm not gonna hide that. Today, however, is looking pretty good. It's getting pretty warm out here, up in to the nineties. I talked with Wayne, my tent neighbor this morning. He, his wife and two kids are on their way back to Dubuque, Iowa after a trip out this way and up to Glacier and down to Yellowstone. Wayne is a good dude, he's a museum curator at the Dubuque Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium, so he's got the scoop on museums and such. I'll probably run in to them at the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center after I go OnManuevers in Great Falls. Then I think I may head towards the Gate of the Mountains area. Wayne told me about a boat tour they took where they saw Mann Gulch. For you non-fire folks, it's a significant site in wildland fire fatality history.
After that, it's on to Livingston for a good clean up and research for the remainder of the trip home. I plan on bombarding you all with pictures once I get set up there, so stay tuned!

Back in the USA!

Well, luckily they let me back in. Is it me or are border guards all trained to be snippy? I got an unusual for Canadians response when entering and when I left the US border cop was a little testy. I can understand when I entered Canada as I looked like Grizzly Adams, but I'm relatively well kept today. Harumph. And here I was expecting welcoming arms.

I left Banff after some shopping, fueling up (liters, really?) and a stop to photograph some rail equipment. While there I saw a coyote that I can add to the wildlife spotted list. I was sad to leave but most everyone had left so it wasn't too bad. However, for some reason, when I got on the Kanansakis Country Trail (Rt. 40) I had this weird anxiety. I couldn't decide if I really wanted to get back in to the States or just wanted to get the long drive back over with. Probably a little of both.

The drive down Rt. 40 is very scenic and I ran in to (almost literally as I came around a corner and they were in the middle of the road) a herd of Rocky Mountain Sheep. There are quite a few peaks along that route that look quite challenging for climbers. After emerging from the Rockies, I traversed some rolling hills that gave way to flatter farmlands. I took a few side roads to make my way more east and then south towards Lethbridge and then the border crossing at Coutts. Along the way I saw a staging yard for wind turbine blades as well as a few in transit. They are quite large up close!

Other than the snippy border guard, I made the crossing and then made a beeline south for Great Falls. Unfortunately, not the one in Virginia. I had to stop in Shelby to fill up and knew I was back in the States when the usual Canadian efficiency was replaced by a carefree, I'll get to it when I feel like it, American attitude from the girl behind the counter.

I had a particular motel picked out because of its reportedly quirky nature, but when I did a drive-by it seemed to be in a, well, "transitional" neighborhood. I'm sure I would have been fine, but I opted for looking for a campground. After fiddling with the smart phone, I finally located my LZ for the night, Dick's RV Campground. Hard by the Missouri Sun River, a freeway and train tracks, we'll see if I get any sleep tonight. I met a guy from the tent next door who is here with his family who are from Iowa. His wife was out at the laundry so he filled me in on what he knew of the area. Apparently there is a military base close by? That and I know also hear the airport which is over the ridge, or at least sounds like it. I know I'm sounding picky right now, but I am grateful to have a place to sleep tonight rather than in the truck. After coming from the Buffalo Mountain Lodge to now, Dick's RV park it's quite a culture shock. After setting up the tent I went out and fully immersed myself in a return to America with a beer and chicken sandwich at Chili's and a hot fudge sundae from McDonalds. I didn't take any pictures of them, you know what they look like.

I'm a little bushed after the long day's drive, so please forgive me, pics will have to wait until tomorrow. If I can fight my way through the mosquitoes back to the truck in the morning, I'm going to go OnManuevers in the "other" Great Falls and then head down to Livingston and reset for the remainder of the trip. Yellowstone is a maybe at this point, so we'll have to see. I will keep you posted!

After a moment of confusion, she came to accept the reality of the hummus

Well today turned out to be epic.

To start, the Newlyweds Brunch was well done and fueled us up for the day's activities, which turned out to be a good thing. After brunch, Jason, Melissa, Tommy and I all went to Lake Louise to hike to the Plain of Six Glacier's Tea House. I read the descriptions that Darren had sent out, but the specifics got lost in a fog of so many great things to do out here.

We picked up a few provisions in town and set off on the lakeside hiking path. The Fairmont Lake Louise is much like the Fairmont Banff Springs but set on a lake. Another grand old railway hotel in a beautiful setting. They even have authentic birch bark canoe trips on the emerald green lake. The color comes from rock flour, ground out of the mountains by the glaciers and carried in to the lake as silt. The rock flour refracts all of the light except for blue and green, therefore causing the aquamarine color of the lake.

The first part of the path was pretty crowded with the usual tourists, but as we ascended, passing rock climbers on the surrounding cliffs, the crowds thinned out. The path climbed up in to the tree line and soon we encountered sections of the trail that had been blown out by avalanches. There was still some snow on the ground in spots so careful negotiation was required. One lady even broke through the snow/ice. It was only like four feet to the scree below the ice, but she gave up and went back. We soldiered on and made our way to the tea house. While there we heard and then saw a large avalanche from Mount Victoria. After a lunch of delicious soup, sandwich, of course tea, and chocolate cake, we decided to carry on to the "lookout" which was supposed to overlook the six glaciers. I forgot to count them, but there sure were a lot. Along the way up and back we encountered, and have pictures of, marmots, wolverines, pika and a porcupine among other wildlife. It was easily the most epic hike I have been on in a long time. While up at the top of the trail we could see in to The Death Trap, named for the route location under two avalanche chutes, and to the top of Abbot Pass between Mount LeFroy and Mount Victoria where the Abbot Pass Shelter cares for climbers enroute to either summit. We even did some yodeling while we were there and managed to produce a four second echo!

It was an incredible hike and I can only hope the pictures came out well. I hope to post them up soon. We barely managed to make it back to the Lodge without falling asleep and caught the last of the dinner service at Cilantro's, the restaurant next door. After pizza and beer (I was too tire to take pics of it, but you know it was good) we had wedding cake for dessert. After a quick dip in the hot tub, we bade the newlyweds good night and returned to our rooms to begin packing.

I am sad to have to leave this special and amazing place. I feel I have only scratched the surface of adventure opportunities here. Unfortunately I can't yet travel indefinitely, so I must reluctantly return home, but assuredly I will return. I feel honored to have been asked to be a part of Kristen and Darren's special day and know that our memories of this weekend will last forever. Just wait to you see some of the wedding pics!

My tentative plan is to return to the States tomorrow or Tuesday. Either way, the first leg will be from Banff to Great Falls, Montana. I've got to see this other town named Great Falls. If anyone knows of any decent and cheap hostel or campground in the area, please hit me up on the cell. After Great Falls, I hope to spend a day or two in Livingston and see part of Yellowstone. From there, it is eastward until I reach the real GF. I still haven't nailed down the specific route, but I hear the Badlands and Black Hills are cool to check out. I plan on staying in campgrounds along the way so, again, any recommendations are welcome.

I'll try to get caught up on the pics soon and specify the route home. Oh, the title? I guess you had to be there, but it was said today while at the tea house. 

The Future

We are getting ready to head out to Brunch with the Newlyweds over in the main lodge. After that, a couple of us are going to head up towards Lake Louise and maybe get in some hiking. Jason and Melissa saw a grizzly on one of the wildlife crossing overpasses yesterday so maybe we'll get lucky and see one too.

As for me and the return trip, I've been asked that a lot recently. I'm still considering my options, but I'm afraid I may have to curtail this expedition. I'm not sure where it happened, probably in gas expenditures, but I seemed to have gone a little, okay a lot, over budget. Never fear, I've amassed a list of places and people to visit on future trips so the return trip will no doubt add to that and have its own adventures. Stay tuned for more pics and stories!

Up to date

Friday morning was quite pleasant after a great night's sleep on the comfortable bed at the Buffalo Mountain Lodge. I got up relatively early and went OnManeuvers in the town of Banff. I located Phil's Diner (sense the theme here?) that Jon recommended and proceeded to tear in to a smoked salmon omelet. It was stuffed with cheese, cream cheese and caramelized onions. And you can forget the toast and hash browns! I ran in to Travis and Julie there and started to see some of the wedding guests roaming about town. I reconned the town and located the fire station, of course, as well as a few other necessary stops I had to do later. I also checked out the Bow Falls in town which is like a mini version of Great Falls back home.

Back at the lodge I met up with Tommy who had driven from Calgary that morning. I filled him in on the power outage fun and what I'd found in Banff before I headed off to a groomsman's lunch at the Fairmont Banff Springs hotel. Not that anyone I know could afford their room rates, but they welcome visitors to their lobby and lounges. If you anywhere close, I highly recommend it. As Alex said, "it looks straight out of Harry Potter." The lunch was excellent and we tried not to run in to the ladies who were doing a Bridesmaid's High Tea upstairs.

Tommy and I explored more of Banff, I got my hair cut and we located a bike rental place and a few gear shops to check out. Back at the Lodge, the Grizzly Adams had to go. It took a while and was only mildly painful. Sufficiently cleaned up, the welcome party was set for the Bear Street Tavern. It's fair to say a good time was had by all.  The party continued back at the Lodge, and, well, those details I'll leave up to your imagination. I'll just say that at least we didn't get attacked by the cougars (four legged variety) that are roaming nearby.

Next morning was a little rough for me, but I rallied to do a morning bike ride along Lake Minnewanka. Back at the lodge it was time to get ready. All spruced up in our suits, we met up with the Smoking Hot Bridesmaids and the Bride and Groom to take some pictures at Lake Minnewanka. I'll upload those in a bit, but you're going to love it. The pictures were an adventure with changing weather and technical terrain to deal with.

Back up at the Lodge it was time. We gathered at the Tunnel Mountain Meadow across the street and formed up for the processional. The ceremony was just perfect. It had everything, tears, laughter, rain, even snow and finally sun. The groomsmen did their due diligence and had planned for the rain, sheltering the couple with umbrellas. We even had a plan in case of a cougar visit, but thankfully didn't have to implement it. They said their I dos and their hand written vows which brought out more than a few tears. The sun came out and shined on the couple as they were pronounced husband and wife. Now, time to party!

The reception, held in the Wapiti Lodge, was amazing. My camera batteries had died during the ceremony so I'll have to get some pics from others, but the lodge was incredible and the setting was perfect. Of course I took pictures of the food, which was delicious, so I'll share those as well. Speeches were made, toasts given and then the dancing. The newlyweds stepped out for a bit to change and came back in a traditional Chinese wedding outfit. All too soon it was last call and we all turned in after an amazing day.

I hope to have some pics up soon.

Catching up

I apologize dear readers as it's been a while since I've updated my goings on. Well, they did it! Those two crazy kids got hitched. The ceremony was awesome and the reception a blast. I'll save the details for another post with pics, although my battery died so I may have to wait to get pics from friends. 

So, I left off last with my morning run/mosquito death march in Calgary. After cleaning up from that, I checked out and had two or three stops to make on the way out. First, I stopped at the Yelp recommended Belmont Diner in the Marda Loop neighborhood of Calgary. It lived up to its recommendations.

The scene of the incident. Sadly it looks less steep in this picture than it felt at the time. You can just make out the trail as it disappears in to the treeline. That's where the hilarity started.

Looking back towards the Econolodge. It's the red roofed building you can barely make out center left.

And then the steps started. This was after I fell and slid down the mountain on the unmarked trail.

Looking back over the Bow River.

The hill was so steep the had to cable the walkways back  so that they wouldn't avalanche to the bottom.

After the hills, I would like to think of it as Quadburn.

So, why doesn't the WO&D have this kind of cafe?

Example of the cool architecture along the trail in Calgary.

 After the Belmot Diner, I headed to the Military Museums of Calgary. The had halls of exhibits for several Army units and separate ones for the Air Force and Navy as well. The current exhibit on Afghanistan was powerful. A must see if you're in the area. My favorite kid like pleasure was the docent asking me "would you like to look through the persicope?" Uh, you don't have to ask me twice!
It was a recently installed periscope from a submarine. You could increase the magnification and the up and down angle along with rotating it 360 degrees. I want to install one in my house!

I had the Cody Scramble.

Very good, and with bottomless toast and hashbrowns. At the top, you can just make out the single serving of Cheese Whiz next to the juice. Must be a Canadian thing because it was with the jellies and jams.

Cool after breakfast treat with the check.

The Military Museums of Calgary.

In Flanders Fields.

The Queen's tub of rum, standard issue on all RCN ships.

Up periscope!

Ducimus means "We Lead"

The periscopes from the outside. That wouldn't be too noticeable on the house would it?

 After the museums I headed downtown Calgary on a specific mission to hunt for an Arcteryx sport coat. No that is not a typo. I couldn't wear it at the wedding but it would bring a whole new dimension to formal wear.
I finally found some street parking after trying to negotiate a parking garage where the height in printed on the sign in meters. Damn metric system. Then I tried to turn down a street reserved for light trains, but a French Canadian vociferously corrected my error. I walked over to Bankers Hall, Calgary's version of Tysons Galleria. I walked in to the Henry Singer store (a high end men's store) and right in front, on the 50% off sale rack, was the exact sport coat I was looking for. I was prepared to get it then and there but I was foiled when it was the only one they had and it was a size 38. Very disappointing.

That soured me on downtown Calgary so I headed for another check in at an obsession of mine, Land Rovers. While enroute to the museums, I spied a Disco 1 with a license plate surround that said TheRoverShop.ca. After some on line  investigation by my support base at home (Thanks Ash!), I found that it was a Rover shop located in north east Calgary. I stopped in, met the owner Vern and checked out the operation. They had a nice looking 83 110 that I could really have driven away in, but I don't think he'd be very excited about taking a 220K miles Disco 1 in on trade.

Saw this bike messenger in Calgary. Not a great shot but you can make out a few of the gadgets he had stuck on his helmet, including various lights and a helmet cam. It must have weighed 10 pounds!

Nope, not the same thing.

Rover fix achieved.

Just down from my hotel was the ski jumping venue for the '88 Winter Olympics.

Once done with my Rover fix, I headed west on the TransCanada Route 1 to Banff. When I approached the entrance booth for the Park, I mentioned it looked like rain to the booth attendant. Well, it was more than rain. At one point I thought it was snow, but it was heavy rain and more hail. There was even a little bit of lightning, apparently a rarity around here. I battled through another hail/rain storm to get to the Buffalo Mountain Lodge atop Tunnel Mountain in Banff. I didn't notice it in town, but upon checking in, the candles clued me in to the power outage not only at the lodge but all over town. I met Kristen and Darren along with Kristen's family while waiting for the rain to stop. After unpacking a little, I met up with Frank, Lauren, Kath and Amy. We all then made plans to do as everyone else did and headed back east to Canmore for dinner since they still had power. This power outage didn't really help the bride's pre-wedding stress levels but she was a trooper and it all worked out great.

For the 616 B shifters, you knew I'd find something traffic related!

So, Banff is located around the ridge where the gap in the mountains is if you follow the road. I hadn't caught up with the rain at this point.

Getting closer, there are actually mountains, big mountains behind all of that rain and cloud in the middle of the picture

!

No power? No worries, crank up the fire and it feels right at home.

Looking out the balcony at the Buffalo Mountain Lodge. The building in the picture is the Wapiti Lodge where the reception was held.

Great Mountain Spinach Salad at the Iron Goat.

Chicken, goat cheese and roasted red pepper pizza. I'm so glad Canmore had power.

The Iron Goat looks out over the Three Sisters mountains. Very cool setting.

In Canmore we had a delicious dinner at the Iron Goat. After which we returned to the lodge where power had thankfully returned. I passed out in the super comfortable beds here. On to another day!

Running for the border

Another bright and early morning at the fire tower. This was different as it was my last day in the USA. Pics from this leg:

I'd love to build one in the backyard.

No fires to report during my watch.

But I did my best to keep watch.

Trying to figure out the Osborne Firefinder.

My neighboring lookout, Mount Morrell, across the valley is actually staffed but the snow is still covering the access road. A ranger told me that the lookout is itching to get up there and open it up.

I think there is a lookout on this peak off to the west but no confirmation from the ranger.

Tupper Lake looking back at the Double Arrow Lookout.

My artsy attempts.

Riding up the Swan Valley, reminded me of New Zealand.

A contender for the picture that sums up the trip. On the road through the Swan Valley towards Glacier.

Number two smoke spotted. This time east of Kalispell headed towards West Glacier.

Great little homegrown spot for lunch.

A Huckleberry BBQ Chicken sandwich, fries and huckleberry lemonade. The sandwich had swiss cheese and huckleberry BBQ sauce. So delish.

Another missed train shot. This was at the Goat Lick in southern Glacier National Park. The Going to the Sun road was closed in some spots so I had to drive US 2 around the southern side of the Park.

One of the many snow sheds on the route. Still a lot of snowmelt, one shed had a waterfall of runoff from its roof.

Finally a decent train capture.

Back over the Continental divide. This is a monument to Thomas Jefferson.

As it says, Marias Pass.

First elk ( I think, someone please correct me if I'm wrong) sighting.

Heading up the east side of GNP.

Well, I certainly hope not!

Like I said, still a lot of snow to melt yet.

One of the better photo series of the trip, if I do say so myself.

I love how they refer to them as ports.

Usually I'm not a flag waving out there kind of patriot, but I had a little trepidation when I saw this sign saying I was leaving the USA.

Well, they let me in.

Dinner that night in Calgary at NOtaBLE.

The risotto was to die for.

I'll leave it up to your imagination how good this was.

 

This wine paired nicely with the salmon.

 I'll have a separate post for the fire stuff I saw along the way.