The Return continued

Lake Louise

Danny and Cole mess with his little brother, Taylor.

Danny and me at Lake Louise.

A picnic along the Bow River.

The Banff Springs Hotel.

On the top of Sulphur Mountain.

The Three Sisters, Banff.

The dinosaur museum...

and where they find some of them.

Prairie grain elevators, Saskatchewan.

At Kakabeka Falls on the Kaministiquia River.

The monument to Canadian Hero Terry Fox on the Trans Canada Highway just east of Thunder Bay.

Saturday, July 31st. After 26 days, 12874 kilometres, 8 States, 5 Provinces and one cracked windshield, four weary travelers arrive back at the cottage.

We enjoyed our stay with the Simpsons. Then we continued our drive south to Banff. The town is situated in a beautiful valley surrounded by the Rockies. We took a cable car visit to the summit of Sulphur Mountain. After we left the Rockies we drove to Calgary where Danny, the hockey nut, got to sit in the SaddleDome, and Deb the lining dancing nut, unfortunately missed a visit to Cowboys, the famous dance hall, because it was closed the day we arrived! That went down well. At Drumheller, Alberta we visited the Tyrrell Museum so Danny the dinosaur nut could get his fill. Then we drove back across the Prairies to Ontario. It was a great trip, both directions. 

The Return Trip

Houseboats in Victoria Harbour.

Deb and Danny at Harrison Hot Springs.

The Fraser River Canyon.

Picking fruit in the Okanagan Valley.

From a winery overlooking Lake Okanagan.

Rogers Pass between BC and Alberta on the Trans Canada Highway.

Mountain Sheep.

Tangle Falls in Jaspar National Park.

Athabaska Falls.

Our transport on the Colombia Ice Fields, the next three photos below.

We ran into Danny's friend Cole and his parents at the visitor centre!!

At Lake Louise, Alberta.

July 21, 1999.

We returned to Victoria for a short visit with Deb's brother Bill and his wife Judy, before the four of us drove east across Canada. We stopped at Harrison Hot's Springs before continuing to the Okanagan region and Vernon. Then we drove through the Rockies to Revelstoke, Glacier National Park, Roger's Pass (the continental divide) and into Yoho National Park. We turned north and drove to Jasper National Park where we had an excellent room with a hot tub in the living room! On the drive south to Banff we visited Maligne Canyon, Athabaska Falls and the Columbia Ice Fields, where we took a tour of the receding glaciers. At the visitor's centre we ran into Danny's friend Cole and his parents Bob and Patty. The next day we went to Morraine Lake and Lake Louise. (continued on next post).

Drive Across Canada and ....

Leaving from the cottage in Mom's new Ford Escort wagon with Mom and Danny.

The Mackinac Bridge spanning the gap between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.

American long horn cattle in the midwest.

Pioneer farmstead and equipment.

Danny playing with prairie dogs.

The Badlands in South Dakota, (above and below).

Mount Rushmore.

Devil's Tower, Wyoming.

The Prairies.

Cowboys doing a cattle drive from paddock to paddock.

The Grand Tetons, Wyoming, just south of Yellowstone.

Reflections of the Tetons. 

Old Faithful, which erupts every 44 minutes.

Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone NP.

Mother moose and calf in Yellowstone.

Snow in July.

Three photos of our drive across Beartooth Pass from Montana to Wyoming.

Parliament Buildings in Victoria, B.C. 

Dan, me and Mom on the beach in Pacific Rim NP on Vancouver Island.

And Deb, who we had picked up in Victoria.

The water is freezing!!

Tuesday, July 6, 1999

My mother, Rosemarie, and my son, Daniel and me left from the summer cottage in mom's 1998 Ford Escort station wagon for a road trip across North America. When we got to Sault Ste Marie we had a choice of in staying in Canada and driving north around Lake Superior, or entering the States and driving south of Superior. We chose the later. We crossed the Mackinac Bridge, which is the longest suspension bridge in the world. We drove through Michigan and on into Wisconsin and Minnesota. On July 10th we arrived at Badlands National Park. The forces of erosion have sculpted and carved the soft rock formations into amazing hills and valleys. From there we drove to Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills. The monument is incredible and brings tears to many American's eyes. Next we drove the Needles Highway and into Wyoming where we discovered the Devil's Tower. It is a mass of molten rock that welled up in the sedimentary rock but never broke the surface. After millions of years all of the sedimentary rock was eroded away and the great monolith was exposed. It stands at 265 metres. It has unique wildlife on top from snakes to insects that don't exist at the bottom. The monument was used for the end scene of the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. We continued west into the Grand Teton National Park where we stayed in the town of Jackson. We drove through the park and eventually arrived in Yellowstone, where we visited Old Faithful and Mammoth Hot Springs. We exited the park via the Beartooth Highway, which is one of the most beautiful routes in the world. Via switchbacks you drive up one mountain to another and then down the other side. There were still deep snow banks on the sides of the road. Then we drove through Montana, Idaho and into Washington State. We crossed back into Canada at Osoyoos, B.C. We arrived in Victoria on July 16th and picked up my wife Deb and had a good visit with her family. We drove to Port Alberni and visited Cathedral Grove, a stand of massive Douglas Fir trees and then to Tofino on the west side of Vancouver Island. Kathy and I had camped on the beach here in 1973 and 1974. As you can see the weather was cool and the water freezing!