Day 16 – Echo Valley Provincial Park, near Regina Saskatchewan

[Sorry, the pictures from this point forward haven’t come off the camera yet!]

While a very nice park, Echo Valley is one of the more boring places we’ve stayed on journey. I guess after you’ve been to the mountains and the badlands, it’s tough to find this landscape exciting. It’s nice, but very similar to something you’d find in Ontario. The campground is located at the top of a big valley that dips down to Echo Lake, but it doesn’t offer any spectacular vies, since the campground is surrounded by thick brush.

The day was also dampened a little bit by severe and constant winds. It was a very sunny day, hot when you were out of the wind, and not a cloud in the sky – but the wind was blowing at a constant 60 km/h. It got really annoying after a while.

We did venture down to the beach, which unfortunately is a drive not a walk. The beach was a tad rocky, but probably would have been very nice had we not been in the middle of a rainless hurricane. The water was frigid – surprising since the lake really wasn’t that big. After 20 minutes or so, and a couple rounds of “Lilo don’t eat that rock” we left.

All in all a pretty uneventful day. We drove into the little nearby town of Fort Qu’Appelle to get some beer and ice, took turns in the shower, and that was about it. Luckily the wind did die down as the sun set – which it does much earlier here in Saskatchewan, since these freaks don’t change their clocks for daylight savings in the spring. That also means the sun comes up at like 4:00. Crazy farmers.

Once darkness set it, it was a beautiful sky to look at – complete with some pretty intense Northern Lights, our first of the trip. They didn’t really dance across the sky like I had seen in the past, but rather sections of the northern sky just glowed this really eerie and very intense green for a few moments at time. Kind of cool, especially as it was accompanied by the howling of a wolf or coyote or something, and his/her pack of yipping little ones.

Day 15 – Dinosaur Provincial Park near Brooks Alberta, to Echo Valley Provincial Park near Regina, Saskatchewan (712 km)

With everything except the tent and sleeping gear neatly packed in the back of the truck last night, this morning we were ready to get on the road quickly once we woke up. Of course, Lilo had other plans – and she picked this morning to sleep in until after 8:00, unlike previous mornings where she had woke us up wanting to play as early as 6:00.

I woke up even before Lilo, having had an uncomfortable night on the hard ground once again. Ol’ Leaky is back to his old tricks it seems. Luckily for Vone, she still got a decent night’s sleep. I guess that’s one of the perk of sleeping beside a big guy – I squish all of the remaining air over to her side. She was less than happy when I got up to go pee early in the morning, and she came crashing to the ground!

We skipped breakfast and planned to hit a Tim Horton’s, know that our trip back to the Trans-Canada highway would take us through the moderately sized town of Brooks, Alberta. Brooks is apparently a hub of meat packing and processing activity and you can sure tell by the smell. We were mighty pleased to grab our coffee quickly at the drive-thru, roll up the windows, and get back on the highway as soon as possible.

The road through south-eastern Alberta was again lined with agriculture and not much else. It was lightly traveled on a Sunday morning, and was completely devoid of curves for miles at a time, making it a less than challenging and somewhat hypnotic drive. Pulling into Medicine Hat with the cruise control engaged, I realized I hadn’t touch my brakes or gas pedal in over an hour. Thank goodness for Tim Horton’s caffeine-rich coffee.

As we crossed into Saskatchewan I was surprised by the landscape, only in that it’s not nearly as flat as I had picture, and had heard everyone rant about. In fact, while no where near mountainous, the western half of the province was really rather hilly. Perhaps I’m being too tough on poor old Saskatchewan, but I had visions of driving down straight roads into the horizon, surrounded by nothing but golden wheat as far as the eye could see, and it turned out to be nothing like that. Ok, so it wasn’t big dramatic hills, but it certainly wasn’t the 0% grade, see-for-miles-and-miles terrain that I had been expecting. Maybe we’ll find the eastern half of the province fits the flatness bill, once we get back on the road towards Winnipeg and past Regina. But at best, that makes the province half flat – and when your claim to fame is how flat you are, I say that’s overstating even your meager qualities.

Sorry I don't have any pictures of the supposed flatness - Vone was sleepy today, and not really in a picture taking mood. We did see a really cool salt lake in western Saskatchewan. It was cool – looked like a field of snow and ice in July!

We made a quick stop in Regina for some groceries, and a new air mattress Canadian Tire, and then it was on to Echo Valley. It was interesting to see the traffic on the way to the park, just 45 minutes away from Regina. It was a Sunday night, and while we were one of the only vehicles heading north out of town, there was a constant stream of RV’s and other cars heading south – obviously returning from a weekend away.

When we arrived, our section of the campground was deserted. While there were still dozens of RV’s on the other side of the campground, there were ZERO tenters, and we had the pick of any site we wanted. Tired of playing “No Lilo, don’t eat that rock” we selected a site with tons of grass, well sheltered by trees.

Lilo played happily, while we set up and cooked a delicious spaghetti dinner (we decided we needed a bit of a break from BBQ – one man can only eat so much char-broiled goodness). She may have been a little heavy on the portions however - me thinks they'll be leftovers for lunch.

Day 14 – Calgary Alberta to Dinosaur Provincial Park near Brooks Alberta (207 km)

We woke up a little slower this morning, natural punishment for last night’s fun. After the requisite coffee to get things moving, Sherri even whipped up a delicious batch of cinnamon pancakes to make sure we started our next leg on a full stomach. (We got a kick out of how this coffee mug matched Lilo's pants).

Jon and Sherri had a relaxing day in mind – they planned to drift down the Bow River in an inflatable dingy. The Bow River flows right through the heart of Calgary, and apparently many Calgarians enjoy floating aimlessly along it’s slow moving and calm currents. Sounded like a blast, but alas we had a schedule to keep. Hey, remember the theme song from the Littlest Hobo (the Canadian version of Lassie, with a German Sheppard that drifted from town to town, solving crimes and shit?): “Maybe tomorrow, I’ll want to settle down. But until tomorrow, I’ll just keep movin’ on.”

After another quick visit to Safeway, we were on our way back down the Trans Canada Highway (TC-1) towards Brooks Alberta, and Dinosaur National Park. Most of the trip was fairly uneventful – the TC-1 is an efficient and fast moving highway, and through this part of the journey we still passed through a number of small towns and communities.

So far on this trip, the Microsoft Streets and Trips program has been invaluable. Beyond being a lot of fun to track where we are and where we’ve been, and to help learn the names and elevations of mountains as we pass, Streets saved our asses on a couple of occasions as we searched out cheap accommodations in the United States. (Except Billings, but we’re not talking about Billings anymore. Damn taxidermists,)

Today, our luck changed. Microsoft Streets and Trips failed us, big time. As we neared Dinosaur Provincial Park, we had seem some signs, but for the most part we were relying on Streets to lead us there. This was a big mistake. I started to get concerned when the road we were on, Alberta Road 876, turned to gravel. “That’s strange for a road leading to such a supposedly busy park,” I thought. But it was still a wide road, with some traffic, so we kept onward. We turned off onto Township Road 220 and returned to pavement, though the Road was fairly narrow and some what deteriorated. A little while later, we encountered some road work. Again, I wasn’t terribly concerned because I recalled the Parks website referring to some road resurfacing work going on near the entrance to the park, all summer long. If anything, this road work raised my confidence that we were headed in the right direction. Briefly.

When we approached the construction, we were held from moving forward by a flag person for a few minutes. Finally she waived us on, directing us to “Keep to the right.” 20 metes later the Road disappeared entirely, and we were driving through a full blown construction site (though keeping to the right as directed).

“Huh, there can’t be very many people at this park if everyone had to go through this.” I thought, as Vone and I chuckled and snapped pictures of our adventure. With the construction behind us, we continued on – close now to the destination indicated by Streets.
Some time later, Streets directed us to turn right onto Township Road 121 – a narrow, single lane, gravel path. With no signs indicating the entrance for the park, it finally occurred to me that it had been some time since I saw any signs for the park at all. Upon further investigation, we discovered that Streets was infact leading us to the geographical centre of the park, not the main gate of entrance. As you’ll see from the map segment below, THERE ISN’T EVEN A ROAD FOR THE FINAL 5km OF THE WILD GOOSE CHASE IT WAS SENDING US ON!!!

So there we were, a few kilometers north of the northern boundary of Dinosaur Provincial Park, when in fact the road entrance is on THE SOUTH SIDE. And this is not a small park: driving around it to get to the south side added up to 160 km. To add to the fun, we decided to continue clockwise around the park rather than return through the construction we just experienced. This choice took us down some of the more isolated "range roads" I have ever been on.

Surprisingly, while our spirits were diminished, Vone and I (and Lilo) kept our cool through the detour – except for some choice words for the fine folks at Microsoft (thankfully, Lilo doesn’t understand such words yet).

Finally arriving at the park shortly after 5:00, were amazed by it’s rugged beauty.

And what's very cool, is that the campground is right in the middle of the rugged beauty. We really are camping in the wild west tonight.

The late western sunsets even afforded us a chance to explore some of the badlands on a brief hike. Ok, so it was more of a drive down a tour-loop road while we stayed in the comfy air-conditioned confines of Canyonero. Hey, it was close to 40C, even at 5:00pm!

And we did get out of the truck briefly explore a few areas. We climbed to the top of that big rock I'm standing on, and then had to figure out how to get back down!

(Lilo is sound asleep in the air conditioned back seat, if you’re wondering why she isn’t in these photos).

Hopefully the bugs don’t get worse tonight (they’re oppressive, even in the daylight so far!), and hopefully it cools off so sleeping will be comfortable. Tomorrow, it’s on through the rest of Alberta, and the flat prairie land of Saskatchewan.

Day 13 – Calgary Alberta

This morning, Brian and I headed out midmorning to meet Jon Clarke for a round of golf at a nearby City owned course called Shaganappi Point (I just love the name). This would be the first time in nearly 3 years I’ve seen Jon, and the first I’ve even chatted with him save for a few emails exchanged before this visit. The golf course turned out to be quite a beautiful setting, sitting on a bit of a hill over the Bow River, with fantastic views of downtown Calgary.

It was a great round of golf, aided by a few Kokanee – though I think we may have been a little overly creative/forgiving with the scorecard.

Following Golf, we made a quick stop back to Brian’s to reload Canyonero – this time with CLEAN laundry that we had spent that last day and evening taking care of. We managed to find room for Brian’s suitcase as well, as we quickly darted out to the airport to drop him off for a flight to Toronto, as he begins a week of vacation. It was great to see Brian in his new setting – even if he won’t be in Calgary for long.

From the airport we headed south down Deerfoot Trail to the other end of town, and the Douglas community were Jon lives with his wife Sherri and new daughter Josie. Deerfoot is the closest thing to a major artery that Calgary has, and surprisingly it was free of any Toronto like traffic, even at 5:30 on a Friday afternoon.

Once we arrived in the Douglas Community, finding Jon’s actual street was a bit of an adventure - the real challenge being the street names themselves. EVERY SINGLE STREET in the Douglas Community has the name Douglas in it. Seriously, on the way to Jon’s place we passed Douglasdale Boulevard, Douglas Woods Hill (not to be confused with Douglas Woods Boulevard, where Vone stopped me from incorrectly turning), Douglas Ridge Boulevard, Douglas Ridge Close (whatever the hell a ‘Close’ is), Douglasview Road, Douglas Ridge Green, and Douglasview Rise, just to name a few. I’m not sure who thought this would be a good idea, but it sounds like an ambulance driver’s nightmare to me.

Street names aside, Jon and Sherri’s neighbourhood is very nice, and their house is fantastic. They’ve obviously put a lot of energy and effort into the place, and it shows. Jon’s apparently become quite a handyman in his old age! Their new daughter Josie is just a few months youner than Lilo, and just as cute (if I may say so). It was really neat to see Jon’s relationship with her. While I had no doubt he’d make a great father, I have to admit I was surprised by the affections he showers Josie with.

Before dinner we were joined by Laurie – another close friend whom I haven’t seen our talked to in years. Laurie is also doing fantastic. She’s set to marry a great guy named Trevor, who we met later in the evening, and her happiness definitely shows on her face.

Jon is a sales rep for a seafood distributor, so naturally we dined on king crab, shrimp, scallops, and steak (which was really more of a side dish for the seafood).

Everything was amazing – Jon’s skill for creating great food seems to have only increased. Seeing him goofing off in front of the BBQ reminded me of days gone by at Laurie’s cottage: while so much as changed for all of us, some things stay the same.

One of those unchanged things is our ability to consume copious amounts of alcohol and chat until the wee hours of the morning. This will probably hurt tomorrow…

Day 12 – Banff National Park to Calgary Alberta (103 km)

Our last morning in Banff before we head out of the mountains. We woke up and spent a leisurely morning around the campsite – drinking coffee, nibbling at breakfast and packing up the truck at a relaxed pace. We also took advantage of the park’s excellent facilities to grab a shower, thereby ensuring we didn’t smell like a campfire and three days worth of bug-spray upon out arrival in Calgary. Even Lilo got a bath – she seems to be growing quite fond of her camping bathes!

With Canyonero fully loaded once again, we made a quick trip into town to return the $58 air mattress we’d purchased the night before. While feeling we had no other choice at the time, buyer’s remorse quickly set in and we decided to try ol’ leaky for one more night, thinking that if we could make it through to Calgary there would be many a Canadian Tire with dozens of cheaper options. Happily, ol’ leaky was completely fine – making us think the previous night’s flatness might have been caused by an improperly sealed valve.

With $58 more in my wallet, we treated ourselves to McDonald’s for lunch (traditional Rocky Mountain Fare, for sure), left Banff, and jumped back on TC-1 for the quick trip to Calgary. It was a little sad as the mountains disappeared in the rearview mirror – they were an amazing experience, and something I’m even more motivated now to do again.

On the way into Calgary we passed the Canada Olympic Park - site of the ski jumping and bobsled from the 1988 Olympics. Calagary is obviously still very proud of it's moment in the international spotlight (as they should be), though the city has obviously grown immensely since then.

We arrived in Calgary with an afternoon to kill before meeting Brian later in the day. The first order of business was a bath for Canyonero, to get rid of the thick coating of bug guts that had collected on the front end through 6,000 kilometers of mostly rural driving. After $10 in loonies at the “Calgary Coin-Op Truck and RV Wash” Canyonero sparkled as brightly as she had the first day we got her. Next was lunch and some free-range time for Lilo, for which we happened across a city park called Riley Park. It fit the bill perfectly, with lush grassy fields that were devoid of pinecones, rocks, twigs, and other things Lilo like so much to stick in her mouth.

Finally we headed downtown for some exploring, because that’s what you do upon arriving in a new and unfamiliar city – you head for the tallest buildings. Happily, Calgary has a bit to offer downtown, unlike other western Canadian cities I’ve been to in the past. We spent a few hours exploring Stephen Street (also called 8th Avenue SW) – a pedestrian mall in downtown Calgary much like Sparks Street in Ottawa.

For anyone who’s never been to Calgary, it has a very unusual, very unimaginative street naming system that I’m not even sure I understand yet. My sense is that avenue’s run east-west, and streets run north-south. The streets and avenues are numbered, which I understand is similar to Manhattan, but in Calgary the number start in the centre of the city and increase as you move out. Where things really get confusing is they add a directional identifier after the street name, depending on which quadrant of the city you are in – NE, NW, SE, SW. This means if you’re looking for 6th Avenue and 11th Street, I think there are actually 4 such intersections: 6th and 11th SE, 6th and 11th SW, 6th and 11th NE, and 6th and 11th NW. While I’m sure this makes complete sense after you’ve lived here for a while, it’s very confusing at first – especially in the downtown core.

Finished with exploring downtown, we decided to challenge ourselves by finding Calgary’s international airport only by watching for planes in the sky. This little experiment probably took us longer than it really needed to, but hey we had some time to spare before Brian’s 6:30 flight from Fort McMurray. Once in the area of the airport (Vone eventually cheated and saw a green sign with a little white plane on it) we made a quick stop in the parking lot of the Best Western hotel, to squat on the free wireless internet they offer to guests. We’ve discovered on this trip that this is a great way to get access to the internet while traveling.

Brian’s flight landed on time, and to add to the convenience it arrived at a private hanger on the edge of the airport lands thereby allowing us to avoid the madness of the main terminal. We greeted Brian in the parking lot along with countless wives greeting their husbands, much like meeting sailors returning from sea. Brian is one of the thousands of people making great money working on one of the many oil-sands projects near Fort McMurray, Alberta – 700 miles north of Edmonton. There are over 2,500 people working on his project alone, and the company operates two of these flights between Fort McMurray and Calgary, everyday. And this is no small turbo prop – but rather a full sized 737 that carries hundreds of people who work up north, and return regularly to their homes and families in Calgary.

With Brian safely aboard Canyonero, we headed to his condominium (paid for by the company) downtown. We spent the evening chatting and catching up, doing laundry, drinking cold beer, and eating delicious pizza. Later, Brian and I joined another friend also named Rob for some Golden Tee and draft beer at a little pub around the corner. It was interesting to be in a bar where people could smoke again, after two years of Ontario’s smoke-free bars. I could smell it as soon as we walked in, and it struck me as odd every time smoke wafted over our way. I’m happy to say the smoke wasn’t much of a temptation though, and I remain smoke free after 12 days.

While I love camping, it was great to have modern conveniences again – a couch to sit on, a fridge to keep beer cold, a comfy bed that doesn’t deflate, and a washing machine. And while Vone and I love spending time together, it’s also good to see some other friends, and have other people to chat with.

Day 11 – Banff, Alberta

Sleeping last night was much more comfortable – the addition of the new polar fleece blanket and some extra PJ’s for Lilo seemed to improve the situation. At this site, our tent is not in the shade, which actually seems to help raise the temperature in the early morning.

We did suffer a bit of a set back last night however, when we woke to find ourselves sleeping uncomfortably on the ground, instead of comfortably a few inches above the ground on a mattress filled with air. It seems we’d sprung a leak, and thus we trekked back into town to purchase a new air mattress – for the ‘bargain’ price of $58.

We also made quick stops at a couple of local attractions, that turned out to be big disappointments. First up, the Banff Hot Springs were just an ordinary looking hotel-style pool, which was filled with the mineral rich and naturally heated water of the nearby Sulphide springs. It was warm, 40C, and while the mineral-rich waters are supposed to be soothing or some shit, we had no interest in paying $7.50 and wasting an afternoon wading with hordes of other tourists in a pool that possessed all the natural beauty of an un-renovated Holiday Inn. I don’t understand why they wouldn’t even fake it – why not landscape the area to look like a natural stone-line spring-fed pond?

Two minutes further down the road, the Banff Gondola to the top of Sulphide Mountain was also a must-miss attraction. They wanted $25 per person for the 10 minute ride to the top, so it was back in Canyonero as quickly as we got out.. While we’re not living in poverty on this trip, such a long adventure requires a strict daily budget to keep the entire thing from becoming a massively expensive trip. Needless to say, $50 for the family to take a 15 minute ride to the top of a big hill was not in today’s budget.

Instead, we decided for the much more attractive (and free!) hike along the Hoodoo Trail beside the Bow River.


The trail followed the top of the Bow River canyon and offered amazing views of the surrounding mountains and the river which was over 1000’ below.


Again, not a very strenuous hike, but good enough for us. Lest I have fooled anyone with stories of our camping and hiking, Vone and I have not “gone granola,” and therefore a few kilometers and just a little bit of sweat is good enough for us. I guess these are more like long walks, but I feel much cooler calling them hikes. Though they dp seem to tire Lilo out.

After the hike, we headed back to Johnson Lake (site of yesterday’s hike) for a swim. The water was quite chilly, to be expected when your lake is fed from massive frozen chunks of ice sitting high atop nearby peaks. Lilo quite enjoyed the whole experience, and tired us out as she ran madly up and down the beach and into the water (with our balancing assistance, of course.

Tonight is another very pleasant night weather wise, and we realize that we’ve been very fortunate thus far. With the exception of an intense but thankfully brief storm in the Okanagan, we’ve avoided all rain and have been blessed with very pleasant temperatures. This will be our last night in Banff, and we plan to enjoy more star-watching and beer drinking beside the campfire – this time perhaps with some marshmallow toasting.

Day 10 – Banff, Alberta

Our first night in Banff was considerably colder than we expected. While the temperature was very warm when we arrived last night, even after 9:00pm, we were quickly reminded that this is the mountains, and we’re at an elevation of over 5300’. According to our handy travel clock, which includes a thermometer and reminds me of something my parents would have, the temperature dropped over 20 degrees to near single digits last night. So following breakfast, we made a trip into the village of Banff to explore and see if we could find a blanket at a reasonable price.

Banff the village was quite surprising – much bigger and also more gentrified than I expected. There were a smattering of local stores, but the main street was predominantly lined with the Gap, HMV, Lululemon, The Bay, McDonalds, SportChek, Tony Roma’s, the Old Spaghetti Factory, and many others you’d expect to see on Yonge Street. I’m sure there are those who would complain that Banff has lost it’s soul to corporations, but I think it still retains a unique small-town feel.

With a new polar-fleece blanket from The Bay, we returned to the camp site for lunch and then headed over to nearby Johnson lake for a hike.

The lake itself was beautiful with brilliant turquoise water that was crystal clear at the shore. It was surrounded by very dense forest, and we hiked a trail that took us around the entire lake.

While the day was very hot, the temperatures were quite pleasant in the shade of the forest. This was a good first hike, not too long, and reasonably flat with only a few strenuous climbs.

The forest and lake views were impressive, though the only wildlife we saw were a couple of geese, and somr local teens enjoying beer in the hot sun on the shore.

Unlike the first night, this site has a fire pit, and the park actually supplies the wood for free. There’s a HUGE pile of cut wood near the entrance that’s there for the taking. It was very cozy sitting beside a roaring fire, sipping wine and beer, and playing Racko.

Another beautiful clear night, we enjoyed staring at the stars though the view is somewhat blocked by the dense trees all around (damn trees, always getting in the way). While there wasn’t a cloud in sight, the western sky was constantly lit up with lightning just out of view behind the mountains. It was a spectacular light show to watch and we were very glad it didn’t come our way.

Day 9 – Bear Creek Provincial Park near Kelowna, BC to Banff, Alberta via Sorrento, BC

Thankfully, the storms held off last night, and Lilo’s second night of camping was a better sleeping experience. She still woke up very early, but seems quite happy to wake up between mommy and daddy. She squirmed and flopped around for a while, played with our hair and faces, and eventually went back to sleep for another 45 minute nap.

We packed up the truck and headed out towards Sorrento, for a quick visit Vone’s grandfather – time for Lilo to meet her second great-grandfather of the trip. After leaving the campground, we followed the highway for nearly 20 minutes before realizing that Microsoft Streets hadn’t taken us to back south to the main highway as we had expected. Apparently Streets decided it would save us a couple of minutes (in theory) to have us follow the narrow and very winding road along the west side of the lake, rather to waste time retracing our previous route back to the 4-lane highway on the east side of the lake. While I’m not sure it saved us anytime it was a beautiful route that offered a much better view of the Okanagan than the 4-lane highway would have – even if it felt like we were driving on a HotWheels racetrack at time. The only downside to the scenic route was that we missed Vernon – located on the east side of the lake.

Shortly before lunch we arrived at Grandpa Roth’s place on the shores of Lake Shuswap, just west of Salmon Arm. It’s very nice area – proclaimed as the houseboat capital of the world. We had a good lunch with Joe and his wife Pauline, and it was great to for Lilo and I to finally meet Vone’s grandfather, and for her to see him again after nearly 12 years.

It was unfortunately a short visit. Our plan was to camp for the night at Glacier National Park, and since the campground doesn’t accept reservations but rather is a ‘first-come first-served’ park, we needed to get there as early as possible.

After lunch it was back on the road towards Revelstoke and eventually Glacier National Park. But first, Canyonero was hungry for another $100 tank of gas. While it’s roomy, and very comfortable, the Tahoe’s downside is definitely its gas mileage. Its not so bad on the highway where maximizing the use of cruise control seems to go a long way to extending the life of a tank of gas – even through the mountains. I think I’ve gotten better at driving the big beast as well, as our mileage has improved as the trip has gone progressed.. I’ve learned to predict when the engine is about to over-rev as we start climbing a hill, and I’ve mastered the timing of disengaging the cruise control and applying just the right pressure on the gas pedal to not lose too much speed during the climb, all without burning through a barrel of gasoline. Then on the descent, I’ve learned how to shift down smoothly 3rd or sometimes even 2nd gear to keep us from gaining, and to save the wear on the brakes. In the city however, there’s just nothing that can be done, and Canyonero burns through the gasoline like Nicholas Cage’s vodka in Leaving Las Vegas. I guess she’s just made for the open road.

As we passed Revelstoke, we started to climb into the Columbia and Selkirk Mountains. We got giddy as the real Rocky Mountains were finally upon us. These were no longer rounded green hills - they were dramatically higher with jagged rocky peaks that were capped with snow and ice.

They were unlike anything we’d seen on the drive out through the United States. We ‘oooohed’ and ‘aaaahed’ with ever corner, as new and bigger snow capped beauties came into view.

Our giddiness was subdued somewhat as we approached the Illecilleweat Campground (I have no idea how you pronounce that, just make something up and move on) at Glacier National Park. Unfortunately the sign on the highway indicated the campground was full. Our plan to camp at the highest elevation campground in the national parks system was dashed, and once again we found ourselves in the middle of nowhere, with no plan on where to stay the night. Luckily this time it was only the afternoon, and we had plenty of time before sunset to find an alternative. We stopped at a rest area in Rogers Pass to pour over the maps of the upcoming highway, and to plot our plan of attack. The small town of Golden, British Columbia was only an hour’s drive, and surely presented some options. Beyond that, Yoho National park was another 30 minutes, Lake Louise was a couple of hours away, and Banff reachable in about 3 hours.

Golden B.C. was yet another amazing setting, and again unique from any of the places we’d seen in our travels. While huge mountains were everywhere, it was also very dessert like – lots of rocks and sandy cliffs dotted with small brush and very few trees.

We did find an adequate if unexciting campground, but decided to keep moving ahead to avoid construction related headaches that was just around the corner. A major $336 million highway construction project in the Kicking Horse Canyon meant that the highway was entirely closed to all traffic from 7PM to 9PM, again from 8AM to 9AM in the morning, and for short periods at other times. Fearing the traffic back-up’s this could cause the next morning, and seeing that is was 6:30PM now, we decided it would be best to travel through this section while traffic was lighter in the evening.

Sadly the campgrounds at Yoho National Park and Lake Louise were also all full. We trucked on through the evening towards Banff, trying to put negative thoughts out of our head. We had reservations at Banff for the next two nights, but what would happen if we arrived tonight and it was full? Thankfully, we were easily distracted by the amazing scenery through the national park.

We pulled into the Tunnel Mountain campground just outside of the town of Banff slightly after 9:00PM and we were in luck – they indeed had sites available for the night. Thanks to the lingering sunset in this part of the country, there was light until well past 10:30 allowing us plenty of light to get set up. We even got in a delicious dinner of BBQ’d chicken breast, fresh crisp green beans, and some mushroom rice. We spent a couple hours in the darkness, sipping wine, sorting through our photos, and watching satellites in the brilliant starry sky. In the end, the gamble was surely worth it – we now get the next three nights in Banff without another day of driving.

Day 8 – Vancouver, BC to Bear Creek Provincial Park, near Kelowna, B.C

One last morning in beautiful Vancouver.

I am a little sad that we’ll be leaving Vancouver this morning, since there’s obviously so much left to see and do. We could easily spend an entire week here, and hopefully we will in the near future. But I have to keep reminding myself that this trip is like dining at a buffet: you can’t have too much of any one thing unless you’re willing to take less, or nothing, of something else.

We joined grandpa for one last coffee this morning, stopped at a Canadian Tire, and then got left Vancouver on the Trans-Canada Highway east through the Fraser River Valley. I’ve been to Vancouver a number of times, but always by air not by road, so it was kind of interesting to see this end of town.

The Fraser Valley was kind of like driving the 401 eastward out of Toronto, if there were mountains on the horizon. First we passed the suburbs of Burnaby, Surrery and Langely (similar to Pickering, Whitby, and Oshawa) and then smaller towns like Abbotsford and Chilliwack (similar to Coburg and Port Hope) with lots of agriculture in between.

From the Fraser Valley we veered north on Highway 5 and into the Hozameen Mountain Range and over the Coquihalla Pass The climb was quite dramatic, taking us to nearly 6000 feet!


The price for this dramatic climb was also steep, and near the summit we passed through a toll booth where we had to pay $10.00!


And of course, with every good climb comes the speedy descent on the other side, this time into the Okanagan Valley. Canyonero’s nifty external thermometer indicated a temperature at the summit of 29C, which had increased to 37C as we dropped into the valley. The air was hot and very dry as we pulled into a fruit stand just south of Kelowna. Since we’d deliberately skipped the produce section during out grocery stop in Chilliwack earlier in the day, we loaded up on fresh blueberries, nectarines, cherries, green beans, some yummy nugget potatoes, two cucumbers for $0.25 each, and a massive fresh garlic, with the long stem still attached.

As we continued on along the western shore of Okanagan Lake, we saw a sign for the Mission Hill Vineyard and Winery. Having sampled a bottle or three of their fine offerings in the past, we decided a quick detour was in order. The Winery was very cool, though I’ll let the pictures do the talking.

It would be an exceptionally beautiful setting for a wedding, though exceptionally expensive as well, I imagine.

In the wine store, we sampled a few of their offerings and picked up a bottle of Gewurztraminer (Vone’s new and current favourite) and Sauvignon Blanc – both of which are quite light and fruity, the Sauvignon more tart than the sweeter Gewurzt.

A short while later, we arrived at our destination for the night – Bear Creek Provincial Park. Nestled immediately to the west of Okanagan Lake, and sheltered by the hills that rise up from the shore, it’s a very nice campground. Lots of trees, and a nice grassy field that the campsites all back on to, where lots of kids were playing. It also has a nice sandy beach, though our hopes of getting in a quick swim were quickly dashed by an arriving thunderstorm.

The rain started shortly after we had our tent and shelter set up. The storm built surprisingly fast, and soon we found ourselves taking cover in Canyonero as hail began to fall.

Luckily the heart of the storm passed as quickly as it came – though thanks to heavy winds and persistent showers we did opt to eat dinner in the front seat while Lilo slept in the back.

All in all, it could have been worse. As we head to bed, we’re only hoping the storms are over for the night…

Day 7 - Vancouver, British Columbia

Another fantastic day in Vancouver started out with morning coffee with Grandpa on the small patio outside Café Prego. Vone and Lilo joined us this time, and Grandpa had fun introducing us to all of the staff and other regulars at the café. It’s kind of neat to have a regular little place to go to every morning – and with how good the coffee and pastries are, and I can see why Grandpa goes there every morning.

Later around noon, Grandpa and Auntie Pat joined us in Canyonero, and we drove along the coast to Horseshoe Bay. It was nice to have a tour guide to point out some of the features of Vancouver, which certainly is a gorgeous town. I’m not going to play the “which city is better, Toronto or Vancouver?” game. But, if we’re comparing the two guys who hundreds of years ago said “You know what, this looks like a good place to start a town!” the dude for Vancouver beats the dude for Toronto, hands down.

Lunch was delicious fish and chips at Troll’s in Horseshoe Bay, while we watched the huge ferries come in and out of the bay.

Rather than just the standard fish and chips, Vone and I opted for a real treat and split the sampler plate, which included battered halibut, salmon, cod, and snapper. I think the salmon was my favourite, though the halibut was very yummy.

We took the long way home, and drove around Stanley Park and then beside English Bay and Sunset Beach.

With the balmy temperatures this week, the beaches were packed full of people, with some brave souls even venturing into the water (which, even in the summertime, is barely above hypothermic). Vancouver sees these high temperatures so infrequently in fact, that our hotel doesn’t have air conditioning. Neither does Grandpa’s condominium for that matter. Luckily there’s always at least a little bit of a breeze given that we’re on the ocean, and things get considerably cooler at night.

After a lazy afternoon, we joined Grandpa and Auntie Pat for dinner at Grandpa’s apartment. We chatted, ate some great food, and watched the sunset. After dinner, Vone, Lilo and I took a long walk along the seaside path as the last bits of daylight left the sky. The beaches were packed with people, walking along the path and sitting on the giant logs in the sand. We made sure we put our feet in the ocean one last time, even if it felt like ice water. It was a nice way to end our last night in Vancouver.

Day 6 – Vancouver, British Columbia

It was unusual to stay in one place for an entire day – today was the first day since we left on Sunday that we haven’t traveled at least 800 kilometers. And it was fantastic to spend the day walking around, rather than behind the wheel of Canyonero.

After a nice sleep-in, I met Grandpa for a coffee at his regular little right next to our building. The two of us spent an hour chatting and sipping delicious coffee from the awesome little Italian Café. The morning was beautiful – you could tell it was going to be a very hot day, but in the morning it was still nice and cool.

Later, Vone, Lilo and I explored the neighbourhood, and it is fantastic. We’re just steps from the seaside path, and we followed it under the Burrard Street bridge to Sunset Beach, just 5 minutes away.

Dotted with massive beached logs, the rocky sand was sweltering thanks to the sun, and the low tides. Lilo sure liked playing in the sand.


After the beach, we turned to follow the path south to the Granville Street bridge, past the harbour and Granville island which was buzzing with activity.


We continued past some of the new developments on what was the former Expo ’86 site. The entire east shore of False Creek has just been developed in the last decade and while the buildings are somewhat typical glass and steel condo’s, they done a fantastic job of keeping the shoreline public and pedestrian friendly, and integrating lots of parkland and grass.


We followed Granville street through a rougher neighbourhood that reminded me of a more-raw Queen Street west. It was a place Keith Richards would surely love – literally it for a few blocks it was all rock and roll bars, sex shops, and drug cafes (and some pizza’s shops, for when they get the munchies). We continued on, and eventually found ourselves in the heart of downtown. Lots of stores and good shopping – if this were a different sort of vacation I’m sure I could spend a lot of money, but we just don’t seem to be in a shopping kind of mood.

Tonight, we joined Grandpa and Auntie Pat for a quick drink at Gramps’ apartment. On the 17th floor, just across the street and facing the ocean, we had a spectacular view of all the boats rushing to leave the harbour for weekend trips on the ocean.


For dinner, we took the Aqua-Bus down the water to Monk’s – a yummy seafood restaurant that is built on a pier over the water.

The food was delicious and the view of the sunset was also spectacular. After Vone and I split a plate of fresh raw oysters, I had the mixed grill, which included shrimp, scallops, mussels, crab, and small filets of tuna, salmon, and arctic char, all grilled and served on a bed of light and buttery pasta. Vone had the Thai Hot Pot, which featured similar seafood ingredients in a spicy cilantro broth. Delicious.

Vancouver is certainly blessed with some amazing restaurants, and we are being spoiled by Grandpa and Auntie Pat. We definitely won’t leave Vancouver wishing we had eaten more seafood – though we might be a few pounds heavier.