Information

 

Just a bit of reading so you can learn all about the mountains and how they got there.
There won't be a quiz. 

 

 

 

 

Fair Fare

Friday we went to the fair with Peter and Kim.

A highlight was the pig wrestling.  In a mud pit.  With wet pigs.
There were teams of four, from little tykes to grown women, with the objective of getting the pig butt first into a barrel.  The pigs got bigger and the barrel got taller with each age group. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Those VFW guys know how to do it right.
What's not to love when you see the words "dipped in butter"?

What's a fair without a rodeo?

 

 

These mountains rock

 

 

 

More of the Icefields Parkway, but nothing more to say about it.  Looking is enough.
(Except for those peskly little spots that have developed in my camera, which will be going to the hospital for repairs.  Too bad it's not same-day surgery, but has to be sent to Texas if I want it to be covered under warranty.) 

Icefields Parkway

It's really Highway 93 from Lake Louise/Banff to Jasper (or vice versa if you turn the map upside down) but you can easily see why it's called the Icefields Parkway.  Just when you think you've seen every glacier in the world, navigate the next turn and there is another one!  It's magnificent.

Those are busloads of people taking the expensive tour to walk on one of the biggest and flattest glaciers, which used to go all the way across the road and filled what is now the visitor center and parking lot.  Everywhere we got they have told us how big the glaciers used to be.
  Could that have been the Ice Age?

 

 

Dandy Lions

So there we were, driving along the Icefields Highway in the Canadian Rockies, millions, no billions, of fuzzy white flowers.  Not flowers at all, but dandelions gone to fluff.  It almost looked like snow.    No wonder these suckers spread so rapidly and go so many places.  Just look!

 

Next time we'll look at some of the amazing glaciers.

Herrre's Jasper!

Jasper National Park in the Canadian Rockies - check it out.

Al was fascinated with this growth.

Kind of looks like something an artist would create, doesn't it?

The entire park has views like this, one right after another.

Nice rack, right?  This is just a little patch of grass in the middle of a parking lot.
  These guys will picnic anywhere.

 

Can you see me?

Now we're in Whitefish MT and will stay until next week.  It's nice to be back in the states where prices are better and Verizon works more efficiently.  We'll play with Peter (the oldest son) and Kim, then zip across Washington to go back to Sequim and find out just what that new house is really like.
I'm trying to get used to saying 65. 

Quickly!

There are so many fabulous pictures of the Jasper National Park but our wi-fi is nearly non-existant, so here is just a teaser before I log off, but will come back when we are in range of a good tower.  The Canadian Rockies are as wonderful as the US version. 

Hey, Beaver!

I forgot to show you this 15-foot high beaver on a 19-foot log in the 2,264 people town of Beaverlodge, the regional centre (Canadian, ya know) for grain transportation, seed cleaning and seed production.  Cereal grains, such as wheat, barley and oats, are the main crops in the area, along with a reforestation nursery which grows about 11 million seedlings a year.     

More Beauty

Wednesday morning we left Dawson Creek early and this is what we saw for many miles.  It was a pretty but kind of boring drive, with towns few and far between.  One spot was about 100 miles with nothing.  Really.  Nothing, just a couple of turn-outs but not scenic, kind of just a wide shoulder in the forest.  The scenery changed to farm country, lots of Alberta farm country. 

Now we're in Jasper National Park.  Can you see how the earth heaved itself up and twisted around so the striations go in different directions?  Ain't that somethin'?

See what I mean?  This is just by the side of the road, where we also saw a herd of caribou, seeming to be eating gravel, but there must be something we don't know.  Sorry but the pictures are all blurry, which is what happens when the driver doesn't slow down enough to give the photographer a clear shot.  Now we're settled in an RV hook-up space (electric only, but Al figured out how to fix the water pump and we have a full tank of aqua) smack in the middle of the park and are fixin' to go exploring the Canadian Rockies.