Jackson Hole

We arose early today and headed towards Yellowstone. We drove the south western route heading towards Grand Teton national park. Along the way we stopped into the geyser area and the Old Faithful area. Then on to Grand Teton. We toured all the way down to Jackson Hole. We took a different route back going over the Teton Pass 5 miles of 10% grade up and 3 miles of 10% grade going down. Going up we saw a tow truck trying to pull a transport out of one of the truck runaways, they really do work in stopping a truck. At the top we met lots of emergency vehicles seems a motorcyclist hit a truck. The weather was all over today cool, hot sunny, cloudy, rainy, dry. We had an enjoyable trip back to the trailer. Pics of the day are posted at http://picasaweb.google.com/collindo99/calgary3

splunking

We left Kalispell, Montana and headed south we didn't have reservations anywhere just decided to wing it. We ended up at Lewis and Clarke caverns state park. What a nice park, right in the middle of hill country and we were able to get a campsite with electricity but no water or sewer. Luckily we have large holding tanks. They have caverns here and Sue and I set off to explore. The two hour tour of the caverns was well worth the $10 fee. The weather has been great although a bit warm. In the afternoon we drove down to Virginia city an old living ghost town, which we explored and took in a local "follies" show. lots of fun. It definitely was X rated :-) We spent two days here and didn't have any cell phone or Internet access just relaxing times. Today we left and headed down towards West Yellowstone park. Everything is booked up solid at this time so finally found a campground about 15 miles outside the park that had room at the inn. (barely got the last spot) So here we are at West Yellowstone Holiday RV resort on the shores of Hebgen Lake. We will stay here for 3 nights and use it as a base to explore Yellowstone and Grand Teton National parks. I have posted pics of our last few days here
http://picasaweb.google.com/collindo99/calgary3
Doug.

touring with Kathleen

Had two beautiful days at the Buffalo Plains campground. Matt joined us and we all went to visit "Head smashed in buffalo jump" in the morning and it was quite interesting. As it was a warm day we drove to the Oldman river and Kathleen, Sue and Matt went on the "floaties" and drifted down the river to Fort McLeod. I was the designated driver and found a place to off road a bit which led to the river and I picked them up from the river about 3 hours later. Back at the campground I bar-b-qued steaks for supper and we had a nice campfire then watched the "Edge" a movie about 3 guys in the wilderness stalked by a grizzly bear. Sunday morning we all packed up and Kathleen and Matt said their goodbyes and headed back to Calgary while Sue and I headed south with no plans or reservations for the night. After a 3 hour drive we arrived at St. Mary glacier national park and decided to see if they had a site for the night which they did but only for one night. Sooooo we set up camp and headed over the road to the sun road what a trip beautiful scenery on a narrow windy road that was limited to vehicles 21 ft. long and 8 ft. wide My truck is 19 feet long and 8ft wide and it was a little tight in spots ..... like only inches from the rock walls and opposing traffic. We traversed the 50 mile road in both directions hiked and climbed glaciers......what a great day. We slept well that night. The next day we headed further south and are in Glacier Pines campground near Kalispell, Montana. We plan on staying here for two nights (laundry needs doing) and planning our next route now that we have no direction or time lines to follow. pics of the last few days can be found at Http://picasaweb.google.com/collindo99/calgary2
Doug.

more soakin up the sun in BC

well we took Kathleen on a wine tour and picked up a couple of bottles. Sue and Kathleen also spent an afternoon floating down the water channel that flows through Penticton and joins the lakes at the north end and south end of the city. I was designated driver (again) Beautiful sunshine all day. We left Oliver early Thursday morning and had a fabulous drive through the mountains to Fort Steele campground. The weather started out good but it turned into a cool rainy day as we progressed through the mountains and there were some high mountain passes. Today we had a shorter drive and made it back to Alberta where we will be staying at the Buffalo Plains campground for two nights. The weather has cleared and it is suppose to be sunny and warm here for the next week. Matt (Kathleen's boyfriend) will be joining us for the weekend and what a change of scenery as we are in the foothills "Buffalo country" few trees and rolling grasslands. Pics can be found at Http://picasaweb.google.com/collindo99/calgary2
Doug.

soakin up the sun

What a beautiful land we have. After leaving Cochrane we headed into the mountains via Banff slow leisurely drive (both to look at the scenery and because of lots of construction) to Golden, where we spent the night. We explored the area a bit and discovered the longest free standing wood truss covered bridge in Canada. The next day we headed further into the mountains and drove to Kelowna..........the drive through glacier national park was awe inspiring. We explored the city of Kelowna (much bigger than I thought). The next day we headed south and arrived at Oliver B.C. our home for the next 3 nights. This is a desert area which they irrigate to produce fruits and fine wines. Oliver bills itself as the wine capital of Canada. The weather is warm 30 degrees and dry. We might head back to Penticton and Sue and Kathleen could float down a river channel from Okanagan Lake to Skaha lake. Pics can be found here. Http://picasaweb.google.com/collindo99/calgary I have started a new folder for the mountains Http://picasaweb.google.com/collindo99/calgary2
Doug.

Relaxing

Most of the rally participants are gone in different directions. We were treated to supper at the Keg by Kathleen last night to celebrate Matt's (her boyfriend) promotion at work. Love the Keg. Matt's Mother, brother, sister in law and niece were also there and a good time was had by all. We have decided to keep the trailer here in this park in Cochrane for one more night rather than drive it through city traffic to Kathleen's then have to drive it back the same way the next day on our camping trip into the mountains. We will go into Calgary again tonight for another trip to the stampede then Matt will drive Kathleen out to us on Sat. and we will head out to the Kelowna and Oliver B.C. area. The latest pics are located at http://picasaweb.google.com/collindo99/calgary
Doug.

WASHED OFF

We had a big storm here two days ago, much damage to cars etc. from hail, lots of wind, we escaped unharmed. Yesterday the rainy weather continued all day so Sue and I drove over to Airdrie to explore. Not much there as it is a new bedroom community of Calgary and everything is new even the downtown area. We then drove back into Cochrane to explore the artist shops in this older established town. The Titanium group were suppose to have a pot luck supper yesterday to exchange gifts and say goodbyes but there is no hall here at this park and so plans were made to go out to a local restaurant for supper. We had a good prime rib dinner and conversation then held draws for prizes. I got some 4U cleaner. Those who brought a small gift from their home area put them all on one table then we drew numbers and you went up and picked up a gift from someone else to take home. When our number was called Sue went up and picked a square parcel and when we opened it, it was a framed photo of the countryside from a rally goer from North Carolina. Really beautiful. Our contribution two bottles of St. George sparkling apple drink in a bucket with serving clothes was chosen by a couple from British Columbia. (They may have thought the two bottles were wine :-) ) This morning we are off to a free stampede breakfast put on by Kathleen's company. See pics here http://picasaweb.google.com/collindo99/calgary
Doug.

cleaning day

We passed on the trip to Banf and Lake Louise today as we were there 2 years ago and will be going through with Kathleen next week, sooooo a day to do laundry and clean up a bit. Turns out it was the right move as a cold front came down from the north and produced big storms. Hail, high winds and tornado warnings ..........we fortunately escaped the worst and were visiting Kathleen and her boyfriend Matt at there work place for lunch and could watch the storm from inside. Got some grocery shopping done as well then back to the campground. No campfire tonight but the fireplace in the trailer came in handy as the temps got down to 7 degrees last night and today it is going to be rainy and only 13 degrees. Not sure if we can have our potluck tonight or not (hope so). We may go into Cochrane or maybe Airdree today to explore.
Doug.