Banff National Park–Day 2

Our second full day in the park and this was our most relaxing so far this trip. We took our time all morning, got to sleep in a little, did not leave the RV until almost noon. Geoff saw a ground squirrel outside the RV and took a few pictures.

Then we drove into downtown Banff and did a little souvenir shopping and had lunch. Then we drove to Sulfur Mountain, named for the hot spring at its base, and took the gondola ride to the top. The views were amazing! You look right down on the Bow River Valley where the town of Banff is located, and the 360 degree view is of the many peaks of the Canadian Rockies. The top is above the snow line and cold but the sun was shining and it was not windy, so it was a very enjoyable time. We took about 150 photos.

In the evening, we lit up a campfire and had Ken and Martha over for smores. It was a chore keeping Jordy away from the fire. The campground here has a big pile of firewood for the campsites with fire rings to use and it was nice and dry, so the fire started very easily. We do not do campfires very often and are still using the fire starters we made from dryer lint and old candles nearly 4 years ago when we were cleaning out the house.

Exploring the Canadian Rockies

Today was our first full day not driving the RVs anywhere, but doing some scenic touring. We are in Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada and just about everywhere you look there is a spectacular view. We started out the day in downtown Banff getting tickets to a couple of attractions we want to go to later and getting an idea of what to go see today.

Next we headed towards Lake Louise, watching for wildlife and scenic areas to photograph. It did not take long until we found a car stopped on the side of the road, which usually means wildlife in the area. Sure enough, Mule Deer. Only one, but it was something. Of course, every turn we made brought more spectacular views into our windshield, so the going was slow, but we got some great pictures.

Finally, we arrived at Lake Louise and searched for somewhere to have lunch. We found a restaurant in the lodge and, although the service was a bit slow, even though there were not a lot of people eating there, the food was good, and we were soon out taking photos.

Ken had told me about a photo correction technique he uses called HDR (High Dynamic Range) which gives better detail in both the light and dark portions of a photograph. You must take 3 pictures in bracketed exposure mode. He uses +/- 2.0 stops for his, so I checked the programming modes on my camera and set it up to do this. Later, I would see if I could find software which would let me process the pictures I took.

Spring comes on slowly in this part of the world. Lake Louise still has a lot of ice on it. With the peaks around the lake also still being mostly snow covered, and the glaciers at the far side of the lake, it makes for some pretty nice pictures, even without any post-processing.

Next, we headed over to another icon lake here, Moraine Lake. There are spectacular moraines of debris of the sides of the peaks which surround the lake. This lake is up around 6,000 feet so it is also still frozen over and there is also still a few feet of snow around it too. The road to the lake had just been cleared before we went there. Again, you can’t take any bad pictures.

After trying a few things with the pictures I took for HDR processing, I talked with Ken again, and saw what he had been able to do with his. Now, you can make them look pretty good this way, but you can also make them look pretty “creative” as well. He seemed to like to make then look a little “other-world-y”, but I got the idea and found out what to look for. Then I found Luminance HDR, a free, open source program and, after some work figuring out the program, was able to get my own HDR processed photos to come out like I wanted them.

Border Crossing

So now we have crossed over into Canada from Montana and begin our trek to the Alaskan border. We stopped in Lethbridge, Alberta to pick up a few things at Wal-Mart, then go for a burger at Five Guys. The drive was pretty windy, cool, rainy, not too pretty. We drove on to Fort Macleod to the Buffalo Plains RV Park. This was just a few miles from the “Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump”, which we visited after getting the RVs set up. This was our second buffalo jump. It had a very nice visitor’s center and we got a discount on the admission thanks to maps we bought at the visitor’s center when we entered Alberta.

After we had toured the center and were about to leave, we got ushered into a room by one of the workers and he showed us a group of tools and weapons similar to those created over 6,000 years ago by the First People who used the buffalo jump. All were created using skin and sinew from buffalo combined with wood and rock. He explained the use of many of them.

This morning we left the campground and headed for Banff National Park. The weather was pretty variable, driving in and out of rain. As we approached the park, some sunlight came through the clouds. We arrived at our campsites with some pretty nice looking surroundings. We took a scenic drive around some of the nearby lakes. We hope that the clouds clear out and give us a chance to get some better pictures, but these are pretty good by themselves.

Big Sky Country

On Geoff’s birthday, we drove into Montana, the last U.S. state in the lower 48 that we will visit before we get to Alaska. They call it “Big Sky Country” and we found out why. Most of the state is vast prairie land and you can see for miles in all directions. But unlike other western states with vast open areas, Montana also has mountains, hills, and valleys. It is really gorgeous.

On Tuesday we drove about 400 miles to Bozeman, all of it through country we saw just last July. It is the only part of the country we have driven more than once in our RV which is not on one of the coasts. We thought about stopping at Pompey’s Pillar again, but our traveling partners opted out, even though we promised them it was a historic site not to be missed.

When we got into Bozeman and got camp set up, we headed out to celebrate Geoff’s birthday at Famous Dave’s Pit BBQ. Geoff got his favorite, the full rack of baby back ribs. When the waitress found out it was his birthday, she offered us a hot fudge sundae. It came back with four scoops of ice cream and four spoons. It was delicious.

In the morning, we headed for Great Falls. This was our big turn to the north. In Helena, we split up. Ken and Martha had to do some stocking up at Wal-Mart and we headed to Costco. After Costco, we drove toward Great Falls and stopped off at the First Peoples Buffalo Jump State Park. It was a very nice little visitor’s center which described the pains the Native Americans went through to get sustenance from the Buffalo. This site was used from about 900 to 1700 BC.

In Great Falls, we visited the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center. This was the site of their most challenging portage around several falls along the Missouri River. They had to move their boats and supplies 18 miles over land.

After this we had a 1.3 hour drive further to get to our campground at Shelby, MT. Our next leg will take us into Canada but it is only a 2 hour drive for tomorrow.

Medora Redux

Last July we stopped in little Medora, ND, on our way along the Missouri River. Now we have returned. It is less busy here now because the season has not really started. The Medora Campground is not open yet so we had to move up the street to the Red Trail Campground. It was only a 2 1/2 hour drive to get here and we gained an hour crossing into Mountain Time so we got here before lunch. We got the bikes off the car and pedaled into town to the Elk Horn Café. Guess who showed up there while we were eating? The nice young couple we met yesterday at the World’s Largest Sand Hill Crane. They had camped here last night and were here for the day today. So funny.

It was pretty warm this afternoon so we took a little siesta then went into the Theodore Roosevelt National Park and went to the prairie dog mounds. Geoff wanted to go back and see if he could get some good pictures with the new camera.

Next stop, Bozeman, MT.

Into North Dakota

Today’s leg of our journey took us from Monticello, Minnesota to Menoken, North Dakota, just east of Bismarck, only 381 miles. We stopped once to take on fuel before leaving Minnesota, as the fuel prices in North Dakota and Montana are higher. Then we stopped again for lunch. It seems Ken and Martha are more willing to just drive straight through to our destinations here in the U.S. but we need to stop more frequently. Around 2:30PM we needed a rest stop and they kept going on through to our stop in Menoken. After a 10 minutes stop we started off again. About 30 miles from Menoken, we saw a sign for the Largest Sand Hill Crane in the World. Curiosity overcame us and we stopped to see it. It turned out to be a sculpture marking an area known for its birding called the Prairie Pothole Region of North Dakota.

While we were there, a young couple pulled up in a pick-up truck to see the sculpture. Ellyn took their picture for them and they told us they were from Fargo, ND, and were making a trip to “South Dakota or Yellowstone or wherever”. The gentleman had just returned from a deployment and they decided to just take off on a trip. We told them to make sure they stop and see everything they can. You never can tell who you’ll run into.

The campground is right off I-94 and small and quite crowded, but they had room for us for the night. We got in early enough to be able to have a little relaxation before sunset. Near sunset, we remembered about the eclipse. Geoff made a pin-hole camera and we were able to see that the eclipse was still in progress. Geoff then set up the camera on the tripod and, using a polarized filter and a pair of sunglasses, was able to get a picture, although a bit over exposed.

We also saw a prairie dog near a tree when we pulled into the campground and Geoff went back with the camera to get some pictures.

Chicago to Minneapolis

Our first day of caravaning with another RV couple and it worked pretty well. We got out before 9:00AM and Ken and Martha took the lead because they knew what to avoid during the rush hour. We stopped for lunch at a rest area and then they lead again until we made another rest stop around 2:00PM. Then we took the lead until we got off the highway in Monticello, MN to stop for the night. We stopped to pick up some windshield washer solvent and then met up in the campgrounds.

We pulled in and hooked up just in time for a thunderstorm cell to come through. It looked bad on the weather radar and the warning sirens in the area did sound briefly, but we just caught the edge of it; some brief rain but no hail or high winds. Then we talked for a while about our goal for tomorrow, probably Bismarck, ND. We plan on about a 10:00AM start for that leg.

Wait...Wait...!

We made it to that "toddlin' town", Chicago. We are able to park our RV at the lodge on the grounds of Ken and Martha's community, thanks to the graciousness of their Housing Committee. Martha says they "must have paid their dues". We have no services but boondocking for a couple of days is fine and there is no one close enough to complain about the generator.

Our first activity was to drive into the big city and see a taping of the NPR radio show, "Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me", a news quiz show. Before the show, we toured Millennium Park in the middle of Chicago's downtown area. They have an amazing music venue there with a huge lawn and a covering sound system which, I understand from Ken, gives an unbelievable experience for an outdoor area like that. We also saw "The Bean". People just love to go up and touch it, like they cannot believe it is real.

After dinner, we stood in line for the show like cattle and then went in and saw the 90 minute taping for the 60 minute show. It was hilarious and we got to hear a lot of of stuff which will not make the final cut for the show. The guests were Jack Black and Kyle Gass, members of the rock band Tenacious D. They were asked questions about Pat Boone in the "Not Our Job".

We are here for two days. On day 2, Geoff will fix our table and Ellyn's driving chair (part of the foot stool came apart) and we will give our friends moral support as they pack up their RV for our trip north. The next leg starts on Saturday morning when we head off towards the Twin Cities of Minnesota.

On the Road Again

Ellyn walks Jordy in the rain.

On Tuesday, May 15th, we left Foxboro, MA and started our long, summer journey towards Alaska. Our first goal is Romeoville, IL to meet up with Ken and Martha. Day 1 took us to Bellefonte, PA, a leg of about 450 miles. It was a rainy day most of the way, and was warm and humid. We made our usual stops for Jordy's walks and to stretch our own legs, and for meals. No fuel stops the first day, as we started with 3/4 of a tank.

Ellyn and Jordy near the lake.

Geoff and Jordy with Yogi.

Day 2 took us another 415 miles west to Fremont, IL. We probably should have gone further, but we forgot that we would lose an hour going into Illinois. From here we have about 4 hours to go to Ken and Martha's. Then we will have a two day layover until we head out on the next leg caravaning with our friends. However, Geoff will have a couple of repair jobs to do. The bumpy roads of Pennsylvania and Ohio broke the hinge on our fold-out table and knocked down the window shade near the driver seat.

Post-Sarasota

So here we are, nine days out of Sarasota and our winter home of Sun-N-Fun. We spent a couple of days driving to Pensacola, FL in the panhandle, where we met up with Ken and Martha Wiseman, creators of the RV Navigator podcast, and our partners on a summer trip to Alaska in our RVs. We spent a few hours over 4 days planning the Alaska adventure and populating our calendar with a rough sketch of the journey from Chicago to Fairbanks. We plan on being in Fairbanks by June 21st for the Summer Solstice celebration. That close to the Arctic Circle, it should be nearly a full day of daylight.

The rest of our time in Pensacola we spent touring the Naval Air Museum, taking in the movie, "The Hunger Games" (both Ellyn and Martha had read the book), and relaxing on the beaches at the Gulf Stream National Seashore and on Perdido Key. We also introduced Ken and Martha to the "FireFly" TV series. We saw the "pilot" episode and hope to get them interested enough to enjoy the entire series and the "Serenity" movie.

After Pensacola we headed north to Dothan, AL, where our synagogue is and where our good friend Lynne Goldsmith is the Rabbi. There we celebrated the first evening of Passover and the Seder at Temple Emanu-El. From there, we head north toward Boston and hope to see our kids for the final day of Passover in a week.