Monday, July 19, 2010

Summer Travels

Oh, take a look at the Elk Valley article that RV Lifestyle Magazine put up on-line:( http://www.rvlifemag-digital.com/rvlifestyle/2010v39iss1/#pg18 )

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Double Click on photos to enlarge

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Please remind me how different it is travelling in July and August. In the winter we park in one place and take day-trips. Summer travel involves going from one campground to another almost nightly.

Most of our neighbours were family vacationers and overseas tourists in rented RV’s. Certainly more people than I am used to.

On the other hand, we did take this as an opportunity to find some of those higher elevation and alpine wildflowers and learn how to use the macro on the camera . . . AND the scenery along the Icefields Parkway is absolutely spectacular!

We spent a couple of great days visiting with winter travel buddies in Wetaskiwin (about 7 hours north) and then took the Yellowhead Highway – destination – Prince George, BC. At Prince George we were going to decide whether to go further west or go north up to the Yukon. The first overnight was to be McBride, BC but we wanted to stop at Hinton to stock up and get gas before we hit BC and the Sales Tax (BC stands for bring cash, ya’ know).

Hinton was the first place we unhooked the tow car (Saturn) because it got complicated and we couldn’t find the Visitor Information Centre and so on; then again when we took a bad-d-d road to what looked like a great lake-side camping place; and finally, at the Lucerne Campground (just east of Mount Robson) where we stayed for a few days.

Mount Robson is the highest peak in the Canadian Rocky Mountains (12973ft.) and perpetually hidden from view by mist and clouds (One statistic I saw was that you could see the peak about fourteen days during the year). We were lucky and managed to see and get a photo of the peak not all hidden by clouds and mist. (http://www.peakfinder.com/peakfinder.asp?Peakname=Mount+Robson)

Wildflower photo-taking time!!

Goat’s Beard




Indian Paintbrush






Wild Roses








Cutleaf Daisy





Dwarf Dogwood







We got to Prince George and had to make up our minds which way to go. It was cold and wet and Fred was not feeling too good so the decision was to head back to Jasper and the Icefields Parkway . . . maybe we could find summer . . . at least we could get back to Alberta just in case Fred needed to see a doctor.

Even if you are just travelling through, there’s a charge to travel the parkway . . . BUT having said that, it can take days to travel the 150 miles from Jasper to Lake Louise if you want to visit all the sites. We did our share!!

Athabasca Falls











Note the rainbow




Victoria Glacier





Peyto Lake





Weeping Wall







It does feel strange to be surrounded by ice and snow in the middle of July!

We managed to get an appointment with the doctor on Monday, an ultra-sound on Tuesday and confirmation what it wasn’t on Wednesday.

Next step is to find out what it is but most of the worrying is gone.

1 comment:

Jaimie Hall-Bruzenak said...

Nice photos! Brings back memories from last summer. What a contrast between your trip and traveling through Quartzsite yesterday at 109. ugh.... I'd rather be at the Icefields.

Jaimie