I promised Donna and Ken a visit at the start and end of my Lethbridge winter. I can’t believe that it’s been almost five months since I last saw them! Tomorrow morning, I am heading to Fort Steele for a quick trip. I must love those guys to drive eight hours and only be with them for about that much (not counting sleep)! 😀
Today is the one-month countdown to departure! I should be at the Walmart in Moose Jaw this day next month. Crazy! Starting next week, I will be cutting down my hours at the apartment complex as my replacement gets more comfortable and I will be in full departure mode. I’ve been feeling really run down the last few weeks, but knowing that I’m heading out shortly has given me a much needed burst of energy. 🙂
I just got in from a great weekend visiting with Donna and Ken who are staying at a lovely RV park just outside of Cranbrook, BC. This was my first time driving through the Crowsnest Pass area on my own and the four hour trip was much longer with just the radio for company, but still as beautiful!
The wind was terrible along the entire stretch out of the Prairies and into the foothills. I stopped in Pincher Creek for coffee and fuel and it was just as bad as the last time I was there.
Pincher Creek
I was glad to cease my white-knuckle driving by the time I hit the Crowsnest pass, and by Blairmore a few speckles of rain had replaced the wind. It was then a smooth and easy drive to Fort Steele, 10 minutes north of Cranbrook. I arrived around five and quickly made myself at home. I was impressed by how much progress Ken and Donna had made in turning their new rig into an organized and functional home!
We didn’t do much Friday evening because I was running on very little sleep and exhausted. I did walk around the park a bit
the Ark 2.0
and check out their emu neighbours!
emu
We hit the sack pretty early, but made up for it with a very full Saturday!
When I planned this weekend, I sort of thought of doing the Kootenay circuit to make up for missing the stretch from Banff to Cranbrook after my engine troubles.
Kootenay circuit–Lethbridge to Cranbrook to Radium Hot Springs to Banff to Calgary to Lethbridge
But that would have meant an eight-hour trip home, most of it through familiar territory. I instead proposed that we drive up to the village of Radium Hot Springs, gateway to Kootenay National Park, about 300km round trip from Cranbrook. Ken and Donna thought that was a great idea and Midnight was happy to come along for the ride.
One of the most interesting things we came across on the drive to Radium was Columbia Lake, which is the source of the Columbia River, along the banks of which I spent quite some time this spring. It’s very beautiful!
Columbia Lake
Radium is the typical hot springs resort town. We drove through quickly and turned around at the gate to Kootenay National Park since we wouldn’t have gotten our money’s worth out of the admission fee.
There’s a sign in the video for This is Our Home that piqued my curiosity because I had no idea where it’s located. Well, I found it in Radium!
The Kootenays were beautiful on this crisp autumn afternoon, with snow on the higher peaks and lots of amber. It was a great drive!
vista just south of Radium village
Today’s agenda was for me to get to know the emus. Here’s a video of Donna feeding them:
Lots more pictures of my trip are in the gallery below!
I left Fort Steele around 2 and was in Lethbridge by quarter to six where I was expected for dinner! Gary made sure to send me home with leftovers of the perfectly normal variety. You know, a few roasted sweet potatoes, a couple of muffins, some fresh baked bread, a container of homemade soup, and two whole roasted chickens. You read that correctly. I adore that man! 😀
Pincher Creek
Pincher Creek
emu
emu
emu
emu
daddy emu
the Ark 2.0
Pepe in overflow
Kootenay sky
north towards Radium Hot Springs
Columbia Lake, source of the Columbia River
Columbia Lake
Columbia Lake
Columbia Lake
Columbia Lake
Columbia Lake
Columbia Lake
my favourite dog, Midnight
north towards Radium Hot Springs
north towards Radium Hot Springs
north towards Radium Hot Springs
north towards Radium Hot Springs
north towards Radium Hot Springs
north towards Radium Hot Springs
strange house in Radium
strange house in Radium
strange house in Radium
strange house in Radium
entrance to Kootenay National Park
vista just south of Radium village
vista just south of Radium village
vista just south of Radium village
vista just south of Radium village
vista just south of Radium village
vista just south of Radium village
Donna taking a picture of the vista just south of Radium village for her blog 🙂
Yesterday (Saturday) evening Jody, Gary, and I drove out to the Crowsnest Pass to witness the annual fireworks show known as Thunder in the Valley. What makes the show so special is that the noise from the fireworks echoes in the mountains.
The fireworks are launched from the town of Blairmore, Alberta. There is always a large delay to get back to Lethbridge because of the number of cars so Jody thought it would be best for us to camp in the area. The nearest campground that would allow a single night stay was Mountain Shadows in Sparwood, BC. So we drove there (2.5 hours from Lethbridge) first so I could set up a tent (they sleep in their van) and also meet up with some of Gary’s family (the wonderful one whom we visited in Humboldt) who had gone on ahead.
Tent set up and dinner eaten, we headed back to Blairmore (45 minutes east of Sparwood) and found a spot up a dead end road. We set up chairs and within minutes I felt big, cold drops of rain hit me. Before long, the drops turned to a downpour and we ran back to the truck! The rain came down for a bit then stopped, giving us hope that the show would go on, but then it started up again. What a downpour!!! It was so violent and hail came down in loud plunks. Many people thought the show would not go on, so they left. We stuck it out and at about 11:30 the first fireworks went off.
The echoing effect was spellbounding! It was definitely worth going even if it was cold and wet!
We headed back to Sparwood after the show and I was glad to discover my tent and its contents were still dry. I did a quick toilette, crawled into my PJs, and went to bed.
The ground was hard and the noise from the highway was deafening, but I was warm and snug, so I was quite satisfied that I fell asleep immediately at 1AM and awoke at quarter to six. That’s actually a pretty decent camping night for me. We weren’t meeting up with Gary’s family for brunch until about 11AM, so I knew I had plenty of time to kill. I laid in bed and listened to an audio book for about an hour and then crawled out of my tent to use the most luxurious outhouse in the world: it has a flush toilet! There was no point crawling back into the tent so I literally wandered around the campground for three hours listening to my audio book.
This was such a pleasant morning. It was a trifle damp, but not cool, and the air felt so fresh. I took pictures of flowers and wandered up and down trails for a bit. At about 9, I headed back to our site to start dismantling my tent and packing up my gear, then sat on a dry corner of the picnic table to continue listening to my book. I decided to give Gary and Jody till 10:15, but they got up shortly before that.
We made quick work of packing, then drove out to meet up with Gary’s family. We had a nice ‘brunch’ (from the lunch menu) at the excellent restaurant attached to the hotel in Sparwood, then we headed home.
Like the first time Jody and I were in Sparwood, we stopped at Lundbreck Falls and we made a few other stops. So it was past five when we pulled in to home. My cats were happy to see me but we didn’t hang out for long since I got invited over for another Gary dinner. Yum-yum.
There’s nothing like a sleepless night away from home to recharge my batteries! 🙂
canola (rapeseed) fields
this cloud formation looks like an angry gorilla stomping around!
I love the big open skies of southern Alberta
beautiful valley (between Lethbridge and Fort McLeod)
into the Crowsnest Pass
Blairmore
Blairmore
my ‘one night only’ tent
I saw almost a half-dozen Royal Classics in the last day! This is a 1980s model.
to find our site I had to turn right at the outhouse with the flush toilet 🙂
path leading up behind our site
the strange tree/snare setup in the middle of our site
the strange tree/snare setup in the middle of our site
the strange tree/snare setup in the middle of our site
the strange tree/snare setup in the middle of our site
the strange tree/snare setup in the middle of our site
I bet that’s their bathroom window 🙂
petrified tree
two roads diverged in a yellow wood…
mushroom
antique truck and trailer combo
re-entering Alberta
Lundbreck Falls
bathers at Lundbreck Falls
Lundbreck Falls
Lundbreck Falls
wind mill at Lundbreck Falls
Lundbreck Falls
I liked the combination of the class A coming down the highway with the bus conversion in the foreground
Jody and Gary needed to go to Fruitvale, BC, yesterday and insisted I come along for the ride. It was a fun little overnight trip and we obviously aren’t yet ready to kill each other since we’re road tripping again tomorrow!
The title of this post comes from something Jody likes to do when she drives this route. It takes you to the Salmo Creston Pass, which is a full mile above sea level. The change in air pressure is remarkable and well evidenced by bringing a bag of potato chips, then watching it swell as you climb up to the summit. Potato chip delivery drivers are not allowed to take this route because the bags, being crowded into boxes, often explode!
I would not want to do this route, highway 3, in an RV at any other time but a very dry summer day; not only is it a long, steep climb and descent, but there is no guard rail along a good chunk of it. There was a lot of snow at the pass yesterday.
I got up at oh-dark-thirty to do two flier routes, with the other two to be done tonight. It figured that these were extra-large batches where I would be paid a supplement but which would take longer! We took off around 9 and with a bunch of stops made it to Fruitvale at five MST, four local time.
We pushed on a little past Fruitvale so I could see the former mining town of Rossland, then we had dinner in Trail at the delicious Chinese ‘Double Happiness’ restaurant.
On the way back today we stopped in Creston so I could see the sasquatch at the Kokanee brewery. Pity there were no tours today!
We got in around, oh, nearly fiveish and Jody went out with me so we could do my fliers in record time. Thank you!
random MyCatsAreSoCute! pic
snow at the summit of the Salmo Creston pass
snow at the summit of the Salmo Creston pass
crossing the Columbia River into Trail (yes, the same river as that in Oregon/Washington)
welcome to Trail
daffodils in Trail
public walkways in Trail all have this red covering; you can see them going up the side of the hills
welcome to Rossland
Rossland mine
nice building in Rossland
BC has bright green grass
bag at the bottom of the pass on the Salmo side, very flexible, no problem creating the crease
air pressure is still low
air pressure is still low but changing as we climb up
air pressure keeps mounting
nearly at the top and the bag is getting very hard
Jody and I went on another long road trip today. We didn’t make it out of the solar system this time, but we did leave the province!
She was happy to drive again so I just sat and ogled the scenery. Since I’m a movie buff she thought our first stop, Cardston, would be of interest, which it was. This town is the birth place of Fay Wray, most famous for the iconic scene of her trapped in King Kong’s fist while he’s climbing the Empire State building! The town isn’t much, but there is a little fountain and sign in her homage.
We then pushed on to Waterton Lakes national park, which is pretty much shut down for the winter. There’s not much to do or see except for TONS of snow, but there’s also no access fee. We drove around the few streets of this winter ghost town that were plowed and also drove up to see the Prince of Wales Hotel.
Next, she took me through the Crowsnest Pass! This is one of those iconic Canadian sites that you just need to go through at least once. We stopped at the site of the Frank slide, which happened in 1903, and buried the community. The area is still unstable.
We continued into BC so she could show me the world’s largest truck in Sparwood. It’s big!
Heading home, we detoured to visit the Lundbreck Falls and the Oldman River dam.
We got back to Lethbridge pretty late and were grateful that Gary had barbecued dinner for us. That mountain air sure whetted our appetites!
welcome to Cardston, birthplace of Fay Wray
Cardston’s little homage to its most famous resident
of all the movies she did, she’ll always be remembered for the one with the problem boyfriend
Fay Wray fountain
Fay Wray
Mormon temple
I only knew about this museum because it was prominently featured in an episode of the Simpsons!
driving west
driving west
driving west
driving west
entering Waterton Lakes national park
Waterton Lakes national park
the snow was high and right up against all the boarded up buildings
the snow was high and right up against all the boarded up buildings
Prince of Wales Hotel
Waterton Lakes national park
Prince of Wales Hotel
Waterton Lakes national park
lots o’ deer on a hill
Waterton Lakes national park
Waterton Lakes national park
entering the Pincher Creek area
arrive in Pincher Creek (I just noticed the pinchers on either side of the sign!)
sign about the Burmis Tree
the Burmis tree, ‘a sign of endurance for the people of the [Crowsnest] pass’, died in the late 1970’s but resurrected
entering the municipality of Crowsnest Pass
a crow in a nest…
the site of the Frank slide, the deadliest in Canadian history
the site of the Frank slide, the deadliest in Canadian history
the site of the Frank slide, the deadliest in Canadian history
the site of the Frank slide, the deadliest in Canadian history
the site of the Frank slide, the deadliest in Canadian history
the site of the Frank slide, the deadliest in Canadian history
the site of the Frank slide, the deadliest in Canadian history
the site of the Frank slide, the deadliest in Canadian history
the site of the Frank slide, the deadliest in Canadian history
the site of the Frank slide, the deadliest in Canadian history
the site of the Frank slide, the deadliest in Canadian history
the site of the Frank slide, the deadliest in Canadian history
entering BC!
the biggest truck in the world! (Sparwood, BC)
people in front of the biggest truck, for scale
sheep on the highway
another sign about the Crowsnest Pass
I finally got a picture of the welcome to Alberta sign!
Lundbreck falls
Lundbreck falls
Lundbreck falls
Lundbreck falls
Lundbreck falls
Lundbreck falls
Lundbreck falls
I can’t believe I can be on a structure like that now!
![the Burmis tree, 'a sign of endurance for the people of the [Crowsnest] pass', died in the late 1970's but resurrected](http://travelswithmiranda.uskeba.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/IMGP1705-300x225.jpg)
