April 20, 2011 by Rae

Friends and RVs

Jody needed to run an errand in Calgary today so I came along for the ride. We stopped in Mossleigh to visit Donna. She is working at Aspen Crossing this summer and gave us a tour of the place. It combines a campground, a superb gift shop, a restaurant (great Sunday brunch apparently), cabins, and more. I was particularly impressed by the tour of the caboose that was converted into a luxury cabin that would be a great motorhome layout! Donna is very enthusiastic about camphosting in the nearly new campground (this year will be the second in operation). It was so, so, so good to see her and Ken, but I didn’t get to visit with Midnight.

Our visit done, Jody and I pushed on to the town of High River where we spent hours climbing into and out of travel trailers, fifth wheels, and a few motorhomes. I’d never spent so much time in a bumper pull trailer before and was astounded by some of the layouts!

Before I get into my discovery of the day, I have to say that I have finally decided on what my next rig is going to be. I’ve vacillated between getting excited about fifth wheels and considering a B+, but I finally came down to earth and made a decision. I want to downsize and I can do that two ways: going smaller or going bigger. So, my next rig would be one of two choices.

The first choice, going smaller would mean going down to a B and seriously reducing my cargo. I’d have to be in the mode that this is my only vehicle and that everything has to be prepped for travel.

The second choice, going bigger would actually be going smaller in terms of over-all rig length without sacrificing my current lifestyle of having an apartment with a car: a toy hauler super C motorhome, such as those made by Haulmark, with a Smart Car in the garage.

So, all that to say that if I’m going down to a B, then I’ve found it. It’s a Libero by Leisure Travel. It has a bed in the back, full bath and kitchen, and the dinette in the front is definitely usable as a desk, plus it has the solid construction of a high-end unit.

One thing I find neat when I look at RVs is that I see ways in which I could improve Miranda but I don’t get a burning desire to replace her yet. What can I say, the old gal is home!

inside of the dining car, which was PM Diefenbaker’s ‘western car’!

Vote for John G. Diefenbaker

letter from Diefenbaker (about a week after my birth!) about the state of the Canadian economy and how disgraceful Parliament was (nothing changes in this country!)

exterior of Diefenbaker’s car

inside of the cozy caboose cabin

Donna and Jody in the cabin 🙂

shiny stove

kitchen

love the loft: you climb a ladder to an area where they will put a reading chair, then climb up to the bunk!

bathroom sink

shower stall with gorgeous natural stone

all the door pulls are railway spikes!

exterior of the caboose cabin

speeder (Jody is obsessed with these things)

caboose that may one day be used as a shuttle

Jody ‘driving’ the speeder

I had to take a picture of the interior of this toy hauler: IT IS THE UGLIEST RV I HAVE EVER SEEN!!!

Jody and I thought that this shoe space was clever!

like the look of the fake stone, but it’s not practical

LOVE this livingroom in the top of the fifth wheel!

garbage can with exterior access could be entrance to kitty litter box!

exterior access to the can (sorry, forgot to rotate)

April 9, 2011 by Rae

A Tale of a Giant Gorilla, a Snowed-in Town, a Mountain Pass, a Vanished Community, a Giant Truck, a Waterfall, and a Dam (it was a full day)

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

entering Waterton Lakes national park

Waterton Lakes national park

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

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

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

I can’t believe I can be on a structure like that now!

Lundbreck falls

bridge near Lundbreck falls

Oldman River dam site

February 14, 2011 by Rae

Lynden Pioneer Museum

I’m still on an early schedule, so I’ve been getting up at the absurd time of 7AM. It’s still dark at 7AM!

I spent a few blustery hours catching up on some things, but after one gust rocked the rig so much it propelled my computer chair clear out of the study and into the dressing room–while I was sitting in it–I decided that I needed to get out. I vaguely remembered someone telling me that the nearby town of Lynden (through which I drove on border crossing day) has a museum that I’d like. I decided to go on an adventure and check it out with no advance research.

That ‘someone’ knows me frightening well. The Lynden Pioneer Museum is one of the best museums I have encountered in my North American travels!

I pulled into Lynden at about 10 and parked at one end of Front Street, which is the tourist strip. I popped into the visitor info centre and was told that the museum and Front Street antique shops are really the only things to see. I strolled four or five blocks until I found the unimposing museum housing many treasures.

I was greeted warmly by the volunteers, one of whom lives part-time in Alaska and knows Dawson and Whitehorse well! Her husband was touring around on his motorcycle last year, so there is a very good chance he stayed at Bonanza Gold (I didn’t think to ask, but we are ‘Motorcycle Friendly’.). Funny; it’s such a small world!

The museum is huge and thoughtfully laid out. One half the main floor is all about Lynden’s pioneer days and the Victorian era. I liked how the museum presented everything in its historical context. I know a lot about this period in history and still managed to learn many new things.

This section also has a bit devoted to WWII, but I went through that stuff very quickly. It interests me greatly, but always leaves me in a deep funk.

From this half of the museum, you can go down into the buggy exhibit. From what I understood, someone collected all these old buggies and donated them to the town. Instead of putting them in storage, they built an exhibit around them. And what an exhibit! Unlike so many displays of old vehicles that simply present them with a name plate, there was a lot of contextual information. I also found it very clever that they described the vehicles in contemporary terms, for example showing a lightweight model and comparing it to a sports car, or a sturdy, affordable Surrey buggy and saying it was the Honda Civic of its day.

The other half of the museum is stunning. It’s a faithful reproduction of Front Street in the early days of Lynden. You can check out all the businesses, then climb up to the second level and see things from a different perspective. While there was a logical layout and flow to everything, every step and turn around a corner led to a new surprise.

I spent about an hour and a half in this museum, which is the absolute minimum amount of time this small-town gem deserves. I could have easily spent another hour reading through the binder filled with 19th century correspondence.

mural in the free parking lot at Front and 7th Street

Lynden has a strong Dutch heritage

the exterior of the museum belies the treasures within!

Canadian-born Phoebe Goodell Judson named the town after the linden tree, but spelling it with a Y.

just one of many period exhibits

this article about the Victorian bed was fascinating; I had no idea that the Victorias slept in a reclining position

people find my bunk a tad constricting…

Canada’s part in liberating Holland in WWII has led to a special relationship between our two countries

motorcycle used during the liberation of Holland

this ‘sanitation bucket’ contained everything from toilet tissue to sanitary napkins

I loved these decaying pianos

so many buggies!

explanation of how the iron tire was added to a wooden wagon wheel

this little buggy was compared to a zippy UK sports car!

bellows

‘governess’, a pony cart

stagecoach

Yellowstone National Park transportation buggy

this was a type of wheelchair

note the phone number

old license plates, with Canada well represented

comparison of the surrey buggy to the Honda Civic!

surrey buggy

there was a wonderful binder full of old correspondence

sample letter from the late 1890’s

Letter to an editor regarding the publication of a book

letter to a husband describing an ailment

this bust is of the town founder; the museum is trying to raise the money to make a statue of her and her husband for town square

pump from the cemetery

outhouse

egg cleaner!

all about the washing of eggs

from the egg display, you open a plain white door to step into this. MAGICAL!

cheap eats

reproduction of downtown Lynden ‘in the day’. VERY impressive, look up at the lighting and telegraph wires!

the original Lynden department store sign

funny party invite for the retirement of a dentist

this isn’t a display; it’s the museum building, which was so wonderful–musty and with creaking floors; you could feel the weight of history

looking down into the bar seen in a previous picture

a bit about the guy who did the circus train display

circus train display

looking down into the church

train set

I had fun playing with Thomas the train engine! 😀

standing on a balcony

not my decor style 🙂

Native-American weaving

entrance to the ‘vault’ which has, in part, the Native American exhibits; you can tell the walls are really well insulated when you’re in there

tucked into a corner, nearly out of sight, is a fascinating bit about Victorian sexuality…

and Victorian brothels

After the museum, I decided to go check out the antique shops. Now that I live in an RV, I never shop without a goal in mind, and there were three things I wanted that I could only find in an antique shop. So, I’ve been casually scoping out the shops around here, but striking out at each one. Well, I hit pay dirt in Lynden!

I broke two pieces of my blue willow china since I got back from Montreal (just dropped them, had nothing to do with RV travel) and wanted to replace them–a small dessert bowl and a saucer. I found both of these items, plus another item I have been wanting for months: a large cast iron frying pan. I’ve been unhappy with my Teflon frying pan over the gas stove and been wanting to convert back to cast iron. But such pans are very trendy nowadays and incredibly hard to find. I found a good-sized one in fantastic shape for just $24. That’s the price for an unseasoned piece of crap in a home store, so I made a run for the cash register!

My shopping done, I decided to head home and have lunch there; I didn’t know it was possible to squeeze in so much activity before noon! 😀

November 9, 2010 by Rae

Pointe-à-Callière (and random shots)

My grand-mother wanted to do something special with me this week and suggested we go to a museum. I hadn’t been to Pointe-à-Callière in at least fifteen years, so that’s what I suggested. This museum is built over the foundation of some of the oldest buildings in Montreal and the highlight is to go under ground and walk through the old stone foundations.

It’s been easy to see my grand-mother this week since she moved to Chambly and is now living a kilometre away from my mother’s house. I walked over this afternoon and she greeted me with a light lunch, then we headed to Montreal.

Pointe-à-Callière is located in the most scenic part of the island, the Old Port. Walking through the cobblestone streets is just like being in Europe. The whole area is slowly being gentrified and more new structures are springing up, but I don’t think we will ever lose the look and atmosphere of the Old Port.

Our tour of the museum started with an excellent multi-media presentation about highlights in Montreal history, from pre-history to today. I found it to be a little too upbeat and it glossed over the more negative issues like the French/English disputes, but I’m being a tad picky. For a twenty minute overview, it painted a pretty accurate portrait.

The special exhibit this fall is one about Rapa Nui, Easter Island, and I enjoyed it very much. I discovered that I knew almost nothing about Easter Island, such as the important fact that it is still inhabited today!

We then headed downstairs and and took a quick jaunt through the foundations, the highlight of which are the sewer systems that were way ahead of their times. This archaeological site takes you through more than 360 years of history, from a 17th century Catholic cemetery to an 18th century marketplace to the 19th century sewer systems. The whole thing is rather labyrinthine and we had to get directions back to the surface!

Merci pour la belle journée, grand-maman!

lunch was pretty enough for a picture!

my grand-mother’s balcony overlooks my childhood… only back then, in the ’80’s, there were only fields and trees instead of all those houses

my mother worked in that building for much of my childhood and we lived right across from it

Montreal skyline from the Champlain bridge

Old Port–contrast of the old and the new

more of the Old Port

Pointe-à-Callière

old foundations

more old foundations

in 1900, Montreal was Canada’s metropolis

the old sewer system

the old sewer system with a photograph showing what the exit would have looked like

more old sewage systems

walking out is like entering Europe

we walked out onto a movie set!

crossing the Victoria bridge, the first to connect the island of Montreal to the South Shore

Champlain Bridge seen from the Victoria Bridge

the ugliest building on the South Shore!!!

I love the street signs in Chambly because all the street names are explained; Lebel was named after a mayor

September 21, 2010 by Rae

Jasper and Environs

I decided to go into Jasper today with the toad, much like I did when I visited Banff. There was a museum exhibit I did not want to miss, not believing my good fortune at being here in time for it, and I also wanted to check out some of the surrounding area. It made better sense to do that with the smaller vehicle with good gas mileage! This is going to be rather a long post, but I don’t feel that the individual items deserve their own posts. I’ve interspersed some photos into the text, but do check out the gallery in its entirety for more details.

Jasper townsite is about 75km from Hinton, nearly an hour away. It was almost noon when I pulled up to the park gates. I was asked if I was stopping in the park (no pass is required if you drive straight through) and, if so, for how many days. I replied that I would be going in and out today and would be going through tomorrow. I don’t know if it was the lateness of the hour or what, but I was given a pass that’s good till 4PM tomorrow for the daily rate!

en route to Jasper townsite

Like Banff, Jasper is located within a national park. Unlike Banff, Jasper has an industry outside of tourism so it has a stable economic base that does not fluctuate with the seasons. My impression of Jasper is that it is a more humble version of the ritzy tourist town (think Banff, Aspen, Whistler…). It’s a bit grittier than I would have expected, store and gas prices are reasonable, and homes tend to be modest… even though a tiny bungalow costs a half million dollars!

downtown Jasper

The town is small and doable on foot, so I just parked at the entrance and did a sort of figure eight through the streets, taking in the major landmarks. I noted that there is well-marked RV parking in town.

Jasper Library

I was eager to get to the museum to see the exhibit about the explorer David Thompson.

Jasper museum

Thompson is an explorer who charted most of the continent in the early 19th century. His maps are legendary. He was a man who understood that he was witnessing sweeping changes to the British North American regime and the birth of a nation. He was the one who charted a usable route through the Rockies, securing what is now British Columbia, a land the Americans were eying. Thompson’s explorations united eastern and western Canada and helped shaped the nation that was born on July 1, 1867. Like many great men, he died penniless and insignificant. A sad end to a remarkable story.

excerpt from Thompson’s diary

The Jasper museum is excellent! It charts the history of the park and the townsite from prehistory to today. Like many towns, Jasper’s heyday ended with the demise of the railroad era. Today, the Jasper Lodge attractions the wealthy and famous sort of folk that were the original visitors to Jasper until reliable roads made the area and townsite more accessible. It was around the 1950’s that the idea came to charge people an entrance fee into the park.

gate into Jasper, circa 1950

After getting my fill of the museum, I grabbed some lunch and then headed out of town to travel the Maligne Lake Road.

Jasper train yard

This road leads to the swanky Jasper Lodge, as well as several geographic landmarks of interest: Maligne Ravine, Medicine Lake, and Maligne Lake. Maligne comes from old French that means ‘wicked’, thus named by a man of the cloth who had a difficult time making a portage.

Maligne Valley

Maligne Ravine was my favourite outdoor part of the day. The sinuous, claustrophobic channel with its thunderous waterfalls and turquoise pools filled me with wonder. I practically hung off the side of the bridges to try to get a sense of the sheer drop with my camera, but I don’t think I really captured it. The view was such that I didn’t even think about the height factor. I just wanted to take it all in!

Maligne Ravine

Next stop was Medicine Lake, so called by the local natives because they felt the lake contained medicine, or magic. This lake looks like a lake in the summer, but drains in the fall, leaving only shallow pools! The mystery has been explained, but it’s still quite a sight to behold!

Medicine Lake

Shortly after Medicine Lake, I encountered a pair of moose:

The final stop of the day was Maligne Lake, considered one of the most beautiful in Canada. It was worth the nearly one hour drive from Jasper townsite!

Maligne Lake

I did pop over to the Jasper Lodge on the way back, but I was most certainly not dressed to be walking around a posh property inconspicuously, so I was a bit shy and only got a shot of it from a distance:

Jasper Lodge

Coming home, I finally had a wildlife sighting I’ve been eager for. I’ve seen deer, caribou, moose, bison, foxes, wolves, bears, and more, but I’ve never seen a wild sheep before! Thank you construction for slowing down traffic!

sheep

I ended the day by popping into Hinton to scope out the best gas station at which to fuel up Miranda tomorrow (the Shell on the north side) and to get some groceries (VERY nice IGA!).

When I got home, I hooked up the water and sewer hoses after filling the fresh water tank. I dumped the holding tanks and will put away everything once I’ve had a long shower tonight. The car is already hooked up, so there won’t be too much to do to get ready tomorrow. I’ll have a lot of ground to cover and many things to see, so I don’t want to waste too much time puttering around here.

Finally, here is a shot of the campground: