June 30, 2016 We saw Ray. Ray Bucknell. You know. The bison.
What do you drive if you live on a huge lake? A float plane of course. We're in Yellowknife, NWT, at the end of the road. This town is a strange mixture of old and new. The main part of town is out of the 40's with buildings that have seen better days. The 4 X 10 blocks feel like a real city. Drive a few Km out and you see huge condos being built. A mixture of First Nation people and workers from the local diamond mine. Not on my list of favorites that we have visited.
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June 29, 2016
Driving back and forth from Wood Buffalo National Park we added pounds of dirt to the underside of the van as we traversed the dirt road. We'll rest our heads tonight along the McKenzie River in the For Providence Territorial Park.
June 28, 2016 I shall not pass this way again...in this vast land this phrase keeps coming to mind which makes me think of my Dad. How many wonderful and not so wonderful places he saw. I think he would like this trip. We had a Grampa conversation with the 60th Parallel Visitors's Center staff this morning complete with a bear tale that had us smirking. This couple spends May through September north and the heads to Baja for the winter. It appears that may be the norm here as the guy pumping gas told us '4 months of spring and 8 months of minus 40.' They sure do grow'em big here in the Northwest Territories. The horse flies that is. The love the feast that comes along with driving on the highway in bug haven. We stop the van and are swarmed. L Even now they are bumping into the Windows looking for a treat.
Also had our first mosquito feast today. We were the main course. Those buggesrs bit right through my treated capilene turtleneck.. We turned around on the trail and nearly ran back to the road. Whew! June 27, 2016 We crossed the 60th Parrallel today. It's 10:10pm and dusk is just starting to dim the sky. It will be light for another hour and never really dark at all tonight. A long drive from Grande Pairie has finally led us into the Northwest Territories. THe van was attacked by horse flies as we pulled into the visitors center. Time to plan the next few days as we realize that July 1 is Canada Day and thus we may need to plan ahead to find a place to camp What's the best thing about having a metal tent? I suppose it is having a real bed to sleep in each night. It's light when we go to bed at 11:00pm and light around 4:00am when Bono tends to get up. But the comfort of a bed is not something that is taken lightly.
June 26, 2016
Driving from Banff through Jasper Park was one amazing view after the other. As we stopped at the entrance to Jasper, the park employee began with "Bon jour" and the proceed to ask "and where are we sleeping tonight" much to Mark's delight.
June 25, 2016
After waving goodbye to the hikers, Bono and I drove a few miles down the road to Lake Louise. A yummy party from the bakery along with ginger green tea made for a relaxing way to start the day. On to Banff wherBono and I spent edgy exploring . Banff is quite he tourist attraction although this is shoulder season so we had the main road and shops to ourselves for the morning. Some shopping, both window and real, made fo a nice changeto the daily drives. I found cute capris and some Christamas gifts. Then, we took a low walk along Bow Lake to enjoy the 65 degree temperatures. Topped off the morning with a massage at Cedar and Sage. When a perfect space to relax. After another cup of green tea while sitting on a jumbo couch it was time to get the knows worked out of my back, shoulders and neck We had a lovely dinner at The Bison in downtown Banff. Lamb chop appetizer, bison burger, summer salad and seared scallops were a great accompaniment for sharing our daily adventures.
June 24,2016 We did laundry last night and spent this morning catching up with financial stuff as well as a bit of Facetime catchup. Real Wifi meant spending time catching up on email and posting blogs. The stuff the modern society is made up of Cardmore is the type of city we would definitely enjoy living in. Surrounded by the mountains, the small town has a handful of streets with great shops. I indulged my refound love of knitting and bought some more yarn. Well, after all, we will be doing more long drives. Staying at the Tunnel Mountain Village 1 Campground (J62) tonight. There are over 600 sites in this campground alone and there are multiple campgrounds in the site. It's still the shoulder season so we aren't seeing real crowds. In fact, there is still one more week of school before summer begins. By then we'll be on our way to where only the crazy people want to visit
June 23, 2016 Just when you're preening because of your accomplishments - we have after all driven 2700 miles in 7 days and have travelled from Connecticut to Calgary - you meet Brett. He's from Ohio and is biking his way to Canada. He's not on a motorcycle. He's on a human powered bicycle. He left home in Ohio on May 19th and we met him in the visotrs's enter as we entered Alberta on the Transcanada Highway. A delightful conversation A delicious dinner at NOtabLE in Calgary. Bison steak, shrimp and scallop appetizer and chicken mushroom ravioli we highlights. Our delightful waitress Lauren took care of us with a smile. What a wonderful way to celebrate our first week. We've got clean clothes and reservations for Banff and we'll be on our way again tomorrow
June 22, 2016 Raining, actually pouring this morning so we packed up early and drove away. Breakfast at Tim Hortons - a toasted bagel with butter and a hot cup of tea does wonders.
It was a very long day. But we were greeted with a wonderful campsite in Sasketchawan Landing Provincial Park. A little bit of heaven in the middle of nowhere.
June 21, 2106 We saw a WOLF. He sauntered across the road and onto a dirt road early this morning as we drove through the Indian Reservation. At first we thought it might be a coyote but a look at his body as he stood on the road made a convincing argument for a wolf We decided to extend our driving day today. We are finding ourselves drawn more to our destination of the Yukon and Alaska. The terrain has flattened and we're smack in the middle of the Candaian plains. Mile after mile of huge farms. No way to identify details at the edge of those farms. We've crossed into Manitoba with speed limits now at 100km/HR we're covering more miles. We realize that the Ontario scenery was so much like home that it became a bit monotonous. This new farmland brings new views with livestock and large farm equipment and roads that seem to go on forever.
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