I have not blogged in almost a year and I need to get back into the habit. I have so much to blog but I cannot play catch-up.
Last month Judy and I took a road trip to Ellensburg, Washington to attend the Thompson-Feten Family Reunion. Several of these in the past have been attended by our Norwegian relatives from the old country of Norway. Then on the way home, we went north to Banff AB, Canada.
This proves that I was at the Grunewald Guild in Leavenworth, WA.
This is where Judy's brother, John, teaches stone and wood carving and print making, among other things.
Here is where everything is made of wood, like dragons,
mugs of pencils and brushes,
and coloring books and crayons.
The purpose of this trip was to attend the bi-annual Thompson-Feten reunion.
Shirley, Jack, Kurt and Grace
It was an American/Norsk celebration.
Sisters and organizers
We left The USA and entered Canada and spent our first night in Invermere BC. This is on the west side of the park.
This is Judy by a rock person. Don't know its meaning.
In Invermere, we ran into one of these. Remember these are wild animals and you are supposed to stay in your car. But everyone was out taking pictures, including me, and all I needed to do was to run faster than them.
This is Bow Falls on the Bow river that runs right through the city of Banff.
Fairmont Banff Springs
And then you turn around and see the Fairmont Banff Springs. Looks pretty nice and pretty expensive to stay but it is only rated 4-stars.
These signs are throughout the park, just like the tsunami signs on the Oregon coast.
We wanted to see the most photographed lake in Canada, Lake Louise in Banff National Park, which by the way was the first national park created in Canada. You can see some of the glaciers on the mountains above the lake.
We passed the famous Deer Lodge restaurant and hotel and...
on the way out you can see a permanent "No Vacancy" sign.
Lake Louise is on the north end of Banff National Park.
This is real color of the glacier lakes in the park. Melting glacier silt creates the striking turquoise color and keeps it a frigid temperature year-around. Of course you drive around for 30 minutes just to find a parking place and most of the thousands of tourists (we were part of that) didn't speak English. 60% were Asians. We heard at least eight to ten different languages - I think one of them might have been English, probably me talking to Judy.
The lake exits through this culvert.
Then we followed the road to Lake Moraine, another gorgeous glacial lake with glaciers in the mountains. Most of the glaciers are covered by broken rock and can't be seen.
The main glacier.
Just look at the color of this water.
A glacier on top a couple hundred feet thick.
Turquoise water.
Then I spotted a huge waterfall on top of the mountain from the melting ice and zoomed in on it.
Just to give you the perspective of the landscape.
We spent four days north of the border.
I have come to the conclusion that these bridges are for the wildlife to cross the highway, since there are high fences along both sides of the highway. How do they know where to cross?
Banff is the first national park in Canada and probably the most popular.
Entering the city of Banff.
This is the town mall. Guess they haven't visited the West Edmonton Mall.
More of the city of Banff.
Downtown Banff.
Yes, they have some of these for the tourists.
At the intersections, all directions of traffic are stopped when the "WALK" sign comes on and then you can go any which-way you want...
as long as you stay between the lines.
This is the Banff gondola that goes to the top of the mountain. A bit scary at times.
Banff and the Bow river from the trip up.
Looking down from where I started. Most of the way up you are at tree top level but the first cable tower was about 200 feet above the ground.
At the top of the mountain you are greeted with this. Looks like the guy is trying to feed the mountain goat secretly behind his back and getting ready to run.
Better shot of the city, Bow River, Bow Falls, Fairmont Banff Springs, with Lake Minnewanka in the background.
The Fairmont from up top.
Once you got to the top there was a nice hike to the highest point, 7400 feet. But this hike included more steps than the Washington Monument in Washington DC, and then you had to come back. Whew!! That was a chore.
This is the Trans-Canadian Highway 1.
These are Avalanche trails.
More.
On my way back to catch my ride back down the hill.
We found these Adirondack chairs at several scenic overlooks
These are called Hoodoos
You can see the Fairmont, two miles in the distance.
Lake Minnewanka - does this mean many wankas? Where's my golden ticket?
Still has the turquoise color several miles from the glaciers.
We even ran across several of these guys on the highway...from the USA.
We spent two days in Canmore AB while visiting the park.
Last view of the Canadian Rockies. Now we are entering the flatlands.
The speed limit is 110 (KMH that is, which is about 68mph).
Teepee entering Calgary.
And then traffic almost came to a standstill. When the road ahead turned, we saw that there was a house blocking the road, shoulder to shoulder. Luckily it pulled off after a few miles. Just so you know the trans-Canadian highway 1 is like an interstate except there aren't any controlled access - stop signs at cross roads. We stopped at a couple of small towns on the way to North Dakota where Judy's family lived for awhile. e got to the border about 9:00PM and it sure was good to get back to familiar territory. Good trip over all.
