Monday, July 23, 2007

 

We got up at 6:00 and the kids at 6:30.  We left the camper at 7:28.  It was 65 degrees and sunny with no clouds, but hazy over the mountains.

            We had breakfast of muffins and donut holes.

            In Columbia Falls saw a KFC sign with “Cold Chicken Limited Supply”.

            We went through Glacier National Park to get to Canada.

            Tour Guide Barbie (Sarah) forgot her tour book, but she said she didn’t have a lot of info.

 

A group of men got together to decide the name of the country that would become Canada.  They decided to put all of the letters into a bag and draw them out one at a time.  A man pulled out the first letter and said, “C, eh?”  Then he pulled out another and said “N, eh?”  He reached in the bag and got one more letter, and said, “D, eh?”.  The man who was writing the letters down said, “Ok, it’s Canada!”

                       

            We passed through the town of Hungry Horse.  Granny told us how it got its name, so she gets to be Tour Guide Barbie.

            The town of Hungry Horse was indeed named after two draft horses used for logging the area when they wandered off during the severe winter of 1900. The horses, Tex and Jerry, were found a month later, all scraggly and hungry but very much alive. As visitors today drive through Hungry Horse on their way to and from Glacier National Park, there are statuesque reminders of the hungry horses.

            We saw a deer and 2 does cross the road in front of us just before the entrance to the park.

            We entered the part at 7:55.  There was no one in the little house, so we just drove on in.  We do get in free because we have the annual pass for all national parks.

            There were lots of bicyclists.  They can only use the road before 11:00 am.

            We saw a truck that had run off into a big hole.  We saw the hole yesterday and said it was a big hole that would be bad if you drove into it.

            We saw 3 mountain goats and 2 babies at the same place as yesterday, only today they were down in the road.

            We stopped at Logan’s Pass for our 39 ½ BB (Bathroom Break; I am tired of typing bathroom break) at 8:57.  We left at 9:06.  It was 65 degrees and sunny with no clouds, but hazy over the mountains.

            We saw a deer cross the road.

            Zach spotted the distant cousin to the grizzly bear, the gummy bear.

            We left the park at 9:47.  It was 71 degrees, sunny with no clouds.

            At 10:02, we saw our first range cattle.  There were 3 by the road.

            We stopped and looked at 2 Indians made out of car parts, hubcaps, door handles, a Cadillac emblem and a Chevrolet emblem.

            We reached the US/Canadian border at 10:12.  Piegan Mt. Poe Customs.  We crossed the border at 10:15.  The guard was very serious.

            Canada looks a lot like Montana.

            We are taking Highway 2 north.  There is lots of agriculture.

            We reached Cardston at 10:29.  This was the first town we had come to.  We saw a gas station with gas for $1.05 per LITER.  3.79 liters equal 1 gallon.

            At 10:34, it was sunny with no clouds and 85 degrees in Canada.

            We saw a sign that said “Stock At Large”.  We think it means Free Range, no fences.

            Ron noticed on the power lines that they have no neutral lines.

            The speed limit is Maximum 100 km (62 mph).

            We saw the first of many hitchhikers.  There are lots in Canada.

            We stopped at 11:11 for our 40 ½ BB at an ExtraFoods Grocery Store in Fort McCleod.  We left at 11:24.

            We took 2 north again.  We found a Subway and stopped at 11:31.  We checked to see if they had pizzas.  They did not.  So we made peanut butter sandwiches in the parking lot and ate while ridding.  We left at 11:44.  We also had Tillamook cheese and Ritz crackers for dessert.

            The speed limit is now 110 km.

            We saw where they had baled hay in the medium and the right-of-way.

            To the east is flat and to the west off in the distance are mountains.  It looks a lot like the drive to Greeley, Colorado from our house.

            We saw state provincial parks; our equivalent to our state parks.

            We saw hay bales as far as you could see.

            At 1:08 we had our first sighting of Calgary in the distance.

            We are still on Highway 2 north.  It is 89 degrees; sunny with very few white clouds.

            We reached Calgary city limits at 1:11.  We exited at 1:16 to go to Wal-Mart.  We stopped at 1:18 at a Wal-Mart for our 41 ½ BB.  The Wal-Mart had a drive through pharmacy.  We bought ice, but nothing else because it was not a Super Center.  We left at 1:59.  We returned to highway 2 north at 2:01.

            We were going to take Highway 1, but we missed it and had to turn around and go back.  We found it this time at 2:24.  The number 1 is inside a Canadian maple leaf and is hard to recognize.

            We stopped at 2:33 for Petro, but the pumps that did not have a long line were not working.

            We stopped at 2:36 at a Centex for gas.  It was $1.07 per liter, which equals $4.04 per gallon.  We had been 262.5 miles since our last fill up.  We have been a total of 2855.2 miles.  It took 51.898 liters to fill up the Suburban.  It was $56.00.  We saw a Smartcar on Highway 1 while we were at the gas station.  We left the station at 2:43.  It was 94 degrees and sunny with white fluffy clouds.

            At 3:02 we were starting to see Big Mountains.  There were rolling hills and agriculture lands.  We have seen a lot of pedestrians. 

            We entered Canmore at 3:43.  It was 88 degrees and cloudy with grey clouds.  We took exit 91 at 3:46.  We passed the road for our hotel, but we drove through a roundabout and went back to the hotel.  We found our hotel, the Mountain View Inn, and checked in.  We had rooms 107 and 108.  It was an OK hotel.

            We left at 4:14 and returned to highway 1 at 4:20.  We reached the Banff National Park gates at 4:23.  We paid for 2 days and it was $35.60.  Our pass was good until Wednesday at 4:00.  It is a beautiful park with lots of green mountains and really pretty green water.

            At 4:50 it was 79 degrees with grey clouds and no sunshine.  At 4:51 it began raining.  At 4:52 it began raining very hard.  This is the worst rain we have been in.  At 4:53 it is 61 degrees and still raining.  At 4:57 it is sprinkling and the sun is shining.  At 4:59 the rain stopped.

            At 5:16 we took exit Highway 1 to go to Lake Louise.  At 5:20 we passed the Continental Divide.  We parked at 5:24 to walk to Lake Louise.  It was 74 degrees with no raining.  It was a very, very pretty lake.  The water looked really green.  We decided we would come back in the morning when the sun would be shining on the mountains.  We took our 42 ½ BB.  It started sprinkling when we left.  We returned to Highway 1 at 6:07.  We decided to drive back to Canmore.

            Ron saw a coyote next to the road.  We also saw a deer.

            We went to Boston Pizza for supper.  We got there at 7:04.  We all had pizza.  The best pizza in North America.  We left at 8:23 and got back to the hotel at 8:33.  Our A/C works really well in our room.  Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

            Zach finished the Harry Potter book.  He really liked it too.  Now it is Ron and my turn to read it.