Edmonton Alberta Canada

We found a very nice camp ground to use as our "base camp" for a week long stay in Edmonton. It was about 2 miles from the Edmonton Mall and the other sights we wanted to see. We spent about four days in the "World's Largest Mall". It covers 28 square blocks and has over 800 stores and 100 restaurants. There is also an amusement park with a roller coaster, Farris wheel and anything else you could find in any amusement park. There is also a lagoon that has scale models of Columbus' ships and four submarines on which you can ride under the lagoon. They also have a large wave pool with palm trees on three sides and a sandy beach. It's heated so it's open year round. There is also an ice rink which is sometimes used by the Edmonton Oiler's hockey team to practice.

Edmonton Mall Lagoon

Edmonton Mall Submarine

Edmonton Mall Lagoon

Edmonton Mall Wave Pool

Edmonton Mall Wave Pool

We took several side trips to the small towns around Edmonton and they were really nice and well worth seeing. The country side has mountains, valleys and rivers so there is something for everyone to see.

We met several nice couples from Alberta and British Columbia and they were very friendly. They told us about places we should see on our way through British Columbia and also briefed us about the highways and places we need to careful of. As it turned out the highways were great and the big hills they were concerned about were a "piece of cake" for our big diesel rig. The highest place we had to drive over was about 7,000 feet. The road coming down from there was no problem, it was wide and smooth all the way down.

CANADA

We left St. Mary, MT and entered Canada at Conway, Canada. There was a very nice lady at the Border crossing and she asked a few routine questions and only ask for the medical and shot records for Smokey. She told us to enjoy our stay and informed me as to where I could expect construction delays. Al this took about 30 minutes.

The highway from the Border to Calgary is almost like an Interstate in the U.S. It's four lane and real smooth and the scenery alongside is very nice. They don't really have "rest stops" like we have, but they have large "pull off" areas that you can stop in. Only problem is they don't have rest rooms, but since we're in a motor home we don't much care.

We got to Calgary and stayed a couple of days in a real nice camp ground that over looked the main highway and the country side. We were facing west so we saw the beautiful sunsets each night.

Calgary Sunset

Calgary is the home of the Calgary Stampede that's held each July. We missed it by about two weeks. Maybe one of these days we can get back to see it. Calgary is the second largest city in Alberta Providence with about a million people. Remarkably its a real clean city with good roads all around. Everyone we met were very nice and friendly and went out of their way to make you feel welcome.

The trip to Edmonton was real nice, the weather was sunny and warm and the roads were just like a freeway. The country side was colorful and the small towns we had to go through were quaint and colorful. If a person has the time it'd be nice to take about a week to drive from Calgary to Edmonton and stop and see the towns en route.

Watertown Park Canada

We drove to Watertown Park just across the Canadian border. There were not as many glaciers there as in Glacier Park but the mountains are just as beautiful. There is a large beautiful hotel over looking the lake and the room rates are not too high. The most expensive room or suite was $125.00 Canadian which is about $80.65 American money. The town of Watertown has a lot of quaint shops and the prices are not high at all.

Real nice hotel

Beautiful lake

Beautiful mountain and lake

We took a picnic lunch and ate at one of the many parks around the lake. Although the sun was out and it was July, it was COLD on the lake. We forgot to bring our jackets so we didn't stay too long.

We had planned for John and Sheryl to travel with us through Canada but unfortunately John had to return to IN for medical tests. We had to part company in Glacier Park and they headed on over to WA, OR, and CA before they went back to IN. For the time we had together we had a good time and maybe someday we'll be able to get together and travel again.

We went back to St. Mary and rested and spent a couple of days trying to figure out where we were going next and how long we were going to stay at one place. Making decisions like this can be stressful for someone who has no schedule to keep and can go and do as they please.

We finally decided to head into Canada and go to Calgary and Edmonton and stay until we've seen all we want before we move on.

Glacier National Park Day Two

St Mary Lake

We found a family restaurant in St. Mary that served a wonderful dinner. You had your choice of one of three meats and everything else was served "family style". The bread served is home baked every day and is to kill for. Two could eat for about $15 total and if you left hungry it was your own fault.

We made several more trips into the Park and saw some beautiful glaciers and mountains. We never saw any bears fishing in the rivers, streams and lakes. We asked a Ranger why not and he said the water was "glacier and snow melt" and the water would not support fish life. The Indians tried to stock the lakes but it didn't work and they gave up on the idea.

Beautiful Mountain and Lake

Beautiful Glacier

If you like to see beautiful snow capped mountain ranges then Glacier National Park is the place to see.

Going to the Sun Drive

Our first trip into Glacier Park was to the "Going to the Sun" road which goes up a mountain to about 7,000 feet. The drive goes through some of the most beautiful country you can imagine. There are picturesque mountains and glaciers on both sides of the road. At one stop up the road Jerry and Sheryl got out and played in the snow. They threw snow balls at John while I took this picture. Can you imagine throwing snow balls in late July. As a matter of fact the week before we got there the Road to the Sun was closed for several days because of snow.

Girls playing in the snow

There are a lot of cold rivers and streams coming down the side of the mountains.

One of the cold streams coming down

One of the many Glaciers

At the Information Center, we saw a couple of mountain goats grazing along the side walks. They were not the least bit afraid of people taking pictures.

Grazing Mountain Goats

On Our Way To Glacier National Park

St Mary's Lake


We departed Yellowstone and began to work our way to Glacier National Park. Since we were traveling with Jim and "Torchie" we traveled the "red roads". No problem, the roads were good and there was little traffic and the scenery was outstanding. We were entering the town of White Sulphur Springs and the traffic came to a halt. Someone had let the "gap" down and the road was covered with cattle. They were moving from a pasture on our right to one on our left. It didn't help if you blew your horns, they'd just stop and look at you like you're crazy. There were a couple in the front of our RV that decided to stop and "make whoopee" right in the middle of the road. Fortunately a group of cowboys came along and tried to get the cattle moving again. We just shut down the engines, settled back and enjoyed the show. We had a "real life western" in our windows.We were there for about an hour but then we're all retired and in no hurray.

The Cowboy at Work


We were going to spend the night at a KOA campground in Great Falls, NT and John was leading the way since he had a GPS system. Everything was going fine until we got into Great Falls then the GPS didn't work too well. John said the map shows a river on the right side of us and the GPS shows it on the left. His wife Sheryl said, "John turn the darn computer around and get the river where it belongs". Finally Torchie took the lead and within just a few minutes we were at the campground. Also we'd passed some places we'd passed before. AH isn't technology great??


We spent a couple of restful days in Great Falls, well after all we just drove a little over 200 miles getting here and we were tired.


We pulled out of Great Falls and once again took the "red roads" to Glacier National Park. The road was good and really scenic until we got to Browning, MT. From there to St. Mary it appeared as if the road was designed by a "snake". There were times when you'd go around a curve and could see the tail lights in the side mirror. To take things worse we encountered people ridding a bicycle down the mountain in the opposite direction. Sometimes we'd come around a curve and meet an RV coming down hill and he'd encounter the bicyclist in his lane and the RVer would have to move over into my lane to avoid him. This makes for a real "white knuckle" drive.

We arrived in St Mary, MT and as luck would have it most all of the campgrounds were full and some even had a waiting list.We found spaces at Chewing Black Bones Campground. This place was the "pits". It was nothing more that a large un mowed field with some hook up sites and everything was on dirt. The site we were assigned didn't have a functional electrical outlet so we had to move to another site. The sites were only 30 amp service and had large glass fuses which had to be replaced from time to time. We finally found a spot that was fairly level and got hooked up. There were forest fires in the area and the front part of the campground had been turned into a "base camp" for the fire fighters. They had tents for them to sleep in and tents for their meals and medical care. It looked like a circus area. Most of the fire fighters were Indians from various tribes. The back of the campground bordered St Mary Lake and it was a beautiful scene. The sunsets in this part of country are more beautiful than back home

Campground sunset

Our Site

Yellowstone National Park Day Three

Momma and baby

Momma and Baby
Where the Buffalo Roam
Donkeys

While touring the Park we saw all sorts of animals, deer, buffalo, donkeys and elk with babies.

We had a hailstone storm at the camp ground and a lot of the RVs had damage to their air conditioners and sewer hoses. Fortunately we didn't have any damage to our air conditioners and the new satellite system came through with no damage. We did have a lot of damage to our sewer hose and the camp ground had sold out. We had to go into the next town about 30 miles away to get a new one. We were very lucky.

Yellowstone National Park Day Two

It's no wonder President Roosevelt made this the first National Park and set aside the land so that it can't be ruined and will be there for our children and grand children to cherish. When you visit the Park, take nothing but pictures and leave nothing but foot prints so that others can enjoy God's handiwork.

On the second day we toured the area where the water falls and canyons are. The water falls are real big and can be seen from quite a distance. Some of the canyons are almost as big as some in the Grand Canyon. This is indeed a place worth the long drive to see. When you get here don't be in a hurray to see it and leave, take at least a week to see everything.

Water Fall

Beautiful Water Fall

Big Water Fall

Fire Smoke in Mountains

Big Canyon

Yellowstone National Park Day One

Geyser Pool


Jim and "Torchie" joined us in Hardin, MT and we spent a couple of days relaxing before we joined forces and headed to Yellowstone. We saw some of the most beautiful mountains on our trip. We stayed at a real nice campground at Emigrant, MT which is about 12 miles from the entrance. There was a nice river running in the back of the campground and mountains on three sides. The sunrises and sunset were out of this world.

Our RV Park Yellowstone Sunset

On our first day we toured the area that has all the geysers and especially "Old Faithful". It's awesome to see how pretty and colorful they are. Some of them were not as active as they once were due to the long drought they were having in this part of the country.

Thar She Blows



Old Geezer and Geyser

Blue Geyser

We're On The Road Again

The drive from Rapid City to Wyoming was nice, the weather was great and the winds were mild. In this State there are times when the winds hit 40 miles per hour and they'll really get your attention when you're driving a 40 foot motor home. We had a good view of the Black Hills and they are beautiful. The Black Hills are actually made up of Spruce trees and the needles are so dark and close together they look black.

We're driving along minding our own business when one of the famous Wyoming storms hit about 60 miles south of Sheridan. We fought the rain and wind as long as we could and finally pulled into one of our favorite campgrounds, "Wally World" to spend the night. Not long after we got settled in we were joined by five to six other RVs and before morning there were about twelve there. "Wally World" is a fine place to park when all you're looking for is a place to get some sleep.

Hardin MT RV Park

The next morning the weather was great, no clouds or wind and nice and warm. We headed on to MT to see the Battle of the Little Big Horn in Hardin, MT. We pulled into a KOA campground and started our tour of the battle site. Its awesome to see where the famous battle was fought and see head stones showing where some of the soldiers were slain. When you see the battle in the movies it sometimes shows General Custer fighting "up hill" and this is not true. He and his troops were on the high ground and the Sioux were coming up at them. Also some of the movies depict the Indians wearing almost no clothes and again this is not true. They thought they might be killed and when they go to meet their "great spirit" they wanted to be dressed in their finest. Therefore they were dressed in their finest costumes. Oh well you have to sell movie tickets.

Mount Rushmore

With Wall, SD as our base camp we made trips to Mount Rushmore. Security was tight due to 9-11 and also since this was July 4th . We ate at the restaurant there and the food was real good and the price was reasonable. We had a good time at the Mount and I believe John and Sheryl did too.

Avenue of the Flags

We took a drive to Devil's Tower and it was well worth the drive. It is very interesting. The Indians say that the marks on the side of the Tower came from a big bear. It seems that there were several Indian maidens sitting on the Tower and a bear came after them. They climbed to the top and it grew larger and larger to keep the bear from getting to them.

Steven Spielberg came out here to get information and pictures of the Tower. Contrary to popular belief the movie "Close Encounters of a Third Kind" was not filmed at the Tower. All they did was to come here and take pictures of the Tower. They then went back to Mobile, AL and filmed the movie in the world's largest sound stage.

We enjoyed our stay in South Dakota and found some good places to shop and also good restaurants. It would be possible for someone to spend at least a month in the Bad Lands area.

This is our second time to visit South Dakota and we see something new with each visit. The weather during the summer is a little hot and I believe it would be better to visit either in the spring or fall.

After spending two weeks in South Dakota we decided it was time to move on to Montana and see the sights there.