Aug 2

Since tonight we are in a camp ground with Internet access, we can fill you in on "Where in the World are Steve and Bonnie." Our camper has been flying..

Yesterday we arrived at Banff National Park in Alberta a little later than we thought we would, and we forgot that weekend was a long weekend for the folks of Alberta. Banff was crowded. More importantly, the ride through Banff and then through Jasper National Park was the prettiest ride that Steve and I ever have taken. What a ride!

When we got to Lake Louise in Banff, since the campground was full, we continued driving on as the park guides suggested that we do to find the next campground. This wasn’t a problem because the day was sunny and in the 80s and we had many opportunities to pull over for scenic turn outs. Eventually, Banff turns into Jasper National Park. We continued on – amazed by what we were seeing.

When we go to Jasper’s Ice Fields, we were totally blown away by the snow capped mountains, the waterfalls, lakes and rivers. We had pictured that the ride would be like the ride at Yosemite with lots of scary twists and hairpin curves, but we were wrong. Actually, the ride is calm; Steve and I both marveled at what we were seeing without being scared that we would be plunging to our death! ( All right. I am kidding here, but you get the point. The road is well engineered!)

The hot springs reminded us of Yosemite. Steve and I both think Banff and Jasper may be more exciting than Yosemite or Rocky Mountain National Park ( if that is at all possible) because here you are looking right up at the mountains instead of being "in" them. At Rocky Mountain National Park, my personal favorite American national park, even though the ride is amazing, you are so high the mountains don’t seem as majestic as they do here.

One of the aspects of the scenery that we most enjoyed was the bright turquoise lakes. They are glacially fed. We also both loved the ice fields as they call the glaciers. Some of these ice fields have been in place for 400 years. I thought we might see a few, but we saw miles of them! We read that the Columbian Ice field is the largest accumulation of ice south of the Arctic Circle straddling two Canadian parks and two provinces! If we don’t go out to a glacier in Alaska, we’ll come back and ride out on this one! (Its meltwater flows into the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic oceans.)

Steve mentioned that we had to stay in a "overflow" camp site. Really, it is just a big field. But what a field it is. The mountains surrounded us. Banff has more than 2,000 campsites. Jasper has almost 2,000.It’s funny – the parks didn’t feel crowded. We drove in these two parks for 403.9 miles; that gives you a hint about the enormity of these parks!

Our plan is to return to both Banff and Jasper on our way home. We’ll make reservations at Lake Louise and take the Banff gondola up Sulfer Lake and perhaps take a ride on the Ice Explorer up the Athabasca Glacier.

Wildlife? We already have seen a black beer, and we aren’t even in Alaska yet! Last night as we were driving to our "overflow" campsite, we saw an elk grazing by the side of the road. This morning right after we left our big field, we saw a coyote and then a deer with twin fawns. Steve tells me this is rare, and he is my expert on wildlife among many other things!

Funny ... today we drove again through prairies. Again we saw the bright sunny canola growing. I love that stuff!

Tonight we are staying in Dawson Creek,Mile O on the Alaskan Highway which was opened in 1948 – a very good year! Funny, the road was officially opened the year Steve and I were born and then Alaska was given statehood the year we were turning 11. I still remember the new classroom flag we got the year Alaska joined the union. Little did I realize that I would be visiting !

Hope you are all well. We miss you all, but we are having a great adventure! When we are in a place with Internet connection, we’ll touch base again!

Love,

Bonnie



Bonnie