Alberta, Canada: from a Chinook to the Calgary Stampede

After departing Montana, we traveled back into Canada, entering the province of Alberta.  Driving through Waterton Lakes National Park, we soon realized it’s an area less traveled – few cars and we had to stop for cows to cross the road - pure natural wilderness. 

This was taken right after passing through Customs, into Canada.

We're smiling now, but wait until we camp tonight...

 The township of Crow’s Nest Pass includes the mining town of Frank and here is where we experienced an eerie feeling. Unbeknownst to us, in 1903, there was a major limestone landslide that completely demolished the town. The remnants of the landslide are evident as you drive through town.

Over 600 people died from the landslide - the town was destroyed.

 We needed to camp for the night since we were heading to Calgary the next day, so we decided to stay in Crow’s Nest Pass. Big mistake. Little did we know that this particular area experiences Canadian Chinooks, which is a weather phenomenon caused by warm Pacific winds hitting against the Rocky Mountains and then dropping and swirling, causing severe high speed, warm winds over the prairies, including our campground. We happen to be camping on a night when a Chinook hit. No fun. At all. Needless to say, we were eager to get on the road and head towards Calgary.

Calgary is a sizable city with 1 million+ - very cosmopolitan, but a cowboy town, as well. We stumbled upon one of the biggest events for Canada, the Calgary Stampede. It’s been an annual event for over 100 years. It runs ten days and consists of a the highest purse rodeo in the West, championship chuck-wagon races, high-end Western entertainment and music and a huge carnival-esque atmosphere with food vendors, side-shows and stands for all of your cowboy/cowgirl paraphernalia.  

This photo doesn't quite capture how immense the event is. There are thousands of spectators...99% with their cowboy hats on.

Gorgeous Clydesdale horses.

The chuck-wagon races.

The evening show was a mixture of Broadway and Cirque de Soleil.

The show was great and the finale had one of the best fireworks shows we have EVER seen. 

Our next destination is Banff National Park.
Ciao' for now : )

Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park (Glacier National Park)

Heading to our campsite near Glacier National Park.

Looking at a map, the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park is unique - it's cooperatively managed between the U.S. and Canada. The majority of the park is in Montana, the upper, western portion is in the providence of British Columbia, and the eastern portion in in the providence of Alberta. Since 1932, this union has been recognized for its "bonds of peace and friendship between the two nations."

Unfortunately, we couldn't take the motor-home into the heart of the park, so we hopped on a shuttle and headed for Avalanche Lake. The trail to the lake was a two-mile ascension (500 feet) and was packed with huge ancient cedars and rushing rapids.

As we walked along the side of the rapids, the temperature dropped substantially.

While we walked, we clapped our hands, snapped our fingers, and talked (and sang) loudly to scare any bears away. It worked - we didn't see any. Maybe it was my singing ; )

We arrive at Avalanche Lake.

Majestic + tranquil

Happy campers!

Why the trail and lake are called AVALANCHE!

We met two young men from Australia who purchased Bear Pepper Spray since they were planning to hike deep in the park. No thank you. Scary thought.

We took another shuttle to Logan Pass, a sub-alpine terrain of over 6,600 feet.

The trip was 16 miles long and took nearly an hour to reach the top.
The roadway (two, narrow lanes) was treacherous.

We were in awe as we continued to drive.

These rocks are the barriers on the side of the road?!!?

The temperature dropped dramatically as we ascended.

July 13, 2011 @ Logan Pass

Next stop is Alberta, Canada. More to come.
Ciao' for now.

Bozeman, Montana: Friends Old and New

Heading west, this is the Yellowstone River, on our way to Bozeman.

 Eastern Montana is a long stretch of big sky country – huge farms and ranches for miles and miles and miles. Our destination for the next two nights was Bozeman, Montana, located at the beginning of the Rocky Mountain chain. Bozeman is a quaint, college town: an oasis of progressive thinkers in a sea of red. When you talk to the locals, they often say, “Montana is five minutes from Bozeman.” Wink, wink.

Downtown Bozeman

The 319 Pub, in downtown Bozeman

On sale: Grizzly Bear Mace (I am not kidding).

We spent two nights in the area and on the second, we met up at Montana Ale Works with two of Mark’s long-lost friends, Al and Lisa that moved here from New Jersey over 20 years ago. For Mark, it was great catching up on old times. For me, it was great forging new-found friendships. For the two of us, we enjoyed listening to tales of how two former New Jerseyites assimilated to living out west. While it took them a few years to do so, they are content and fulfilled with their lifestyle – professional, personal, and social…even when they have encounters with grizzly bears (they recommend hiking with bear pepper spray – a can for each person). 

Lisa, Al, Mark , and me : )

Bozeman is situated a couple of hours from Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks, so this area is a paradise for outdoors people – hiking, fishing, mountain climbing, skiing, and (sadly) hunting. In fact, Al and Lisa are active in fly-fishing and they do so in Gallatin River, where The River Runs Through It was filmed.

Our next major destination is Glacier National Park and we are excited to share the next experience with you, but before we do, we thought you would like to see what one of our campsite's looks like. This is Bear Canyon Campsite, outside of downtown Bozeman. Enjoy.

 Ciao' for now : )

 

North Dakota: from Fargo to the Badlands

Love this Fargo sign - this is the entrance to the theater.

Fargo: the hip, small-town feel of this city, pleasantly surprised us. It was not a stereotypical western town (rustic, cowboys, and fried gizzards…more to come on this point). As remote as it its located, it has a modern, art deco feel. We ate at a funky, hip restaurant, HoDo, visited the Roger Maris Museum (located in a shopping mall?!?), and saw Tree of Life at the old Fargo Independent Theater, which was built in 1923, as a vaudeville showplace. After spending the night in a Wal-Mart parking lot (the first time on our trip) we ventured towards Bismarck and felt as though we truly entered “the West.” This is also when our day became strange and at night when we reflected on our day, we wondered if we were in a Fellini movie.

Mark loving the museum.

Maris' actual uniform!

The theater in Fargo.

Driving on I-94 West, we witnessed the wrath of flooding that plagued North Dakota a few weeks ago and soon thereafter stumbled onto an exit with “Salem Sue" a giant roadside animal sculpture that is five stories tall. 

Flooding on Route 94 West

Erected in 1974 - Salem Sue

Continuing on my quest for kitschy pop culture, we also ventured down “The Enchanted Highway,” with the world’s largest metal sculptures. 

This one is approximately 50 feet tall.

Getting back to nature, we reached the Colored Canyons of the badlands of North Dakota, in a town called, Medora. Now, this is a western town…cowboys, fried gizzards on every menu, and an All-American Hoedown Variety show, The Medora Musical. It is a blend of cruise-ship song + dance entertainment with North Dakota (or as the locals say, “Nor Dakoda”) themes. Evidently, this musical is a huge draw in the region. The showplace is an incredible outdoor, amphitheater, which is situated on the top of a hill, overlooking the badlands. 

The Medora Musical singers...

For two nights, we stayed at the Red Trail Campground, near the entrance to the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Aside from the eclectic mix of travelers, the nightly entertainment was a singing, cowboy couple, that lives in a trailer next to the campground office. They appear every night at 5:45 PM in their cowboy ensemble and perform on a 5X8 “stage” – it is a cutout on the porch of the office. Mark your calendar so you can experience renditions from Patsy Cline, Dr. Zhivago, Hank Williams, and songs you have never heard of in your entire life.

Grammy winners ; )

Theodore Roosevelt National Park: This is an amazing landscape. We toured the park on our motor scooter, taking the 36-mile loop. The park is a combination of multi-color mounds and buttes, expansive grasslands, roaming buffalo and wild horses (and prairie dogs). It was spectacular. 

A great vantage point after we hiked.

We saw about 40 wild horses.

Not wild, but you can take a tour on horseback.

After we checked out of the campsite and continued westward, towards Montana, we stopped at the western rim of the park to explore the Petrified Forest. The forest is located off of a seven-mile dirt road and subsequent two-mile hike into the park wilderness. It was well worth the effort – the forest is acres of large remnants of petrified trees that were formed over 60 million years ago.  On the trail, we met a few hikers who spent the day hiking the optional, ten-mile loop and they told us that they encountered wild buffalo herds of 300-500 at 100 feet away. We would have loved to see these bison roaming in their natural territory, but to be honest; I may have fainted! 

It felt like we were on another planet!

In Montana now. More to come.

Ciao’ for now.

           

Our Crazy Fourth of July in Duluth, Minnesota

Duluth's Aerial Lift Bridge

We arrived in Duluth on July 3rd, so before we checked into our campsite, we went to the waterfront area in order to "get a lay of the land" and see the sights. The city is in a beautiful location - it overlooks a large bay area which is situated on the western side of Lake Superior. The city was packed for the holiday weekend, so we decided to grab a bite to eat. Sitting next to us was a local fellow who was (1) nervous we were mob related (I am not kidding) and (2) fascinated with Snookie from The Jersey Shore show (once again, I am not kidding). Ahhh....the power of popular culture. Little did we know that the next day, our all-American/Mid-West Independence Day celebration would be a combination of highs and lows (including a very scary experience).

The next afternoon, we headed down Bob Dylan Highway (in our opinion, a good sign) towards the Railroad Museum and Scenic Railway Tour. The museum was a rich, historical experience with an authentic representation of a 19th century Duluthian town, as well as steam engines from the late 1800’s to electric giants from the early 20^th century. The engineering and detailed mechanics were so impressive - the evolution of technology has been fast and furious (no pun intended). 

This one was my favorite : )

A mechanical, steam-engined beast.

Having a little fun with our iPad.

After the museum, we were excited to take the Scenic Railway Tour since we had done this in New Zealand and Alaska and were quite pleased with both trips. Eager to see beautiful, majestic landscapes, our anticipation soon deflated when we realized we were duped. If you ever visit Duluth, DON’T take this trip. Basically, the first 40% of the trip, the tracks border Lake Superior, but 60% of the “Scenic Landscape” were neighborhoods. Once the tracks shifted, we saw people’s backyards, their sheds, swing-sets, dog houses – you get the idea. We made the best of it, but when the train ride was finally over, we nearly sprinted off and headed to the waterfront area where the 4^th of July festivities were already taking place. 

Get me off of this train!

Thankfully, the sun was shining, live bands were performing, the scent of corn-dogs + kettle-corn wafted through the air, and a fireworks display was planned for the evening. We were a bit nostalgic for the Jersey Shore/Seaside Heights fireworks, but Duluth put on a good show and when the finale was over, it was time to head back to the campground.

 

Sammy...here are fireworks for you : )

Our mode of transportation to explore the sights is a 150 cc motor-scooter (instead of driving a 28-foot RV!), so we knew an issue getting back “home” was the steep and steady incline of the route we needed to take. My husband and I took a deep breath, got on the scooter and hoped for the best. We soon realized that there was road construction and had to take a detour across a major bridge headed towards Wisconsin?!?! Not fun when it’s 11:00 PM, there is major traffic and you don’t know where you’re going. We finally got onto Route 53 and sighed with relief once we ascended to the top and continued on our designated path back to the campground. But, our good spirits soon faded when the weather suddenly shifted. Lightening began to illuminate the sky, which was beautiful and unnerving at the same time – when you’re exposed to nature, lightening is scary. The wind picked up and it became difficult for Mark to handle the scooter. My heart began to pound as I realized we were headed directly into a storm. The lightening continued and became more intense; horizontal and vertical - we were driving closer and closer. And then within seconds, we drove into a hail/torrential rainstorm and not only became drenched, but felt the continuous pinch from being pelted; we still had five miles to drive.

The kitties were wide-eyed when we barreled through the door since the storm was directly overhead, but all of us felt relieved – we were safe and sound. Mark and I got out of our wet clothes and sat in bad to reflect on the crazy day we had - seeing trains that literally united the states of America, being the victims of a tourist trap, experiencing our nation’s pride with Duluthian’s, and realizing how powerful Mother Nature can be…this will be a 4^th of July we will never forget.

Ciao for now : )

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Minising, Michigan

We continued to discover the natural wonder of Michigan on a three-hour cruise along the shore of Lake Superior (the largest of the Great Lakes) and experienced, "The Pictured Rocks." For millions of years, Mother Nature has created masterpieces of colorful rock formations that are both massive and tranquil. The Upper Peninsula (U.P.) of Michigan is a gem to the state, and in our opinion, the U.S.