Swift Drift Down the River

Breakfast at the KOA. Can you spot Dad?

We know how to have breakfast in style.

Driving up to the newly opened Logan Pass, we came across a few of these beautiful waterfalls.

This particular waterfall doubled up as a car wash.

Can you make out the road carved into the side of the mountain?

They hadn't quite freed the visitor centre from the snow when we got up there. They'd just carved a pathway so that it could actually be used.

After driving up to Logan Pass in the morning, we took a Scenic Float and Dinner raft trip.

Rocking the windswept look. Don't they look glamourous?

Our guide told us about how the swifts make their nests in the side of this bank (if you can just make out the holes). We watched the birds swoop in and out of them for a while.

Is that Mum or Dad? It looks like Mum but the hat is very misleading.

Another glamourous shot of Mum and Sophie. What a beautiful backdrop as well.

The water looks calm but there were actually quite large waves which would eventually make us very wet.

Just after this bridge, we stopped for our steak and chicken dinner. We had chocolate brownie with cappucino cream for dessert.

Us all standing around, letting the young tour guide do all the work.

Sophie pretending to be Kala.

Fresh elk tracks in the sand.

Also along the river we saw a coyote on the river bank watching us. We drifted down the river for 10 miles (it really didn't feel like we went that far).

West Side Story

We carried on exploring the park. This is Sophie testing the temperature of the glacier ice melt water.

The equivalent of brain freeze for the feet as it turns out...

Dad paddled out to a little island. We're still waiting for his feet to thaw now.

Mum safely on dry land but not for long...

She didn't believe me but...
Stepping in.

Turning around...

And back out again.

The sign says it all.

The sign at one of the entrances. It heightened our excitement about what we might see.

100 yards later, we saw this sign...

Just to show how something so ordinary can look so lovely.
One of those bundles of wood has our name on it.

East to West Glacier National Park (the long way round)

Our intention was to drive the shorter route through the National Park but when we got there we saw a sign saying Logan Pass was closed so we could only make it half way across. Later we found out Logan Pass visitor centre was 30 foot under snow with only the top of the roof showing.

As a result we went the long way round and it was miles of these burnt trees. A young tour guide told us stories about how in 1929 there was a fire in the park that burnt a lot of the trees but didn't destroy them, it boiled the sap which crystalised and preserved the tree trunk. Also in 2003 there were a lot of fires around this area, one of which swept through the area again. You can see secondary growth everywhere though and the landscape recovering.

Beautiful scenery in the East side of Glacier National Park.

Just had to take a photo of this tiny island called Wild Goose Island.

Mum and Dad relaxed in the sunshine (this is definitely going to be scrapbooked when we get home).

Dad being Dad. I wonder what he's found. Might be the beautiful pink stone in the area.

We took this picture to show how clear the water was.

We saw lots of these vehicles taking visitors through the park

In certain areas the ground was covered in these plants making it look a bit like a lunar landscape. They grow in clumps of roughly the same height.

Driving away from Many Glacier.

Having fun after a busy day. Everywhere we go there are these carved bears, this one is holding a fish.

Fire just lit, looking forward to a BBQ.

Back in the Wilds

Since Calgary was the furthest we'd planned to go when we discussed this trip, we sat and discussed the route we should take to get back to Seattle. It was decided on that we should go down into America for the leg back which was a new idea (based on the fact that we'd run out of Canadian dollars but still had American left) so we decided to go down to Glacier National Park then across from there. So we drove down into Montana and found a KOA in St Marys which is on the East side of Glacier with the plan of driving through the park to the West side.

This is Dad outside the KOA cutting out the Stampede advert on the beer tin for Mum and Sophie.

Another KOA surrounded by beautiful mountains.

Dad making the most of the shade.

Mum making the most of the sunshine.

Stampede Like A Pro

Having watched the Calgary Stampede Parade on the TV and saw Wills and Kate having a good time, we decided that was our next stop. So after arriving in Calgary to the Country music coming from the bar across the road from our hotel, we headed, on the train, to Stampede Park.

It was very busy there and the kids seemed to enjoy the funfair!

We looked around the arts exhibitions and the stalls (it was set out like a Country show at home). Having admired everyones RV's and Motorhomes over the holiday, we didn't want to miss our chance to go inside one. It's a wonder how these things even move, they were full of high tech gadgets and were pure luxury.

When we wanted to rest our feet, where better than in Nashville North, where the Country music stage was set up. We listened to one of the acts and watched the people dancing along (they were experts and impressive to watch).
The beer in Mum's hand had a Stampede advert on the side which we all liked and instantly ear marked for the scrapbook.

There was an Native section to the park where we looked around at the beautifully decorated tipis and hand crafted jewellery.

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We liked the board with the horns coming out of it. It showed who had won the different categorys of activities going on in the building behind it (where the Rodeo show was held).

If you're going to Stampede Like A Pro, as they suggest, you've got to wear the cowboy hat.
We'd seen someone wearing one of these small hats earlier in the day and wanted to know where they came from. We happened upon them in a souvenir shop in the grounds.



Back with a slow news day - Banff

Having been out of contact with everyone for far too long, due to an absence of good WIFI at our campsites and absolutely no Starbucks coffee shops to tap into their internet, we are back!
We left off in our last post at Banff and today is a fill-in with various pictures that caught our attention on our last day there.
We start off with a wedding cake idea - now we need to find someone who likes Madeleine cake for a bottom tier.
Not sure about Heather McCartney's latest job at the local shopping Mall.

Our B & B had this mosaic of the longhorn mountain sheep on the side wall.

Meet Alberta Bertie, who after many days since completion still cannot see - we remain hopeful that we will find a shop that sells buttons so the poor chap can gain insight on the world he has joined.  In this instance we thank our own professional model, Snowflake, who insisted we pay her if we were going to use her image in this way.  Bertie is very much looking forward to the flight back to the UK during which he just might receive his stuffing by way of flight pillows.

Mum had this Limoncello cocktail with her meal and has wanted to go back again ever since.