Day 64 Canmore, Nr Banff 17.06.12
Father’s day, have a great day all you Dads out there.
Had a disturbed night due to a) Midge bites itching like mad
in the night
b) The noise from people going home in the early hours.
Not complaining as we’ve all done it!
Got ready to drive into Banff for a look around. On the way
we had to stop for a train to cross the road. I kid you not, it had 3 engines
at intervals along it & at least 150 large container wagons. It must have
been half a mile long & I didn’t get the video camera out in time!
We arrived in Banff & found a parking space. It’s a
lovely place, touristy, alpine, lots of shops, cafes, restaurants etc. Bought
some gifts & went into a pub called ‘ Tommy’s neighbourhood pub’ with lunch
specials for $8 so we went for the steak
sandwich with fries & onion rings. It was delicious!
By this time our 2 hours of parking was up so we went back
to Canmore. On the way back a black bear was trying to cross the road! We spent
an hour in our hotel then went for a walk up the street for an ice cream &
a look around. Found the best used book shop ever, thousands of books, I could
have spent a few days in there. Back to the hotel for the evening with a bottle
of raspberry ale!
Day 65 Canmore to Cardston 18.06.12
Slept better last night, shower, breakfast & packed then
walked to the post office to get some stamps for postcards before setting off
on the 220 mile drive to Cardston & our last night in Canada for a while.
After a short time on the road the clouds came over &
the mountains changed to very flat land as far as the eye could see. Then the
rain started & did it come down hard? We didn’t stop & arrived at the
South Country Inn in Cardston at 3.30pm & checked in. Nice hotel but no
coffee / tea maker & no breakfast again.
At last the rain stopped so we went for a walk up the street
then to the Greek restaurant next door. We had the best meal so far, souvlaki
with rice, lemon potatoes, Greek salad & pitta. The waitress told us that
the chef is from Greece, no surprise as the food was as good as any I’ve had on
a Greek Island! Read my book until it
was time for bed.
Day 66 Cardston, Canada to East Glacier, Montana, USA
19.06.12
Going back to America for the next couple of weeks & so
looking forward to more rest rooms & better road signs!
Set off in the rain as you might guess by now & crossed
the border with no problems, the 2 men on duty were very pleasant, unlike the
one on the way to Canada.
Just after the border there was a statue of 2 Indians, flags
& a sign about the Blackfeet tribe.
Then we saw a herd of buffalo lying down in a field. Pity
they weren’t up & about but at least we saw some.
We went to St. Mary & stopped for a coffee, the lad who served us said he wasn’t sure if the road through Glacier National Park was open as it is shut all winter because of the 30 – 40 feet of snow they get every year! Last year it didn’t open until mid July! While we were there another employee came in to say the road had just been opened. How lucky is that? If we’d been a day earlier we wouldn’t have been able to cross it.
We went to St. Mary & stopped for a coffee, the lad who served us said he wasn’t sure if the road through Glacier National Park was open as it is shut all winter because of the 30 – 40 feet of snow they get every year! Last year it didn’t open until mid July! While we were there another employee came in to say the road had just been opened. How lucky is that? If we’d been a day earlier we wouldn’t have been able to cross it.
He also said that 2 WEEKS AGO they had 32 inches of snow!
Hard for us to take in, that’s more than we’ve had in the last 10 years.
We entered the park & paid $25 for a pass then started
driving through wonderful scenery again. Past Saint Mary Lake with trees &
mountains stopping several times to take pictures then we started going up over
the mountain. This is when it got a bit hairy as the clouds dropped, the rain
was coming down in sheets & the road rose up & up getting quite narrow
in places. Oh, I forgot, the snow was piled up at each side & looked as if
it was going to come down on us!
When we got higher up some of the road had suffered from the
winter weather & there were a lot of workmen & women up there working
on the road & clearing drains. The melted snow was coming down onto the
road in waterfalls, just like going through a car wash at times. It was scarey
but also exhilarating.
The road started coming down again & we were out of the
clouds & could see again. Lake MacDonald was another stretch of water we
drove past & we stopped at the Apgar visitor centre for an ice cream which
we ate by the lake. (It had stopped raining.)
That was a lovely national park to drive through, different
again from the others. We carried on to East Glacier, about 40 odd miles away
to the Mountain Pine Lodge. The little old lady who checked us in was the owner
with her husband, Terry. She told us of lots of walks to do & then forgot
our room number 3 times, a real character.
I have to tell you that this place is a throw back from the
1950’s! The cabins are lovely & clean but the furnishings are pure retro.
The tv is ancient (Poor Roy was hoping to catch the England match but no
chance!) No drawers to put anything away, no fridge, no tea / coffee maker, wi
fi so weak we might as well not have any. The whole atmosphere of the place
screams 1950’s but it’s all part of the adventure we’re on.
After sorting our stuff we went for a walk up the road &
then to the village half a mile away. On the way past the golf course we saw a
big brown bear run across the road & off into the trees by the rail track.
Didn’t expect that!!! Went into a nice gift shop & treated myself to some
hoop (not massive) earrings then walked back looking out for bears all the way.
Certainly won’t be walking around here in the dark!
We decided to go to a diner called Luna’s for tea & had
a pud called huckleberry pie with whipped cream which was delicious. Then
waddled back to the room to see if the match was on but sadly we can only get 6
channels & none of them have the match on only baseball!
Day 67 East Glacier to Great Falls 20.06.12
Didn’t sleep well at all, kept thinking I could hear bears
but it was a dog tied up near our room! Set off for Great Falls through the
Blackfeet reservation. Their village looks so depressing & in need of a
good revamp. Do feel sorry for how the tribes have all been treated over the
years.
The landscape has been very flat, plains with a few deer
& lots of horses & cattle. Arrived at the O’Haire Motor Inn &
checked in. This is a little different as they advertise a bar with mermaids
swimming in the pool visible by a glass wall in the bar. Interestingly this is
also the hotel pool so I won’t be going in it!
We unpacked, made a hot drink & pottered about then the
noise started, the woman on reception had told us we would have a lovely quiet
room. We waited for a while & it went off but then started again so Roy went
to reception to see what it was. It’s the generator on the roof above us. So we
packed up & moved to another room. Thankfully no noise here.
We had a look around & found the bar for later, although
a few appeared to have been in there for a while! Then we went for a walk by
the Missouri river, that was the plan but there were so many Canada geese with
goslings that we only went a short distance. Back to the room & got ready
for tea in the hotel restaurant then up to the bar to see the ‘mermaids’.
The food was nice but as for the ‘mermaids’ I could have
done better! 2 young girls in goggles & bikini tops with home-made tails in
black fabric with wispy bits of net at the bottom. Nothing like on the web
page. Oh well, at least we went. We left before the lady on the piano started
but Roy went through later on his way to the chocolate machine & said she
was worse than he had imagined!
Day 68 Great Falls to Bozeman 21.06.12
Got ready & went to look at the falls before setting off
for Bozeman. Stopped on the way for a picnic at Safeway & had a frappachino.
Prefer milk shake myself. Carried on & checked into the Super 8 at Bozeman,
seems like a lovely area. Pottered around & wrote some postcards then went
to McDonalds next door for tea. We’re both getting sick to death of fast food
& the way everything is cooked, can’t wait for beans on toast, bacon
sarnies & a Sunday roast! Not really much to report from here as we just
had a quiet time.
Day 69 Bozeman to West Yellowstone 22.06.12
Didn’t sleep well, too much on my mind as I had 2 viewings
on the house yesterday & should hear back after the weekend. Got ready
& went for our first free breakfast for 6 days, bliss.
Set off for West Yellowstone where we’ll be staying for 3
days & the weather is much warmer so the shorts will be out again. We arrived
at the One Horse Motel really early at 12.30 but Holly, one of the owners, said
we could move in. If you can imagine motels from films where you pull up in
front of your room then this is it. The room is lovely with everything but a
coffee maker so we’ll have to make do with beer instead!
Roy did a load of washing (Poor henpecked man you’re
thinking!) while I settled in then we went for a walk into town while it was
drying for a look around.
It’s a very nice town for people going to Yellowstone Park
with lots of shops, cafes, restaurants &, best of all, a Grizzly & Wolf
Discovery Centre. They have all either been rescued as cubs or put there
instead of being destroyed because they were being nuisances to towns &
unable to relocate because they’d got used to going through bins etc as a
source of food.
We had a great time watching the bears, they are put in the
compound in 2’s or 3’s after the ranger has hidden lots of food for them to
find. The wolves were mostly lying around until a young one went into a deep
hole & was digging & 2 others went over to see what he was up to so we
got some great photos & video. They are doing a great job educating people
about bears & wolves & the bears also have a job testing bear proof
bins for designers. It’s a non-profit making enterprise.
On the way back we stopped for a pizza & a beer as we
were very thirsty.
I’ll put the photos on separately again.
TTFN xxx
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