June 8 Radium Hot Springs

We have entended our stay here until Friday since John has come down with a massive sinus infection.  Found a physician today and he has two prescriptions to hopefully clear this up by Friday.  It was nice going into Invermere this morning.  After hitting the doctor, pharmacy and grocery store, we went to Tim Horton's a favorite bakery, cafe in Canada.  John loaded up on donuts and bagels.

On the way back to Radium Hot Springs, we saw a herd of big horn sheep.  John parked and I walked over a bridge to grab this shot.  The one on the left all of a sudden got an itch and he/she pulled their horns back to scratch their back.  Too funny!

This afternoon, John napped and I read a book by the stream behind the trailer. Nice.

Tomorrow we'll drive north about 90 minutes to Golden so he can get the oil changed in the truck and we'll go into Yoho National Park.

June 7 Radium Hot Springs

We arrived in Canada about noon yesterday and drove through Waterton Lakes National Park en route to Radium Hot Springs, the gateway to Kootenay National Park which actually provides entrance to the main Canadian north highway, route 93. 

Just after we entered the park this morning, we saw cars pulled over and there was big momma and two cubs.  The cubs were playing in the tree and although this is not such a great shot, you can see the cub on the branch of this tree.  They were so fun to watch playing with one another and falling off the branches.

We saw another bear and several deer, a grouse and prairie dogs today.  It was about a 6 hour drive in the park and after a stop in Lake Louise for ice cream, we drove back to our campground.  The trailer is parked right be a roaring stream and it was cool enough last night to use the heater.  Tonight we are grilling steaks for dinner.

Thanks to my friends Larry and Priscilla, I bought a portable electric ice maker before leaving.  At $3.50 per bag of ice up here, it will prove to be a great investment.  Thanks, guys.  It cranks out ice in about 30 minutes and we are happy campers!

June 6 early morning at Glacier National Park

We were in the park by 6 am and saw deer, elk, mountain sheep and bears!  John got in a few minutes of fishing and I'm quickly posting these images while he gets the trailer hooked up so we can cross the border into Canada and get to Radium Springs.  The bears were amazing--the smaller one was pawing at something--and then they just walked off.  Image was taken through the windshield.

June 5 St. Mary's, Montana

Greetings!  We traveled in rainy weather for about 500 miles on Friday from Salt Lake City to Helena, Montana where we stayed with my great friend, Kelly.  The drive took about 10 hours -- the bark beetle has infested the forests in Montana and it is so sad to see miles of red, rusty colored trees.  In southern Montana we stopped for a walk around the area on the right.  This was a wonderful wooden fence and a stream (probably because of all the melting snow and the rain) where you could sign in and hunt/fish/hike/etc.

We arrived at Kelly's in time for cocktails and a sampling of appetizers she is working on for a couple weddings this summer.  Dinner, of course, was beyond belief and we had a great visit.  This morning, we toured Helena and picked up a small gas bar-b-que grill and another external hard drive.

Driving north to Glacier via secondary roads, was beautiful--huge wheat farms, cattle ranches, lots of wild life-we toured the Museum of Plains Indians in Browning which was very informative.  The white man brought the glass beads in the mid 1800s and the beadwork on clothing, accessories, religious and ceremonial items and warrior items was so interesting.  Imagine living on the land, tanning buffalo hides and beading--those women were superwomen.

After getting set up at the Glacier KOA, we went to Many Glaciers/Swiftcurrent area of the park and saw many mountain goats and rocky mountain big horned sheep--too far away for good photos.  However, while enjoying huckleberry ice cream and looking through the binoculars, we watched a singular large mountain goat crossing a small field of snow and ice --running, jumping and going in circles--it was pretty amazing and we laughed and laughed.

Tomorrow morning we are going into the park on the road to Logan Pass as far as we can travel--    they are still clearing the snow so you can't drive all the way through the park.  We will then go into Canada and spend the next three nights in Radium Hot Springs just inside Kootenay National Park.  My friend, Lisa, and I traveled through the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks a couple years ago and I am anxious to see them again....and hopefully get a great shot of a moose.

June 3 Salt Lake City, Utah

Today's drive was from Moab to Salt Lake City with a stop in Draper.  We were having issues with the TV, so John found an RV dealer that helped us and then on to Camping World for additional chocks for the tires.  Camping World seems to get a larger and larger percentage of my income!

We went to the Great Salt Lake and walked on the beach to the water.  The image to the left is of some salt crystals on the beach--they were like toothpicks and only in one area.  There were many dead birds (like dozens) on the beach, mostly covered with sand, but you could see the bones and some feathers.  Thought we were in the gulf coast region with the bird and oil problem.

Tonight we went to Temple Square and toured one of the visitor centers, the Tabernacle Choir area and then went to the Conference Center to listen to the choir practice.  Beautiful music.  The image below is of the organ pipes. Tomorrow morning we will leave early and drive to Helena, Mt. and see my good friend Kelly.         

June 2 Canyonlands and Arches National Parks

This morning started off with a trip north to Canyonlands National Park and a half mile hike to Mesa Arch pictured to the left.  In the far, far distance are the snow covered LaSal Mountains.   This is a very famous arch that is usually photographed during the sunrise...we didn't get there that early today!

Canyonlands is a magical place, created over 300 million years ago when all the land was underwater.  According to the film we viewed, the water was replenished 29 times over the course of history, thus the multiple, deep valleys and canyons.

The park is full of wild flowers in bloom.  They provide a carpet of color-from the white "Candles of the Lord" Yucca, yellow Cliff Rose (which has a wonderful scent), Prince's Plume which is just starting to burst out like yellow bottle brushes, and the bright reds of Indian Paintbrush.  The image to the right is Lupine blooming among yellow bushes on the trail back from Mesa Arch.

This afternoon we visited Arches, where I had been once before in 2007 for a weekend photography class.  The park was busy and it was getting hot, so I walked the Windows trail alone and got the image to the left at the location of the North and South Windows.  It reminds me of a pair of sunglasses on some dude with a huge nose!!!

John's foot is doing great and he walked with me quite a bit today.  Thanks, Dr. Miller.

Tomorrow we will drive to Salt Lake City.

June 1 to Moab, Utah

Daddy and John were chatting this morning before we left Abiquiu for Moab.  We couldn't convince Daddy to join us--at almost 86 years young, he selected to stay home and watch the dog, Smokie...he's had enough long, hard trips during his lifetime.  The sun was just up over the mesa when we pulled out.

We drove to Moab in about 8 hours without any problems--it was a bit cloudy and light traffic.

Setting up the trailer was no big deal, it was accomplished in about 15 minutes and then we headed south to the Canyon Rims Recreational Area which is about 50 miles one way from the campground.

We hiked the Needles Overlook which offered a great view of the Colorado River, the Needles section of Canyonlands National Park and the Indian Creek area. Saw a coyote and an antelope which made John's day. The colors of the rock faces were vibrant, the sky a wonderful blue and the river area was so green.  Beautiful.

                                                                          

Tomorrow we will  stay in Moab and visit Arches and Canyonlands.  John was here while in the Navy and I was here with a photography class in 2007, so we are anxious to see more!