To view the photos click on “Photos September 2006” above. Under a beautiful sunny sky we left Grande Prairie (Alberta) on September 1st, traveling south on Provincial Route 40 through Grande Cache and stopped in Hinton, where Wal-Mart was once again honored with our overnight presence.  On the next day we found a KOA campground between Hinton and Jasper that had full hookups, including WiFi.  We stayed there until September 6th, when we were to meet Dick in Jasper.   We spent the time cleaning, doing laundry, paying bills online and answering emails.  There was a stream nearby that gave Lobo the opportunity to take a swim every day, which he immensely enjoyed. Jasper  (<-- please click for more info) is a part of the Canadian National Park system.  Entrance to the parks is not cheap but since we intended to be visiting other national parks, we purchased an annual pass for CDN$ 125.  As we met Dick at 1:45 PM on September 6th in front of the library in Jasper, we had traveled over 9,000 miles since June when we had last seen him in Las Cruces.  Lobo was overjoyed to see him.  We followed Dick to Whistler campground, where he had already set up.  As soon as we set up, we had a visit from an Elk cow (see photos).  She and the rest of the herd visited us many times.  It was “rutting” season and the males can be quite dangerous during this time.  During the day, the elk would sit down under the low tree branches near us.

Lobo seemed to have a respect for these animals and stayed clear of them. On the first evening, Dick invited us to dinner at O’Shea’s Restaurant & Lounge in the Athabasca Hotel  (<-- please click).  On the next day we took the Tramway to the top of Whistler Mountain (see photos), then in the evening had Pizza and Beer sitting by a camp fire.  We spent four nights at Whistler, making day trips (see photos) and spent the evenings with a campfire.  Naturally, we also had beer can chicken cooked over the campfire! (see photo) Icefields Parkway (<--please click) has the reputation of being one of the most beautiful routes in the world.  We took this route on September 10th, traveling past lakes, waterfalls, glaciers and spectacular landscapes (see photos).  Dick followed us in his car and we communicated via Walkie-Talkies.  In the evening we stopped at Mosquito Creek campground, north of Lake Louise.  We spent two nights there.  The first night was quite cold.  After breakfast we left the RV and Dick’s car at the campsite, and drove to Lake Louise, Lake Moraine and Banff (see photos).  The following morning was overcast.  South of Banff we left the National Park, driving along the Provincial Route 40.  We spent the night at Peter Lougheed Provincial Park and woke the following morning in the rain.  During the day we even saw snow that began to stick.  That evening we arrived at Waterton National Park, which connects with Glacier National Park in Montana  (<--please click).   Waterton Village is in the middle of the park and has a large campground where we paid for four nights, to wait for better weather.  The deer are so tame that they came to visit, right next to the RV (see photos). Although it took a while, Lobo became accustomed to them being around.  In Waterton Village we also saw a female bear with her cub (see photos).  While at Waterton, we made shopping trips, visited Lake Cameron (see photos) and one evening had supper at the Bayshore Inn  (<-- click here): Rib Eye Steaks for Dick and Chuck, grilled Salmon for Renée. The clouds were quite thick on the third day even though it was supposed to clear up.  We were waiting for the weather to get better so we could visit Glacier National Park on the US side in Montana.  We decided to risk it and drove to Glacier while Dick (who had been there on his trip up to Canada) stayed at the RV to read.  The weather did in fact clear up and it also turned out to be the last day that the road through the park would be open since major road work was to close down most of the park.  It would have been quite a disappointment to have missed seeing this park (see photos). On September 18th, we left Waterton and drove on Highway 6 to Highway 93 westward where Dick wanted to visit a “Bavarian” town he had discovered on his way north.   Kimberley  (<-- please click) doesn’t sound very Bavarian but we were optimistic.  As we arrived, it was almost dark and we couldn’t find a campground nearby.  After speaking to one of the merchants, we parked in the city parking lot near the visitor’s center to spend the night there.  We walked through the “Platzl” and noticed that the Schnitzel Haus am Platzl (see photos) had a water dish for dogs right at the entrance.  This impressed us and we decided to stay for dinner.  Lobo was not allowed in the restaurant but Chef Bernard (German, but not Bavarian) set up a large propane heater on the terrace and we had a delicious meal of Hefeweizen and various forms of Schnitzel (Wiener, Jäger [Hunter] and with Chanterelle mushrooms).   Lobo received a sample of each. Kimberly was our last stop in Canada.  On September 19th, around noon time via Fort Steele and Cranbrook, we crossed into Idaho, driving to Sandpoint.  Dick was stopped by the police for switching lanes to follow us, but was released after receiving a verbal warning.  We stayed in contact via Walkie-Talkie and waited for him.  The police followed him, apparently to verify his story.  We then turned off the highway to Springy Point Campground, operated by the Corps of Engineers.   We had a lot of difficulty getting into the camp site since it was not designed for RV’s as big as ours.  However, with a lot of difficulty and without uprooting any trees, we managed to squeeze into a spot.  We spent two nights while it rained, and rained some more.  It was a nice quiet campground but without electricity and water, even though they did have a nice bathhouse with hot showers.  On the second day, Dick decided to end his part of the trip and head south toward New Mexico and better weather.  We said our goodbyes and then a few hours later we also managed to squeeze out of the camp site and headed for US Route 2 toward Spokane, WA.  We stayed at Fairchild AFB where we had left on July 13th to begin our travels to Alaska. We decided to spend a while there to accomplish such things as doctor’s visits, vet visit, RV/Truck repair and maintenance, and to repair/have repaired those items that were damaged on the Alaska Highway (DVD player, legs on computer table, etc.).  The rain suddenly stopped and we spent our time there with beautiful autumn weather.   To be continued in October….

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