Tuesday, August 31st

We drove part way up the Road to the Sun today. Weather was crappy as you can see. We had rain, sun, sleet, fog. The white is snow that was falling at the high elevations. Our caravan starts tomorrow afternoon, but in the meantime everyone is getting settled in and getting to know our new friends and renew old friendships. It is depressing to see where fires have taken out so many of the trees as well as the pine beetle. We have winter warnings for tomorrow night, but 80 by Saturday. Even the weathermen are saying it isn't even September yet!

Sunday, August 29th

I just reread the older post and saw a few typing/spelling mistakes. It was wifi that was not readily available and they charged for it in most places.

It is now Sunday and we are settled in our campsite at KOA West Glacier, Mt. We left Lake Louise this morning after a night of rain. Fortunately, it was dry when we were packing up. We then had rain until we arrived here. Unfortunately, the scenery isn't nearly as pretty when it is raining. The sun is shining on us right now and it looks so great.

On Saturday morning, we went to see Lake Louise in the morning sun. It was lovely and there was ice on the walkway. We hicked down the one side of the lake to the end. Later in the day, we drove north of Lake Louise and just saw many more beautiful mountains with more snow than when we arrived. Saturday morning we had a low of 26, but it warmed nicely in the afternoon.

Hopefully, we'll be able to keep up with this now that we are back in the USA and civilization.

Friday, August 27th

Yesterday was a beautiful drive from Calgary to Lake Louise. The mountains were lovely with small pockets of snow. After settling into our campsite, we drove to Lake Louise - absolutely gorgeous. The water is so clear and a beautiful color of turquoise. I dared to put my foot in the below 40 water. The Fairmount hotel overlooking the lake was lovely. We then drove to Moumarine lake which is smaller and retains its color all year. There was even a wedding there.

Last night, we had some rain and the cold front arrived. This morning is was cloudy, windy and 37. The higher elevations had snow. We are touring Banff today since the weather is overcast. It is just a beautiful spot. Lake Louise will be our furtherest spot from Daphne and also the northern most. Unfortunately wife is not readily available and they like to care for it. Thank God for Starbucks and today is definitely a coffee day.

Wed. Aug. 25th

What a gem we found in Calgary. This is a huge city of over 1 million. Construction is going on all over the downtown area. We went to the Olympic Plaza this morning to find that there would be a concert at noon. Weather was gorgeous, so we got some lunch and enjoyed part of the concert. Many of the workers from the downtown offices came out to do the same thing. We then walked down Stephen Avenue. How neat! It gets closed off and the restaurants all have outdoor seating. People were everywhere and very few were using cell phones or ipods. Conversation was going on. Besides the restaurants, there were benches all along the street for several blocks for folks to just sit and enjoy.

On the way back to the campsite, we stopped at the Olympic Park where a good number of the venues were held in 1988. They still use the facilities, but for the summer they have a camp. One of the major attractions for the camp is biking. They transport the bikes up the ski tows and you ride the trails down. Just like skiing, they have several different trails of difficulty. There were people practicing cross country with wheels on their skiis. Another hugs hockey rink is being built on the sight. They will do lots of training there as well as sports medicine.

A very interesting day spent here in Calgary. Low this morning 9 (50) and high this afternoon 26 (81).

Tuesday, August 24th

We are now in Calgary after of cool morning of 38 in Shelby, Mt. It warmed up nicely to the mid-70's. Calgary is a very large city with lots of traffic and road construction. Tomorrow we intend to explore the city. No pictures tonight since the phone is turned off while in Canada. Did have a beautiful sunset last night and I think tonight should be just as good. Our campground is on the hillside overlooking the city- can't wait til the lights come on.

Monday, August 23rd

This morning started out with a flat tire. Fortunately, it turned out to be the pressure censor that caused the air to leak. Were able to get that taken care of with just an hour delay. The drive from Billings to Shelby, Mt. was through some beautiful countryside. There were lots of large ranches with cattle, some horses, and lots of wheat farming. They have had an extremely wet summer so most was still green. Also got to see some windmills along the way.

Tomorrow we are off to Calgary, but not before a low of 39 tonight. Yes, we have found some cooler weather.

Sunday, August 22nd

We stayed over an extra day here in Billings. After their record high of 102 yesterday, it only got to 92 today with clouds and lots of wind. It is raining tonight and suppose to turn cooler for 2 days. I tried hard to spend money shopping today, but couldn't find a thing I couldn't do without. Tomorrow we are heading northwest to Shelby, Mt. toward the Canadian border. Plan on crossing over on Tuesday.