Exploring Banff National Park

Some typical scenery:

A break in the trees -- YAY!

The Bow River

Glacier fields

More glaciers

From our camp: Big Banff Moon!

Bow River Falls

Into Canada

We slipped into British Columbia Canada July 18th, on our way to Banff National Park.  Heck-of-a-long drive up from Kalispell Mt, and Jamie drove the whole way -- Bless His Heart!  Two lane highway with many ups & downs & blind corners, and fairly heavy traffic (I'm not that comfortable towing the 34' 5th-wheel yet . . . ).  We got to our campground in Banff and settled in for awhile, using this as base to explore the area.  Banff is quite the tourist town -- think Estes Park X 10 on the busiest summer weekends!  Crazy traffic, with rude bicyclists on narrow roads. 

Finally got to Canada, but still a long drive to Banff.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Canadian Rockies -- AWESOME

 

 

 

Evidence of a cataclysmic event

view from our camp in Banff National Park

interesting campsite arrangement, but it works -- that's us up front

Exiting the United States

Continuing north from Anaconda MT, we spent one night near Kalispell camped on our friends Mary's & Joe's land.  The scenery is spectacular in this part of the country and we enjoyed the drive.  We discovered some great places where we can park our 5th-wheel along a beautiful river and do some fishing -- might just do that on our trip back into the States.  Here's a sampling of the scenery, shot out the car window:

Goosetown, aka 'Anaconda', Montana

We spent a few days in Anaconda, former home of the Anaconda copper mines.  Visited Bob Holje, my old friend and co-worker from PSCo in Denver.  Got to take a little break from the driving, had a nice visit with Bob & Charlie (the dog), were treated to Bob's great cooking & hospitality, and took a lovely hike along the Continental Divide one day.  Bob's looking great, still loves the full-time trailer life [and his new 5th-wheel is very upscale + LARGE], and enjoys his summers here and winters in Ajo Arizona.

Jamie & Holje

Hiking the Continental Divide near Anaconda MT

Lots of 'shrooms blooming!

Charlie & his person/slave

Holje & me -- OLD Friends!

Mining Country

How would you like this in your backyard?

Approaching Butte MT -- one terrific scar across the landscape.  YUK!

This is what I think Montana should look like!  We visited old friend Holje in Anaconda MT and went for a lovely hike in his neck-of-the-woods.  Pristine country, lots of wildflowers, and good company.

Holje & Me

Westward Bound

We left Rapid City SD Saturday July 13th, heading for Montana and then Canada.  The drive was interesting and scenic, along US highway 212 heading west.  Twice we spotted Golden Eagles soaring above the highway, quite close to us -- they are SO majestic!
They call this 'Big Sky Country' for a reason.

 

. . . where the deer & the antelope play

And a great hay harvest.

Hard to get a shot of the whole herd out the window of the moving pickup!

Another common site along the highways and byways -- it IS summer, after all.










Made good time from Rapid to Hardin MT, checked into the RV park and headed out to the Little Bighorn National Park, aka 'Custer's Last Stand'.  If you've never visited this, be sure to put it on your Bucket List: it's awesome!

The monument was originally dedicated to the Cavalry; however, a few years back another section was added to honor the Native Americans who were killed in the battle; markers were also added where the warriors fell in battle.

Escaping the City Life

We're not missing Colorado's Front Range one darn bit.  Living in the trailer seems to agree with both of us.  We find 'dress code' among RVers is pretty relaxed and one can quickly adapt to a different standard.  Jamie, for instance. 

Then

Now

In the Black Hills & Rapid City SD

Arrived in Rapid City Saturday July 6th, after a lovely drive across the state -- much on secondary roads through the heartland and farm country where all my grandparents lived when I was a kid.  We're camped in an RV park on Mt. Rushmore Road at the top of the hill just outside Rapid -- nice park that's been here forever; our spot is end-of-row and we have great views of the plains to the SE [can just make out the Bad Lands in the distance] and the city to the NE. 

The night view of  the city is quite lovely; this picture was taken from just outside our trailer.

We played 'tourist' Sunday and took a drive in the northern Black Hills through Spearfish Canyon -- one of the most beautiful drives ever!  Stopped at Roughlock Falls and got some nice photos of the place.  Funny, though.  From my youth I remember these as much HIGHER waterfalls!

This may be adequate proof I was there.

Observations on FREE RV camping

There are many, many absolutely FREE places to park an RV [or tent, for that matter], most notably City & Lions Parks in small towns, and places like WalMart or truck stops.  We parked free, with electrical hook-up and access to water & a dump station at Lions Park in Vermillion SD.  When you're parking free, you take what you get and that can be [kindly stated] interesting. 

The Vermillion experience included a homeless lady, around 45-50 years old who lived in a tent with her scruffy dog. She sat upright in the tent most of the time, coming out about once a day to drive her old car somewhere & pick up a deli sandwich which she brought back & ate in the car.  We tried to visit with her, but she ignored us -- oh, well.  One day a huge group (12-15) of folks showed up with a half-dozen large tents & set up in the 2 spots next to us, parking a couple tents about 2 feet from our trailer; there were people closer to our kitchen table than Jamie was while working at his computer desk!  Luckily, those folks were not drinkers [can you imagine what fun we would have had if they'd been slugging beer all day & night?] and were relatively quiet.  Then the homeless lady on the other side of us pulled out, and the big group moved several of their tents over to her vacated spot because they had a bunch more friends/family coming.  So.  Our last night we were camped right smack dab in the middle of this gathering, with kids & adults both ducking under the hitch of our 5th-wheel as they moved between the 2 camps.  Like I said: INTERESTING! Wish I'd taken some pictures.

Speaking of photos, I discovered traveling in an RV limits one's ability to pull off the road & take advantage of Kodak Moments.  There were so many cool shots along the highways & byways that I missed.  I've decided to just start shooting through the truck window so I don't lose the memories -- in the future you'll find more pictures posted here, even though they won't be great photography.

 

4th of July in Vermillion South Dakota

Nothing like celebrating Independence Day in American's Heartland!  We spent the day riding bikes around Vermillion, driving some country roads where family homesteads were, checking out the Vermillion Boat Club which my folks were instrumental in forming, visiting the Meckling (Bergen Lutheran) Cemetery where ancestors of my mom's family all reside.  Treated ourselves to the famous chicken dinner at Toby's in Meckling -- an institution for over 40 years -- and discovered Meckling High School class pictures for my mom and my aunt & uncle.  Then to the little Farmer's Market (small but wonderful fare) a couple blocks from our free RV spot in Lions Park.  Got these incredible fresh-picked strawberries.  Supper last night was fresh-ground peanut butter on great 'peasant' bread & a bowl of strawberries & cream - YUM!  We were treated to a very good fireworks display which we watched from our free RV camp.

MY LITTLE TOWN

Visiting the town I grew up in, Vermillion SD. I left in 1961 and discovered the place hasn't changed a whole lot in all those years! It was fun to find the house I was raised in; it also hasn't changed!

We'll be catching up with a few of my high school classmates and I'll order a marker for my mom & dad to be placed in the family plot at the Meckling Cemetery -- probably a good thing when future generations want to discover their roots.  That cemetery houses many of my ancestors back to the mid-1800s; I wouldn't be surprised if 90% of the people buried there are 'family'.

 Here's the house on West Cedar St. in Vermillion; my folks bought it in 1944 and added on to it around 1950. Cozy and quaint!

On the Road Again

We left Missouri Saturday June 29th and headed northwest into Iowa; spent the night at a KOA west of Des Moines.  Then we drove on to Vermillion SD where we'll spend this week. 
We had a lovely time visiting Jamie's family and ate out WAY too much -- I managed to pack on 2 pounds in 2 weeks - YIKES! 
We saw some beautiful country on our 'shake out' trip with the 5th wheel -- rolling wooded hills and everything was so very, very green; totally different from Colorado.  Now we're really feeling the urge to get on into less populated areas & start 'boondocking' (camping on public lands instead of in RV parks).