Monthly Archives: July 2013

2013, Trip Six, The Northwest, July 9

Posted on July 10, 2013 by Ed Heimel and Chris Klejbuk, MN travel bloggers; ckeh72@comcast.net

Calgary, July 9, Tuesday

YaaHOOO. It was Calgary Stampede day. If you did not have a cowboy hat on today, you were not into it. Luckily our Evergreen hosts had extras and two of them fit us. So we were people in the know.

Ed at the Stampede grounds

We rode the light rail down with our Evergreen hosts and two friends of theirs. The stampede grounds are just south east of downtown Calgary. We spent the day there.

The highlight of the day was a three hour rodeo. This included bronco riding, barrel riding, bareback horse riding, calf roping, bull riding, etc. In the calf roping, I think the score was about equal between the calves and the cowboys. A cowboy from Minnesota won the bronco riding. We had seats in the shade which was great since the day was sunny, temps in the 70s with a light breeze.

barrel riding

bronco riding at Stampede

We avoided most of the fair type food, thinking we will experience enough of that at the end of August at the Minnesota state fair. We spent plenty of time wandering the grounds exploring the animal barns, vendors, and the First Nations display.

During stampede time, the people of Calgary sponsor numerous free meals. There are several free pancake breakfasts every day. These are scattered around the metropolitan area. Tomorrow our hosts are going to a barbecue lunch. This one does have a two dollar charge, but all of the proceeds are being donated to flood relief.

Grandstand 2.5 weeks ago

Grandstand today

You may not have read but the stampede grounds were underwater during the flood. In fact, the Saddledome, where the Calgary Flames play hockey, had water up to the 10th row inside the dome. The dome was not available for stampede events this year.
The rest of the grounds were in very good shape.

The stampede organizers had proclaimed that “Come hell or high water, the stampede will go on”. T-shirts quoting this have been sold out. New shipments come in daily and are sold out immediately. They have raised over $1 million just from T-shirt sales so far.

We wrapped up our last evening in Calgary with a final conversation with our hosts. Wednesday we drive to Spokane. Depending on time, we have two or three potential side visits to make along the way.

Ed and Chris July 9 11:45 pm

Categories: road trip, travel | Tags: Calgary Stampede | Leave a comment

2013, Trip Six, The Northwest, July 7 and 8

Posted on July 8, 2013 by Ed Heimel and Chris Klejbuk, MN travel bloggers; ckeh72@comcast.net

Calgary, July 7 and 8

July 7, Sunday, was our travel day. We left Canmore after Church and took the Bow Valley Trail to Calgary. This road had been closed until a few days ago. It follows the Bow River and we saw numerous locations where the road had been repaired. It is considered an alternate, scenic route to Calgary.

We made one stop along the way in Cochrane for a bite to eat. Lunch was in a small establishment where we could have had home-made pies for desert. We opted instead to have desert three doors down for the locally made ice cream.

Calgary Olympic Park from park across the Bow River

Our first stop in Calgary was at Olympic Park. Calgary was the host of the 1988 Winter Olympics and at the ski area they now have the Canada Sports Hall of Fame. The ski jump area has been converted into a playground with luge runs, sports camps, etc. We spent two hours going through the Hall of Fame. Curling and hockey were my favorites.

Our second stop was at a park along he Bow River where we went walking. Pleasant, even with the numerous dogs out and about.

After dinner, we met our Evergreen hosts for the next three nights. They have just retired but have managed a number of trips, many in the U.S. so we compared notes.

Monday July 8

Luckily we had planned to make Monday a downtown Calgary, museum day. The day was cool and rainy; we had a light drizzle on our walk to the LRT stop by our host’s home but it poured around lunch time.

Glenbow museum minerals-this is ammolite local to Alberta

Glenbow museum-barbed wire horse

Our first stop was the Glenbow Museum. As it turned out, we spent almost all day there. The museum was founded, funded, and initially stocked by Eric Harvie, a rancher who owned the land where Alberta’s big oil strike occurred. He ended up supporting numerous charitable organizations-without having his name attached to them.

The museum is spread across three floors with extensive displays. There was art: from contemporary times, from Asia, from Africa, and from Calgary in the 1970s. There was a special exhibit about M.C. Escher and his fascination with mathematics in his art.

One exhibit focused on “Mavericks” from Alberta; in politics, art, business, sports, etc. It was a fascinating, informative exhibit. Another section was devoted to the First Nations-the term used to encompass Native Americans.

Glenbow museum, Buddhist shrine

One collection focused on Treasures from the Mineral World, we thought of Lucian often here. The art of the Northwest was in another gallery but after the Whyte museum in Banff, there was not much new on display. The final exhibit discussed the role of warriors and warrior classes throughout the ages. This is the largest museum in western Canada and worth the time we spent here.

Downtown Calgary has skyways, The skyways are called Plus 15s. Evidently when first constructed, they had to be fifteen feet about street level. Even though Canada has adopted the metric system, the term has stuck. We did some exploration of the downtown, mainly on the skyways but some at street level.

There was en interesting spot in one skyway near the cultural venues where 6 seats were in a corner of the hallway so you could view a TV type monitor where short vignettes by local artists played in rotation. In another section, they had an indoor garden which reminded me of the one in Town Center in St. Paul-which was removed a number of years ago.

Devonian Gardens in downtown Calgary

Since this is Stampede time, many people are wearing cowboy hats. It seems most offices have designated this week as jeans week as they were everywhere. At one downtown park, several Stampede activities are scheduled every morning. Due to the weather today, they were canceled so we missed that.

We did run in to two local people that we spent some time talking to. One woman stopped us by the park where the activities had been canceled to encourage us to come back on Wednesday. We spent 20 minutes talking about Calgary and life in general with her. A man on the LRT on the way home had a Hawaii ranch shirt on so we discussed Hawaii and Calgary with him.

We returned to our Evergreen hosts and finished the evening with some further conversation. All of us will be taking the LRT to the Calgary Stampede grounds tomorrow. It will be interesting to see how the grounds look. They were under water two weeks ago.

Ed and Chris July 8 10:45 pm

Categories: road trip, travel | Tags: Bow Valley Trail in Alberta, Olympic Park in Calgary | Leave a comment

2013 Trip Six, The Northwest, July 6

Posted on July 6, 2013 by Ed Heimel and Chris Klejbuk, MN travel bloggers; ckeh72@comcast.net

Canmore, July 6

Our last full day in the Canadian Rockies for a while. We went back to Banff and spent several hours in the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies. The day started out cool and drizzly so the museum seemed a good idea. It was time well spent.

We did three half hour docent tours. One focused on the homes and lives of Catherine and Peter Whyte and of Philip and Pearl Moore. Both families came from money on at least one side and chose to spend most of their lives and energies in Banff, at the time, a very small town. The Whytes were also painters and some of their work is exhibited here.

Interior of Morse home showing Princeton memorabilia

Interior of Moore home showing Princeton memorabilia

Interior of Whyte home showing artist work space

Both homes were relatively small but very comfortable looking. They reflected the mountain style and the interiors fit together well.

The second tour was a history of how the Canadian Rockies were opened for development; through surveyors, the passage of the CP Rail trains, skiing, etc. Individuals with courage and foresight were able to make major impacts.

The third tour discussed the art of the Rockies. CP Rail sponsored artists to paint scenes they deemed suitable for use to market the area for tourism and development. The Railway was nearly bankrupt after completion of the Canadian intercontinental line in 1885 (U.S. line completed in 1869-see Trip Four)and needed revenue. The completion of the line was essential to keeping British Columbia in the Canadian Federation and its promised completion date was overdue by several years.

One of the CP Rail sponsored paintings

Similar to U.S. efforts, tourism along the rail lines was one method to gain dollars. Artists got a free pass on the railroad to paint, and later photograph, scenes that showed the majesty and none of the problems of the area.

After the museum we went to the local, downtown market and picked up food for a picnic lunch in the park along the river. We observed a wedding and a physical education class in the park. A walk along the Bow River worked off most of the calories consumed. The weather alternated between sunny hot and cool drizzly. We managed to avoid any major raindrops.

We went in to the Banff Park Museum, a national historic site. It was devoted primarily to the animals of the region, usually shown in dioramas. It did not take long to complete our tour.

Mount Rundle and Vermillion Lake

After some further walking in downtown we went to Vermillion Lakes, a highly touted scenic area. We took a few shots of Mt. Rundle but found the area less than spectacular.

So we leave Banff having seen most of the highlighted areas. Those we missed we will catch later (the balance of the Icefields Parkway), they were hikes in active grizzly bear areas, or they were still closed due to the flooding. The area is generally back to normal but almost all of the hotels had Vacancy signs showing; evidently many people cancelled their reservations after the flood.

We have completed one week at our first airbnb lodging. It has worked out well for us. We have a lower level unit to ourselves with kitchen and sitting area. It has plenty of windows looking out at the back yard and forest. We have three more airbnb lodgings on this trip; Vancouver, Whistler, Victoria in British Columbia and East Wenatchee, WA.

Tomorrow we pack up and drive to Calgary.

Ed and Chris, July 6 9:30 pm

Categories: road trip, travel | Tags: Banff, Banff Park Museum, Whyte Museum of Canadian Rockies | 1 Comment

2013 Trip Six, The Northwest, July 5

Posted on July 6, 2013 by Ed Heimel and Chris Klejbuk, MN travel bloggers; ckeh72@comcast.net

Canmore, July 5

Cascade Mountain overlooking Banff

We drove past Banff and we slipped over the border into British Columbia to hike in Kootenay National Park. Kootenay is long and narrow with only one road traversing the park. There are only 3 passes over the Canadian Rockies and by the end of the trip, we will have taken all three. This one was easy, only two lanes but wide road and relatively easy gradient.

We went on three hikes in the park. This was after rejecting one early in the morning which had fresh bear skat within the first three minutes of the trail.

Marble Canyon

Our first hike was Marble Canyon. In actuality, it is really a gorge, not a canyon. Tokumm creek flows through the area on its way to the Vermilion River. While the hike is steep, there are bridges and railings to assist you. All three hikes today are taking place in areas which have had forest fires within the last 5 to 20 years.

Marble Canyon

Wildflowers are continuing to bloom and be more profuse than before. The river and creek water continues to be seafoam green. Supposedly, when we return in August they will be blue.

Vermillion River at Numa Creek trailhead

Vermillion river at Numa Creek trailhead

We made a quick stop at the Numa Creek trailhead. For us, we used it as a wayside rest actually along the Vermilion River. There is a nice little falls here and this area had not burnt so you were able to compare burnt forest with a mature forest.

Vermillion River

The day was warmer than expected and the rain held off until the evening. If you look closely though, you will see two small rainbows in two of the water pictures.

We only drove about one half of Kootenay Park today. We will finish it on our return journey. At the turnaround point, we saw a brochure for a Ranger walk. It was back at a trailhead we had stopped at but chosen not to hike.

Ranger walk showing two burnt and new growth

Walk through burnt area with ranger

We drove back to the trailhead and met the Ranger for an hour and a half hike. She talked primarily about the burned area and the regrowth process. She was working here at the time of the last forest fire and had pictures showing the regrowth during the next 1 to 3 years. We were the only two people on the hike so it was a private tour.

One of the items she explained was that trees that were dead at the time of the fire now have black, burnt trunks. Trees that were living at the time of the fire have grayish trunks-with no branches and no leaves of course.

Chris and Ranger Sharon

Our third hike was at Stanley glacier. We did not hike all the way to the glacier. We just did the early, steep climbing portion of the hike. This hike also had areas of wildflowers, along with small trees across the trail that had to be climbed over or under.

Wildflowers along Stanley Glacier trail

Best shot we could get of Stanley Glacier

Stanley Glacier trail

Our next stop was at Norquay mountain. This is a ski area above Banff. Like other ski areas, they imported a number of Swiss skiers to provide lessons and run ski schools back in the 1930s to help get the industry off the ground. There was an overlook that provided a view of Banff from high above. In addition, we observed our first mountain goats.

We wrapped up the day with dinner and downtown Banff. Our legs and knees are saying “No more steep hikes, No more steep hikes.” So Saturday we will stay on flat land in Banff.

Banff from Norquay Mountain

Our first mountain
goat

Oh, and Canmore lifted the boil water advisory at the end of the day Friday. Hurray!

Ed and Chris Saturday July 6 8:45 am

Categories: road trip, travel | Tags: Kootenay National Park, Marble Canyon, Stanley Glacier | 1 Comment

2013 Trip Six, The Northwest, July 4

Posted on July 4, 2013 by Ed Heimel and Chris Klejbuk, MN travel bloggers; ckeh72@comcast.net

Canmore, Thursday July 4

No holiday in Canada, just another work day. We spent most of the day around the town of Banff. We made a quick stop at the park information center in downtown Banff. It did not open until 9 AM so we had a few minutes to wait.

The downtown area is very attractive. We did not spend much time walking the streets, however, since we are not major shoppers. Instead, we headed out to the Lake Minnewanka area. Due to the recent flooding, several of the facilities were closed and the boat that travels on the lake was not operating. Unfortunately, this was not stated or listed at the park office before we headed out.

Lake Minnewanka

The lake was expanded after two dams were created here. A small town was covered by the rising waters. Scuba divers who are able to handle cold,murky water and high altitudes enjoy exploring here. We just took a short hike by the lake then continued on the Lake Minnewanka drive. As we toured the area, we came across more closed trails and closed roads. The three lakes that we saw in the area continued the green, cloudy color or muddy brown from the run-off. One of the lakes is normally used for swimming. There was no one there.

Thermal pool in cave

We returned to the town of Banff. We spent several hours at the Cave and Basin National Historic Site. At this location in 1883, three workers for the Canadian Pacific Railway found a hot springs and thermal pool in a cave. The timing was perfect for exploitation. Hot springs were in and the railway, like those in the U.S., worked hard to get tourists into the area. But of course there was controversy and issues over ownership rights.

The end result was the first national park in Canada created in 1885. It was the third national park in the world. First called Rocky Mountain Park, it was formed around the hot springs. This was a similar pattern to Yellowstone in the U.S. which was protected initially for the thermal springs. It took a while for other features to be treasured and added to the park property. Later on, Canada added Jasper, Waterton, Yoho, and Kootenay national parks in the Rocky Mountain area.

Canada instituted the first national park system with wardens/rangers, predating our park service by several years. Early years here demonstrated similar pressures to oust native Indians, mine natural resources, control predators and encourage tourism. During World Wars I and II, internment camps were established here and in Jasper National Park.

The Cave and Basin site was also used for swimming. A large swimming pool existed here for decades before closing permanently in 1994.

Bow River falls in Banff

We spent time exploring the cave, reading about the parks system, hiking up to the springs and down to the marsh along the Bow River.

Our late lunch stop was at the Bow River falls. While not high, the strong flow and mountain backdrop make the falls attractive and a tourist hot spot. Part of the area was being re-built due to the flood.

After lunch, we went to Cascades in Time garden located at the Parks Administration building. It was a relaxing way to spend part of the day. Here, at Cave and Basin, and in the back yard of our lodging, bloom the wild rose, which is Alberta’s official flower.

View of downtown Banff

Cascade in Time Garden

Our final stop was at the Hoodoos overlook. Hoodoos are tall, thin columns of rock formed because a protective cap of some nature drastically reduced its erosion in contrast to the surroundings. Bryce Canyon is a great example of numerous hoodoos. We saw a few in Colorado National Monument on Trip Four also.

Back in Canmore for dinner at a local restaurant, grocery shopping, and further planning. Tomorrow is tentatively scheduled for Kootenay National Park just over the border in British Columbia.

Another shot of 3 Sisters mountains outside our door at 8:30 pm

Ed and Chris July 4 10:30 pm

Categories: road trip, travel | Tags: Banff, Cave and Basin National Historic Site | Leave a comment

2013 Trip Six, The Northwest, July 3

Posted on July 3, 2013 by Ed Heimel and Chris Klejbuk, MN travel bloggers; ckeh72@comcast.net

Canmore, Alberta July 3

We returned to the Lake Louise area of Banff National Park today. We spent several hours at the Lake Louise ski area. They have a summer program that involves a chairlift or gondola ride up the mountain along with views of the area and wildlife talks and walks.

Grizzly bear and cub

We chose the chairlift. I took a chance I would not get vertigo on the ride up. Not only was the ride up perfectly fine, we saw a grizzly bear and her cub from the chairlift. That was a very safe means to see a grizzly.

From the ski area, we had great views of Lake Louise across the valley. The lake looks more like a seafoam color from the distance.

Lake Louise from ski lift

The ski area offers a guided walk into their protected grizzly bear area. The ski area works with Parks Canada and has established a perimeter around the ski zone. They have safe zones where the grizzlies have their natural habitat and protected ski runs for us humans. You can only enter the grizzly habitat area with a guide and for a limited period of time. Of course, we didn’t really want to see a grizzly up close and personal.

We chose the chairlift ride option that includes a buffet lunch and after lunch we headed out for the Icefields Parkway. The parkway extends from Lake Louise to Jasper. We will be using this road later to reach Jasper after we leave Vancouver. We chose to drive a portion of the parkway today because there are many sites to see. This will allow us to concentrate on Jasper National Park when we visit in August.

Bow Lake

Bow glacier, falls, and lake

We stopped at the Crowfoot Glacier viewpoint. There used to be three glaciers here. One has disappeared. One has shrunk dramatically and the last one is contracting.

The second stop was Bow Lake. Bow Lake is the closest lake to the headwaters of the Bow river, one of the rivers that caused so much flooding in June. The river is still running high and fast. The lake colors are in that blue to sea foam to emerald color that is dependent on rock dust to set its color.

Bow glacier supplies water to Bow Lake. Like others in the area, it is shrinking but you can see the glacier and the water feeding the lake.

We continued on the Icefields Parkway over Bow Summit. At 6800 feet, it is the highest year round driveable road in the Canadian Rockies. (At this point, we have yet to drive on any narrow, winding roads we encountered so frequently in the U.S. But we have been primarily going north to south, not east to west.)

Peyto glacier

Peyto Lake with incoming water from left

Peyto Lake, another look

Mountain and valley view from Bow Summit

At the Bow Summit area, we walked up to the overlook to see Peyto Lake and several glaciers. Peyto Lake is also fed by glacier run off. The incoming water infused with rock dust makes an obvious entry into the lake. We continued on the Parkway to Saskatchewan Crossing where we turned around (after an ice cream break.)

Our final view-point was back along Bow Lake to walk along the water’s edge and shoot some pictures from a different perspective. Back to Canmore at 7 pm and time to plan the next several days activities.

As we arrived, the water crews were flushing the lines. Maybe the boil water requirement will be lifted before we leave. In Canmore, there is no trash pick-up from the front of your house. Due to bears, all trash must be brought by the residents to central bear proof dumpsters.

Ed and Chris July 3 10 pm

Categories: road trip, travel | Tags: Banff National Park, Bow Lake, Crowfoot Glacier, Icefields Parkway, Lake Louise | Leave a comment

2013, Trip Six, The Northwest, July 2

Posted on July 2, 2013 by Ed Heimel and Chris Klejbuk, MN travel bloggers; ckeh72@comcast.net

July 2, Canmore, Alberta

Today was our first day really exploring the Canadian Rockies. We drove from Canmore, Alberta to Lake Louise, Alberta on the Trans Canada highway. Lake Louise is one of the major not to be missed sites within Banff National Park. Along the highway within the park, Parks Canada has built several, very wide overpasses designed solely to allow wildlife to cross over the highway without being killed.

Both Lake Louise and Moraine lake have similar color characteristics. They are fed by runoff from the mountains which carries rock dust into the lake. Depending on the season, the time of day, wind and other factors, the color of the water can change from a deep blue to an emerald green.

Lake Louise

Lake Louise was still being fed by rock dust. You can see it from the streams feeding the lake and the dust floating on top of the water. In some areas, particularly the rivers, it looks almost whitish green. Today’s color of Lake Louise was more of the emerald green. As the summer progresses,more of the dust settles to the bottom and the color becomes more blue.

We were at the lake relatively early and parking was easy. We walked to the far end of the lake. Buses drop people off by the beginning of the lake, close to the fancy hotel. By the end of the lake, the number of people walking is relatively small. At the end of the lake, though, you can see the creeks feeding the lake with the rock dust in the water.

Moraine Lake

Snow pack around Moraine Lake

Our second walk was at Moraine lake. By this time, crowds were developing and parking was alongside the road, not in the small parking lot.

Moraine Lake was more spectacular today than Lake Louise. The color was more brilliant and the surrounding mountains had more snow. Moraine Lake is at a higher elevation than Lake Louise, contributing to the snow retention. The crowds observing the lake were very amazed at the color.

Chris was busy taking pictures of couples on their cameras at numerous spots around the lake. People are very appreciative of the opportunity to have both people in the photo opportunity. As you can see from the picture above, we took advantage of this mutual picture taking to have our joint photo taken.

We walked to the end of Moraine, having lunch watching the lake and surroundings. The day was hot, possibly in the high 80s, but Moraine Lake had more shade than Lake Louise.

Bow Valley Parkway

Our third activity of the day was driving the Bow Valley Parkway. Part of the Parkway is still undergoing construction after the floods of June 20. We stopped at Johnston Canyon. Our third hike of the day was to the lower falls there.

Walking on the catwalk bridge along Johnston canyon

Lower falls at Johnston Canyon

We arrived back at Canmore around 7 PM. It was a busy day with plenty of exercise and numerous beautiful views of the Canadian Rockies.

Ed and Chris July 2 10 pm

Categories: road trip, travel | Leave a comment

2013 Trip Six, The Northwest, July 1

Posted on July 1, 2013 by Ed Heimel and Chris Klejbuk, MN travel bloggers; ckeh72@comcast.net

July 1, Monday, Canmore

This is 2-3 blocks from where we are staying.

July 1 is a national holiday in Canada. It relates back to the British North America Act in 1867 resulting in the first Canadian confederation. It took a while and some controversy before it became a major holiday. Canmore has a parade, activities in a park, and fireworks. Fireworks are at 10:30 pm, we are going to skip them so we can be rested for exploration of Banff National Park tomorrow.

RCMP

Front end loader with actual rocks moved by the floodwaters.

We walked down the hill to the main part of Canmore for the parade. It lasted about an hour. The largest applause was for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the construction crews that helped restore the towns roads, etc. It was a good parade with a very nice turn out. We felt sorry for the marchers; it was sunny and the temp was in the mid to high 80s.

The park had a football field and several bands performed their shows which we watched. The rest of the activities were primarily for kids. We headed back up the hill and had a mid afternoon snack before regrouping.

Performers at “Oh, Canada,Eh?”

We took in an evening performance of “Oh, Canada, Eh”. Actually it was the 5,660th performance of the show. Obviously it is a fixture here on the dinner-show circuit. The show highlights and spoofs Canada, the 2nd largest country in the world. “You know you are Canadian when you design your Halloween costumes to fit over your snowsuit.” Over 40 songs are in the show, all written by Canadians throughout the years.

It was a pleasant evening, not necessarily the highest cuisine nor Broadway bound but an enjoyable evening’s diversion.

Ed and Chris July 1 10:30 pm

Categories: road trip, travel | Tags: Canada Day, Canmore British Columbia, Oh Canada Eh | 1 Comment

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