Category Archives: Alberta

Alberta and back to the states

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We left our friends, the Chens, and went our separate ways.  We were in Jasper in 2004 and thought about taking a day trip to Edmonton to see the West Edmonton Mall.  At that time it was the largest mall in the world.  We thought it might be interesting.  However, after thinking about the 350 miles round trip in one day, we thought better of it.  We found out the next day that a severe storm hit the mall with hail, wind, and rain (maybe even a tornado) with flooding and roof collapses.  Glad we didn’t go!

This time though we did plan on going.  We stayed at a little campground north of Edmonton in Morinville.  Here is a view from the trailer door:

This was a Passport America site so we saved a bit of money but still had to fight mosquitos!  They also had a lake and we thought we might use the kayaks but never did.  We stayed 5 nights, did household things (read laundry) and went to the mall one day.

The mall is pretty big.  It has the waterpark, amusement park, and a small hockey rink.  It has about every store you would need, some even are doubled!  We put on a few miles walking around.  It was interesting but now we will have to compare it to the Mall of America when we get there in the future.

We left Morinville, heading back to the United States, and I didn’t want to even mess with Calgary as the ‘stampede’ was starting.  We skirted around it but stopped at a Lowes for a bathroom break.  During the stop, a Canadian Postal worker came up and started talking to us about the Airstream.  She has a friend that has a few Airstreams and she always takes pictures of them and she did so with ours.

We ended up after a pretty long (330+ miles) at a Casino in Lethbridge, AB.  It was a nice little stop and FREE!

The next day was crossing the border into Montana.  I didn’t know what to expect.  The last time (2004) we brought the trailer back into the states, the agents went into our trailer and took a bunch of our food.  This crossing was much quicker.  A few questions (that I can’t even remember now) and we were back in the USA.

We ended up in Great Falls for 4 nights.  This allowed us to see our friends the Erpelding’s who pastor a church there.  We also saw another friend that used to go to the church in Visalia but is now in Great Falls also.

We had a great time in Great Falls (new slogan?).

Banff

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The next stop after Radium Hot Springs was Banff.  Only 85 miles or 135 kilometers since we were in Canada.  A nice short drive but very spectacular.  We were last here in 2004 (14 years) and a lot has changed.  We were able to camp in the full hookup campground at Tunnel Mountain:

We were able to show the Chen’s some old spots we went to and some new ones also!  Bow Falls and the Cave and Basin Historical site:

The above shot was in one of the displays promoting Canadian National Parks.  Looks like an Airstream to me!

One day we took a drive up to Lake Louise, a requirement for anyone in the area as the parking lot bore out.  The lot said full but we drove around and found one but it might have been illegal parking.  No ticket in the end!  Lake Louise is amazing but you cannot go into the hotel there anymore unless you are a guest (staying or eating I guess).  We could not even drive to the Moraine Lake parking as they close the road when it is full.  We have to suffice with Lake Louise:

Another day we stayed around the Banff area and drove by Two Jack Lake and Lake Minnewanka.  We also saw some wildlife, mangy and otherwise, you guess which.

I had seen photographs of the Banff valley from an elevated position and I wanted to go there.  There was one possibility, the Mt Norquay ski area.  Actually, there is a viewpoint before you get there and it was the place.  The parks in Canada have a ‘red chair’ promotion going where they place two Adirondack (ironic) chairs in scenic locations and encourage people to find them and sit in them.  There was one here:

One of the days we decided to take a hike.   It had to meet everyone’s criteria.  The kids wanted long and strenuous but we like short an easy.  A compromise was had with the Johnston Canyon hike.  It was listed as not too long and a moderate hike.  They lie!!  We must have a different definition of moderate.  We did the hike but it kicked our butts!  There were numerous waterfalls all along the river along with some ingenious ways to construct the trail:

Our time in Banff was very enjoyable.  The weather was great for the most part.  It was interesting to see the changes.  Banff is still the touristy town it was 14 years ago, just a bit bigger and busier.  But it was time to move on.