Day 22-27~ Alberta Part 1

We are spending 12 days in Alberta, visiting Banff National Park and Jasper National Park. We will also be visiting the big cities of Calgary and Edmonton.

Day 22-23 ~ Banff National Park

July 3^rd: It’s a short drive from Radium Hot Springs to Banff.  We drove North East through Kootenay National Park. In this park we crossed over into Alberta and the continental divide. 

After 86 miles and 2 hours, we arrived at Tunnel Mountain Trailer Court. This is a huge campground within the park. Our section for RV’s has 850 sites. We are #307. The sites are pull-off (not back-in or pull-through). They are U-shape sites along the side of the road. I guess you can also call them pull-through. 

 

This is a primitive campground in the woods. Full-service, but no TV (we can get 1 channel on the antenna), and absolutely no WiFi. I do get phone service and sometimes I can pick up some local WiFi. There is a free service in Canada called Shaw. I have to sign-up for it every 14 days. There are comfort stations dotted through out this trailer court, but they are horrible. One shower (no privacy) that floods the bathroom. It’s been dirty with litter every time I entered it. The park is just outside of Banff, walking distance (a long walk) to down town. We are here for 3 nights.

After we set up camp, we drove into downtown Banff. The downtown area is 3 blocks wide; full of restaurants, bars, tacky tourist shops (lots of T-shirt places) and a handfull of nice shops. We found a place to eat then did some window shopping. It was very crowded. Lots of families are escaping their homes since being confined for 2 years. Plus, July 1^st is Canada Day (celebrating the anniversary of the Constitution Act, which consolidated three territories into the single nation of Canada in 1867). People are taking the whole week off.

All the public transportation have pictures of wildlife on both sides.

Why are there towns and private homes inside of Canada’s national parks? Because the towns were there first. They NP came later and if the areas surrounding the towns are designated a national park, new construction is not allowed, unless it meets the requirements.

LAKE LOUISE

July 4th: Today we drove about 40 miles north of the park to visit Lake Louise. We traveled on the old highway (1A) now called Bow Valley Parkway. This is where you see all the wildlife. We had our first wildlife sighting. A black bear walking across the road. She or he was collared. So, it has a number and probably a name.

We arrived at Chateau Lake Louise and could not find one parking space. This big hotel is right on Lake Louise and has a fantastic view of the lake while eating lunch in the main dinning room. We are in Canada now, so everyone is invitied to dine at the park restaurants. No “registered guests only” rules here. But no eating here this time. 

Just down the road is Deer Lodge (in fact it’s next door). We had lunch there. After an hour we returned to the Chateau and found a parking space. We waded through the crowds at the lake and admired the lake. There is a real nice hiking trail that goes around the lake and beyond. We did not stay long. Rain was coming.

Cloud cover has moved off the top of the mountain, but rain is coming.

On the way back we drove the main highway (93). This road is also very scenic. Lots of beautiful views. Banff NP has many views of majestic mountains. There are lots of trail heads along this road. If you love to hike, this is the place to go to.

Animal crossing

Back at the trailer, we had a quiet night. Just the sound of rain. No fireworks tonight.

JOHNSON CANYON

July 5th: Johnson Canyon is off of Bow Valley Parkway. This hiking trail is a must do. The raging Johnson Creek carved a deep chasm with two waterfalls. The hiking trail follows this chasm, some of it on iron walkways fastened into the chasm cliff. You follow this trail upstream alongside this raging creek. We only made it to the lower falls. Today this trail was difficult to walk as it was so crowded with people.                           

Okay, how many trailheads have you been on that has a coffee kiosk at the entrance?? 

Lower Falls. This is as far as we go. 

People are lined up to enter that cave that has a balcony overlooking the falls. It's very misty.

Golden Mantled Groundsquirrel

We stopped in Banff on our way back to the trailer. Mt. Cascade overlooking Banff. Close up of Mt. Cascade. See the face on top? 

 Stopped at the Maple Leaf and shared a Sticky Toffee Pudding with a glass of port...yummmm

Day 25 -27 ~ Calgary

We will be in this big city for three nights. The RV park we are staying at is in Cochrane, about 20 miles outside of Calgary. Stampede 2022 is going on in Calgary for 10 days (July 8 – 17). We did not know. It’s been postponed for 2 years so this year it is quite the celebration. The city is full of cowboy and girls and the bars are full, and restaurants too.

July 6th: It is a very short drive from Banff to Cochrane. After 67 miles and 1 hour, we arrive at Bow RiversEdge Campground. This is a very nice campground located in an industrial area alongside Bow River. It has 130 sites. Our site #101, is long and spacious. It’s gravel and we have a patch of grass with a picnic table. It’s nicely landscaped with shrubs and trees. No cable TV, but we get several stations on the antenna, and we get great WiFi.  After we set up camp, we drove into Calgary to look for a place to eat. But this is a big city, like San Francisco. No place to park and too much traffic. Should have known. So we drove back to the trailer and found a place near the campground called Half Hitch Brewing Company and had the best meal.

CALGARY TOWER

July 7th: We spent the whole day in the city. Parked in a garage for 37 CAN$ (29U$). We visited the Glenbow Museum, but was disappointed because the museum was being remodeled and they were using one floor in another building with only the special exhibit; "Here to Tell, Faces of Holocaust Survivors". It was quite fascinating, but we were disappointed not to be able to see the whole museum and it’s many artifacts. It was free so no complaints. Photos were not allowed 

Across the street is the Calgary Tower.  It’s a 626 foot free standing observation tower that was built to celebrate Canada’s centennial of 1967. It was open to the public in June 1968. It’s the tallest structure in Calgary.   

Views from the tower's observation deck. At the top middle is where the Stampede 2022 is being held. 

There is a section on the observation deck that is 2.25" thick glass panels. I get nauseated if I stand on the glass. But Slowpoke has no problem with it.

 

We walked around this area of downtown to see other sights. Some of the streets had bleachers set up for the Stampede 2022 parade tomorrow. We found an interesting sculpture in front of the Bow Building.

Wire sculpture of a girls head at the base of Bow Building. The name Bow came from Bow River in Banff NP. The river was named because the Cree Indians made bows from Douglas firs that grew along it's banks.

    

Another interesting sculpture

Stephen Avenue in downtown is closed to traffic Pedestrian's only. It has shopping, restaurants. and entertainment venues. It is full of lights and color at night. Unfortunately, this time of year it does not get dark until around 11pm. Way past our bedtime. We had a delicious dinner at Earls (restaurant franchise all over Canada).

A storm is brewing. While we were eating dinner, I got an alert on my phone of a tornado warning in the Calgary area. Ummm where is the shelter.... But the news said "tornado watch". For those of you on the West Coast; "tornado watch" means the weather conditions could create a tornado. A "tornado warning" means a funnel has been sighted. Driving home we a brief period of thunder, heavy rain with some hail. Then it was gone and the sun came out.

CALGARY ZOO

July 8th: We woke up to a warm, sunny and clear day. Today we are going to visit the zoo in Calgary. We found a route that bypasses downtown. Today is the opening Stampede Days parade. Traffic will be terrible with roads closed. The zoo was crowded. We were hoping that most people would be at the Stampede Days event.This is a huge zoo divided in 3 sections; Canadian Wilds, Destination Africa, and Exploration Asia, plus a botanical garden and a prehistoric park. The was closing early (4pm) due to a wine, food, and art event. Wish I knew about that, would have gotten tickets. We spent 4 hours here until closing time. Missed the prehistoric park and only saw part of the gardens.

It's Skoki's 33rd birthday. Everyone was asked to sign a birthday card. I got down on my knees and also signed it. Could not get back up....

Bactrian CamelEgyptian TortoiseLazy HipposDorothy Harvie Gardens

When the zoo closed we headed for home. The day progressively got hotter and we were worn out. Got into the car and turned on the AC full blast and bam. The AC fan and motor blew.

Tomorrow we head to Edmonton. We are staying in Spruce Grove, about 10 miles from the city. There are to 2 Ford dealers in Spruce Grove. Stay tuned. 

Oh, our Expedition has a 2^nd AC fan and motor for the back part of the SUV. At least the cat will be cool.