After spending the July 4th holiday in Duluth, Minnesota, we started a 10-day trek west to Minot, North Dakota via Fargo and Bismarck. Between these 3 cities we stocked up at Costco, visited the Dakota and Roosevelt Zoos, and got our last Blaze Pizza fix, visited an allergist for Jeffrey's "every 6 weeks" shots, and filled up the tanks of fuel for the car (Moby) and the RV (Max). The allergist was especially interesting as he was a new doctor for us BUT he knew Jeffrey's "home" allergist in Austin and supplied us with a fun story to torture him with when we see him in October!
For the 2nd time since we started full-timing, we drove Max into Canada, crossing the border south of Estevan. The crossing was uneventful and we were the only vehicle there. We were treated to lovely fields of bright yellow canola along our route. The distant wildfire smoke definitely caught up to us later that day, but we ventured out to McDonalds for lunch, and to a liquor store and grocery to restock our wine and fresh fruit and vegetables having had to consume them before we left the US.
 |
| Jeffrey and the canola |
Next up was further west for a few nights in Regina, which has the distinction of being the only training center for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. There is a nice Heritage Center as well which shows their history and several fun films. We were lucky to catch the one about their dog program as it was an anniversary of its institution. More about them later ;-)
Our next few nights were in Medicine Hat, part of Canada's "badland" area - very dry and hotter than most of the country. As we were setting up we hit it off with our neighbors who extended an invitation to join them for a "meat draw" at the local Legion. Deciding that we couldn't miss this unusual experience, we followed them over and friends of theirs let us in as it is a member's-only event. Thankfully we still had some Canadian dollars from a prior trip and were able to participate in the "draw" by buying raffle tickets for a looney each (~$0.75 US) for each the 10 different drawings. The winner of each drawing could go up and choose from healthy-portion packages of store-bought meat (e.g. several racks of ribs, a six-pack of sirloins, etc.). Though we didn't win, it was good fun chatting and drinking with a dozen Canadians. We were even invited and attended a daughter's 50th birthday party set for the next evening at a local pub. Medicine Hat was also a great place to visit the local equivalent of AAA (CAA) and purchase an annual National Park Pass which we'll need for Banff.
We finally got to a campground where Max will spend almost a month just north of Calgary. We were surrounded by prairie dogs and had to closely manage our electricity usage, but it served the purpose of getting us close to family on my dad's side -- one of his cousin's, her daughter (my 2nd cousin), and her two wonderful daughters. They showed us a good time, including visiting the Calgary Zoo, a tour of downtown Calgary and a side trip to Innisfail to see the Police Dog Service Training Center! They put on a demonstration once a week that shows the dogs in action and even the newer recruits (puppies!). Sadly, Sheila wasn't able to fly into Canada and meet with us and she was really missed by everyone!
 |
| Duluth to Calgary |
 |
Visiting Calgary Zoo with my 2nd cousin Wendy
|
 |
| Cousin Alison giving us a great tour of downtown Calgary |
Leaving Max behind, we drove a little over an hour in the car to stay in the Canmore WorldMark resort for 10 days. Brother David and his wife, Mary, flew over with Raleigh friends, Sherrie and Don, to fill their resort unit and their son, Isaac, joined them partway through. Sometimes together and sometimes in different groups, there was an abundance of hiking, sightseeing, gondola riding, food indulging, hot tub soaking, and socializing to easily fill the time and we really needed more. My cousin and one of her daughters even stopped by for a few nights on their way west to visit her son who is working on a pipeline in British Columbia. The wildfire smoke made some days hazy but some were so crystal clear that is was striking to see the mountains that surrounded us. Everything was so lovely, with the only negative being the abundance of other tourists sharing the area. It is impossible to say in words how beautiful this area is, so I'll say it in pictures instead.
 |
| Downtown Banff mid-morning before the big crowds |
 |
| Sherrie and the two of us on our Open Top tour |
 |
| View looking at Banff from the top of Sulfur Mountain (via Banff Gondola on a very smoky day) |
 |
| Bighorn sheep on the top of Sulfur mountain |
 |
| The mountains in the mist from downtown Canmore |
 |
| Maren, Mary, and Isaac in downtown Canmore |
 |
| Herd of elk that visited the Cave and Basin Historical Site |
 |
| The famous Lake Louise |
 |
| The equally famous Lake Moraine |
 |
| Very cool mountains in the sunlight on the way back from Lake Louise |
 |
| Jeffrey with a death grip on the open Lake Louise Resort gondola |
 |
| The view from Kicking Horse viewpoint -- Lake Louise behind us left of Jeffrey's hat |
 |
| A picture of Jeffrey taking a picture of this breathtaking view |
 |
| Five Martins and one Nelson enjoying a final dinner out in Canmore |
Turning east now, we swung through Medicine Hat once more (sadly no meat draw this time) and turned south to enter the U.S. enroute to Havre, Montana. Again we were the only vehicle(s) at the border crossing and weren't even asked this time about alcohol and fresh vegetables or fruit, though we had worked hard to consume them all (okay, maybe missed an avocado) and even left a few things behind with my family. We used Havre to refill our fuel tanks, restock, and enjoy BBQ, but had already seen the local sights there when we traveled through two years ago as part of our Lewis and Clark caravan.
Turning east again, we stopped at Wolf Point, Montana, for a few nights and started to catch up on some laundry. That process continued at the next stop, Minot again! Jeffrey got his allergy shots at the same doctor, we celebrated a delayed Maren birthday dinner at a local japanese steakhouse, and made a second visit to the local Roosevelt Zoo so we could see their brand new baby giraffe! Only 2 weeks old and the youngest we've ever seen.
 |
| Roosevelt Zoo's two week old baby boy with his aunt |
 |
| Maren feeding the aunt |
A quick swing next through Fargo (Blaze pizza fix!) plus a Redbox rental so Maren could see Kandahar (Gerard Butler!) and a quick stop through a Walgreens pharmacy for a prescription. Honestly we can't imagine what our insurance company thinks as our claims are from all over the country. Thank goodness for a PPO plan! Maren's goal is to make things simpler and get us set up with online pharmacy providers for next year. Tomorrow we will drive to Bedmiji, the official starting point of our Mississippi River Run RV caravan. This will be our 4th Fantasy tour and we are looking forward to the sights and having someone else handle the travel plans for 34 days!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you aren't notified by email when we post new blog updates but would like to be in the future, click this link:
