Week 157 - Big Adventure Ends - 08-16-2009

Great to be in the 48,

After four months in Canada and Alaska, our Big Adventure has come to an end. Our final week took us from Prince George, BC through Jasper and Banff, Alberta on into Eureka, Montana. "Eureka", we have found the end of our adventure. Truly this was an incredible trip, one that we recommend to anyone who can possibly do it.

The beauty continues as we travel the Trans-Canada highway toward Jasper, Alberta.

As we reached Alberta, Ellen snapped this photo of the last bear we will see on our trip. The photo would be less fuzzy if Ellen could have kept the postcard steady!

The tourist / skiing town of Jasper is just darling with its shops, pubs and restaurants.

The Athabasca Waterfalls in Jasper Park has craved deep channels in the rocks.

Back in Jasper, an impromptu gathering of musicians entertained the crowd.

The landscape in Jasper Park just below the town of Jasper is your typical Canadian trees and mountains. But as you travel south the variety and grandeur of the mountains increase. There are many glaciers along this route.

Truthfully, we are in "beauty overload". Leaving Jasper Park, we traveled briefly through Banff National Park. On the last day of our trip we stopped in a number of BC locations looking for a place to stay. None of them seemed right, so we drove 11 hours, 400 miles to reach Eureka, Montana. We shattered Craig's 2-2-2 Rule! Our RV mentor Craig says, "Never travel more than 200 miles in one day, always reach your park by 2:00pm and always stay at least two days". We have tested this rule and it does keep you refreshed. But this week we just plain missed the Good Ole USA.

In Montana we visited Glacier National Park. As you can see, it too is gorgeous. The glaciers are fun to see, but are puny compared to those in Alaska and Jasper.

A marvelous display of God's handiwork.

There is a single road through the park. It was being repaired in several places, forcing traffic to one lane making the park look like rush hour in the city.

Large lakes on the west and east ends of the parks are a luscious blue color.

So our Big Adventure ends. What next? Well, we hope to continue to treat you with great weekly travelogues. In Alaska and Canada all we had to do was select the best of the 8,000 photos we took. Now we will really have to work for your accolades. We will do our best!

Love, Pete and Ellen

Photos from Aug 2009