Living Long and Prospering

I'm holding up the Starship








We departed our cousins in Calgary after seeing David off to a cab to the airport for another trip, and the kids off to school. Then it was east, and south, to visit Vulcan, Alberta. The town is named after the Roman God of Fire, but have capitalized on the name following the success of Star Trek. Being Trekkers from way back, we had to check it out. The town has developed a Trek Centre, with a replica starship out front, and a walking tour around Trek-based murals and dedications. I'm a "glass half-full" kind of guy, so I guess I was expecting a bit more from it......but the starship was kind of small and hokey, the trek centre full of cardboard cutouts and otherwise ho-hum memorabilia, and the staff less than knowledgeable about the series. The interactive game which was hyped in the blurbs was not working.......so we left, and found a lovely picnic area on the Little Bow River, just a few km south of there, and had lunch. Then on to Lethbridge, where we saw the longest-highest trestle bridge in N. America. The Galt Museum has extensive archival material for the area, so we visited it and found some newspaper clippings referring to the death of a cousin who had pioneered the area, and the birth of a daughter of my gt-uncle. We then drove to visit our friends, Donna and Cosmos, who were sailing buddies durining our sailing times in Cyprus and the Eastern Mediterranean. They made us very welcome, and we visited with wine and bbq until the wee hours.








Donna and Cosmos modelling in their Japanese Garden.










After breakfast with Donna and Cosmos, and then headed southeast again, stopping for a few groceries at the local WalMart. By early afternoon we had arrived at Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park, about 90 Km SE of Lethbridge. The area is in a Coulee of the Milk River, with Hoodoos (sandstone pillars and formations), and the largest concentration of aboriginal rock carvings and paintings known to exist in North America. The Interpretive Centre has an excellent presentation, and the park has marked out trails to view the sites.




Our first view of the badlands of the Milk River, and Writing-On-Stone park.









Alas, the camping sites were all full, though, so after a bit of walking around and sightseeing, and a bite of lunch, we continued northbound to a campsite recommended by a Park Information woman.





We think these creatures are antelope....can anyone confirm?








Foremost is 50 km. NE of the park, driving through gently rolling prairie countryside - herds of cows grazing beside (and on) the highway, and at times you could almost see forever across the plains to the horizon. The campsite in Foremost was indeed mostly vacant, and sitting beside the town golf course. It has a self-checking system, but for some reason there were no fees posted, or forms/envelopes provided for the check-in. With tomorrow being Sunday, we may not be able to pay for this campsite........which makes me feel a little bit guilty, but it certainly helps with the budget! So by 1800 hours, we were camped, getting dinner, and catching up on the blog. Although I can get a wifi signal, I still can't get a good connection, so this blog may again be a several day carry-on. We've had a taste of the beginning of mosquito season, but the 20+ Knot winds are holding them at bay. No doubt the winds will subside and the mosquitoes will proliferate as we continue into the Canadian Shield in June! We had an early evening, after listening to a couple of chapters to our audio book, and were up again fairly early (for me) at 0730.
During breakfast, we had a chat with the RV'ers next to us in the park.....they had gotten the last of the check-in envelopes. We were able to at least find out the rate for tenting (a reasonable $10.00), so we placed the money in a home-made envelope and left it in the check-in box, then headed out for another day of adventure.

Do You Hoodo? We Do!

Northbound out of Foremost, we decided to stick to secondary roads, and continue north to Brooks, and to Dinosaur Provincial Park. We saw antelope in the fields, and lots of cattle, wheat fields, and other fields with who-knows-what growing. By 1000 we had pulled into a Canadian Tire Store to look for more butane cylinders for our stove, but haven't found any. So we filled up the gas and continued the 45 km into Dinosaur Park, which proved to be quite enjoyable. The scenery, with badlands, and hoodoos, is spectacular. The exhibits are well done, and we took a guided tour around the area to try to get as much out of the fossilized dinosaurs as we could (in a short time). The Park has a very large variety of fossilized dinosaur discoveries, and also a good quality of the remains.


Badlands area of Dinosaur Park.

Woo-Hoo! A Hoodoo!!!


We still have to get a "taste" of southern Alberta before continuing to the east, so we left by mid afternoon to travel an additional 150 Km., to another badland area famous for its dinosaurs - Drumheller. The drive made this our longest drive so far - almost 400 km. in total. I suppose the presence of dinosaurs also creates oil, as we saw numerous oil wells pumping in the ranchlands as we passed. The wind continues to keep the mosquitoes at bay (mostly), so all is well. Tomorrow we hope to visit the Tyrell Museum and meet up with T. Rex, before returning eastbound again toward the Saskatchewan border.

Tribes

Fort MacLeod is famous for it's historical main street, and the old Northwest Mounted Police Fort in the town. Unfortunately, the main street is preparing for tourist season and you can't get there easily.....it's all dug up and not yet a sight to see. After a quick tour by car, we continued north and west to Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, a UNESCO site which was extremely interesting. It presents the methods of the Blackfoot Tribe in hunting bison by funneling them over a cliff (the Buffalo Jump). We managed to spend several hours at the jump, before heading north toward Calgary. We stopped in the town of Nanton, to view a museum dedicated to the WWII Bomber Command, and specifically, the Lancaster Bomber. As we both had relatives involved in such (Dad was shot down in a Blenheim bomber, Linda's cousin was shot down and killed in a Lancaster). This museum also had an interesting presentation, including memorials with Linda's cousin listed, and mostly restored aircraft. Hard to imagine spending 10 hours flying inside one of these, cold, in wartime conditions!















Lancaster and a Blenheim Bomber





Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump







From Nanton, we continued north into Calgary, to visit with the rest of the Jarrell Tribe of the west. Cousins David, Kathy, Kenny and Jenise welcomed us, and we had a great visit, a soccer game (Jenise's team tied the score) and bbq, followed by a REAL bed!.Then in the morning, off to the various cemeteries of Calgary to find more members of the tribe. We managed to find a cousin who had pretty much collected the basis of our family information......Myrtle Stringer (Hunter). Although we walked many kilometres of rows of headstones, we were unable to discover any other tribe members. Then back to our cousins, where we had a continuation of our visit, with another bbq, and another bed. Tomorrow, we will head south again, to visit some friends in Lethbridge, who hail from our overseas sailing days.


Jenise in action playing soccer:

A Day of Reckoning

It's been a few days since I could get reliable (and free) wi-fi, so there is a bit of catching up to do here. Today marks one week of travelling, hence it is a Day of Reckoning to calculate our daily costs, and see if our budget is holding out. We've been over a couple of days, and under for a few more.....but first, back to a continuation of the trip, from Christina Lake.

We left Christina Lake about 0830, via Rossland and Trail, bound for Fruitvale. A long-lost Great Uncle was supposed to be buried in Fruitvale, but our search through the cemetery for his grave proved to be fruitless. Luckily, we had managed to find a phone number of his widow, who we phoned, and ended up having a very nice visit with Mona Casemore. She was a wealth of family information, and provided us with old photos, certificates, dates, names, and the location for her husband Bruce's grave - Nelson. So off to Nelson we went, where we found three more graves for our family history compilation. Then northbound, along the western shore of Kootenay Lake to a ferry, which took a scenic half-hour trip across the lake for a continuation of our journey. Back southbound on the east side of the lake took us to Lockhart Provincial campground for the evening - a very picturesque spot with a sandy beach access. We managed a short hike along the lakeshore, watching a pair of falcons soaring, and ate our dinner beside a hypnotic fire.







A Sasquatch sunning herself by Kootenay Lake!











Next morning found us southbound into Creston, and then a bit south of that into an old Pioneer cemetery in Lister, where Bruce Casemore's brother is buried. We managed to find the cemetery and his grave, but were unable to contact his widow in Creston, so headed eastbound again, with a few rainshowers spattering our windscreen (first rain since we left!). It was also encouraging to note the gas prices starting to drop. We stopped for a visit to the Frank Slide Interpretive Centre, and then continued across the Crowsnest Pass into Alberta, turning south to visit the Waterton Lakes area. Quite a spectacular area, on the edge of rolling plain and steep, snow-capped Rocky Mountains, we found a campsite just a few feet below the snow level. Because of the cooler temperatures, strong winds, and the rain showers still following us around, we decided to try the Plan B mode for camping.......the back of the SUV. It took a bit of reorganization to get it into "Camper Mode", but ended up being quite comfortable, and everything fit! All around us at the campsite were little furry critters, Columbian Ground Squirrels, chirping and flitting around.......almost like Tribbles (and yes......the Star Trek movie was playing in the town, but we didn't go). We took a brisk, invigorating walk through the townsite, where mule deer were munching on people's lawns and gardens......a lot like home, but with bigger deer. There is a water tour around the lake, but the price was prohibitive with our strict budget.



The Magnificent Prince of Wales Hotel in Waterton Park.










This morning we had a leisurely breakfast at the camp under sunny skies and slightly warmer weather. Spring has almost arrived at Waterton, and the trees are budding, but not yet in leaf. We drove to several trailheads, gawking at the majestic scenery, looking out over frozen Cameron Lake, and the Red Rock Canyon. The Prince of Wales Hotel, near the townsite, is a spectacular place. On the way out of the park we spied a few Big-Horned Sheep to add to our collection of viewed wildlife. We also decided to purchase a combination pack from the National Parks people, which allows annual entrance to all the National Parks as well as their Historic Sites. Expensive for now, but in the end, it should pay for itself as we will be crossing the country twice.

Out of Waterton, we stopped at a museum in Pincher Creek, to see if we could discover a bit more family history information on Alex McKinnon. It turned out to be a good stop, as the curator was extremely helpful in copying information on this branch of our family, and also led us to the Pincher Creek Pioneer Cemetery, where we found several more family members. By this time it was late afternoon, so we turned eastbound again, and drove on to Fort MacLeod, where we now sit in a campground with internet access.

So now it is the Day of Reckoning: We have travelled 1300 km, spent $184.00 on gas, $101.00 on food (we had brought some from home), $145.00 on accommodation, and "Other" wins the prize at $267.00 (mainly because of the BC Ferry ($72.00) on day 1, and the National Parks deal at $169.00. That means that with seven days, we spent $698.00.......$2.00 under budget!!!! I'm almost tempted to go buy an ice-cream cone to celebrate, and take us to the even $700.00. Tomorrow we will be off to visit our friends/cousins in Calgary, then there is a lot more of Alberta to see.

From Hope to Christina Lake

Our campsite in Hope was very pleasant, if not a bit noisy from traffic passing by on nearby Highway #1 (Trans-Canada), but we were comfortable enough on the foam bed Linda had created to fit in either the back of the car, or in the tent. We left to the prospect of another fine sunny day, at 0900, following Highway 3 (the southernmost route across BC). The site of the Hope Slide (mountain fell down in 1965) passed by on our left, and about an hour later, in the western edges of Manning Park, we stopped to hike a short trail through the woods, surrounded by native Rhododendron plants. Another short hike at the other end of Manning Park took us around a Beaver Dam site, although the only sign of wildlife we saw was a chipmunk, and a bit of bear scat. By noon we were ready for another break, so stopped along the Similkimeen River, at a Provincial Rest site, for lunch under a Ponderosa Pine. Although the name Similkimeen sounds like something out of the "Lord of the Rings", it is actually an aboriginal term from the local natives, so no Hobbits came out to share our lunch. We continued through Keremeos, where we saw the cheapest gasoline so far at 97.9/liter (almost 10 cents/litre less than anywhere else).....but figured (wrongly) that there must be more bargains ahead! Arrival in Osoyoos was at 1400, where we managed to find one of the last campsites available in the Provincial park, on Haynes Point, on Osoyoos Lake. A very nice park, with views, water, flush toilets, and a welcoming Ranger. We managed to get all set up, then drove into the town, 2 km. away, for a few groceries. Dinner at the campsite, followed by an early night to bed, at 2100, had us nicely rested and raring to go by morning.



View of Osoyoos Lake from above....our camp
was on the point (peninsula) jutting out on left
side of photo.








Departure from the campsite was at 0930, with a short day ahead.....we would be going to Grand Forks or Christina Lake today. So we visited the Osoyoos Desert Center for a guided interpretive tour of the desert surroundings (this area is Canada's only true desert area, and extension from the USA). During the tour we got to see a Racer (a fast snake native to this desert area), and a large number of birds and flora specific to the area. By 1130 we were on our way again, heading east, and made only one stop (for lunch) as we toured the route toward the Kootenays. I've been deliberately slowing down from my normal driving habits, with even 5th wheels and little old ladies passing us, but it certainly is using a lot less gasoline, and we're seeing a lot more of the countryside! We stopped for lunch alongside a small lake at a rest stop, then continued on, finally ending up at Christina Lake. The campground here is very quiet (tourist season does not appear to have arrived here yet), but the weather is still sunny and warm (high 20's), and the campground here has wifi, so we can check email and update the Blog again. We took a walk to the lake, where some very bold teens were playing in the water, but for most people, the water is still too chilly for in-water sports.
Tomorrow we get to do some more "graveing" as we look in cemeteries for more long-lost relatives. We may also get a chance to spy a sasquatch with a backpack of beer, as we head deep into the Kootenays!

We Be Hope-ing!

Thule is loaded into the car (yes - I know it's supposed to be on the roof!)


Yesterday - Wed. May 20 - up early (0530), left home at 0800 and headed south on the Island Highway, to Cassidy, just south of Nanaimo, where our friends Tony and Barb recently purchased a mobile home for their summer residence (winter one in Hawaii). We had a multi-coffee visit, as we toured their renovations.




Barb, Tony and Don at B&T's new project










We managed to catch the 1245 Duke Point ferry, arriving in Vancouver at our friends Bill and Diane's home by 1600. There we enjoyeda very nice catch-up and visit over wine and bubbly, and a wonderful dinner - followed by a very comfortable sleep in a bed loaded with multiple fluffy pillows and a soft duvet. We woke up in time to kiss Diane goodbye as she trotted off to work, and then to enjoy a breakfast with Bill.






Happy Hour with Bill and Diane








Then it was time to put the Thule car-top carrier on the roof of the car (we had put it inside the car for the ferry trip across, to avoid overheight charges). By 1100 we were off, looking to find the "dead" centres of Burnaby. It turns out there were 3 of them - Ocean View, Forest Lawn, and the Masonic Cemeteries, where we managed to locate 7 graves of deceased relatives (yes- we are already started on the genealogy/family history part of the trip!). By 1400 hours we were headed east out of Vancouver. Although we are not in a huge rush, we may have passed by a few friends' places as we drove past Surrey and Langley - don't feel offended if you are one of them.......when we get to the Atlantic, we will turn around and come back......and likely stop and see you then!


So just at the end of the Fraser Valley, as we approached the town of Hope, we decided to have our first go at camping (first, at least, in 28 years!). We have set up our tent in a campground......this one a bit more posh than some we may be using later, but we want to break ourselves in gently.....and this place has showers and wifi, so that the blog can continue, and email can be checked. We have had two very lovely days so far, with not a cloud in the sky today, and very pleasant temperatures. A one-pot dinner of spaghetti, with dessert of melted After-Eight's (thanks, Gary & Wendy - forgot to put them in the cooler) with fresh strawberries.
The fire is laid for our first campfire in a long time. No marshmallows, though......



Linda doing dinner prep.....tent in background

Still getting ready

It is now Monday, and preparations are in full swing to get packed and ready for the trip......maybe a bit too much. For two days now, I've been unable to find my contact lens, dental floss, and slippers - so I've been wandering around blind, with food in my teeth, and barefoot! And in efforts to prepare everything, my wallet ended up in the laundry this morning......so all of our money (and all else in the wallet) has been well laundered. Perhaps we should forget about too much preparation and just go? The plan is to wait for the long weekend traffic to subside a bit, and head out on Wednesday. Our email seems to work fine with transferring all over the Thunderbird portable, which emulates our normal Thunderbird email program, but from a thumbdrive - very convenient! So we will be able to keep in touch via email, and with this blog, (and Facebook?) whenever we find an internet connection. If you are interested in following along, here is where we are right now (I'm new to blogging, so hopefully this will embed a Google Map of home, and we can continue across the country in following posts):
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=1440+Quinsam+Place,+Courtenay,+BC&sll=49.698407,-124.970255&sspn=0.007106,0.019312&g=Quinsam+Place,+Courtenay,+BC&ie=UTF8&ll=49.758203,-124.963989&spn=0.908462,2.471924&z=9

Trip Preparation and Reasons for This Blog

It is Friday, 15 May, and May long weekend is coming up. Following this, Linda and I plan to take a leisurely drive across Canada, on a strict budget. Our sailboat has been put away for the summer, and we have found a nice young couple (Alfred and Stefanie) to house-sit for us in our absence. By posting this Blog, our friends can keep track of our progress, and perhaps keep in touch.
The trip is a bit of an adventure, and a challenge......we hope to manage on a budget of $100.00 a day for the two of us. That means a bit of sleeping in the car, and camping, and not going too far each day. If the price of gasoline keeps going up, we may end up not driving for several days, just to budget for food or other necessities. Announcing this goal publicly may help keep us more diligent in achieving this. It should also force us to slow down, and enjoy the scenery, and the people.
We have been involved in Family Research and Genealogy for years now, and this should also prove to be an opportunity to further research our roots, as we comb through whatever records or cemeteries we can find, as well as visit with relations and friends scattered throughout Canada. If there is a lookup we can do for you, as we crawl across the country, please let us know!