On to Banff!

Our stay in Wenatchee was uneventful, basically getting some shopping & errands done before crossing the border. Ironically, we loaded up on fresh veggies & fruits (which was ok last year & also listed as ok on the Canadian website), only to learn at the border a new law had just passed (within days) requiring us to throw it all away! Funny, I was worried about getting my rifle through (which was no big deal) yet the big fuss was about bring all those "deadly" bananas, apples, brochelli & onions in!

Our first stop in BC (British Columbia) was the prestigious "Holiday Park Resort", a totally planned RV community, complete with swimming pools, hot tubs, gyms, library (with wi-fi) , coffee shop, etc. We've never seen anything like it! For anyone looking for a permanent summer "home" for an RV, this would certainly be a place to consider....



Our "slot" for the night was a "permanent" lot on rental, which included full hookups & cable. We had lots of privacy and our own patio, complete with a famly of local quail running around...



We took advantage of the pool & hot tub area and enjoyed walking around the facility.



We left the "life of luxury" the next day and headed straight for Banff, where we hoped to meet up with Bob & Joy Loudon (our good friends fr St Francisville, who joined us last fall for a few weeks). We lost contact with them after we both left the "lower 48", with only a couple of email hotspots, our last conversation we agreed to meet in Jasper, but now we were chaning plans???

The major highway leading into Banff started to show evidence of the "Canadian Rockies" about 20 miles, oops excuse me 35km, out, and in spite of a dreary, cloudy day, we managed to stop several times and enjoy the "line of mountains" as they crept in & out of the clouds...


AT Banff, we were assigned a spot "in the back, where it's quiet" and as we drove to "the back" to our right was a Classic Cruiser just like Bob's! could it be? could they have changed their plans unknowingly to match ours? I couldn't stand it, walking around back, yes, yes!!! Bob & Joy are hear, right across from our spot!

The weather next morning was still overcast, but we decided on a nice 9 mile hike across & along the river, and up to Lake Louise, the stunning jewel set before a glacier and nestled with the Rockies... Leaving the campground, the quiet quickly turned into a nice roar, with swollen waters gushing past, due to the heavy snowmelt.

We saw lots of interesting plants and critters along the way, all pretty small, but .......
as we approached the tent camping area, and had to cross through this fence, something told us that they take "big critters" pretty seriously aournd here!

Half frozen, but still showing it's tourquoise-blue-green hue, Lake Louise was truly "stunning"...you know, compared to the chocolate-brown waters I grew up with in south Louisiana.

We treated ourselves to a hearty chilli & soup lunch before the return. Then decided to move on and drive the "Icefields Parkway" up to Jasper....

BUT, that's another story and bandwidth is slow here in Teslin, so I'm being told "let's go" so I'll finish this story & continue to catch up in Whitehorse....see you there!