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We had intended to visit
Rickie's sister Karla and her husband Chris in Victoria, BC in April 2010 to
help them celebrate their 5th anniversary, but after much discussion it was
agreed that we would meet them later on in the Fall in Jasper, AB in the
Canadian Rockies to spend some time together. Since we dislike the hassles
of commercial air travel, we opted for a driving trip, and Rickie got busy
planning our itinerary which included a week in the Canadian Rockies at both
Banff and Jasper, a couple days each in Glacier NP and Yellowstone NP,
Devil's Tower, Badlands NP, et al. We figured on a minimum of 3 weeks. We
checked 10 day weather forecasts for Banff and Jasper and every day was rain
and temps in the 50's. We were hoping that it would be like Ohio forecasts
which are often inaccurate. But as luck would have it, they had the rain
part of it right, but the temperature was in the 40's. Dang, that's cold
after our hot summer! We did luck out with a couple of beautiful days in
Jasper which the locals said was the best weather all season (they probably
tell that to everyone). Glacier was the pits weather wise with rain and fog,
but we did get to drive the "Going to the Sun" road on the day before it was
closed for the season. And once again, that highly anticipated helicopter
ride was not going to happen! Rickie had been within 50 miles of Devil's
tower twice before, but didn't get to see it, so that was a "must do" item
on our list. And it was well worthwhile. On our way home, we diverted our
planned route and passed through Des Moines to visit with former Stan Hywet
curator Mark Heppner at his new gig as director of Salisbury House.
All in all it was a very
good trip, but 3 weeks is a long time to be on the road, and we were both
glad to get back home. We logged close to 6300 miles, traveling thru 13
states, saw lots of wildlife, and took a ton of pictures. You can click on
the links below to see the pics, but be forewarned that there are a slew of
them. |
