WEEK 13

Sunday, July 25th.

PLAN: Go south to Lake Louise.

We do.

COMMENTS: While taking down the tent the shock cord in 1 of the 3 poles that make the dome snapped. We drive into Jasper hoping that one of the shops will be able to do a repair. The Info Centre suggests that we try around the corner, a couple of doors down. Sorry, they don' have any poles but have them on order. They suggest that we try 3 doors east. Success. An hour later we are on our way south. A knowledgable young man was able to re-cord the pole.

A little south of Jasper we divert to #93A and take the back hiway for several miles. Some waterfalls and river scenes unfold to us. We conect back to #93South and the views are just as great as they were when we were going north. Stopped at the ice fields for llunch. Not many other options on this route for food. The food is nowhere as good as the views.

Eventually we get to Lake Louise. Very small town. Into campground. Set up tent. Then go exploring. To Lake Louise. Cindy has memories of a previous visit a great many years ago. The old lodge has been replace with a more modern hotel. Inside still has some of the old look. The view of the lake is still magnificent. Food at the new lodge is VERY expensive!!!!!!!! We leave and go back to town and dine at the local restaurant.

Monday, July 26th.

PLAN: Drive to Calgary.

We do.

COMMENTS: We are driving east on the TransCanada towards Calgary. How far will we get? The mountains are sitting there majestically, but in haze. Not good for photos. We get to Banff. Find a place to park and stroll up and donwn the main street. Find several shops with souvenirs we just have to have. Banff seems larger than Jasper and Lake Louise combined.

Eventually got to Calgary. Found a motel on the west end and then drove around downtown. Lots of "grubbies" here in the just east of downtown area. Very few people on the streets are dressed up as we drive around in rush-hour. A mostly casual place. We pick up some groceries for breakfast and tonight's dinner to have in our room.

Tuesday, July 27th.

PLAN: Continue east, find the Hoodos and see how far we get.

We do head east and find the Hoodos and then get to Swift Current.

COMMENTS: Out of Calgary we go north and east (away from the T-Can) to Drumheller, then south looking for the hoodoos. We go behond hoping for more. No luck. Back to the hoodoos and photos. decide to go back to Brumheller to gas up. returning south we go to side road to find "ghost town" -- this was an active mining area once upon a time. More south and east on back hiways looking for Dinasour Provincial Park. We get to the overlook area. Great scenery but no visitors' centre nor restrooms. We backtrack to the secondary hiway and there is a place to get some late lunch. We sit in the back with a couple of locals. Do they ever get a laugh at our expense: we did't drive far enough from the overlook.

Eventually we are back on the T-Can and on to Swift Current, Alberta.

Wednesday, July 28th.

PLAN: Drive further east.

We do, and get to Brandon, Manitoba.

COMMENTS: From Swift Current we get to the north-west corner of Regina and go into the RCMP training centre. We do the tour of the museum and the campus. This takes a couple of hours from our driving time but it was well worth it as we both enjoyed the time here. We contiunue on to Brandon, Manitoba where we motel it.

Thursday, July 29th.

PLAN: to continue east, as far as we can get.

We do.

COMMENTS: From Brandon we get to Winnipeg. Drive around downtown for about half an hour. A little side trip thu St. Boniface. From here we go east on the T-Can and then south to Steibach. We spend a couple of hours at the Mennonite Heritage Centre. Lunched there, too. Then it was back up to the T-Can and east. And more east all the way to Kennora. Motelled it.

Friday, July 30th.

PLAN: Can we get to Thunder Bay?

Yes, we do.

COMMENTS:

Saturday, July 31st.

PLAN: