Day 26: O Canada!

May 10, 2014

Well, we were sitting here in Claresholm, Alberta, Canada planning our route for tomorrow and the wind started blowing so hard we decided to pull in our largest slide-out, it started raining and while we were still working away, IT STARTED SNOWING! The wind is blowing the snow sideways. It is now caked up on the front of Fred. One of us has said multiple times today that he doesn't care if he every sees another snow flake! If this weather doesn't improve we will never make it to Anchorage.

 

This morning we checked conditions in Banff and Jasper National Parks and decided we would not visit the Canadian Rockies now. (We also discussed the conditions with a couple from NC who were in the same dilemma and we think they made the same decision.) Many of the trails still have some snow and ice and even some with avalanche conditions. We have been there before but didn't get to do any hiking and really hoped to do that now. We will consider returning by that route. We rerouted to skirt the eastern side of the Canadian Rockies hoping to avoid any more snow. The irony is that today in Anchorage is 66 and sunny with a low tonight of 42. If we could just get there! The good news is that after tonight – things are looking better with hopefully tonight being our last night below freezing. Have me mentioned we are tired of the never ending winter of 2014? (End of rant.)

Really, we had a good day! We had a really quiet night at Lake Shel-oole Campground. As we were getting ready to leave we looked out and saw a structure fire next to the park. It turned out to be a controlled burn.
 

We made sure we had everything in order, everything that needed cooking cooked, all our paperwork ready and our border crossing was a breeze. We weren't there but about 5 minutes. The officer was most concerned by the fact that we were from Alabama because “we have a lot of problems with people from Alabama trying to bring in pistols.” We assured him that we do not have a pistol and then we were on our way. He didn't ask for Scout's paperwork or anything but our passport.  Such a blessing! We were then able to relax.

 

Albertasaurus

We saw several pronghorns, a fake (metal) elk that was in the edge of a pond and looked so real – but wasn't, and we think a golden eagle but didn't get a good look.

Things that are different now that we are in Canada.

1. It is no longer a restroom – it is a wash room.
2. Calgary is not pronounced as we have always heard – it is Cal (like California) Gary (like the man's name, with emphasis on the Gary.
3. They build snow fences around their bee hives.
4. Gasoline is bought by the liter.
5. They don't use pennies – they just round it off.
6. We have our phones turned off because data is very expensive here. We are in smartphone withdrawal.

Not different – southern Alberta looks very much like the big sky farm land of Montana.

Today we found our first international geocache and our first Canadian geocache. It was at a Visitor Information Center in Lethbridge.We also, really enjoyed talking to the very nice and helpful lady inside the center.

A wind gauge - not a ball and chain

 

Tomorrow we will probably have our own worship service listening to one of the recorded sermons from Lester Memorial UMC since we haven't found but a few churches in the town and none have an early service. We may find a church on down the road. We plan to make Edmonton tomorrow, but it will depend on how many times we stop. We are now about 15 driving hours from the start of the Alaska Highway in Dawson City! No, we are not driving that far tomorrow (as certain members of our family would do.)