On to Banff and time to break out the new camping gear

On to Banff, which even in June is stuffed to the gills with people and hotel rooms cost $250/night and up.  Not quite sure why, because although it's kind of nice in a very structured way - sort of like Niagara on the Lake, but bigger.  And there are just a scenic places in BC, because we went past them as we got further into the interior.  I'd forgotten how majestic the BC Rockies are and just how few people live in the big spaces between the towns.  Anyway we happened to spy this advice on the local church notice board.

"Some questions cannot be answered by Google"

Which is a bit of a game changer as I have been operating under the assumption that Google will always give you an answer, it just may be wrong or have misinterpreted your question.  It leads me to wonder what insights the Presbyterians have into these matters. I take a moment to pause.  Must find one of these Presbyterians.  Deep thinkers indeed.


Here we are on our campsite near Tunnel Mountain.  Quite pleasant I have to say, and came with UNLIMITED firewood and a crazy good firepit with a fantastic hinged cooking grate.   Made a very nice steak, baked potato and grilled corn on the cob supper.  

The new tent proved a mighty success as well we fitted two single bed sized grand teton cots (super comfy and super sturdy) into it.  The standing height was just over 6', so great for me.

View down to the Banff Basin from the top of the Gondola.   It's quite a long way down

Canada's national bird the cheeky Grey Jay.  Fetching little beasts.

Peninsula on Lake Miniwankee (or some such name)  V. pretty

Pen

Drumheller - the Tyrell Museum of Paleontology - a seriously obsessed dinosaur place

I'll let these pictures talk for themselves.  This was a very well laid out museum, with lots of useful reasonably nerdy information  We were there on a Sunday so there were no big kids groups and it wasn't particularly crowded.   Totally worth a visit.

Jenny Smid: the Gopher Slayer OR Moose Jaw to Drumheller and the Badlands of Alberta

OK, so last night ended with a bit of bang.  As you know we were a might underwhelmed with the delights of Moose Jaw.  The city that did a pretty good job of killing it's downtown and moving its retail businesses into shopping malls on the outside of town.  Kind of a doughnut with a sad face filling.   Lot's of potential, and the hotel we stayed at was doing it's best,  but when you move out all the shops and move out the people what is going to happen?   So we were feeling a little sad, but decided to eat at the chinese restaurant next door.  A bit of a risk,because it didn't seem to be attracting huge custom,  and it seemed to be in a repurposed steak and seafood restaurant that had gone out of business.  As many people know I am a fan of Hakka Chinese cooking,  and the cook at this restaurant served us the best Chili chicken I think I have had, along with a pretty decent shrimp/chicken stirfry.  The chicken was moist and crisp with a nice slight sweet sour spicy sauce lightly incorporated into the dish.   Super amazing end to our Moose Jaw idyll.


Next, onto the road.  Turns out that Saskatchewan is a lot more bumpy and hillocky than I thought.  At least until we got north of Swift Current an then things started to flatten out.

So here we go.  A Saskatchewan view with  the long horizon and "fluffy clouds".

This is the South Saskatchewan river with some  scrubby looking trees and some "fluffy" clouds.

 A minor road that we took across Alberta was kindof interesting for the intensity of it's straightness.  It did not deign to touch on any inhabited towns for the 200km that we followed it, and went through one deserted ghost village called Mantorio.  You may well ask what was going on there.  

This is the road where Jenny exterminated at least four possibly six Richardsons Ground Squirrels aka Gophers.   In a kind of ritualized suicide dash the cute little rodents would throw themselves under the vengeful tires of  Jenny's chariot.  Quite affecting,  though I was worried that Jenny's futile attempts to avoid squishing them would endanger my own precious life.  (yes I know,  a very self serving interpretation of some quite tragic events}.


At last Drumheller and the sight of a faithfully reproduced Albertosaurus that dominates the downtown.  A lesson to us all.  My name is Ozymandias.....

Badlands near Drumheller - Horse Thief Canyon

After checking into the Jurassic Motel (there's definitely a theme in this town), we set off to see the sights - out highway 838, past the Royal Tyrrell Museum (on tomorrow's itinerary) to Horse Thief Canyon.  So, while it may not approach the scale of Green River Canyon in Utah, which we visited 3 years ago, it's still a pretty impressive sight and definitely worth stopping on a cross-Canada trip to see.

Cute little bugger, right?  Don't read Ian's blog of today.

In my defense - the little buggers were totally
playing death by car!

How it got its name - bit of the Wild West there.

The bright green in the distance is early canola.  Later in the season it turns to bright yellow.  This we know due to a helpful information plaque provided by the government of Alberta (not shown).

Oh you fools, don't you know you have to climb back up?  Younger than us, obviously.

And while we were rambling, we heard a familiar sound - common nighthawk!  Kids at home, you'll know what this meant.

Very pretty delicate little flower, definitely not a wild rose.  If anyone knows what this is, feel free.

Day in Moose Jaw

So we took a day off - in hindsight, Moose Jaw may not have been the most inspired place to take a day off, but we needed the time.
We started the day with a wander through Crescent Park where we spent some time watching baby ducklings... lots of ducklings.. in fact, all sorts of duck families

 Crescent Park also has lots of these Elms, long lost to Ontario fields.  


The main attraction in town is Al Capone's tunnels, supposedly used for rum-running in the 20's and certainly attended by a couple of busloads of kids today, looked really really busy, even for Moose Jaw, so we passed, having a well known aversion to crowds.

The Hammond Building, built in 1912 and sadly mostly disused today, so it seems.  Wonderful terracotta stuff going on in the details.

City Hall.

Ended the day with a great dinner at Jin-Chu, an extremely unassuming Canadian Chinese restaurant right across from the hotel, where we were the only customers.  Moose Jaw has a deep historical connection with the Chinese, dating back to railroad building days, which may explain why it has at least half a dozen Chinese restaurants.  Anyway, if you are ever in Moose Jaw, go to Jin-Chu (skip the fancy restaurant across the street).

Off to Drumheller and dinosaurs tomorrow.

Four real tires on the Audi again!

So, first thing this morning, Ian talked to his KalTire guy in Toronto who gave us our first bit of good news - the tire was still covered under warranty (new in May)!  Call to the KalTire in Weyburn, SK, who were really happy to help - they couldn't get a matching Continental, but they could have two Sumitomos shipped in from Regina and would make time to put them on this afternoon once they arrived.

We made a painfully slow trip to Weyburn - the speed limit is 100 so even RVs were passing us and at one point we were blared at by an jerk trucker.  Checked in with KalTire and happily the tires had arrived from Regina.  Had lunch at the only Chinese restaurant in town - Ian got his dirty Singapore noodles fix (only mention of food in this post, you'll note) - then left the car at KalTire.

Ian checked out these wheat sculpture things beside the KalTire.











We walked across a sea of mud to the local museum to see a massive collection of silver (worthwhile, if you are ever stranded in Weyburn, SK), then back to pick up the car by 3:00.  Also, were told we could arrange to trade in the Sumitomos for a new Continental (to match the good one now in our trunk) at a city of our choice (maybe Kelowna or Victoria).

Off to Moose Jaw at a reasonable speed. Halted at a level crossing by a potash train (this being SK, after all).  No idea what the guy ahead of us was carrying.

Pit stop in Moose Jaw at the beautiful local liquor store in the old train station.

So we are now at the lovely Grant Hall Hotel in Moose Jaw, only one day late.   Booked a second night so we can recover from the stress and also explore Al Capone's smuggler tunnels.  More on that tomorrow, probably.

Tires fixed today and in Moose Jaw via Weyburn. Plus Kitchen update

Well mostly kitchen update.  Jenny is doing the how things went today post.  Look how it's going.....

This central bit will be done tomorrow I hope.

Love the floor with the cabinets.  Upper cabinets one tomorrow.

Tonight's dinner place

Pesto pizza.  My first time.  This trip is full of surprises.