From Lake Louise we headed up the Icefield Parkway that connects Banff National
Park with Jasper National Park. It is a truly spectacular drive filled
with scenes like this one.
We started east, heading up the Columbia River Gorge, stopping to see a waterfall, a historic site on the Oregon Trail, and to buy Walla Walla onions. Spent the night in the southeastern corner of Washington, on the Snake River.
The next day we drove up to Coeur d'Alene where we spent two days relaxing in a commercial campground complete with pool which we enjoyed. While we were doing this, Brent and Mickey were out collecting more rocks.
We headed north out of Idaho into British Columbia. Had
our camper searched by the Canadians for the first time-they seemed to think
that we looked like the type that would smuggle a pistol into the country.
We camped that night in Kootenay National Park and then moved into Banff
National Park to visit Lake Louise, supposedly the most photographed lake in the
world, or North America, or Canada, or Alberta. It is a beautiful lake and
we were luckier with the weather this time than we had been 3 years ago when we
stopped here.
From Lake Louise we headed up the Icefield Parkway that connects Banff National
Park with Jasper National Park. It is a truly spectacular drive filled
with scenes like this one.
Just south of Jasper we came to a campground with a vacancy
(sometimes tough to find in this very popular pair of parks). After
getting our camps set up, we went into Jasper to allow the locals to separate
some money from the tourists. Shopping complete, we rode a tram several
thousand feet up the mountain side
so we could gaze out at views like this one.
There was a restaurant at the top of the tram so we ate dinner up there and
watched the light change as the sun got lower. Since sunset comes about my
bedtime that far north, we did not stay up there to watch the sunset.
The next day, we drove back down the Parkway and stopped off
to explore the Columbia Glacier. This large glacier is very near the
highway and they have some special busses that take you on tours of the glacier.
Here is Mickey walking on the glacier.
We spent the night in a campground near Banff and then went down to Waterton National Park where we saw our first bears of the trip. A mother and her three cubs came strolling through the campground but didn't find any reason to stop so we didn't have a chance to get any pictures although I did get a little video footage of Mom and one cub.
From Waterton we passed back into the United States and came
down through Montana to stay at Placid Lake State Park (another--repeat click
here for pictures). Heading
east across Montana on highway 200 we had a good visit at the Lewis and Clark
Interpretive Center in Great Falls and then stopped to camp at Crystal Lake in
Lewis and Clark National Forest. This clear, small lake and the associated
campground with nice trees and big sites has become a new favorite of ours.
Our last two stops were in North Dakota, first at Roosevelt National Park where we went into Medora to see the nightly musical celebrating, among other things, Teddy Roosevelt. The last stop was in the city campground in Fargo. A nice place to stay if you are just looking for a place to rest without getting too far from the highway.