I’ve gotten two weeks behind in my blogging – yikes! We spent a busy week with my little sister Hannah touring Banff and Jasper National Parks, so I of course had no time to write then. Hannah taught me how to crochet, and I’m already busy with a big project. How am I going to blog when my hands are busy making loops of beauty? Then there were the thousands of miles we have driven in the last week to make it to Alaska. (Yay, we’re back in the US again as I’m writing!) And of course the lack of cell service and thus connectivity to the rest of our world does nothing to inspire telling you the story of what we’ve been up to.
I will start by writing about our week with Hannah. Because of the huge number of pictures I have and how much I have to share about Canada’s beauty, I’ll break the week up into a few manageable chunks. So here’s Banff…
Hannah had smooth and speedy travels all the way from Orlando, FL, to Calgary, Alberta. A shuttle ferried her through the mountains and into our waiting arms just a mile away from our campground in Banff. We haven’t done an airport pick-up yet in the RV and didn’t particularly relish the idea of trying one. It might have made for a good story, but no thanks…
Yay, Hannah has arrived!
We had a special evening together enjoying pizza by the Bow River (subpar pizza, but hey – it’s Banff). After dinner, we wandered around one of the most beautiful hotels we’ve ever seen: Banff Springs Hotel. In the parking lot for this classy joint, Nic somehow successfully maneuvered us through the tightest spot we should never have driven through. With inches to spare, we squeezed our fat self through a space most likely intended for horse-drawn carriages. We finished off the evening soaking at the Banff Upper Hot Springs. Aside from the soothing effects of a hot springs visit, any camper will enjoy the chance for a free hot shower after soaking. And timing a hot springs visit in the evening means you’re warm, calm, clean, and ready for some good sleep.
We spent the next morning shopping in downtown Banff. I have been frustrated each time I shopped for groceries in Canada. Not only is everything so expensive, but I can never find a few necessary items. And instead of bending to what the stores in Canada offer, I stubbornly go in with my list and expect to make meals on my menu. A few of the adjustments in Banff turned out well, like ground lamb instead of ground turkey in my unstuffed zucchini recipe and fresh mint for making hot tea with Hannah.
Lake Minnewanka
We spent our sunny afternoon at Lake Minnewanka’s turquoise waters. I must apologize in advance for the overuse of “turquoise waters” in the next few posts. The lakes in this part of the country were nearly all some striking hue of turquoise, the kind of color that can’t be believed until seen in person. Even on a cloudy, dark day, these lakes shine like proud little jewels. Luna insisted on swimming in the very cold glacial run-off of Lake Minnewanka, and we watched as a few other crazy tourists jumped in too.
We drove a bit north of Banff that evening to our campsite at Johnston Canyon. Banff’s parks have strict generator use rules; we had to be done making noise with ours at 7pm. We never eat dinner before that time, so it was a huge rush to hike to a few waterfalls before our generator-use window closed for the night. We are unaccustomed to bending to the rules of campgrounds, but we could only stay in official campgrounds during our time in national parks.
While I was making dinner, Nic discovered our next stressor: a totally flat tire. We had gotten two tires replaced in northern Idaho and had been in a huge rush to leave the tire shop after they made us wait several hours longer than promised. That shop did an unacceptable (and totally dangerous) job of putting air in our tires and reconnecting the tire valve stems on our back wheels. Because we have dual wheels in the back, the inside tire has a special tire valve stem extender, making it possible to easily adjust the air from the outside of the RV. Our friends in Idaho didn’t sufficiently tighten our valve stem extenders. After driving about a hundred miles, the loose extender wobbled its way out of place, got pinched between the tire and asphalt, and ripped the middle of the stem out. Result: flat tire. We thought we heard a pop while we were driving to Banff, but we couldn’t figure out what was wrong and just assumed something heavy had shifted in our cabinets. The outer tire of the pair continued to support us until Nic noticed the issue several days later. A blow-out on the rear left side of the vehicle would have had huge consequences to our sewage system and dirt bike towing system. Fortunately, God protected us from that catastrophe. We spent a stressful hour strategizing on how and where to get the tire fixed in short order. Hannah was a champ during all this stress, rolling with the punches like a seasoned RV traveler.
The dreaded tire issue. Nic says this image is very descriptive of our issue – I see random metal.
We backtracked less than an hour the next morning to Canmore, where a tire shop fixed us up in less than two hours! A miracle! The tire shop in Idaho will reimburse us for our repair. So we finished the whole fiasco out only the charges for a few international phone calls, some data use, a few gallons of gas, and some of our precious time. Hannah taught me how to crochet while we waited in Canmore, so I consider that time very well-spent.
Are you having fun with me today? 