FROM THE ROAD
AUGUST 16-30

Saturday August 16, we drove from West Yellowstone to Butte Montana. We learned from residents of Montana that Butte is considered by some to be the But of Montana and that seemed an apt phrase. Rarely have I visited a town where I felt so depressed with the reality of "industrial phase out". Butte and the surrounding area was once a thriving copper mining town that has lost its luster. The old part of town is now but a fledgling ghost town. I am not one to be overcome with sympathy by another's plight, especially when it comes to cities. However, I must admit that the loss of jobs and lack of prosperity in those areas impacted by the loss of the "vein of natural resources" has provided me an awareness of just how fickle lady luck can be. It has confirmed to me that wealth is not an entitlement - it takes hard work and diligent planning and oversight to preserve. During this year of extended travel we have visited Jerome, Bisbee, and Douglas Arizona as well as Ouray Colorado and Butte Montana, all former mining towns providing riches, hope and the good life to so many. Now vacant houses, abandoned businesses and desolate buildings stand as a memorial to the reality that yesterdays dream may be tomorrow's nightmare. We have passed through numerous other areas where abandoned mine sites sit but we are not gluttons for punishment. We did not stop to dwell on the aroma of poverty that tends to choke the air that surrounds such sites. It is not an uplifting experience.

On Sunday we arrived in Kalispell Montana where we visited Monica and Greg Held, Ashley and Nicholas. Monica is a daughter of Bruce and Gwelda Haselman and thus, 2nd generation extended family. We watched her grow up, enjoyed her company on many sailing and camping trips with the Haselman family and watched approvingly as she and Greg exchanged wedding vows. Monica is a nurse and Greg an x-ray technician. They relocated to Kalispell from California in search of a family oriented environment with good schools and a lifestyle that they believed would be more inducive to raising a family. From our limited overview, their choice seems to have been a good one and both seem satisfied with their choice and neither expressed any desire to return to California. Greg confided that he actually looks forward to going to work. That, in my opinion, is reflective of a man who made a right career choice. Monica practices her "skills" as a surgical nurse on a short week basis which provides her an extra day of quality time for their growing children. We had a wonderful visit with the Held's. The Held children, are extremely well mannered, respectful and quiet for five and ten year olds. After dinner in a great Italian restaurant, Ken and I said goodbye to our young friends and made our way to a RV Park in the pines outside of Glacier National Park in preparation for exploring the park on Monday.

Monday we embarked on our drive through Glacier National Park amid the smoke from the several fires that still burned uncontrollably within the park. It was our hope that we would reach a point where we might view what we understand is one of the most beautiful National Parks in our system. Alas, the smoke was everywhere and at no time could we view the great natural beauty that was hidden by the smoke that hung like a mask over the canyons, lakes and mountains. It was a disappointing drive albeit one that we had looked forward to with great anticipation. There is no doubt that there is great beauty there that remained hidden from us by the smoke but I am not sure that I would go over that route again. As I looked straight down into the steep ravines and mountains, I closed my eyes and asked myself if I really wanted to see this beauty first hand or whether I might not be better viewing it through colored glasses exacerbated by smoke. That drive is not for the faint of heart!

Tuesday we departed smokey Glacier National Park and made our way across the border into Canada where we hoped to escape the fires that had plagued us both in Yellowstone and Glacier. As we drove across the border and up Highway 93, the traffic was light, the roadway scenic and the weather accommodating. We stopped for lunch in Cranbrook, a pleasant mountain town on the edge of the Kootenay mountains. After lunch we proceeded to Radium Hot Springs, a true five star RV resort in spite of the smoke that hung over the area. We found the resort "visitor friendly" and decided to extend our visit to three nights instead of the planned two, in spite of the smoke. Ken had been having some problems with his back and this seemed a good place to "cool it" for a day or so.

As our time in the resort passed, the smoke grew worse and we learned that the fires were rapidly expanding, sometimes tripling in size from one day to the next. Our friends, the Herberts, had suggested that we might want to include the Okanagan area of BC on our itinerary and we had considered it. However, radio and television reported several out of control fires in the Kootenay Mountains and the Okanagan area with campers and residents reportedly being evacuated. We decided to proceed on to Lake Louise and Jasper via Highway 95 in the hope that we would escape the smoke and the fire hazards. Highway 93 which would have been our preferred route was closed except during certain hours for escorted travel. We have heard reports on radio and television that the Kelowna and Cranbrook areas were hard hit by the numerous fires in those areas which has reinforced the wisdom of our decision.

On Friday, we embarked for our long planned trip to Lake Louise. Alas, by the time we reached the turn off for Lake Louise, the smoke was so bad that we felt that we would not be able to really see the beautiful Lake when we arrived. The smoke was not only dense, it was beginning to affect our breathing. So, with a heavy heart, we put Lake Louise on a "return itinerary" and turned toward Jasper and proceeded along the Icefield Parkway to Jasper.

We stopped at the Athabasca (sp?) Glacier for lunch after which Ken took the escorted trip up to the Glacier. I walked up to the Visitors Hall with him, watched him embark on his trek to the ice and then returned to the bus where I read and took a nap. Ken thoroughly enjoyed the Glacier adventure and I enjoyed the brief respite from travel and scenic wonders. It was a "win win" event.

We arrived at Whistlers, a public camp ground in Jasper National Park, early Friday evening, settled in for the night and since this was a "no frills" Park, (dry camping and heaven forbid, no TV) played a game of scrabble and called it a day.

Saturday, August 23 and a full day. It rained during the night and when we awoke this morning, it was cold as in VERY! We heard reports that a cold front was moving in and believe me when they promise a cold front in Canada, they deliver. We treated ourselves to breakfast out and as we walked up the street practicing "touristing", we were cold. We determined that we needed our colorful wind breakers that are always in the car in anticipation of the unexpected, thanks to Marvis and Bob Gersten. We then drove up to the Tram where we watched as people braved the cold and wind to take the tram to the top of the hill. I don't do trams, so we returned to the coach, added another layer of warm clothes and once again, embarked on a trek into the mountains to Lake Maligne, a beautiful lake nestled among the pines high in the forest above the town of Jasper. We decided to take a tour of the Lake which turned out to be a beautiful trip on the glacier fed lake and a nice entry into our memory banks for this beautiful area. For the first time since we arrived in Montana, we were relatively of free of smoke for an entire day.

Sunday, August 24, we drove to Prince George where the streets appeared to have been "rolled up" in honor of Sunday. After a quick drive though the town, we decided to proceed on toward Vancouver in anticipation of spending an additional day in that area. We continued on down the road to a RV park just outside of Lake Williams that seemed adequate for a "one night stand"..

Monday, August 25, we debated whether to take Highway 99 or Highway 97 into Vancouver. We decided on Highway 97, which was a beautiful drive but one of the most tiring drives of our trip. Highway 97 is a two lane trans Canada Highway that is the primary link between North and South with too few pull outs to accommodate slower moving traffic such as ourselves. By the end of the day when we merged onto Highway 1, Ken's knuckles were hurting although he maintains that he was not holding onto the steering wheel tightly. Undoubtedly it was transferred pain because I certainly was holding onto the steering wheel from the passenger seat. We stopped and watched rafters maneuvering the Fraser River which appeared to be a definite "E" ride. We completed the last few miles of Highway 97, entered Highway 1 which more clearly resembled a California expressway and begin our search for a stop for the night. After our drive down the mountain spearheaded by scads of trucks, many with heavily loaded with double trailers, a lot of log trucks and semis trying to make a living, we were happy to call it a day.

Tuesday, we made our way into Vancouver and checked into a RV park in Richmond. After a brief rest, we hopped in the "towed" and drove to the ferry terminal for a schedule of the ships to Vancouver Island. As we were departing the ferry terminal, Ken spotted wild berries and insisted on stopping and picking them for his breakfast. I was horrified! This was an apparent carryover from his memories of his 5-month childhood trip with his parents when they stopped and picked wild berries. He seems to have attached a romantic fascination to this "poaching" endeavor so I just sat in the car and ignored his "childhood reversion". From the ferry terminal we drove downtown Vancouver to Stanley Park for a view of beautiful downtown Vancouver and the bay. We decided to have dinner at a restaurant at Promintory Point which was more than adequate with a lovely view of the bay and first hand entertainment by the resident creatures (racoons) scurrying in the bushes below. After dinner we drove to the other side of the park and enjoyed a nice walk along the shore where we watched several fisherman netting smelt presumably to supplement the family food budget. Ken was able to get a couple of outstanding sunset photos and with darkness, we made our way back to the "coach" to prepare for our early morning departure to Victoria.

Wednesday, we caught the 8AM ferry for the 90 minute sail from the Tsawwassen (somebody should help those Indians with their spelling) terminal to Vancouver Island. It was a beautiful scenic sail through the Strait of Georgia past the many small islands on our approach to Swartz Bay for our Island disembarkation. Our first stop on Vancouver Island was beautiful the Butchart Gardens, where the Butchart family reclaimed an old rock quarry and transformed it into a spectacular experience for the estimated million visitors to that park each year. The grounds are visually appealing, aesthetically beautiful, geometrically balanced and aromatically pleasing. After our 2-hour walk through the gardens we drove into Victoria, a beautiful city on the water with gorgeous old buildings standing in stately silence overlooking the bay below. What a charming city and as we parked our "towed" and prepared to do a "walkabout", an eager citizen surveyed our dirty car with its California license and greeted us with an offer of tourist "recommendations". What a charming man and we listened to his recommendations and followed his suggestion to do a drive around the island to view the "nice tar paper shacks" along the drive for their beautiful gardens, listened to his recommendations for restaurants that have "good groceries" and took to heart his caution about watching our parking time on the meters. All in all a delightful encounter with one of Victoria's seniors. After our drive around the city we checked into our hotel, which turned out to be an inflated "four star" but clean. Another one of Ken's "bargains" and I should know better than to trust his bargain hunting after all of these years. An after dinner walk along the boardwalk overlooking the marina was a pleasant way to conclude a most enjoyable day.

Thursday, we reluctantly departed Victoria for a more in depth look of the island and found ourselves on the road leading to the ferry terminal at Swartz Bay. We were not ready to depart so we cut across the island and circled around through many beautiful bay front homes (mansions would be a better description) until we finally arrived at a small bay with a ferry which seemed like a good adventure to include in our day on the island. We boarded the ferry at Brentwood Bay and took the 25-minute ride across the channel to Mill Bay which took us to the road we should have been on in the first place. From Mill Bay we proceeded to Nanaimo, Parksville and onward with a planned itinerary for Port Alberni until I suggested to Ken that perhaps he had Port Alberni mixed up with Port Albion on the Pacific. A review of the map by "his nibs" proved me correct and we turned back. It was too far for us to achieve his hoped for destination in a one day excursion and still make our return ferry. We settled for a walk along the beach at Parksville and topped our day on the island off with dinner at the marina in old town Nanaimo. We were tired when we boarded the 815 PM ferry from Duke Point to Tsawwassen terminal in Richmond. We arrived back to our "home on wheels" at 11 PM, happy campers to be back in our own "bed".

Friday was a laid back day with lunch at Horshoe Bay and a drive to Whistler. We enjoyed refreshments overlooking the bicycle runs where people of all ages boarded the ski trams with their bicycles for a trip to the top of the mountain and a fast and exciting ride down the mountain. It was an entertaining respite for two old folks who could only marvel at the beauty of this designated site for the 2010 winter Olympics. A good finale to our pleasant and enjoyable visit to Canada, a beautiful country with awesome versatility. If Vancouver Island was in America, we'd love to have a place there.

We were unable to get into the park that we had designated for the 30th so we elected to spend another day at the rv resort in Richmond and do laundry, chores and relax. After our chores were done, we visited Stevenson Village, a fishing port where fishing boat operators "hawk" their fresh catch of the day surrounded by restaurants that prepare excellent seafood purchased fresh from the boat. We enjoyed a Crantini cocktail and a Paella dinner on the wharf before returning to the RV Park and a 45 minute walk with Ken again stopping to poach the local berry bushes for fresh berries. I returned to the Park and waited. I refuse to be involved in his "berry poaching". Admittedly, they were good the next day if one can overlook the manner in which they were obtained. .

There you have it - more than you ever wanted to know about the escapades of Ken and Pat Burns on he road.

On to Seattle today, the 31st. Hope you are all enjoying a fine labor day weekend.