We stayed overnight in Indian Head. Not much to see there.
We had supper at the China
Garden restaurant, but
weren’t overly impressed with the food. The noodles were cold, there was no
soup, and very little meat. I don’t care much for sweet and sour pork meatballs
or deep-fried chicken balls. (I’m talking about breast meat here).
The next night we spent in Medicine Hat in Motel 6. The room we had was
nice, but the breakfast was so-so. It’s very basic, no yogurt. You have to take
your toast and coffee to your room. We had supper at the Thai Orchid
Restaurant, which is within walking-distance. The food was great.
When we went for a walk in the evening we came across the
oddest community. All the houses looked the same. The driveways were spotless,
as was the street. The lawn was cut evenly throughout the community. And we saw
no people. It was kind of eerie, like being in some spooky scene out of a
Horror movie.
The next day we arrived in Drumheller, Alberta.
We visited the Reptile Garden in the afternoon and had supper at Diana Restaurant
(Chinese and Western) next door to the Econo Lodge where we stayed for a couple
of nights. The prawns we had were tasty.
We spent most of the next day at Royal Tyrrell
Museum. Drumheller is, of
course, famous for its fossils. We saw plenty of dinosaurs. Skeletons and
life-size replicas. I’m sure glad I didn’t live 70 million years ago. Those
Tyrannosaurus Rex were fearsome looking beasts. The trip to the museum surely
is a must when visiting Drumheller.
For supper that night we went to a small, old restaurant
called Yavis Family Restaurant, in one of the small shopping strips. It was
recommend by some woman we talked to. I had one of the best steaks. 10 oz
steak, done the way I wanted it, with baked potato, large lettuce and desert
for $14.95. And the pint of draft beer cost $4.75. How can you beat that?
The next day, Wednesday, September 4, we drove to Canmore,
which is only 2 ½ hours away.
We didn’t push on this trip. I don’t like driving for too
long and we like to stop on the way to look at things.
The mountains were awesome and impressive. We couldn’t get
enough of looking at them. In Canmore we stayed at the Ramada Inn. We had a
great room with 2 Queen beds. (We only needed one, of course). And the
breakfast was the best. Eggs, sausages, yogurt, and all the other usual stuff,
and more.
From Canmore we drove to other destinations, like Banff, Lake Louise, and
other places. In Banff
we took the gondola up the mountain and walked around at the top. And Lake Louise is a beautiful place. Unfortunately, it
rained a little when we got there, but we still managed to walk around a bit.
Lots of people there. A vast majority of the visitors were Asian.
The Universe we live in is a strange place. Sometimes the
things we look forward to, just don’t turn out as expected. Before we left on
our holiday I did some research into restaurants and other stuff. I had marked
the Grizzly Paw Brewing Co. as a must-visit. I should have gotten the hint when
I couldn’t locate it on my GPS. I finally found it when we drove by. Well, I
had the worst steak in my life. It was cut like a wedge, thick on one end and
as sharp as an axe on the other. Well-done to boot. And they charged $7.00 for
a pint of beer. They are a brewing company, for Heaven’s sake! I expect cheaper
beer. They did give me $8.00 off my steak when I complained, but that didn’t
change my mind about the place. I cannot recommend it.
When we went up the mountain in the gondola, they took a
picture of every visitor. They are trying to sell it to you for twenty bucks.
We would have bought one for ten dollars, but not for twenty. That’s what
happens when you’re greedy. I ran my own business most of my working life and I
learned you can’t make all you money from one job. Charge less and you’re
pretty much guaranteed to make that sale. Less profit but it pays out in the
long run.
When we drove to Lake Louise, we stopped at Johnston Canyon and walked along a groomed trail
to the falls. It’s about 1 km one way. I saw again, how some people just don’t
give a crap about the environment. We found empty plastic bottles, cigarette
butts, candy wrappers and other junk beside the trail. Who do these people
think cleans it up? It’s a shame.
We left Canmore Monday, September 9. Our destiny Jasper and
then Hinton, where we had booked a room for two nights at the Econo Lodge.
We stopped at various waterfalls. There is always something
that makes you shake your head. At one of the falls three guys in their early
twenties I guess displayed again the ignorance of some people. The climbed over
the fence and walked onto the slippery rocks to look down at the boiling water
below. They even sat on the rocks and dangled their legs over the edge. I
filmed them, wondering if they would slip and fall to their death. They didn’t.
We have a saying in Germany:
God protects the ignorant and the idiots.
After the falls we visited the Columbia Icefields. Hard to
believe those glaciers are still around. We took one of those special buses
onto the Icefields. Sure, it’s impressive, but I figured $52.00 per person just
to drive onto the ice, park there for 20 minutes and stand on the glacier (just
ice, really), shivering in the cold and take pictures is a bit steep. But that
is just my opinion. People tell me that I have to realize I’m standing on a
glacier. That is the excitement. I’m excited.
All along the highway are signs to slow down because of
wildlife crossing the road, like white-tailed deer, mule deer, elk, moose,
wolfs, wolverines, badgers, caribou, and bears: Grizzlies and black ones. And don't stop to feed them. Well,
the only wildlife we saw were squirrels, a few crows, and a butterfly. I killed
the butterfly when it hit my windshield.
But we finally did see a few mountain sheep near the highway
on our last day when we drove from Jasper to Hinton.
In Jasper we took the tramway up Whistler Mountain.
Then we climbed toward the top of the mountain. It doesn’t look steep or far
away, but it is. We made it almost to the top. There were only a couple more
hills. We decided not to climb any further. The view was fantastic and we took
lots of pictures. We were lucky because of the beautiful clear day.
And it was quite warm at the top. We even got a small sunburn. We stayed a few hours. I found climbing down even harder than up. My knees were beginning to ache and by the time we reached the bottom (the station were you take the tramway down again), my legs were a bit wobbly.
And it was quite warm at the top. We even got a small sunburn. We stayed a few hours. I found climbing down even harder than up. My knees were beginning to ache and by the time we reached the bottom (the station were you take the tramway down again), my legs were a bit wobbly.
We left Hinton Thursday, September 11, spent the night in North Battleford in the Best Canadian Motor Inn. It was a
nice place. At first it doesn’t look like much because it is kind of hidden
away and they were just fixing the road, but it was quiet and relaxing. They serve a descent breakfast.
Our last night was again in a Bed and Breakfast in Indian
Head.The same place we stayed at on our first night. Supper at the Grand Inn Restaurant was good. I had an 8 oz steak, quite spicy, with a mountain of fresh lettuce. My wife had the Thai Chicken salad which she found a bit too spicy. I also had 6 wings, since it was wing-night, but I could have done without them. They were dry with little meat. I don't see the excitement over chicken wings.
Friday, the 13th we drove home. Another boring drive, except
for the excitement in Moosomin,
Saskatchewan: We had a flat tire,
but were lucky enough to get it fixed in Moosomin. There was a lot of
construction going on along the highway for miles and miles sometimes which
slowed driving down, but we weren’t in a hurry.
Coming home can be a bit of a letdown, but then again, I’m
happy to be home. There is no better place than home. You only realize that
when you’re there.
No comments:
Post a Comment