We are in Banff, Alberta, Staying at Tunnel Mountain CG.  While we were here we visited The Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel,  one of the grandest in the world. We had a tour and history lesson of the hotel and then had a fabulous buffet lunch.  The best buffet lunch I have ever enjoyed other than the one we had here in 2008.

The next day the group went to Lake Louise, Moraine Lake and Takakkaw Falls.

Today Friday we did laundry, and walked the down town area. By the way HAPPY

BIRTHDAY Chuckie, hope you have a great day, love from Mom and Dad.

Tomorrow we are headed for Bar U Ranch National Historic Site for a night of dry camping ant then off to Waterton Lakes National Park

Lake Louise.

Maggie by Lake Louise.

Lake Louise.

Takakkaw Falls in British Columbia.

Golden Mantel Ground Squirrel.

Maggie and Chuck from the Back or the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel.

View of the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel From across the Bow River.

The main street in Banff looking north.

Same spot looking south.

We are now in Jasper at a large provincial campground with full hookups and no wifi.  But I did find marginal wifi in town at the visitors center. We will be here for three nights and leave on Tuesday morning heading for Banff. We do have Elk that roam through the    

campground and we have seen some Black Bear and Mountain Goats.

While we were here we did hikes to the glaciers, lakes and went for a boat ride on Lake Maligne.  After the boat ride we went to a formal tea at the Maligne Lake Chalet.

Athabasca Waterfall, most of this water is from the infields melting.

Athabasca Waterfall

Leach Lake

Edith Cavel Glacier

Maligne Lake. This is a glacier fed lake

Maligne Lake

Goats along the road.

Our food for the Formal Tea.

KOOTENAY PLAINS

Our next stop was one of my all time favorite campgrounds.  It was the Cavalcade Campground in the Kootenay plains area of the Canadian Rockies.  While here we visited the Athabasca  Glacier and did several hikes in the area including one that took us to an area where the First Nation’s People built their sweat lodges every year. Camping here was also dry camping but the views made it worth it.

View of the Athabasca Glacier.

On the glacier.

One of the streams flowing from the glacier.

Old sweat lodge.

Another small old sweat lodge.

Another small old sweat lodge, note the prayer cloths tied to the tree.

View from the ridge above the campground.

View from the ridge above the campground.

RED DEER

After Drumheller we went to Red Deer, We stayed here for two nights and toured a canola farm and learned how they grow, harvest and crush canola for oil. When traveling through Alberta you see beautiful yellow fields of canola everywhere.  After the tour the Alberta Canola Board treated us to a wonderful three course meal using canola oil in all of the dishes. Then they explained the advantages of canola oil and the different types of canola oil. 

At the campground we had no hookups and we parked all of our Airstreams in a wagon wheel the way they did years ago when they parked in large fields.

 At the form standing in front of a 50 foot 

wide planter.

Canola agronomist standing in the canola field.

Canola fields from the air.

View of the wagon wheel from the air.

Our next stop is Drumheller, World famous for coal mines and for large amount of dinosaur fossils in the area.  Many of the US Museums were taking dinosaurs fossils from this area until the Canadian Government passed laws stopping any of these artifacts from leaving the country. 

Friday we visited an old coal mine and had a tour of the tipple and the mine. Coal is no longer mined in this area.  On saturday we visited the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, it is a museum that hosts Canada's largest collection of dinosaur fossils. We were  very fortunate to get a behind the scene tour of the projects they were working on and how they recovered the fossils from the rock. We also got to see some of their extensive inventory of fossils.

The coal tipple where the coal was sorted and loaded into boxcars and on trucks.

View inside the coal tipple looking up the conveyor belt.

Looking out the tipple window at the conveyor housing

 going up and thru the mountain to the top.

We would soon walk up beside the conveyor thru the mountain to the mine entrance.

View from the tipple.

Inside the tipple going up .

Inside the shaft going thru the mountain.

Entrance to the mine.

Pachyrhinosaurus skull complete found in Drumheller.

Fossil waiting to be removed from the rock.

Museum display.

Museum display.

Museum display.

On the war to the International Rally and The Maple Leaf Caravan

On Monday after the Rally we had our brakes checked out as part of a recall and found out our trailer was not involved in the recall.

Tuesday morning the fourth of June we headed for Lafayette, In. and stayed in a very nice state campground.  On Wednesday we took a tour of the Subaru plant. It was a great tour, they make 1200 cars day. 800 Subaru’s and 400 Toyota Camry’s.

We left Lafayette late morning headed for Amana, Ia  We arrived just at dusk and set up camp. We stayed for three nights and toured the Amana colonies, did some bike ridding, geocaching and some serious quilt shopping.

                                                                   Amana Colonies

Our next stop was West Bend Ia and The Grotto of The Redemption.  We arrived in time to go to evening Mass.  On Sunday they were having a free will songfest that was very enjoyable, the last group to perform was a family of five, the kid ages ranged from seven to twelve and they were amazing.

Family performing at the Grotto.

We left West Bend on Monday with Huron South Dakota as our next stop. Huron is the location of the Airstream International Rally this year.  I had volunteered to work with the carpentry workers and Maggie volunteered to help paint the back drop for the stage. We stayed three weeks at the rally and participated in the Host to Host program where we were matched with a local couple that we could share our interests and  experiences with.  This year we had a great match with a wonderful couple that went out of their way to make us feel welcomed and shows us around Huron.  They even brought  their 1928 Model A and gave us a ride. Meeting them was a wonderful experience we will never forget.

1928 Ford Model A

DeSmet SD home of Laura Ingalls Wilder 

author of the Little House on the Prairie series. 

Now we are on our way to Calgary in Alberta Canada.  This is our rendezvous point for the Maple Leaf Caravan.  Our first activity is the Calgary Stampede. the first day was the rodeo events and the second day was the Chuck-wagon races followed by the evening show. The evening show spectacular and beyond description. They even ha a grand piano and pianist suspended by cables come over the stage and travel up and over the grand stands and finally wind up on the stage.

Alberta on the way to Calgary canola field.

Native American Village at the Stampede.

Miniature horses.

Bull Rider

Bare Back Rider.

Maggie with the RCMP.

The Kid's Chuck-wagon race

Opening of the night show

Horses suspended over the stage followed

 by a fantastic fireworks display.