Waterton National Park, Alberta Canada Friday September 4, 2009 Another full day in a Jammer for Karen and I, riding north to the Peace Park in Alberta. Driver Bill obviously enjoys his job as a Jammer driver. He talks about the Native American traditions and provides an interesting narrative on our ride. Driving over the mountain pass is spectacular. When you view the valley you are overwhelmed by the vast rows of mountains ahead of you. We have a very nice lunch at the lovely Prince of Whales Hotel. Our servers are wearing kilts and are students from a hotel management program. We regret than when planning our trip we had tried to stay here for a couple of nights but where unable to get a reservation. This hotel is in such a beautiful location on ... read more

Lake McDonald Lodge, Glacier National Park Tuesday September 1, 2009 On Tuesday Karen and I moved from the motel in Kalispell to the Lake McDonald Lodge that’s inside Glacier National Park. What an improvement this is over the roadside Econo Lodge. The McDonald Lodge is a small lakeside inn that was privately built here almost a hundred years ago. It’s now owned by the National Park and operated by a private vender. The building has been recently updated and is the nicest Inn we’ve stayed in at a National Park. Our first floor room is large, clean and has a nicely designed accessible bathroom. Food in the Inn’s restaurant is enjoyable and all the staff where very pleasant and helpful. This large lake has beautiful crystal clear water that allows you to see 40’ to the ... read more

Saturday , August 30 Deb & Mikes wedding The sky cleared and the sun came out for the late afternoon wedding. Deb was a glowing bride and Mike a handsome groom. They exchanged their vows on the side lawn with family and friends in attendance. Following the touching and sometimes funny ceremony we moved to the opposite side lawn and enjoyed a wonderful buffet, a great selection of beer and wine and delicious wedding cake. Everyone had a great time. ... read more

August 28 Wenatchee, Washington Heading southeast as we leave the town of Leavenworth the landscape makes an abrupt change. We’d been driving along the Wenatchee River through rugged mountains and national forests. Now we’re suddenly traveling through rolling hills and fruit orchards. On all sides fruit trees appear weighted down with a season’s bounty of pears and apples. We’re spending the night in Wenatchee a small industrial city on the banks of the Columbia River. Wenatchee is the major center of agricultural for this part of Washington. Next time you purchase a bag apples or pears in the supermarket read the bag it probably says “Product of Wenatchee” on it. We stay in a homogenized Holiday Inn Express for the night along a commercial strip. This vanilla hotel that could have been anywhere at least had ... read more

Thursday August 27 The drive across Washington, Thursday morning we all loaded into Jane’s Honda Element and began our drive east to Idaho. We chose to drive rural roads and take Route 2 across the Washington instead of US Route 90, the cross-country interstate that starts at Logan airport in Boston and ends up in Seattle. We cruised along Rt. 2 past the suburbs of Seattle towards the Cascade Mountains. The drive is pleasant and interesting through numerous small towns. We passed dozens of espresso shops, saw mills as we climbed up the western slope through the foothills of the Cascades. Along the way we stopped at an interesting collectables shop. Their presentation of welded sculpture and antiques was a work of art in itself. We enjoyed some of the sculptures but didn’t know how we’d ... read more