Thursday Sep 6 We consider ourselves quite lucky because we had another beautiful day. Temperatures reached 24C again and the smoke is almost gone. It was a bit chilly in the morning, but definitely time for short sleeves in the afternoon. The plan for today was to explore Yoho National Park, and we did. We first drove to Takakkaw Falls at the end of Yoho Valley Road, a very high waterfall that is 380 meters from its base, fed by glaciers and Icefields above. It’s possible to hike the spectacular 20 km Iceline Trail from here, something Ferdy did when still with Parks Canada, but this one is for really fit people and not to anyone’s liking today! The Natural Bridge is no longer traversable on foot, like it was years ago when Ferdy was first ... read more

Tuesday Sep 4 We started early again today to get to Lake Louise at a decent hour. On the way there, we hiked the Marble Canyon Trail in Kootenay all the way up to the waterfalls, maybe about 1.5 km in. Frost was clinging to wooden structures as we walked in the brisk sunny morning and air relatively clear of smoke, thanks to yesterday’s rains. We found the two red Muskoka chairs, a relatively new Parks Canada trademark to encourage visitors to explore more. We did not sit on them when we took our pictures, they were covered in frost and we did not wish to get our pants wet. The falls were spectacular to view, even with what must be considered reduced summer flow. We wondered what this place would look like in the Spring. ... read more

Sunday Sep 2 All four of us are beginning to show reaction to the ever present smoke. Sneezing, coughing, dry eyes and throat. Even though conditions have improved a lot because of recent rains, according to locals, we can feel it, and we are affected. The entrance into Kootenay National Park is incredible. A deep gorge carved out by water over centuries is now the base for the Banff-Windermere Highway (#95) to Castle Junction in Banff National Park. Like everyone else, we took the obligatory dip into Radium Hot Springs. Great sitting in the warm water, clean we hope, since it appears some people are allowed to go in without adhering to the “swimwear only” rule. In exploring more of the Park along Highway 95, we found that fencing put up by the Park to prevent ... read more

Friday Aug 31 After picking up our Dodge Grand Caravan from Enterprise, we met up again with Joy and Geoff at the Bridgestone Sky Train station in Richmond and headed off to Chilliwack. We had a great visit there with the families of Diana and Ken, and Kathy and Steve and then we went off on the Coquihalla Highway towards Penticton. Speed limits of 110 and 120 km/hr here again proves how silly our 100 km/hr is on Ontario’s 400-series highways. The drive to and along Lake Okanagan was beautiful! Once in the Summerhill area, we found a couple of wineries for some tasting. We all liked the Black Sage Riesling and Cabernet Sauvignon. At the Back Door vineyard, we were drawn in by the sign that said their Rose was on sale, and found their ... read more

Wednesday Aug 29 We began our 6-hour drive back to Anchorage early. Best news today: the weather cleared once we left Fairbanks! It went from a rainy 7C over the past few days to 18C and sunny. Needless to say we finally got some good looks at Mt. Denali, albeit from some 100-150 km away! We also had to make some quick pit stops along the way, not called lavatories by Geoff, but lavatrees. There are not many break areas or places to stay along the way. We drove by one very interesting place, not a five-star hotel, but we thought that Skinny Dick’s Halfway Inn was an interesting name. Too bad we did not get a photo of that one! Because the weather was so good, we decided to take a detour back into Talkeetna ... read more