Tuesday 11th June 2019 We set off early on Sunday morning for a day trip to Lake Louise. By the time we got to the little town of Field, along the beautiful Kicking Horse Valley, we saw a large black bear grazing at the side of the highway. Unfortunately, we were unable to stop to take his photo; but we saw him and that is what counts. Made our day and it was only 9.40 a.m. Lake Louise is a tourist trap and there were so many tourists there (mostly Chinese and Japanese giggly girls waving selfie sticks everywhere)! We didn’t take the gondola or chairlift up the mountainside with them! It only went a short way anyway; not nearly as high and as panoramic as the magnificent ride in Golden. The Lake Louise lift does ... read more

Friday 7th June 2019 On Wednesday evening, our last in Canmore, we took our washing to the local laundromat and then we treated ourselves to a really nice Italian meal. One great thing across North America is the proliferation of laundromats; something we don’t have in most of Europe. It makes getting the washing done so easy for the traveller. Whilst waiting for the laundry we took a stroll along the Bow River footpath and a large female elk was in the river paddling along. We were so delighted, she made our total of Canadian mammal-spotting to eleven species: bison, black bear, moose, elk, deer, rabbit, squirrel, ground squirrel, chipmunk, prairie dog, beaver and fox. We managed to creep fairly close to the elk to take some photos (not too close, cow elk can be vicious ... read more

Monday 3rd June 2019 Yesterday we entered the “Badlands” of Alberta. It is a surreal and alien environment, semi-arid, hot, dusty and absolutely unique and fascinating; temperatures soared into the 30s by midday. The strata of millennia, seen in distinct horizontal bands of rock, from the late Cretaceous Age, around seventy million years ago onwards, provides the visitor with a sculptured landscape, painted through with a soft artist’s palette of shades of brown, white, black, grey and umber. Exquisitely beautiful! The Red Deer River carved out a long valley exposing these strata resulting in a mini Grand Canyon here in Alberta, which stretches from the Dinosaur Provincial Park west of Medicine Hat, north west to Drumheller and on to the town of Red Deer. Two hundred years ago, French explorers arrived here and found very little ... read more

Monday 27th May 2019 We spent the morning exploring Regina, a real oasis in the middle of the prairies. Regina is the provincial capital of Saskatchewan. Once, it was a hunting ground of the Cree who named it Wascana, which means “Pile of Bones”! It is an elegant, leafy green city with a splendid park and lake right in the centre of Downtown, called Wascana. The lake and park are full of Canadian Geese and their little chicks right now, no bones around! Later on today, we drove just seventy kilometres to Moose Jaw, where we are now. Spring has arrived at last with sunny days (18 degrees today) but still chilly nights. The forecast is for the temperatures to increase as the week progresses up into the 20s. Hooray! Camping weather at last. We have ... read more

Friday 24th May 2019 We have seen our first Canadian Black Bear and have some great video footage of him! This has made our day! No: it has made our whole trip! Fantastic! What a wonderful experience! Today started with a long drive from Winnipeg in pouring rain. At one point the rain was sweeping across the road so much that we feared we might aquaplane! Despite this, driving across the prairies is quite an experience. The wheat fields are huge! At one point we had to wait at a level crossing whilst a freight train went past. It was so long that it took half an hour! Amazing! Eventually we arrived at a small town called Onanole and here we are staying in a lovely B and B. The small restaurant up the road served ... read more