May 7th - Lake Louise to Calgary

We really have been very fortunate with the weather on this trip. Today has been another perfect day for sightseeing and driving. Long may it last!

We woke up early and switched on my laptop to see the final result of the election. The Conservatives were 20 seats short of an overall majority, so the haggling will now start to see if they can join with the Lib Dems to form a government.

Our drive today was a comparatively short one of about 150 kms. Our first stop was in Banff to visit the Banff Springs Hotel. This is another Canadian Pacific built hotel and is a very impressive building.
 

Not sure I like the architecture which is a bit stark for my liking, but the inside was quite different. I hope this photo does justice to the enormous lobby.

We had morning tea in the hotel and then went out on to the terrace to take in the wonderful views. Just below us was an open air swimming pool that is heated by water from the nearby hot springs.

We left Banff after about an hour and took the short loop off the main road that goes to Lake Minnewanka. On the way to the lake we saw these Rocky Mountain Longhorn sheep sitting by the side of the road.

We drove on and stopped by the side of the lake which was half covered in ice and half unfrozen. With the backdrop of the surrounding mountains, it was some view!

We noticed this little chipmunk scurrying about on the bank of the highway.

As we were driving back to the main road we went past this war memorial to soldiers who had died in the First World War. It was so unexpected to find such a monument in the middle of nowhere.

The drive to Calgary took us out of the Rockies. We both felt a tinge of sadness leaving behind such magnificent scenery, especially as we reached the start of the flat prairie plains that we will have to drive over as we head east out of Alberta.

We arrived in Calgary at about 2pm. We checked into our hotel, the Fairmont Palliser, which is right next door to the Calgary Tower. The tower is over 500 feet tall.

We decided to go up the tower and from the top you get the most wonderful views of Calgary. In the far distance you can just see the snow capped peaks of the Rocky Mountains.

Far below us was the Saddledome, the home of the Calgary Flames ice hockey team.

There was one interesting aspect to the tower and that was the glass floor you could stand on that projected out over the edge of the viewing platform. It was a weird experience to stand there looking down over 500ft to the street directly below!

We left the tower and walked the short distance to the Glenbow Museum which has a very interesting series of exhibits on the history of Alberta and specifically on the First Nations, particularly the Blackfoot.

This evening we are eating in the revolving restaurant at the top of the Calgary Tower. Tomorrow we drive nearly 400 miles across Alberta and Saskatchewan to our overnight stop in Saskatoon.

May 8th - Calgary, Alberta to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

Just one night in Calgary is nowhere near long enough to see and appreciate all that this rapidly growing city has to offer, but then these short stays are part of our long distance drives and you get used to saying goodbye to a city so soon after saying hello!

Today was the longest distance drive of the trip, just over 400 miles. We left Calgary at 9am and headed more or less due east onto the Canadian prairie. The weather was gloriously sunny and the temperature a cool 4 degrees. As soon as we turned off the freeway on to the Albertan country roads that cross mile after mile of wheat fields, we saw for the first time the incredible size of Canada's agriculture. In all directions, as far as you could see, were fields of stubble from last year's harvest. They haven't yet started to plough and sow this year's crop. The patterns created by the harvesters make a wonderful photo.

There are grain storage silos everywhere you look. They make a great photo subject as this photo of Wendy's will confirm .

Almost immediately Bob had to stop because his second spare wheel, mounted on his roof rack, had come loose.  He climbed up and spent five minutes re-tying it down.

About one hour into the drive we came across Horseshoe Canyon created by catastrophic flood erosion at the end of the last ice age.

One of the great things about doing these drives is that almost everyday you come across something that is totally unexpected. Today, it was the dinosaur museum in Drumheller. Wendy was reading the AAA guide and noticed that the next town we were coming to, Drumheller, was renowned for its dinosaurs. Alberta is one of the best places in the world for finding dinosaur fossils. These were first found in the early part of the last century. A truly wonderful museum, the Royal Tyrrell Museum has the most comprehensive and informative display of dinosaurs you are ever likely to see.

Outside the museum, three dinosaurs!!

As we drove on across the never ending flat lands of wheat fields we had wonderful views of the prairie with fluffy white clouds above. It was a wonderful sight.

Following Kenny and Bob on the long and endlessly straight Albertan roads.

 The journey took about seven hours, with us arriving in Saskatoon at 4pm. Our hotel, the Bessborough, overlooks the South Saskatchewan river. A great place to stay and see this large city.

We have now travelled just over 2,000 kms and we are not one third across this vast country! Tomorrow we head 250 kms north-east to the small town of Nipawin, where Kenny is going to fish for our supper. I hope he has success and I can then post some photos of his catch.

May 9th - Saskatoon - Nipawin

As today's drive was relatively short at just under 300kms Wendy and I decided to have a look at Saskatoon before heading north-east to Nipawin. Kenny and DeeAnne left early so that he could go fishing. Apparently, Nipawin is famous for its Northern Pike. We joined Bob and Thelma at breakfast and they left shortly after, leaving us to go for a walk along the river and downtown.

Outside the hotel there was a London Transport double-decker bus which had been converted into a hot-dog stand. We couldn't believe it when Bob told us that he knew this particular bus, as he recognised the registration number as one of the fleet of buses owned by a bus company he had worked for in the 1960's.

We walked down through a small park to the river walkway and went past this memorial to the 3,598 Canadian soldiers who died at the battle of Vimy Ridge in the First World War.

From the river bank you can look up at the impressive Bessborough Hotel. It was built at the beginning of the 1930's but because of the Great Depression it wasn't opened until 1935.

One of the surprising facts we learnt about Saskatoon was that there is a large Ukrainian community and just a few hundred yards from the hotel there is the Ukrainian Museum. We were to see further evidence of the Ukrainian influence on Canadian society later in the day.

We went back to our hotel to pack up our bags, but before we left I went online to see how Chelsea were doing in their final league game against Wigan. As most will now know, Chelsea won 8:0 and with the win became Premiership Champions!! As we say at Stamford Bridge, 'Up the Blues'!!!

We drove out of Saskatoon heading north. Shortly after we turned on to the minor roads heading for the town of Melfort and we came across this wonderful church. It was standing all on its own in the middle of thousands of acres of wheat fields. It was called the Ukrainian Catholic church. Wendy took these photos of the Landcruiser and the church.

The next 'port of call' was the town of Wakaw, where we saw the tiny law office of John Diefenbaker who was Canadian Prime Minister between 1957 - 63.

We drove on through wide open farmland and saw this amazing trestle bridge. Apparently, it was an abandoned railway bridge. Quite a sight standing there at the side of the highway.

We reached Melfort around 2pm. As we drove into the town we saw that it called itself the Northern Lights Capital. When I stopped to fill up with diesel I asked the attendant about the Northern Lights and he said that they could be seen if you were lucky, though they were no longer a regular sight. As we are driving further north I wondered if we would be lucky, especially as the weather is fine with not too much cloud to obscure the sky.

The remainder of the drive, about 100kms to Nipawin was uneventful and we arrived at our the motel to be told that both Kenny and DeeAnne and  Bob and Thelma had arrived. When we went to our room we found out that they were not in the motel and presumed they had gone off  fishing.

We decided to unload our bags and drive about 30 kms north to Tobin Lake, where we thought we might find the others. The lake is about 45 kms long and was created when they dammed the Saskatchewan River.

We had a snack parked by the side of the lake and then drove back to Nipawin to see the old Nipawin Bridge that crosses the Saskatchewan River. It is a wonderful looking bridge which takes cars on a single track road under a railway line that is still used by the Canadian Railways.

After we drove to and fro across the bridge I did my 'Stand by Me' bit (for those who remember the film) when I walked along the railway track. It was quite an experience looking along the track with the river flowing under the bridge and at any moment I expected the train to appear!!

 

Shortly after we got back to the motel the others arrived. Kenny showed us this photo he took of the fish that he caught.

I'll report more about this tomorrow!

All in all another great day. Tomorrow we drive about 280kms to the small town of The Pas in northern Manitoba, the most northern point of our trip.

May 10th - Nipawin - Viewing photos on the blog

I've been meaning to mention for some time that by clicking on a photo you can enlarge it in a new window.You then need to use the browser 'back' button to return to the blog.

It's raining here as we go for breakfast and then leave around 10am for The Pas.

I have just noticed that I have been misspelling Nipawin! I've now changed all the Nipiwans to Nipawin!

May 10th - Nipawin to The Pas, Manitoba

Before I describe today's drive and the places we visited, I must mention the avid reader of this blog who lives in one of the colonies. He noticed the news about British Airways striking again and asked if this would affect our return to the UK at the end of the trip. The answer is yes, and we have already booked on Air Canada out of Halifax, as an insurance policy. So, thank you for your concern, it is most appreciated.

We rose this morning to see steady rain falling. Such a contrast to yesterday. As has been the pattern of the last few days, Kenny left first, then Bob, with us taking up the rear. Yesterday I noticed the Landcruiser was smoking rather badly so I bought some injector cleaning fluid and added it to the diesel in the tank in the hope this might cure the problem. Well, as we drove out of Nipawin we both could see clouds of black smoke coming out of the exhaust as we accelerated. It didn't look good!

The road going due east from Nipawin was dead straight for 68kms before we came to the first bend.
 

Shortly after, we came to the beginning of 100kms  of good gravel taking us into the Northern Provincial Forest.

 

After 10kms of the gravel section, who should we see coming in the opposite direction but Kenny and DeeAnne! We stopped and they pulled up alongside us to tell us that Kenny had left his camera in the motel and they were driving back to pick it up. We drove on along the gravel road throwing up clouds of dust so reminiscent of the roads we have driven along in many third world countries.

The drive through the forest was great driving with virtually no traffic, but when a car did go past we were blinded by the clouds of dust.

I noticed a truck coming up behind me and I pulled over to let it pass. The truck then stopped and the driver waved me down. Slightly concerned I pulled up by him and he said he had noticed our car and the stickers of past drives and he was interested in what we were doing driving along such an out-of-the-way road. It turned out he was a First Nation Cree and lived in a village called Red Earth which was not far away. We had a very enjoyable five minutes talking to him and exchanged names, website and e-mail addresses. His name was Dearld Whitecap and he worked in education. He proudly told us that his granddaughter's name was Princess Diana! She was called this by his daughter because she so admired the charitable work of Princess Diana. We asked him about black bears in the area and he told us that last Saturday he had shot a bear that had come into the village and was a threat to the children!! Wendy took a photo of  Dearld and me in front of his pickup truck. Another very special moment in a wonderful trip across Canada.

 

Not long after we had met Dearld we crossed the border from  Saskatchewan into Manitoba, the fourth Canadian province of the trip so far.

The remainder of the drive was about 50kms into The Pas. Once again we crossed the Saskatchewan River, this time in the centre of The Pas.

Our motel, the Kikiwak Inn is located just to the north of the river. The Pas is a small town where the main industry is a large paper mill, though tourism is increasingly important. In the centre of the town is the Sam Waller Museum that houses the collection of Sam Waller, a resident of The Pas. The building is the oldest brick building in northern Manitoba and used to be the court house and in the basement are the original gaols for the female prisoners.

 

Over many years, Waller had built up the collection which includes many fascinating items such as a large collection of trophy heads but it also had some real oddities such as this extraordinary two headed calf that was born in The Pas in the 1970's. Apparently, it only survived a short time.

We then decided to drive out to The Pas Airport to see if we could find some black bears that scavenge at the local trash dump. Cutting a long story short we never found the dump, so we never saw any bears. The airport is beside Clearwater Lake, a beautiful, crystal clear lake which had a few remaining patches of ice and snow on the shore.

By now it appeared that the smoking from the Landcruiser's exhaust had more or less gone. This was confirmed by Kenny who had been following me for some time. It seems the Winns injector fluid really does work!

We headed back to our motel where we are going to have our evening meal. Tomorrow we head due south to the small town of Dauphin which is located near the western shores of Lake Manitoba. Hopefully the weather will improve, though the rain has nearly stopped as I write this. Perhaps we might even get a glimpse of the Northern Lights this evening. Now that would really be 'the icing on the cake'!