Today I arrived in Regina, Saskatchewan, the capital of the province.
I have confirmed that the locals pronounce it re-JYE-na (sounds like a sensitive part of the female anatomy). I worked with someone in Pennsylvania who pronounced it re-GEE-na. Today I was even presented with a conflict between Google Maps and my “sometimes trusty” GPS 4.0. The GPS unit correctly pronounced it as the people who live here do, whereas Google Maps used the other pronunciation. I didn’t even bother to put in my two cents since neither device pays any attention to what I tell them.
This is as far east as I will be going in Canada on this trip. Regina is just west of the Montana/North Dakota border vertically, and is due north of Cheyenne, Wyoming and Denver, Colorado. When I entered the province two days ago on my way to Moose Jaw (which I can confirm IS two words) I crossed into the Central Time Zone. Almost all of British Columbia is in the Pacific Time Zone, save for Golden and Cranbrook, two towns I stayed in, and a strip of land west of the southernmost Canadian Rockies, which slant from NW to SE. Alberta province is in the Mountain Time Zone, and Saskatchewan is in Central. I also learned today that Sask (as the locals call it) does not play the Daylight Savings Time game. I was confused the two days I was in Moose Jaw because the time on my phone never changed, which it normally does automatically when I am in the US. Lo and behold, I should have just left Mountain time alone and not told my car that I was in CDT. MDT = CST.
I will be in Regina two nights, then head northwest to Saskatoon for two nights. I almost eliminated Saskatchewan from my itinerary altogether due to air quality issues from the wildfires in the northern part of the province. I checked the numbers every day before committing to reserving my Airbnb’s past Banff. About two weeks ago the numbers dropped to safe levels in all of the towns I was planning to stay in except one, presumably because they received a fair amount of rain which washed the smoke particles out of the air. I haven’t noticed any of the smoke “haze” the three days I have been in the province.
The only casualty from my original schedule is Prince Albert National Park, which is pretty far north from Regina, and which was very close to the fires and had very bad air quality numbers. So I am adjusting my itinerary, eliminating multiple nights from many small towns, which will free up time to reallocate elsewhere.
I will end this post with a photo I took from my bedroom window early this morning in Moose Jaw, SK. This was taken at 506 local time, about an hour before sunrise. The 3 bright spots in the photo are, the Moon (lower center), Venus (above it and to the right) and Saturn (further above and to the right). I darkened the photo a bit so it would look exactly like what I was seeing. The Moon appears as a thin crescent. It was really an amazing sight.
Here are a few photos I took of other things before I left the Olympic Park to head further up the mountain to Whistler Blackcomb ski resort.
These are two, relatively short (in my opinion), ski jumps. I am not a skier. My three brothers all skied but I never had any interest in it. My opinion of these ski jumps is based on others I have seen firsthand. Maybe my depth perception is skewed, but this is a training facility and perhaps they scaled things down for maximum “repeat time”.
You see – very compact.
There were ski areas in eastern Pennsylvania, where my family lived for many years. They were small by Rocky Mountain standards, but we were two hours from both New York City and Philadelphia so they were very popular with city folk. My older brother and his wife built a house after they got married, in a small resort town about 45 minutes away from where our families lived. They could see the slopes of Big Boulder ski area from their deck.
My youngest brother, who was born after we moved to Pennsylvania, lived in Salt Lake City, Utah for many years and when I would go out to visit, he and his wife would take me up to Park City, which has also hosted Winter Olympic games and has training facilities similar to these. The ski jumps we saw there seemed much bigger than these.
Here is something I noticed as I walked back to my car after having taken the photos above:
Once again, the electric bear fence.
Within walking distance of the ski jumps I found a large Inukshuk statue, perched high on a boulder:
This symbol has meaning the indigenous Inuit language, and was adopted as the logo of the 2010 Winter Olympic games.
As you can see of you look closely at the photo on the sandwich board above, the large Inukshuk has inspired many “Mini-Me’s,” constructed by visitors.
Some better than others…
I have a small, wooden Inukshuk keychain which I bought in Toronto when I was there in 2019.
My next posts will be of what I saw when I visited Whistler Blackcomb ski resort, just up the road from the Olympic Park. For now – a JohnBoy Travel Update. As I write this post I am in Canmore, Alberta, just south of Banff, in the Canadian Rockies. I drove down here yesterday from where I had been staying in Golden, British Columbia. From Golden, I drove through parts of six National Parks. I will be based here in Canmore for four nights before moving on to Calgary and points east.
I’ve been lots of places and seen lots of things between Whistler and Canmore, and I will be getting to those posts soon. Thank you for your continued patience. My days are filled with seeing new, amazing things and I am accumulating LOTS of photos and stories.
Tucked up on a hill away from everything else is a gun range used to practice one’s Biathlon skills in the summer. Here is a board explaining how a Biathlon works:
So given the lack of snow, athletes train by using skis on wheels. There is a fairly level oval paved loop immediately behind the gun range that the athletes use their ski poles to propel themselves around. When they get to their assigned station at the shooting range they stop, lay their ski poles down and quickly pivot their rifle (a .22 caliber gun with certain weight specifications, containing a 5-round clip) which they have been carrying on their back. They then shoot at 5 white targets which will each change to black when they hit them. Simple, right? Probably not, which is why they constantly train to hone their skills, and it IS an Olympic sport so it certainly isn’t a cakewalk!
Here is the gun range, seen from a distance.
You’ll get a closer look in a moment.
I spoke with a young man working in the small shed to the immediate right of the range as seen in the photo. I asked if he was operating the range and he said no, it is automated. He was cleaning and repairing rifles. Later in the day I could pay to try the shooting part if I wanted to (and could demonstrate I wouldn’t be a threat to myself or others). I told I would pass on that offer, but thanked him anyway. There were a few people, male and female, making laps on their roller skis, some were pobably training, others may have just been doing it for exercise. I imagine it alone is a pretty good workout.
I stood and watched for a while and it soon became clear that one young woman and three young men were clearly here to train.
I didn’t want to take pictures while they were making laps but I did take a few while they were focused on shooting.
When he was done shooting and was talking with his buddy I did engage the guy in the red shirt in a brief conversation. I didn’t bother the young woman who seemed to be getting pointers from someone.
The guy in red has been shooting for ten years. I didn’t ask how old he is but he appeared to be late teens or early 20’s. His shirt indicated he is part of Team Canada, but I don’t know if he is a candidate if he can prove himself or if he is already on the team.
Here is a better look at what they are shooting at:
He was shooting at target 14, below the right-most two Olympic rings. Looks like he hit 2 out of 5 shots.
Keep in mind, he is doing this now in pleasant temperatures, wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Conditions and attire when they are competing would be VERY different.
I thanked him for his time and for discussing things with me and wished him good luck. Later, as I was driving away from the Park I saw his buddy “skating” out on the main road, down a rather steep hill!
Before getting to the Whistler Blackcomb ski resort in Whistler I took a turnoff to drive back to the Olympic Park, built for the 2010 Winter Olympics which were held here in British Columbia. It isn’t just a dormant facility sitting here rotting. Many of the facilities are actively being used, even in the summer.
First a map of the general layout:
Next, a map of the campgrounds on site, and other details.
After I took that second photo I noticed something written off to the side (not in the photo)
Whoa! – that middle item really got my attention. Let’s have another look at that map but we’ll zoom in a bit:
Perimeter around the remote campground – check.
Perimeter around the primary RV sites and kid’s playground – double check.
Here is a door I found behind the Day Lodge (which contains a cafeteria, gift shop, washrooms and showers for the campers, and various support facilities for running the Park).
PLEASE remember to close & lock the door behind you!!
And here is a look at the Day Lodge itself:
The left side is the front entrance, the right side is the cafeteria and off camera to the left is the gift shop.
Also around back was this item promoting a nearby business. In the US we would call this a bobsled, but here in Canada it is a bobsleigh. And no, I didn’t get in it (after my experience in New Mexico where I got in a life size replica of an IndyCar outside a racing museum and for a few tense moments, couldn’t get out).
This is here to promote the Whistler Sliding Centre. That facility is located high on the mountain above the ski area, further up the road, but unfortunately the Sliding Centre wasn’t open the day I was here.
When my youngest brother and his family lived in Salt Lake City they took me to a similar Olympic Center up in Park City, where the 2002 Winter Olympics were held. We watched sleds some roaring down the track (outfitted for summer use). When they launched one from the top a voice on the loudspeakers would announce “Bob on track !” so those of us down below could get our cameras ready.
People can pay to ride with an experienced “driver” but we didn’t do that in Utah and I wouldn’t have here even if the facility had been open on Mondays.
Next I’ll show you what was happening at the Biathlon facility elsewhere on the property.
Monday I had scheduled a daytrip up to Whistler ski resort, northeast of Vancouver. I left Maple Ridge early in the morning so I could bypass the city westward on the Trans Canada Highway before morning rush hour.
Before I got to the road going up the mountain to Whistler I went through the coastal town of Squamish. It is the English name of an indigenous tribe on whose land Whistler resort, and many other towns, sits (their land consists of 2,600 square miles (NOT kilometers)). Most signs carry both the English and Indigenous spellings.
Those numbers are kilometers, not miles, by the way. Things up here are almost always expressed in metric measurements but when I discuss them on my blog I generally use the US system since that is what many of my followers can relate to.
As I approached the town I could see a huge rock formation right by the highway in the distance:
Here is a photo of the rockface looking in right next to the formation (but from the other side of the highway):
And here is another photo which includes the parking lot below the formation. As you might guess, it is VERY popular with rock climbers, and there is a special parking area right below it for their vehicles, which are loaded with their climbing gear.
I didn’t see any climbers on the face either going by in the morning or later in the day as I was heading back to Maple Ridge, but I could see people resting in the afternoon from having climbed earlier in the day when it was cooler and without the sun beating on the face of the formation.
After taking photos here in the morning I continued on up the mountain towards Whistler.
Followed immediately by:
Many of you have perhaps seen a sign like this in your travels (even in the mountains and near the coast in North Carolina) and I think most people assume it only applies to black bears. Well, in places like Yellowstone National Park in the US and most places here in Canada, it also applies to another type of bear.
I was first warned about grizzly bears when I was at the north end of Vancouver Island earlier in my trip. Evidently young males from the mainland swim over to VI in search of new turf and perhaps a place to raise a family. They must have convinced some female grizzlies to tag along, as the grizzly bear population on the island is growing. I didn’t see any, but there were plenty of signs warning about them.
And my nephew, Sam, will be pleased to know that every day that I am near the woods and out of my car I am packing bear spray:
When I visited my brother and sister-in-law, and their son Sam, in Wyoming back in 2021, Sam invited me to the place where he worked, just outside of town. In the hills above the complex where he worked there are petroglyphs on the rock walls. When I got there he asked “where’s your bear spray?” I replied “in my backpack”. He told me “No, when you need bear spray you need it RIGHT NOW”. It comes with a carrying case which you can strap onto your belt. It should be worn at all times when you are in a place which may also be inhabited by bears.
I never needed the can I bought in Wyoming and while it may still work, the expiration date has passed. I still have it but I bought two new cans for this trip and wear one of them at all times when I am out of my car.
I had reserved four nights near Vancouver, hoping to explore the city and the many beautiful sites I’ve heard so much about. My visit got off on the wrong foot, as I documented in a previous post, with an Airbnb venue problem. That plus the fact that I hadn’t budgeted nearly enough time, plus the fact that the public transportation into the city wasn’t to my liking, plus the fact that I’ve read Vancouver is being overrun with tourists (and is already a very busy city), plus other factors, led me to ignore the city on this visit altogether!! I will come back better prepared at the end of this trip, especially since I now know I will be cutting back in other areas of the country due to air quality issues, etc. I would rather take the time to do better planning and give Vancouver the attention it deserves.
I already explained my disagreement with the Surrey Visitor Centre. Here is proof of the exorbitant parking fee I had to pay just to go in the building and find that they weren’t even there any more. I became even more upset this morning when I saw this photo as I was reviewing photos to post and saw that the city even added TAX to the parking fee!!
Fortunately I was easily distracted by something I had seen on my way there. My mind is always distracted by new “shiny objects,” and this one was indeed shiny.
THAT is a spiffy new Ford F-650 Crew Cab pickup truck, outfitted with a removeable camper called Bigfoot. I saw it parked in front of a house as I was driving on a city street, and after I passed it I turned around to go back and get a photo. I was alarmed when I saw it pulling out of where it had been parked and was prepared to pursue it (within reason). Fortunately the driver was only moving it across the street so he could get another vehicle out of his driveway.
My comparatively tiny Toyota Camry parked in front of it:
I spent a few minutes speaking with the owner, who proudly proclaimed the truck is one of only two in the area (camper sold separately). There was a sign in the back window indicating the owner is evidently in the septic system cleaning business, and clearly business is very good! Ironically (and I mean that in the very literal sense of the word) he was wearing a UNC Tarheels t-shirt! I pointed to it and asked if he had gone to school there (he was probably in his late 20’s). He replied no, he had bought it at local thrift shop for just a few bucks.
Those of you who know me are keenly aware of my obsession with buying unusual new t-shirts for only a few bucks at one of my favorite chain stores in the Mid-Atlantic states, so between the cool truck and the t-shirt story it helped make my day and get my mind off the goofy parking fee.
Another thing that impressed me during my brief stay near Vancouver were it’s many bridges. I will show you three of the ones I used personally. Most of these photos I found on the internet. Believe me I tried to find places where I could take my own photos but that quickly became a huge waste of time.
The first one I crossed was the Pattullo Bridge. As I crossed the old bridge I could see the ongoing construction of a much larger new bridge right next to it. For this one I have to resort to internet photos:
The old bridge, on the left, still in use:
(Photo credit: readsitenews.com)
You can see them beginning to build the concrete superstructure supports in the center of the photo above. They are much further along now than when that photo was taken.
The new bridge. The photo below is pretty much how it looked the day I drove over the old bridge:
(Photo credit: TI Corp)
And to prove my point about it being a waste of time trying to take my own photos, I went out of my way to go to a place called Bridgeview Park. This was all I got for that effort:
I tried.
Another bridge I crossed several times while I was in the area is the Port Mann bridge. Perseverance paid off as I was finally able to find a nearby city street where I could get a good photo of it:
And finally, the Golden Ears Bridge, which I probably crossed at least a dozen time while I was staying in Maple Ridge.
(Photo credit: hgcacoustics.com)
I’ve tried to enlarge that photo but don’t seem to be able to. I don’t know why it was so difficult to find a photo of this beautiful bridge. I want to get this post finished but will try to find a better photo later and replace the one above.
Let’s see, where was I ? Oh yes, the ferry had just taken me to the north side of Vancouver. It was late morning and I wanted to get around the city before traffic increased so I just got on the Trans Canada Highway and headed east towards the suburb on the east side where my Airbnb for 4 nights was reserved.
The suburb is called Surrey and on the maps it looked like a nice area and close to public transportation. When I mentioned to my Airbnb hosts in Campbell River that I was lucky to be able to snag a spot on an early morning ferry at the last minute because I needed to get to Surrey to find my Airbnb, my hostess exclaimed “Oh no, you don’t want to stay in Surrey!!” Evidently Surrey has a very bad reputation for gang violence, among other unsavory things. Before I went to bed I reread the listing and reviews that the family had. The photo looked very nice – a new house on a nice residential street. The reviews were all favorable about how charming the family that lived there was and how the mother often included the Airbnb guests in family meals. No mention of gangs or cars being vandalized or broken into. I decided to wait and have a look for myself before jumping to conclusions.
I first stopped at the Visitor Centre in Surrey. Well, I went to where Google Maps said it was. A business complex in which I had to pay to park. I have never had to pay to park at a visitor center!!
I went in the lobby and didn’t see the Visitor Centre listed in Suite 100. I called the number in the Google listing and a man answered, saying simply “hello?”. I asked if this was the Visitor Centre and he replied, “yes, that is the number you called”. I asked “Where are you? I am standing in the lobby of the building you are supposed to be in”. He said “Oh, we closed that location and now everything is virtual”. I asked “How am I supposed to get maps of the area?” He paused, like I was speaking Martian, and said “Maps?” I said “Yes, maps! I am a VISITOR that JUST ARRIVED IN TOWN and I need MAPS to show me where the various things I want to do are so I can organize my days here”. He hung up on me.
So I went back to my car and drove to where my Airbnb was, after having wasted at least 45 minutes going out of my way.
I found the house in a rather scruffy neighborhood and it looked NOTHING LIKE the photos in the listing. Oh, it was the same house, but it was clearly much older than when the photo was taken and the yard and shrubs in the front yard were WAY overgrown and untrimmed. The neighborhood looked sketchy and I was uncomfortable being there. So I left, drove to a safe location, cancelled the reservation and sent a message to the host explaining why I had done so.
I got on Airbnb and after some searching, and being turned down by the first host I sent a request to, found a very nice place in a suburb even further east, called Maple Ridge. I was much happier there and don’t regret my choice one iota.
I rely very heavily on guest reviews, and maybe I’m too uppity, but I can’t believe so many people stayed there and never mentioned the condition of the house or the neighborhood. The family may have been very nice, but….
It was almost 6 by the time I got settled in the new place and I just stayed put and went to bed early. And my host there also knew of the reputation Surrey has.
I can now confirm what most of you already knew – that bighorn sheep DO, in fact, exist.
Despite the warning signs I have seen in lots of places over the years, I’ve just been looking in the wrong place.
About 1030 this morning I saw four, young, bighorn sheep walking calmly down both the north and southbound lanes of British Columbia Highway 95, smack dab in the middle of a little town called Radium Hot Springs!
Of the three lead lambs, the head of the flock started walking right down the middle of the southbound slow lane, while the next two lined up right on the white line separating the fast and slow lanes. I followed them in that configuration for about a quarter mile.
After I had s l o w l y passed the fourth one in line (the single one, in the first two photos) I lost track of it, but I later saw that it was still bringing up the tail end of the line.
They were in no big hurry and seemed completely oblivious to the vehicles on the road and people taking photos.
Naming conventions for bighorn sheep: Ram, Ewe, Lamb, Flock or Drove
Since I was staying in Campbell River on Vancouver Island the last three days, I cancelled the ferry I had reserved from Victoria to the mainland (I’m not really sure why I booked that one anyway…) and got a reservation on another ferry from Nanaimo to Horseshoe Bay, a few miles north of Vancouver.
(Photo credit: Screensave of Google Maps image)
Ignore the light blue line. And ignore the fact that it is showing travel by car. Of course my car was stowed several decks below me, but I was initially in the top indoor level of the ship with comfortable seats, tables and a cafeteria, and later went up to the outdoor viewing deck where there were some not-as-comfortable seats and tables in a semi-enclosed area with windows but I opted to walk around (in the cold and WIND) to take some photos. I had dressed appropriately knowing it would be quite nippy outside, but still had to forego trying to wear any kind of hat.
These photos were all taken using my smartphone. I took lots of photos with my digital camera and zoom lens but they are not blogworthy. Between the wind and trying to stabilize myself to take the shots, those photos are all blurry.
First, a view out of the window as we set sail out of Nanaimo:
Once we were out on the open water there wasn’t much to see until we started to approach the mainland. My Airbnb hosts in Campbell River told me I might see whales but I never saw any people onboard react as if there had been sightings and my experience has been that even if we did, it would be hard to anticipate the event and zoom in enough to get a decent shot. So I just enjoyed the ride.
I realize there will be lots of repetition in these photos but there were such interesting land masses (little islands closest and the mainland in the background) I wanted to capture the wide variety of things I was seeing.
I was surprised I was able to get a good panorama shot given the wind and movement of the ship:
These are as we were getting closer to the mainland and some of the land masses were a tad clearer. I am convinced that in and around Vancouver itself the haze is due to smog. Not sure where the smoke from the wildfires in Alaska goes but it may be contributing to this as well. Either way it’s a shame, as these views would be even more spectacular if they were clear. Sadly, such is the case in most places these days…
I decided that if there was some calamity which befell the ship, this was MY life raft:
We were getting closer to our arrival terminal and were also getting a better look at downtown Vancouver, or as they call it up here (for any sizeable town), City Centre.
And as we were getting closer to land we started to see other small ships out on the water.
This was a very pleasant experience and was the start of what would become a very unusual day.
Two weeks in Canada and I have already seen so many amazing places. And I still have 6 weeks to go! I am going to wait a few more days to decide for sure but I believe I will be shortening some planned stops in Saskatchewan, and taking others off the to-do list completely, due to air quality from wildfire smoke in that province. I check the numbers every day, and they do fluctuate, but if they are anything other than low risk to my health I will probably pass.
The good news is that it will give me more time to revisit southwest British Columbia to do more things and revisit some of the places I’ve already been to. I didn’t budget enough time initially so now I’ll get another bite at the apple.
As I write this I am in Golden, BC, sitting at 3,303.33 feet elevation in the kitchen/dining area of the travel camper I am staying in for 6 nights.
I am near the base of a mountain north of Golden but it only takes me a few minutes to get down to the highway. The property is at the end of a dead-end road so it is remote and extremely quiet. The only thing I would change about it would be to put a huge net over it to keep the mosquitoes out! Not much my Airbnb host can do about that…
My first impressions of western Canada are all positive, mosquitoes notwithstanding. This is my first encounter with the pesky little insects this trip, but while I am out and about they really haven’t been a problem until this particular location.
People drive pretty fast in Canada, except people in RV’s who insist on driving the exact speed limit (or slower on inclines) and invariably have long queues behind them until they get to a passing zone. Can’t fault them for obeying the speed limit, though. Cities and towns have speed limits of 30, 40 or 50 km/h and the highways are generally 60 (in places with lots of curves), 80, 90 or 100 km/h, and the wide open road is often 110km/h. In National Parks the speed limit is never higher than 90 km/h, and in areas where people stop for viewpoints or to cross the road, much slower.
30km/h equates to 18.6 mph, 40 = 24.8, 50 = 31.1, 60 = 37.3, 70 = 43.5, 80 = 49.7, 90 = 55.9, 100 = 62.1, and top speed of 110 = 68.4 mph
So slower overall than we are used to in the US. I generally set my cruise control to around 5 or 6 km/h over the current limit and that keeps me pretty much in the regular flow of traffic. I finally switched my speedometer to metric because the conversions were driving me crazy. I had a cheat-sheet in my other car when I went to eastern Canada in 2019.
The roads have been in excellent condition, save for one I drove on my first day in-country which made me almost seasick. Fortunately that was the exception, not the rule. They may get a little worse the further north I go but I’ll just have to wait and see.
Drivers are very polite and there doesn’t seem to be any road rage up here.
The weather has been fantastic. The days often require only a t-shirt and shorts but the mornings and evenings cool down quite a bit so I may start and end the day with long pants and a sweatshirt, or at least a long-sleeved t-shirt. Now that I’m in the Canadian Rockies I wear long pants all the time but have layers for my upper body. Yesterday I was up at 6,300 feet elevation but mid-day it was very pleasant.
Thus far I have only traveled through the southern part of British Columbia, and now in Golden. I will be spending a few days in Alberta province starting in three days when I go down to Banff for 4 nights, and Calgary for one or two. I will then head further east to western Saskatchewan province, though as I mentioned above, some of those stops will likely be shortened or eliminated.
British Columbia badly needs rain but the Canadian Rockies have had a good bit so far this summer. East of the Rockies has also been dry, which is why they are having so many wildfires.
The scenery has been stunning. I am going to run out of superlatives to describe it. While planning this trip I noticed that the Canadian Rockies “weren’t that tall”. The highest points in the British Columbia and Alberta provinces are “only” 12,972 and 12,294 feet respectively. Colorado alone has 58 mountains taller than 14,000 feet. Well, now that I am here and looking at them with my own two eyes, I can say that the mountains in the Canadian Rockies, and elsewhere in western Canada that I have been to so far, are VERY IMPRESSIVE and many of them are unlike mountains I have seen elsewhere. I’ve taken lots of photos in the 6 National Parks I have been to, all within 4 hours of where I am now staying. I am staying “home” today to do laundry, wash my car, and download and review the photos I have taken the last few days and prep them for making additional posts.
Here is a tease of a Park I drove through yesterday:
Lots more where that came from, I assure you.
I haven’t seen nearly as many critters in these first two weeks as I expected to. I am always vigilant, especially when I am driving, and try to always have my digital camera within easy reach. I’ve only seen one black bear, a cub which ran across the road well ahead of me while I was in northeast Vancouver Island. I neglected to mention that in the post for that day. I saw a white-tail deer here in Golden, as I was driving down to the highway yesterday morning. It ran alongside the road to my left for a short distance and then stopped. I saw a moose cow (adult female) grazing just off the small road I was taking to get to a popular resort near Jasper, BC two days ago. I saw a herd of elk (thank you to my brother Steve for correcting me when I called them moose). I hadn’t looked at the photos on my computer yet and as you will see when I post the photos from Jasper they were all laying down and resting in a burnt-out wooded area just off a major highway, and just outside of town, so it wasn’t obvious exactly what they were. I have photos of a few birds of prey I have seen in various places. I am going to a Wolf Center just outside of Golden later this afternoon but that won’t count since they are in captivity.
I see warning signs for lots of things – deer, elk, bear (black and grizzly), moose, bison, mountain goats, and bighorn sheep (I still think they’re extinct – I have never had a confirmed sighting in all my travels in the US and now Canada). And yesterday I saw signs warning of frogs and salamanders on the road in a National Park west of here! I hope they’re not big enough to damage my car!!
No lions or tigers but they may be in Saskatchewan. I’ve heard they’re a pretty tough bunch over there…
I’ve driven just under 2,800 miles from when I crossed into Canada back on July 27 to last night when I filled my tank here in Golden. Gas prices are relatively high in Washington State and here in British Columbia. I expect them to drop in Alberta (once I get past Banff) and Saskatchewan provinces.
One thing I really like about traveling up here is that there are warning signs when you are about to go a considerable distance with no gas stations along the way. And there is no cell phone service across vast areas. Some days I go almost the whole day with no cell service. Verizon does make satellite texting for emergencies available when there is no cell service. If I start the day using Google Maps guidance on my smartphone for a specific destination it will work for quite a while but eventually stops if I’ve had no cell service for an extended period. This is why, for years, I’ve had a stand-alone GPS unit in my car. Even my new-to-me car doesn’t have a navigation system or GPS built in. Google Maps doesn’t always work.
I haven’t experienced any really bad crowds yet, but then I didn’t go into Vancouver or to a popular Garden destination in Victoria which probably would have been packed with people. The National Parks are so big it is fairly easy to get around within them, though at some of the popular stopping points the parking lots fill up pretty quickly, same as they do in the US. I do expect the city of Banff to be crowded, and I don’t know yet how many of the areas within the Park itself I can drive to. Jasper and Banff National Parks are both enormous, though some portions of Jasper are still closed due to the devastating wildfire they had last summer. I will give more specifics when I start posting photos from with each Park.
I was delighted to hear upon my arrival at the first National Park, where I planned to buy my senior annual pass, like I had in eastern Canada, that admission to all Canadian National Parks is free until September 2. Yay!
I feel like I’m forgetting something but when I think of it I’ll add it to another post.
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