Date: November 23, 2005 - Kilometers Traveled: 600 Weather: Cool (0C) and cloudy

We drive out of Calgary and the flat of the prairie gives way to the majesty of the Rockies. They are impressive enough seen from Calgary, but one truly does not get an appreciation for them until they are seen up close. The mountains I am used to are those that are seen in Gros Morne, which are impressive in their own right, but are much, much different from the Rockies. The sharp, craggy knives of rock protrude out like so many daggers thrusting at you, giant outcroppings hang impossibly off the sides of mountains. And they are high…real high. Every Canadian should take the time and see the Rockies at some point in their life.


We drove through Banff, then Lake Louise, then Jasper. Now, there’s no way that justice can be done to any of these parks in a week, let alone all three in a day! I think we will have to take time at some point in the future and vacation in this area.



Among the wildlife we saw today were, Bighorn Sheep, Grouse, Squirrels, Elk and a Coyote. We stopped on the side of the road to take some pictures of the Coyote (we didn’t get out of the Jeep), and the animal ran over to us…it was a little disconcerting for us, never having seen a Coyote before. It looked to be a large animal; I thought it was a wolf at first. I get the impression that the animal had been fed by people because it didn’t seem to have any fear of us or the vehicle. We didn’t feed it or approach it; we just took our pictures and drove on. We have been taking some pictures with the digital cameras, but most with the film SLR with the telephoto lens. When we get in Whitehorse, we will get them developed and I will try to get a scanner and save them on the laptop, and then post them on the Blog. I think some of them are going to be pretty nice…for now here are a few of the pictures we managed to take with the small digital.




We are in Edson, Alberta for the night. We had quite a bit of trouble getting a hotel room tonight. There is quite a bit of activity up in this part of Alberta – most of it oil related I am told. This should be out last night in Alberta. We are going to put a push on tomorrow and try to get to Dawson Creek, British Columbia. That will be the last province…just two “little” territories then!

The weather and road conditions varied greatly today. At time it was sunny and warm. Up higher in the Rockies it was sunny and cold (10 or so below zero). The roads were mostly good, although there were some icy sections.

On a final note, thanks to all of you who have been posting comments. Your well wishes and comments are important to us and they make the work that goes into the Blog worth it. We have been starting to get comments from people who are finding the Blog on their own. We think that’s great and anyone can feel free to comment.

Cheers for now!