Oh Canada!

         View outside the brewpub in Canmore 

OH CANADA!

 

 After Idaho we left the country stage north.

Get out the passports and international certificate for small animals (kitty Ju Ju's passport) answer questions about intended destination (small fib cause WE don't really know, we picked Fairmont Hot Springs because Gwen's sister said it was nice, why not?) anyway with a "have a nice day" we were off.

  Canadians are very polite

  Unfortunately for us there was a nasty little stowaway in the guise of a cold virus on board, sniffles coming on, we did hole up for a few days at the Fairmont hotsprings.

 Located right up against huge craggy mountains (Canadian Rockies) we laid low and recuperated with the help of the soothing hot water in the HUGE pool.

 Traveling is super easy in Canada, all the ATMs work and of course everybody takes plastic, we changed a hundred bucks into Canadian dollars and still ended up with five of her majesties dollars when we dropped back down into the US.

 We then wandered up the west side of those crazy mountains, stopping every so often to gawk at the size and steepness of them.

 We decided to cross over them to get to the Lake Louise/Banff national park area, so low gears and a stiff climb up Hwy 1 through unbelievably scenic valleys mountains and forests brought us to the Lake Louise campground.

 The campground is located on the Bow river, a glacial outpouring of the area, the water is pale blue and incredibly cold. Hiking trails wander though mossy rain forests with fantasy mushroom gardens all over, I counted at least twenty different varieties (no, we didn't eat any).

 Next day the weather decided summer was over, a low dense fog descended, the temperature plummeted and there were reports of snow at lower elevations.

 OK, we can take a hint, besides we're wussies, down we go, stopping at Canmore because there was a billboard for a BREWPUB.

 The road down was rainy and foggy, not much to see, we were sure there were magnificent vistas all around us,  but oh well, you don't get to pick the weather, a nice tasty beer and lunch at the pub would put things to right.

 Boy did it.

 Great food and beer and when we stepped out it was like stepping into a fairytail.

 A hole in the clouds appeared revealing snow capped craggy peaks all around us, magic.

 We had toyed with the idea of making east in Canada all the way to Winipeg, but the weather looked crummy, south seemed a better choice, so south we went.

 We stayed on the smaller roads (Hwy 22) to a choice between crossing back over the mountains west or east for a little bit then down to Montana.

 So naturally, we did both.

 This led us to the incomparable spot called Crowsnest Pass and one of Canada's 

most famous sights, Frank Slide.

 Frank was a small mining town that was questionably located under a monstrous loose rock of purest limestone, gravity, being poorly understood back then, did what gravity does.

 It dropped the rock right on them, square miles of huge boulders came down and buried the town and covered the mine, people in houses were crushed, but weirdly the miners just dug themselves out.

 Seeing that there was no way the town could be rebuilt on that pile of boulders, everyone moved to Crowsnest pass and opened souvenir stands. 

 Who said Canadians were boring? I love em.

 Well anyway, here we say goodbye to our dear neighbors in the great white north.

 Next, Montana, Big Sky-In -Your- Eye!