Monday, August 12, 2013

A Day Trip to the Mountains!

I had booked an extra day for us in Calgary so that we could visit the mountains - Banff is a short 1hr 15min drive from the campground. As it turns out we had decided a few days ago to spend a few days in higher altitudes (we have a site booked in Banff for 3 nights starting Tuesday), but thought to make the trip today anyway.



I know I've said this countless times, but... WOW! The mountains are distant jaggies on the horizon, we got into the foothills where they disappeared for a bit, and then around a corner and over a hill and there they were in front of us.



We parked the truck (the dogs went to sleep - it was 16C and cloudy so they were safe), and walked around the village a bit. Then we drove up to Tunnel mountain gondola - we'll take the trip in the next few days when it is sunny out (fingers crossed). Speaking of heights.... gulp. We stopped at some falls and then drove out of Banff and back to Calgary.







After their night in the kennels, and 3 weeks in the back of the truck, the dogs weren't smelling all that great so we drove to the Dog Wash and Car wash. The dogs got a good shampoo and the truck got cleaned up as well. What a great idea!



I took our empties to a recycling station across the street from the washing up place. As soon as I walked in the door I was hit by the strong smell of beer. BLECH. Here, you take all your bottle type recyclables to one place: beer bottles, wine bottles, water bottles - they all get recycled equally, and all return at least 10c - yes, even the water bottles. There are several stations manned by people with heavy gloves and sorting bins. I dumped my bottles onto the table and he sorted it as I watched, marking amounts on a little form. When he was done I got the form and took it to the cashier - I got back $3.10! It is an interesting system.


Oh, sometime during our trip we rolled over 3000 miles!

Tomorrow we leave Calgary and head to Banff where we are hoping to host the Norwegian cousins for supper tomorrow night. I hope we have internet there!

Keep close to Nature's heart... and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.

John Muir


I guess the mountains are interesting

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