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In June of 1999, Tom and I took our half-ton yellow-orange clunker van (we nicknamed the "one ton canary") on a trip first North to Canada and then West to Banff and then South to Idaho to see family.
We started the trip from our home in Crown Hill, Ballard. This was the first real exploratory trip we had ever taken together, with Hotel stays, since our honeymoon in 1993.
Until then we were struggling financially; but in 1999, we were both employed and had vacation time from our jobs which we were able to take at the same time: a happy first.
Sunday, June 20, 1999. Tom had made reservations at the Executive Inn in Vancouver B.C. And we were surprised and grateful that they upgraded us to the honeymoon suite on the 8th floor, which had a private hot tub and a very springy 4 poster bed.
On Monday, June 21st, we bought fresh lychees in China town and then left Vancouver in our clunky van. The route we took went through Hells Gate Canyon in British Columbia Canada. We slept in our van in a rest area outside of Ashcroft, British Columbia on Route 1.
Tuesday, June 22, 1999. Traveled on Trans-Canada Highway BC-1E to Sicamous. The Frazier River (Shuswap Lake?) had flooded towns along the way: Rainmountain to Sagebrush,
and Juniper to Rainmountain. The flooding slowed our travel and made ammenities unavailable.
We encountered a boardwalk and walked to stretch our legs along the way. I don't have the name of the area. The boardwalk was over an area that gets a little swampy and it was filled with skunk cabbage.
We went swimming at Canyon Hot Springs which was amazingly beautiful. There were Rufus Hummingbirds buzzing the hot pools and eating from the feeders.
The distant view was of snow capped mountains.
We continued our journey to Lake Louise. Unlike previous days, today we encountered practically no rain. We hiked up to the lookout on Lake Louise.
Chateau Lake Louise was French Rococo with rustic pretentions, or maybe it was the other way around? We slept in our van in a Hotel Parking lot.
Wednesday, June 23, 1999. Sun was up at 4:30 AM and last night it was up until 11:00 PM. We are at the Northern Solstice. This morning we deposited our garbage: food package wrappings
in a bear-proof garbage can. That is the only kind they have outside here, as bears are about. We parked in a mall and fed Clark's Nutcrackers in the mall parking lot.
We are travelling on road 1A towards Banff. Early on we see two elk and one mountain goat. Today is a long drive day. We have good visibility and traffic is sparse, which is good
because these are well kept roads, but not multi-lane highways. As we continue on the long drive, we see more wildlife in various spots. As we approach Banff, we see 3 elk and deer grazing in a park,
a magnificant castle, and gorgeous views: mountains, a river. Banff has gardens, museums, hiking and I wish we had time to stay and explore, but we are on a schedule.
On road 1A from Banff to Calgary we count 11 mountain goats on a stubby mountain right next to the road. Now we see white cliffs and pasteur lands, rolling hills and cows.
We find a nice campground North of 520 (Road to Furman, Alberta Canada) on 22 South where one was not supposed to be and slept there, near Porcupine Hills.
Thursday, June 24, 1999. We woke with the sun at 4:30 and started driving. We want to arrive in Donnelly, Idaho today. Views of elk are no longer a novelty.
We see another animal with long light brown/grey fur and a pretty, pointy, snout. We aren't sure if it is a wolf or a coyote.
We cross the unwatched border into the USA at Roosville on 93
where we see cows with horns. Then we turn right onto Road 37 to head towards Libby Montana. We pass ruffed grouse birds, doe deers, an osprey in a nest on "painted"
sandstone rocks, beautiful scenes. In Libby Montana we encountered rain which continued to wet our van on the trip from Libby to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, where the rain finally stopped. Originally we
were planning to drive the van to Missoula, Montana; but we couldn't find a Texaco in Montana and we were running low on cash. Note from 2022: In 1999, gas stations took either cash or their own credit cards
for payment. They did not accept other credit cards. I did not note which roads we took but it may have been route 2 and 95.
We encounter the Camas Prairie, Palouse, Loess, and what Tom called the "Hilly-bumps". At 9:00 PM Idaho time we arrive at "the Blue House" in Donnelly, Idaho.
I have no further notes about this trip. We probably saw Tally and Joe and spent time with them and then took our van on major highways back to Seattle in order to return to our jobs on Monday.
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Created: December 27, 2022
Updated: January 1, 2023
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