We wanted to go to Yellowknife simply because it was about as far north as we could drive in Western Canada, and found that the drive was interesting with beautiful scenery and that we really enjoyed the town and area of Yellowknife.
Friday, July 24--We left Ackerman on Friday, July 24th after I had been in JBHM meetings most of the week--21st through the 23rd. I packed almost everything before I left for the meeting in Jackson, and Tom packed while I was gone, but we still found things to do. I knew that we were going to have to bathe Frodo and put water in the RV, but, of course, other things came up. However, we were able to leave the house about 9:45. We stopped in Ackerman for the mail and paper and to get gas so it was 10:00 by the time we left Ackerman. The first day was pretty long since we drove about 470 miles. Neither of us had realized how far it was to Madison. We decided to follow Gary’s directions for the shortest route, so we weren’t on the interstates. We left Ackerman going straight north on 15 and then more or less just kept going straight north. There were some four lane roads, and we ended up on I39 into Madison, but we did a lot of stop and go driving, and it was slow. We spent the first night at Okaw Valley Kampground in Vandalia, Illinois ($25.20). There were a lot of children staying. It included a lake in which the campers could fish without a license. The restrooms weren’t particularly clean, and there was kareoki until around midnight. Unfortunately, we were very close to the pavilion where they were performing. It was also very hot, and the electrical outlet that Tom hooked into was not grounded so we were hesitant to use the air conditioning. (The next morning we found that there was another outlet that was correct.) During the night there was a hail storm with terrific wind that shook the RV. I was worried about hail damage, but the next morning we found that there seemed to have been none.
Saturday, July 25--
On Saturday we had lunch at Cracker Barrel in Decatur, Illinois. We only had about 300 miles to drive, but it took us all day so that we reached Lee and Laura’s at about 5:30. They had been at a garage sale helping friends, so it worked out all right. We took Frodo for a walk as Lee showed us his neighborhood. Lee wanted to take us to a concert in one of the parks, but it turned out that it was the next week, so although we drove around looking for it, we never found it. It was late when we finally went to a sushi restaurant for dinner. We took some home to Laura. Lee and Laura’s house is very nice (on the left).
Sunday, July 26--
On Sunday, we all went to church. Lee and Laura had told us that they were often late to church, and we thought that was strange. However, after being in the church, we realized that probably half the people who ended up there came late. There seemed to be a lot of movement during the service. They are between priests, but a new one is coming later in the summer. After church we went to a yarn shop that Laura wanted to visit. The yarn shop had a lunch room with relatively good food. I had a whitefish spread sandwich that was good. After lunch we spent some time sitting outside in Lee’s backyard watching, and occasionally playing with, Frodo and talking. 
Some of the children who visit Lee and Laura came by for a little while. We ordered pizza for supper and all ate in the RV since Laura said that the dining room in the house was probably not a good place to eat. Apparently the cats like it.
Monday, July 27-- Lee came out to see us before he went to work. We got ready to leave and drove to Wal Mart for a few things and then to Kayser Ford to have the oil changed. They told us that we needed new shock absorbers in the front, but they didn’t have the Bilstein shock absorbers that we had, so we decided to go elsewhere. They also checked our brakes, but we aren’t in desperate need of doing anything yet. The squeal apparently is not dangerous--yet. I found a Camping World near Minneapolis and called them. They had the Bilsteins in stock and were able to give us an appointment for tomorrow (Tuesday) at 1:00. We spent the night at Twin Springs Camping Resort ($33.00) near Menomonie, Wisconsin. It’s a nice campground that has been run by the same people for 44 years. It has an old-fashioned flavor. 
Although we didn’t see much of it since we were placed in a campsite on the road where we could get satellite reception. I did see what looked like a very large swimming pool as we were led to our site. The man who took us to the site brought a 50 amp to 30 amp converter which he plugged in for us and then locked the electrical box so that it could not be removed. We’ve never had anyone supply a converter before--and especially to install it for us. 
There was also a very nice trail/road on which to walk Frodo. 
It went from where we were camped up to a golf course and then around some more.
Tuesday, July 28--Tuesday we had only about a hundred miles to drive so we didn’t have to hurry. We left the campground about 9:45 and reached the Camping World at Rogers, Minnesota before 12:00. We told them we were there and then at lunch and napped until someone knocked on the door to say they were ready for us. The young man who knocked was the one who was going to do the work, and he told me that the Bilsteins were hard to install and would probably take an hour each. We walked Frodo, played with our iPhones, and waited. He actually finished in about an hour and a half. He said the old ones had been a little to tight and some part just popped off making it easier to install the new ones. 
We left there and drove toward the Mall of America, but we decided to go to a nearby campground first. We stopped for the night at a Good Sam campground in Savage, Minnesota, Town and Country Campground ($35.59). We didn’t even hook up, but headed straight for the Mall where Tom and I explored (and bought the Rosetta Stone for Russian!) and Frodo waited in the RV. We especially enjoyed the Lego demonstration--as of the rhino I’ve shown--and watching the rides in the amusement park. We had supper at an Italian restaurant (Tucci ?). Supper was better than we’d expected since it was at a mall, and the tiramasu was great!
Wednesday, July 29th--Tom decided he would like to see a Twins game and we were able to get tickets for this evening, so we decided to stay another day. We moved to another site--#25--so that we’d have Internet. We actually had their wi-fi as well as the satellite dish signal from that site. We left for the game about 4:00. We drove to the Mall of America, where we parked the
RV and left Frodo. 
From there we took the light rail train to the Metrodome. It was only $6.00 for both of us round trip. Each way took about 30 minutes, but they let us out practically at the gate. We happened to be there for dollar hot dogs, so we each had a hot dog. Tom finished his off with ice cream, and I ate most of a huge bag of popcorn.
Thursday, July 30th--Once again, we decided to stay another day. It was time to do our laundry and empty the tanks, and we decided to stay put and tend to everything rather than try to drive and be exhausted before we did it all. We went to the grocery store in the morning and then washed Frodo in a Pet Wash that was part of a car wash. It was really nasty, so we ended up washing him on the floor rather than the “bathtub” they had for animals. After our nap, we did the laundry and then went to a Hobby shop that Tom had found. I bought some thin basswood for my wood cutting kit and a puzzle for 4+ children for the grandchildren. Tom didn’t find what he was looking for.
Friday, July 31th--We had done all our housekeeping yesterday, so we just had to get ready and go. We took pictures of an enormous tree at the campground that was said to be estimated to be 350 years old. I was told it was a “hanging” tree because the Native Americans would hang their dead on it to freeze once the ground was too hard to bury them. They would then bury them when the ground thawed. We were on the road at about 9:45, but then had to look for gas since we were almost out. We drove about 300 miles and ended up in a campground in Grand Forks, North Dakota, Grand Fork Campground ($25.00). We didn’t bother calling for a reservation because they had over 100 sites and we figured it would not be busy, but we were wrong. They are having a catfish catching competition and a chili cook-off this weekend and there were only a very few places left. We had no trouble setting up the satellite, but it rained before we reached the campground and several times afterwards.
Saturday, August 1st--I called Bob to wish him a Happy Birthday, but didn’t get to talk with him. We crossed into East Grand Forks to go to a vet that we had heard would get us Heartguard (I had forgotten Frodo’s medicine again.). It turned out to be a little complicated because they insisted on contacting our vet. Luckily when they dialed the after hours number, Dr. Little called them right back and gave them an oral prescription with promise of a fax on Monday. We then searched--with a little confusion about Grand Forks, ND, and East Grand Forks, MN--for a model railroad layout that Tom wanted to see. 
It was the Northern Lights Model Railroad Association. There were several people there working on the layout and one of them showed us around. 
After that we crossed the border into Canada with no trouble although the border crossing questioner was a little surprised at some of our answers. He asked if either of us had a pistol at home, and I said I had. Tom said he didn’t know I had one, which seemed to interest the questioner. He also seemed concerned that we had enough money to get by on when we told him how little cash we had with us. Anyway, he passed us through, and, although the next person told us to pull aside, we were 
finally waved through without being searched. We drove on to Winnipeg for the night. We found a large campground called Travelers’ Campground (~$28) with over 200 spaces. They had had a lot of rain, and everything was soggy. Our feet got wet just walking around the campsite or walking Frodo. The ladies at the desk suggested that we go into town for the kickoff for their annual Folklorama, which we did. We had supper at the Pancake House, since I had been wanting a crepe, while listening to and somewhat watching Native American dancing. Then we went to the pavilion where each of the groups that were participating in the Folklorama over the next two weeks put on a short presentation. We watch several groups: a folksong singing group and dancers from Peru, Columbia, and some Serbian type country. We were told that the talent was local, but it was quite polished. The crowds were very diverse.
Sunday, August 2nd--We wanted to see The Forks Market before we left Winnipeg, so we drove down there on the way through town. It was disappointing. It was very touristy with little or nothing of any real interest. We left there and started toward Regina. It was a long drive, but we gained an hour when we went from Manitoba to Saskatchewan so that helped. We stopped at Moose? to get gas and a nice man working there who had a paralyzed arm from a stroke told me that he’d worked 32 years in a nearby potash mine--above and below ground--and gave us a lot of tourist information. He also told us that the bright yellow blooms we were seeing in the fields were
canola and that the blue ones we\ would see were flax. We arrived at the Kings’ Acre Campground, one kilometer from Regina, just in time to get the third from last site. Two other rigs pulled in right behind us. We still haven’t gotten any Canadian money, and Tom’s debit card isn’t working, but they accepted a check. We’ll need to get money tomorrow and call the bank about his card. ($27.30)
Monday, August 3rd--Unfortunately we discovered that today was a national holiday. No banks! We went to the Royal Saskatchewan Museum, which had animals and fossils--many large animals--and other things. We then went to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Depot--where they are trained. There was supposed to be a parade, but it was cancelled. We ate lunch in the RV while we waited for the parade, but when it was cancelled, we decided to see the video and tour the Depot briefly before leaving for Saskatoon. On the way out of Regina, we stopped at a Sunflower. They don’t seem to use debit cards as much up here, and we still haven’t managed to get any cash. We stopped at the 16 West RV CG ($25 CD?) for the night and were told that we only were able to get a place because someone had left early. It’s amazing how full these campgrounds are! This time we were told that there were several things going on in town that brought people in. Tom particularly liked the area he found for walking Frodo here.
Tuesday, August 4th--We left about our usual time from our campsite--about 9:30--but we had to dump our tanks so it was around 10:00 before we really got a good start. The most exciting part of the day was seeing quite a few canola fields and even a few flax fields. One flax field was so blue that we thought it was water. Even when we came closer it looked like water with a few islands of trees in it. We had a little bit of a search for the campground we wanted, but found it before too late and, again, got one of the last places. These campgrounds are full! Tom discovered that he’d left our pressure regulator in the last campsite so we’ll need to buy another one. The campground is on the west side of Edmonton and is called Glowing Embers RV Park and Travel Centre ($35+ CD). We weren’t able to get Internet in the first site, but they moved us to another one and we could. We usually can’t get the campground wireless well enough to use it--especially with my computer.
Wednesday, August 5th--We actually were on our way by about 8:45 for once--I think because we knew that we needed to find a pressure regulator for the fresh water hose. We went back to an RV service and parts place near the first campground we saw in Edmonton, which was only about three miles back, and were able to buy one--really two. Tom wanted a spare in case he left another one. We then went toward the west again on Highway 16. We stopped in a town called Mayerthorpe because its sign said that it had “all” services and Tom wanted coffee. After the coffee, we bought a few groceries and then found an ATM machine that worked for Tom’s card. The first one we went to took MasterCard, but not Visa. The one that worked for us took Visa, but not MasterCard. We then noticed a downtown restaurant called The Lariat 
and decided to eat lunch there. 
We both had the special--potato chowder and a closed Denver. The closed Denver was basically an omelet between two pieces of bread. There was a picture of a horse on the counter in The Lariat that reminded me of the pictures that Dorothy drew when she was younger. We then drove steadily for about four hours to Peace River. We had seen that there were supposed to be two campgrounds here, and chose the one that was run by the Lions Club ($25). The sites aren’t very level, and we ended up in a site that has no water, but the man at the office was nice. He was a retired Mounty and had spent six months at the Depot. I went back to the office after supper to see about another book and asked him about the rectangular ponds we’ve been seeing. He said that they had been dug and were called dugouts. There were many Mennonites or some such in the campground, and it was very full.
Thursday, August 6th--We were up rather early because Frodo woke us up at 6:00 and we thought he had to go for a walk. He had worried us a little because he had some diarrhea. It turned out that he mostly just wanted someone to go for a walk with him. Tom tried to take a shower in the campground shower, but after walking all the way down to the shower he found that it was a pay shower and he had no money with him. He took his shower in the RV. We tried to get the satellite to work, but the transmitter never locked on. I called MobilSat and found out that they couldn’t change me to another satellite because I hadn’t done it before I left the States. Now they tell me! We drove to the library and were able to use our computers to log on with their wi-fi, which worked beautifully. We then drove to the IGA, a big grocery store, where Tom did the shopping while I went to a nearby vet’s and asked about some kind of insect repellent for Frodo. What they gave me appeared to be like Front Line, but maybe it’ll help. We then stopped for gas before leaving town so that it was almost 11:30 before we finally left. We knew it was supposed to be five or six hours to the next stop, at Twin Falls Territorial Park, and it was. 
The landscape changed from cultivated prairie land to very marshy wetlands with what appeared to be tall spruce and aspen to shorter trees without as many marshy areas. When we finally reached the campground, there appeared to be many birches, so I was wondering if we’ve been misidentifying the trees? We passed the campground and had to return a few miles. I had thought that there were water and electricity hookups, but there seems to be just electricity. There is a shower nearby, and it’s not pay! We saw a couple of deer thinking about crossing the highway when we pulled into a turnout to eat our lunch, and I saw three deer crossing the road behind us when we left the campground, but we haven’t seen much other wildlife. We aren’t even seeing birds, which seems strange--only one or two crows or ravens. This campground, Louise Falls ($28) is deserted with only a couple of other outfits and none within our sight, but we still haven’t seen any wildlife.
Friday, August 7th--This was a day of driving. We started after 9:00 and drove pretty steadily. It was 
less than 300 miles to Yellowknife, but some of the roads were pretty bad with frost heaves (I think I remember that’s what they were called in Alaska.) The most excitement were crossing the MacKenzie River on the ferry 
and viewing the pillows 
for the new bridge they are building to take the place of the ferry. We saw quite a few Woods Bison as we drove past their sanctuary. They are noticeable larger than the plains bison and looked healthier to me than many that we had seen in other trips. We saw singles--males apparently--and herds of ten to thirty or so. We reached Yellowknife about 4:00 or 5:00 and went straight to Fred Henne Territorial Park ($32) where we had reservations. The mosquitos are bad, but the flies aren’t too bad, and the bugs in general don’t seem as bad as they were at Twin Falls. We have a nice large pull through site. We thought the park was deserted, but as the evening came, more campers appeared until it’s relatively full. We have a more or less adult party with a medium sized poodle right next to us and a family with four boys and two large dogs in an RV about the size of ours across from us.
Saturday, August 8th--It rained most of the morning, although not in great amounts. We slept late, or rather got back in bed several times, and Frodo didn’t want to go out in the rain. Finally we got ready to go and emptied the tanks at the dump in the campground only to find that they didn’t have water with which to rinse out the black water tank. we had to go to a dump in town. That dump ended up being easy to find, but a little inconvenient since the dump was in the middle of the road and the water was over on the side. However, we did succeed in rinsing the tank and putting chemicals back in and are ready for several more days. I don’t think I mentioned that we have only electricity at our site. That’s all these provincial/territorial parks seem to have. After finally completing the dumping of tanks, we went to do our laundry. Strangely enough, while we were dumping a First Nation (we think) couple passed by us and made some friendly comments. They were also in the laundromat, and when we went grocery shopping we saw the woman again. It seems strange to see the same person three times. There were two restaurants that we wanted to try, and since I thought that I saw that there would be entertainment, we tried the French Bistro tonight. I had pickerel, and Tom had Muskox. They were both good, but Tom found the Muskox tough. Frodo seemed to enjoy what we brought him. We returned to the campground and Tom walked Frodo. The mosquitos had gone during the earlier afternoon because of the cooler weather and the wind (we think), but they were back this evening. The sun doesn’t set until after 10:00.
Sunday, August 9th--We’d thought about going to church, but this is the first place we’ve been where the churches weren’t advertised in the tourist literature. We had only seen one church in driving around--although we saw a few more during the day today. We even found the Anglican Arctic Diocese office, but never found the church. We did see a spire somewhere in the distance that could be the church! We ate lunch in the RV and then drove downtown and parked on the street to walk around for awhile. We ended up around the City Hall where there are monuments and a lovely Hope Garden built by her family and the town in memory of a woman lawyer who moved to Yellowknife, became a part of the community, and died of breast cancer. There was a community circle there representing all the various communities around Yellowknife and paths to the Prince of Wales Heritage Center and the Tourist Information Center. We walked over to the Heritage Center and went through it. There was a large and very good portrait of Prince Charles and some very interesting exhibits of the Northwest Territories--especially this area. After walking through the exhibits we returned to the RV and walked Frodo for a few minutes before driving down to Old Town. There is practically no parking in Yellowknife--although it’s better on a Sunday--but Old Town is the worst of all. We finally parked on the side of the road at a pretty bad slant and walked to the Wildcat Cafe. This was one of the original buildings in Yellowknife and has been restored. Although the various First Nations were around and the Dene were near or at Yellowknife, the town started in 1934 with the discovery of gold so old buildings aren’t that old! It looked as if it were mostly the roof that had to be replaced because the walls looked older to me. We had coffee and tea there and then walked up the Rock to the Pilot’s Monument, which honors aviators who helped build the North. There were some very nice houses build into or onto the slopes
of the Rock with lovely views of the bays
. 
We drove over
to find the Italian restaurant at which we wanted to eat, but it was early so we drove back to the information center to look around at their exhibits. They closed at 6:00 so we left and went back to the restaurant. We found a place to park and then realized that the restaurant was closed on Sunday. We went back out to the Park, and Tom cooked Kashi meals. On the way into the park we saw an ice cream truck! We stopped and I bought a banana split, which I put in the freezer until after supper.
Monday, August 10th--It’s bad to say that getting the oil changed was one of the highlights of the trip! We’d decided to go to the Ford place here to see about an oil change since it needed to be changed before we started south, so we went by there this morning and asked if they could fit us in. They told us to come back around 2:00 and just wait and they would do it. In the meantime, we called about a fishing trip, but were told to call back about noon. We then had lunch at a sports bar called Surly Bob’s Sport Bar. Tom had a barbecue and I had soup and a western chicken wrap. It was pretty good although expensive. We guess that everything is expensive because of the distance it must be transported. We then went to an art gallery and then went to the library to use the Internet. We had pretty good luck finding parking places on the side of the road. When we returned to the Ford place, they were quite nice and took the RV into the service area almost as soon as we arrived. One of the employees, Mary Kraut?, made it her project to get Frodo relaxed. He was terrified by all the noise--they were resurfacing the road and airplanes were taking off at the airport next door. We finally got him inside, and Mary made a fuss over him until he did relax. I think that almost everyone in the dealership came by to pet him. She showed us her three dogs--two small poodles and a maltese--who were in her car. She said they went everywhere with her, and I believe it. She had water for them in the car. Her job apparently was to pick up and bring in customers who had cars in service. One of the men in the service department told us that his great-great-grandfather was Warren Harding. He gave Tom an old Northwest Territories license plate. When everything was finished, Mary led us to a place where we can wash the RV before we leave. I called the fishing people and we’re supposed to go out tomorrow from 9:00 to 3:00. We went by the Information place to buy fishing licenses. We then went to a couple of more art galleries and started to walk down to Old Town, but decided it was too far. We went to the Italian restaurant that had been closed last night, Diamente. It was open, and some of it was good, but our main course was not particularly good. We had to wait a long time for it, and both of us thought that what we had seemed to have sat under the heat lamps too long. The pasta was supposedly made there, but it was tough and the sauces somewhat none existent. The tiramasu was good.
Tuesday, August 11th--We got up a little early--at least Tom did--to go to meet our fishing guide by 9:00 even though it had rained in the night and the wind was up so that we didn’t think we’d be able to go. We did find his place on the island right past Old Town. He was standing outside and waved us down. He did say we couldn’t go, but thought we might be able to go by afternoon so told us to call him later. We went to the library to use the Internet. When we reached the mall, where the library is, we found that it didn’t open until 10:00 and it was only 9:15 so we decided to have some coffee or something and wait. We both needed to use the restroom, and we asked a man standing in the mall where the restrooms were. It turned out that he was a custodian and had to unlock them for us. It also turned out that he was Arcadian and was very interested in the Cajuns in Louisiana. As he said an Arcadian friend of his who had visited Louisiana said, “They’re just like us. They like to eat and drink.” He showed us the bistro where he liked to get breakfast and coffee and it looked so good that Tom had two eggs with bacon and I had a pancake as “brunch.” We then spent a couple of hours at the library. The weather was still coldish and drizzly so we decided it was a good time to tour the Legislative Assembly Building. 
They have 19 representatives and no political parties.
Supposedly they govern by consensus, but our guide said that the majority still rules. After the tour we went to the book store downtown, The Book Celler, where we’d heard there was a good collection of books on the Arctic. We then returned to the RV, which we’d left parked at the Information Center and rested/napped for a couple of hours before heading to Old Town to eat. We stopped at one of the art galleries again, and, since they were closing as we left at 6:00, they said we could leave the RV in their parking lot. Parking in all of Yellowknife is somewhat of a challenge since there basically are no parking lots. Tonight was the night we’d set aside to eat at the Wildcat Cafe.
(For more pictures of Yellowknife, click on the Wildcat Cafe above.)
When we first arrived we almost didn’t get seated because three of the tables were reserved for a large group. We were told that we might have to be moved sometime during the meal to make room for the group. As it turned out, we had finished all but our dessert when they arrived, and the group was not as large as they had thought, so we were able to stay put. We had decided to try their Musk-a-bou (?), musk ox and caribou stew. We split an order and also had a side dish of Wildcat Poutine, which they told us was an Arcadian dish, made of fried potatoes with cheese and gravy. We didn’t expect much, but the poutine was delicious--as was the stew. They also served some vegetables with the stew that were very well seasoned. Tom had a strawberry/rhubarb crumble and I had a caramel custard for dessert. The policy of the Cafe was to seat people at tables together when necessary, and as we left a young couple joined us at our table--Savannah and Sean. They lived in Yellowknife although she was from the west coast and he was from Ottawa. They keep horses here, and she apparently did show jumping. We went straight back to the campground for the night. The weather is colder--about 50 degrees--but the rain seems to have passed. We may go fishing tomorrow afternoon.
Wednesday, August 12th--The morning was spent going to the dump and then going to the Library to use the Internet. We ate lunch in the RV at our parking place downtown and then started our drive for the Ingram Trail. The entire trail is only about 74 km., but only about 40 are paved. We got really sleepy and stopped at one of the day use areas for a nap. We thought we’d drive on to Cameron Falls, but the bugs were really bad and the road turned into washboard gravel so we turned around and came back. We stopped at the Visitors’ Center again, and I called Greg about fishing. However, as we’d expected, he thought that the wind was too high to go out this afternoon. He told us to come by his place in about 20 minutes and we’d make arrangements for a trip. We went to one of the places where artisans work. This was the shop of Darryl Turner. They had told me in the art gallery that there were four Turners and that Darryl had a workshop. I had liked a musk ox by Ryan Turner, who I think is Darryl’s nephew. When we reached the shop, there was a man cutting stone in a net tent. He stopped and introduced himself to us as Eli. He showed us the few things that were in the workroom, and then he showed us the stone on which he was working. It had been commissioned by someone and was the story of a sea goddess. It was about two feet tall, and had many figures that had a part in the story. I would love to have something like that! Greg’s house is immediately backed into a huge rock that forms the backbone of the island. He has a small side yard where he keeps boat trailers and lets people park. The street has no exit so we have to turn around somewhere each time we go. We made arrangements to go out at 8:00 on Thursday. He told us that he had an appointment at the bank at 1:00 so we have a definite limit on time.
We had planned to have supper at Bullock’s Bistro. 
Everyone we’d talked to told us that it was the place to eat in Yellowknife. It was somewhat like the Wildcat Cafe in that it was small and crowded with tables. There were pictures and notes all over the walls and ceilings. 
The woman who runs it is apparently known as being a no-nonsense type who tells people exactly who she wants things done. Tom asked her about parking right in front of the cafe, and she told him that she wasn’t a policeman, she ran a cafe. However, she was quite polite to us and even apologized when the food was a little slow by telling us that the cook was new. We both ordered the Arctic Char, which turned out to be very much like salmon. It was good and cooked with a good bit of ginger, but I didn’t think it rated the raves that we’d heard. Maybe one of the local fish would have been better.
Thursday, August 13th
--Our fishing day finally arrived! We met Greg at his house at 8:00 and found that his copilot, Maggie, an Nova Scotia Duck Trolling dog according to him, was already in the boat. On the way out to an island Greg knew and liked, we passed an osprey nest and went close enough that we made the osprey take flight. It went right back to the nest as we left. Greg said that same nest had been there as long as he’d been. 
He showed us how to use spinning reels. It took us both a little while to get used to them. I don’t think we remember much from one time to the next of fishing. I think Tom caught five fish and I caught four, but one of mine was around five pounds. We were fishing for pike. Greg kept the first two that were about three pounds for us to eat for lunch. He brought a small butane stove and “fixings” and cooked the fish in a frying pan right there were we were fishing. He put them in buttermilk and then rolled them in a batter of crushed cornbread crumbs and something else. He seasoned them with lemon pepper. As he said, we’d never eat fresher fish! They were delicious. 
(For more pictures of the fishing trip, click here.)
While we were eating another boat made an appearance. We both thought that Greg somewhat resented anyone else being in “his” area. As we went back to the dock, Greg took us by the floating houses for a closer look. People build and live in these houses. 
Greg’s son had built one and lived in it for five years before he got tired of it. When we arrived back at his house he gave us the left over fish, some caribou/pork sausage and an eye of round caribou roast to take. He’s just about persuaded us that we need to come to Yellowknife at the end of March to enjoy some of the winter activities--sled rides, seeing the aurora, riding on the ice roads, etc.
We went back to the campground for naps. Then we went grocery shopping, but stopped at the campground office where I exchanged four of the books I’d already read. We went to the library for our “Internet fix.” A man stopped us on the way into the library and asked if we were visitors. He welcomed us to Yellowknife and spent about 15 minutes talking with us about it. I found out that the proper term for one who live here is “local.” “Native” means one of the “aborigine” people--and they prefer that word to “Indian”. We mailed postcards at the post office in the drug store and went back to the campground where I fixed supper using our fresh pike. It was delicious cooked in the microwave, too. The clouds are clearing off, and we may try to get up when it gets dark and walk out to the lake to see if we can see the aurora.
Friday, August 14th--A day we’d planned to make a clean-up day. We didn’t see the aurora last night--I should say Tom didn’t see it. I was going to get up if he saw anything. We went first to wash the RV, which was filthy, although we realize that it’ll be filthy again by the time we get to the States. We went to the car/truck wash that our friend, Judy, at the Ford place had shown us, and it worked very well. There were two of everything, so Tom and I each did part of it and it was much faster. We moved out of the bay to dry it as best we could. We then went to do our laundry and had another Quiznos lunch. After the laundry, we went to the library for an hour, and then went to various galleries in town while I tried to decide what I wanted to buy. I finally bought a dancing bear done by Eli, who we’d met at the workshop earlier, and the narwhale horn and musk ox piece I’d also seen earlier. When I bought the narwhale horn, the artist had it all wrapped before I thought to ask if he took plastic. He said no, but told me to take it with me and bring him back the money. I went straight to the bank and withdrew the $300 and took it to him! We were going to cook in the RV, but decided to go back to the Wildcat Cafe. Tom had the fish chowder and a salad. I had the whitefish. They were both good, but the whitefish was as well seasoned as any fish I’ve had. We had the caramel custard and carrot cake for dessert. As we were walking back to the RV, Greg Robertson (fishing guide) passed and stopped to say hello. We then returned to the RV park. Our next door neighbors invited us over for coffee. They showed us their new (about two months) RV, which is huge, but very nice. It was build by the Amish and the cabinetry showed it. Their names are Nolan and Mary Anne Van Nieuvenhuyse, Box 5445, Westlock, AB, T7p 2P5, 1-780-349-2415, maryanne@hotmail.com. We exchanged addresses and might someday see them. We may try to see the aurora tonight.
Saturday, August 15th--We didn’t see the aurora. I woke up several times during the night and looked out the window, but didn’t see anything. Neither of us felt like going outside. We were ready relatively early, about 9:00, said goodby to the Van Nieuvenhuyses, and left. They had to back out of their space and jack-knived the trailer so that they scraped the paint on their new motorhome. We drove steadily and made it to Hay River at about 4:30. We went to the information center, then the Territorial Park, then ate an early supper, and toured the town a little before going to the Cultural Heritage Center for a talk on James Franklin, who explored for the Northwest Passage and who was lost with about one hundred men on his third voyage. The man talking (Tom Gross) had been looking for Franklin’s grave for about 13 years. He discussed a lot of the history of the various people who’ve looked for remnants of Franklin’s voyage. It was interesting, but we left after about two hours. We walked out to see the lake (Great Slave) since the campground is right on the lake, and got ready for bed. Tom’s planning to get up at 1:00 to try to see the aurora over the lake.
Sunday, August 16th--Once again, we didn’t make it up to look for the aurora--although I did look out the window. Looking out over the lake would have been the best possible chance to see it. We got ready to leave and went by the information center to use their dump although we realized when we reached the evening’s campground that we forgot to fill up with fresh water. We just drove to the Twin Gorge Campground south of Enterprise before stopping to see Louise and Alexandra Falls. There was a trail between them that was about two kilometers each way. I think Frodo was tireder when we finished than we were! The falls were lovely.
The walk was along a path that the tribes used when the made their portage on the way to the lake. We ate our lunch at the park at the entrance to the trail and then started south again. We decided to camp at High Level. This was the farthest north that we saw cultivated land. I think it was at 58.35 degrees latitude that we saw the first plowed fields. We stopped at Aspen Ridge Campground ($29+ CD) just south of High Level. It actually has water at the sites, but our water was so far away that we had to borrow a hose to make the connection. We’ll just be using the water through the hose for bathing although it’s probably fine. The mosquitoes here seem to be worse than anywhere else we’ve been, so except for walking Frodo, which Tom is bravely doing, we’ll stay in the RV.
Monday, August 17th--This was a day of traveling. We didn’t feel comfortable with the water at the campground even if it had been easier to reach, so although we needed to refill our tank we decided to wait. We found a city dump with water in one of the towns through which we passed--as well as a really nice IGF grocery store. We put water in the tanks there and would have eaten our lunch somewhere there, but never found a good spot to stop. We ended up eating our lunch pulled into someone’s access road that looked as if it weren’t used often. Luckily it wasn’t used while we were there! The countryside has now become cultivated--at least in spots--with big fields of wheat and canola. We were really lucky to see the canola blooms on the way up. They are almost totally gone now. We decided to stop early for the day and we spent the night in the Sherk RV Park near Valleyview, AB ($26+ CD) The next campground would have been a couple of hours away. Maybe we’re finally learning to stop early! This is a lovely campground complete with a nice nature walk across the road. We had no trouble getting satellite reception.
Tuesday, August 18th--It was hard to get started this morning--a good campground and our satellite dish is working so we have Internet! We did finally leave about 10:00, but stopped a few miles from the campground at an information center that had good information about Drumheller and the park we want to see. We stopped at a pull out for lunch. There were lots of noisy trucks that scared Frodo when we went for a walk so we didn’t stay very long. Tom drove on past Edmonton where we saw very dark clouds of what looked like dust. There was a particularly strong wind and some rain, but for the most part we seem to have missed the rain. We finally stopped at Red Deer at a campground that seems to be at least partly run by the community. It’s called Westerner ($36+ CD) and is right beside an arena in which a horse show seems to be about to happen. We tried to go see it, but there didn’t seem to be much going on. The campground is a typical crowded city campground, but we can get Internet, and it seems ok. The showers cost $1.00 for four minutes so Tom will probably take his in the RV in the morning. He doesn’t like to pay. No mosquitoes!
Wednesday, August 19th--We didn’t get to Drumheller until about noon. We went straight to the Information Center and then ate lunch at a cafe downtown.
We didn’t go to the tea house that was recommended because we didn’t have enough cash and didn’t want to get more. They took only cash and no Visa. After lunch we set out to follow the directions we’d been given at the Information Center. Our first stop was the Tyrrell Dinasaur Museum, which was much more than we’d expected. We were both exhausted and felt we’d only covered part of it.
(Click on the picture above to see more museum pictures.)
After that we visited a tiny church one of the world's smallest--(maybe the world’s smallest?), which only held six people.
We then drove to the end of the Dinasaur Trail where we took a ferry across the Red Deer River. The ferry man had only been working there for six days!
We then came back down the other side of the river and went to the Atlas Coal Mine, which has been partially restored as a tourist attraction.
We decided to take both the tunnel tour and the tipple tour starting at 6:15 pm so we went back into Drumheller to the Boston Pizza Shop and had a very good pizza while we waited. (Tom had been wanting a pizza.). The tours were fascinating. I found one of the most intriguing parts the fact that there were actually some trails from which one could have, some beams that could hurt heads, etc. that probably would never have been allowed on a tourist attraction in the US. We walked up beside the conveyor belt that brought coal down from the mine and then back down the steps that the miners used. They used ponies to move the carts at one time, and the ponies actually lived in a stable at the top of the hill near the mine. In the tipple tour we rode in carts propelled by a battery driven “engine” that replaced the ponies. The tipple is where the different sizes of coal were sorted, stored, and then loaded into box cars. The largest chunks of coal were in the most demand and were loaded into the box cars immediately. It was almost 8:00 by the time we finished, and we went to the Hoodoo Campground ($30+ CD), which was a Good Sam, and we’d noticed earlier was not full. We had a little trouble with our blocks to level the RV and for the first time ever, Tom ran off the high end, but we finally settled for the night.
Thursday, August 20th-We got ready rather slowly and enjoyed having the Internet with our satellite again. By about 10:00 we left the campground and drove about 2 km to see the HooDoos. There were only a few of them, so it wasn’t as outstanding as I think I remember seeing in South Dakota badlands. We then went into town to the Information Center and to the two fossil shops that we’d seen. I found an ammonite (?) at one and a neural ridge dinasaur bone at the other. Tom found a beautiful fish whose scales are visible at one and a trillobite that was perfectly preserved at the other. We’re just hoping that we can get them home safely. We ate last night’s pizza for lunch and then went out to buy our finds--supposedly after thinking about them! We then stopped to view the suspension bridge and then started driving south. It’s funny that we’ve met very few Canadians who know about the Writing on Stone Provincial Park to which we’re going. I hope that’s not a bad sign. We tried to stop at one campground on a river, but it was full. We then stopped at another Lions Campground. This one was in Warner, AB. The other one had a very nice old man who seemed to live in the campground. This one seems to have no one. An older man (Dusty) in a pickup and wearing very few clothes came by and talked to Tom outside for quite awhile. He told Tom that one camper that was here had been left for a few days while the man in it went somewhere. Another camper had someone in it, but he hasn’t seen that person for four weeks. The stack of camping things left on the table were left when people left, and are just sitting there. He said that after 30 days anyone could take them. Dusty told us among other things that he was one of the men who built the Alaskan Highway. We’re out of Canadian money so I left a check for $15 in the box for donations. Dusty told us afterward that the usual fee was $10. We have water and 15 amp power. It seems to run the microwave, but nothing else at the same time.
Friday, August 21st--We only had less than an hour to drive to Writing on Stone Park. First, we went through Milk River and stopped at their Information Center where we learned that the tours were at 10:00 and 2:00 rather than those being the hours during which tours were given as I had thought. It was too late for the 10:00 tour, but we drove out to the Park. We looked around the Visitor Center, but decided that it was too hot for a tour since it was already about 90 degrees, and the girl at the desk told us it would be about 10 degrees hotter on the floor of the canyon where we’d be. We ate lunch in the RV and decided to drive to a lookout point where it was only a 15 minute walk to the one pyterglyph (?) that we could see not on the tour. We did drive there and tried the walk, but gave up after a few minutes when the path became so steep that we would be afraid of falling--soooo....no sightings of the drawings and carvings.
We decided to go on to the border. Crossing was simplicity. They asked a few questions--and asked me to take off my sunglasses--and then let us through. We didn’t even have to stop on the Canadian side, and no one asked to see Frodo’s papers. We drove on to Great Forks, Montana, where we decided to stop after getting gas, but the first campground at which we stopped was full. They called the KOA ($47+) in town for us and found that it still had spaces. It was all the way across town, but since it’s on our way, that’s good. The traffic in Great Forks was awful. The campground was particularly pretty and we were told that the owner had hand planted all the trees--which are lovely, but a little too much. There are flowers everywhere and the have a watering system that looks very much like the one I have for my bonsai.
We were put on the very edge of the park and told that a field beyond a very abrupt drop-off that we could see by walking a short distance often had deer in it in the evening. We walked out, but didn’t see any. We did see someone threshing wheat and lightning in the distance. We miss our cool weather! It’s hotter here than it is in Ackerman right now.
Saturday, August 22nd--We managed an early start--about 9:00--and drove all day to reach Bob and Helaine. We enjoyed the wheat fields along the way at first, but then the land became hillier and changed to mostly cow country. We reached their house about 6:30.
(For more pictures of Bob and Helaine's house click on the image above.)
Sunday, August 23rd--We visited with Bob and Helaine. Lola isn’t too pleased having Frodo in the house. She tolerated him for awhile and then started barking at him whenever he wanted to come in. Helaine has company invited for the evening.
Monday, August 24th--Tom and I walked into Buffalo to look around while Bob and Helaine went to their gym. We found that the Saloon had lunch, and Bob and Helaine picked us up and we all went there to eat. It wasn’t that great, but it was an interesting place. We decided on naps, and the weather was cloudy, so we didn’t do much of anything for the rest of the day.
Tuesday, August 25th--We left Bob’s relatively early for us--about 9:00--and drove relatively hard all day to reach the Park since it was less than 400 miles from Bob’s. It’s amazing that we find 400 miles a long drive, but we do. There was an awful hail storm before we reached Loveland. We thought it was amazing that we didn’t seem to suffer any damage. The hail covered the ground and was so thick in the air that Tom had to stop on the side of the road. We had no problem with our reservation, and the campground isn’t full. It turns out that we didn’t stay at Moraine the last time we were here, but at Glacier Basin. Our campsite is right below a ridge. When we go up the ridge we can look over a level plain that used to be a golf course and where elk congregate in the evenings. We can get the Internet from our site! There are no hookups so we can only use the satellite dish during generator times. (Campground fees here are $10/night for seniors with a pass.)
Wednesday, August 26th--We took the shuttle up to Bear Lake and then hiked down to Alberta Falls and back to Glacier Gorge. (For pictures of the hike, click here.) The weather liked terrible, but the big, black clouds missed us. It started raining an instant before we rode the shuttle back to the campground and reached the RV. Perfect timing! It rained most of the afternoon, and we napped. I cooked supper and after playing with the Internet for a little while we went to bed.
Thursday, August 27th--We woke up with a bang this morning!
Shortly after Tom got up he called me to say that two elk were right outside the RV. We watched them for quite awhile as they wandered around near us. Frodo was interested, but quiet. After they left, we got ready to go to Mary’s Lake to meet Martha Ann, Charles, Ellen, Phil, Margaret Gooch, and Emly McDiarmid (sp?). We all missed Harley and Jon! We had a lot of fun eating lunch with them and then walking around Lily Lake. We separated when Ellen and Phil had to go meet Ethan. Tom and I then walked around Estes Park for awhile and went to Mama Rosa’s for supper with tiramasu. I found two elephants that I liked--one I bought and the other I dithered about. The man from the shop at which I dithered actually found us at Mama Rosa’s to tell me that the owner had told them to close the shop earlier than they had told me, but that they would be open by 9:00 the next morning. Pretty nice of him!
Friday, August 28th--We started by going by the Visitor’s Information Center at the entrance to the park.
(For more pictures of Rocky Mountain Park click on the image above.)
We had wanted to ask about taking an RV on the road through the park and were assured that it was no problem. We then drove into Estes Park for me to buy my elephant. The owner had decided to give me 10% off so that paid the tax! We drove back into the park on highway 34, which went all the way through the park and ended up at Grand Lake. As we went through the park we both realized that we had made part of the drive before. For some reason--snow, ice, or whatever--the road was closed so that we couldn’t go all the way the last time. Just as we started on the drive--right inside the park--there was an enormous elk lying on the side of the road waving his head. There were a lot of cars stopped to watch him, so we didn’t stop. Unfortunately, he was the only big wildlife that we saw. We did see some beautiful views. At the Alpine Center we climbed up a very large hill for a tremendous view. Tom had thought that New Castle was only 120 miles from where we were in the park this morning, but apparently he was looking at the “as the crow flies” distance. We drove through some really interesting, but curvy back roads most of the afternoon before finally reaching Interstate 70--which was pretty curvy itself. Tom particularly liked the town of Bond because there was a large railroad yard and various railroad things. We finally reached New Castle and discovered that the campground was four miles out of town--with several critical direction signs missing. It used to be a KOA ($40). We finally found it and made a night registration. As we were coming in, some people walking told us that two bears had been seen at the dumpsters and that the campground had new management. The campground was a little hard to navigate in the semi-dark, but we finally found a place. It’s a nice physical site with a stream running through it, but the management does seem to be lacking.
Saturday, August 29th--We got up and left relatively early for us--with no sightings of bears. We continued to have a few problems with loose dogs in the campground so that we were hesitant to walk Frodo. We went to the library in New Castle, but Tom didn’t have very good luck with his search for information about his great uncle, Charles Dennis. We had a late breakfast of eggs benedict (Eggs Benny) at Patti’s Cafe on Main Street. It was so good that we went back there after the library for lunch. Tom had a chicken salad sandwich and I had a tomato stack--a tomato sliced horizontally and filled with a crab, cucumber, mozzarella cheese mixture. As soon as we ate we left for Denver and made it there in time to get hooked up just before dark. We stayed at the Flying Saucer RV Park ($32), which apparently used to be a mobile home park. They said they didn’t take dogs over 20 pounds, but decided we could bring Frodo and stay after I called them. The park is almost downtown.
Sunday, August 30th--We had thought we would just stay one night, but then we thought about dumping the tanks and doing at least some laundry and decided we would stay another day. We were going to dump the tanks at the park until they told us that the dumps were from the old mobile home park and we would have to dump our tanks a little at a time. They then told us where to find a dump. We did our laundry first and ate lunch as we waited on the clothes. We went to the place about which they had told us, but they wanted $15 to let us dump, so we found a Flying J about 10 miles east on I-70. We then parked the RV in the parking lot at the Buckhorn Express, where we wanted to eat. I called for reservations first, and the asked them if we could leave the RV in their parking lot while we rode into Denver on the light rain train for a couple of hours. They said it would be fine. We looked at their Union Station and then found a great bookstore in Denver called the Tattered Cover Book Store and bought several books.
We returned to the restaurant, ate a special of elk and buffalo and a wonderful Dutch apple pie a la mode, and then returned to the campground.
Frodo didn't often get on the couches, but he was caught in the act here.
Monday, August 31st--Tom decided after a look at the bathroom here to take his shower in the RV, but we were ready to go about 9:00. It took us awhile to get out of Denver. We tried to avoid the downtown traffic and missed the turn to the interstate which would have been quicker so we found our way on non-interstate roads part of the way. It wasn’t too bad, but the traffic was definitely heavier than on the weekend. Lee called to say he might be in Mississippi over Labor Day, and we had a message from Dennis saying he was safely in Ireland. We drove steadily all day until we reached Wakeeney, Kansas where we went to the grocery store and stopped at a KOA ($24+). The wind is strong, so we’re going to use the Internet and then put the dish down and go to an ice cream social that the park is sponsoring.