Edmonton, AB, August 19 to 30

We spent almost 2 weeks in Edmonton, while our motorhome generator was being repaired. We had scheduled the replacement of the fuel pump in our generator at a shop in Edmonton. Fortunately, the replacement muffler finally was delivered from the Belleville dealer who sold us the motorhome, so we were able to get all the required parts into the generator at the same shop. We're very happy with the generator now, as it is quieter than the new generator that we had in our previous motorhome.

We enjoyed our time in Edmonton. We stayed at the Rainbow Valley campground in a lovely park within the city. It was only minutes away from the Whitemud highway (after reading Harry Potter, I had to call it the Mudblood highway), which took us to many of the sights in Edmonton. We finally got to see the famous West Edmonton Mall---it is incredible in its size, variety of stores, and theme areas. We really liked the "Fort Edmonton and Villages" that we visited. We had a ride in an old train pulled by a real, operating steam engine. The fort was reconstructed as it was in 1880. After touring through it, we walked into a village street as it was in 1895, then to a 1905 street, and so on up to 1950. I was impressed that they had the different time periods all in one park.

We managed to get into the Edmonton food bank to do two afternoons of volunteer work. We learned that it was the first food bank in Canada! It was a huge operation, which distributed food to many charity organizations within Edmonton, and throughout Alberta.

We took Precious to a Vet, as she wasn't feeling well and she had stopped eating. We spent a few hundred dollars on tests, which didn't show what was wrong! Precious got better and started eating again (without having the courtesy to wait for the non-results of the expensive tests).

Icefield Parkway & Jasper

Last Monday we started driving up the Icefield Parkway (after a long day trying to catch up on internet activities in a hotel lobby in Lake Louise). After a short drive, we stayed overnight at the Waterfowl campsite.

On Tuesday, we stopped at the Columbia Icefields information centre (maybe the 3rd time we've been there). I knew that the glacier had melting back considerably in the last few years, but I was surprised to learn that its tip had been moving out further from the mountain range up until 1848. It has been melting back since 1848.

We spent 4 nights camped in Whistlers campground, just outside of Jasper. We enjoyed a hike to the base of Mount Edith Cavell, and browsing through the town of Jasper. It appeared that the whole town was given a facelift recently, and it appeared to be much more spacious, in and out of the shops, after being in Banff.

Moraine Lake, AB & Golden, BC

We really enjoyed canoeing yesterday on the beautiful turquoise waters of Moraine Lake with the 10 mountain peaks surrounding the end of the lake.

Today we ventured into BC to explore the town of Golden. The twisty mountain roads approaching Golden were exciting and the scenery was spectacular. At one time we had dreamed of moving to Golden, based on what we saw on the internet. However, the dream faded when we drove around the area. On our return journey we went into Field, BC--it was much more attractive and inviting than Golden.

Holiday in the Rockies - July 31 to Aug 9/07

We camped at Lake Louise for the whole time. We moved from a mediocre site to a lovely one very near the Athabaska River. We loved hearing the rushing river especially at night, and the beautiful walk/bike trails beside the river. We visited Morraine Lake, Lake Louise, Banff. The three went on a thrilling but exhausting hike (on Chris's advise that 750 ft. rise over 5.8 km was easy), but the scenery was spectacular. Katie found a great day excursion which included white water rafting on the Kicking Horse, horseback riding in the mountains to a BBQ dinner,and finishing at the Banff hot springs. I joined Katie, Chris and Diana for the riding and dinner. They had a great day. Chris did some serious mountain biking on an $800 rental and kindly brought it over Paul and me to try. It was fun on the river trail, and gave us the courage to use our folding bikes. Katie and Chris treated us to a delicious dinner in Banff, and Diana treated at the Lake Louise Lodge - how thoughtful and appreciated. One night I started teaching KDC bridge (although I haven't played for well over20 yrs). The 3 youngsters tented at Jasper for 3 days and really enjoyed the Maligne Lake cruise and the Miette hotsprings. All too soon it was time for them to go. We had such a good time together.