Banff, Alberta

 As Trish and I continue west into the Canadian Rockies, we stopped for several days at the lovely little city of Banff.  We are staying here at the impressive Fairmont Springs Hotel, in itself  reason enough to come to Banff.

The Fairmont was built in 1888 by the Canadian Pacific Railroad in their ongoing work to bring tourist money to Canada.  In those days one could sail from Europe to Canada, travel by rail across Canada, spend three months at the Fairmont Springs, then travel west to Vancouver and sail on around the world and back to Europe!  Imagine having that much free time as well as money.

We forget how very much Canada lives out its identity with the British Commonwealth. Each afternoon a bagpiper sets up outside and plays for a while just so we will remember where we are.

The views from our windows here are impressive.  These mountains are so very gigantic and much above thee tree line appears to be solid rock.  At the same time there is rich greenery as far as the forests go.

We are happy just sitting on the back porch of the hotel and reading in this restful and lovely atmosphere.

Hiking the Bear’s Hump

 While we have been at Waterton, we have been told again and again that we must hike the Bear’s Hump mountain.  After all it is right across from our hotel and the views are said to be spectacular from the top.

The mornings seemed too cold and windy, so, we waited for a warmer and calmer day for our hike. This was a mistake as the entire trail is without shade and in full sunshine.  We were soaking with sweat in no time on our way.

Though Trish and I do a lot of walking, we had to agree that this trail nearly did us in. Though less than two miles to the top, every step is uphill and the higher you get the steeper the trail gets.  There are granite steps (how they got those steps up here we could not fathom!) that are supposed to be helpful, but, the sand and shale that is on them rolls under your shoes and makes them slippery, especially on the way down.

We did take advantage of many chances to rest on the way.

Finally at the top we immediately realize that the view is worth all the climbing.  The panorama from beyond our hotel to down the lake to all the village is more than your eyes can take in.  We looked and looked end enjoyed the breeze that now cooled us off.

Gratefully, the entire trip back down was under free gravity power.  This is a short hike in linear distance, but one that our bodies felt for a couple of days.  Our eyes, however, appreciated the effort.

International Boat Ride

 On one of our days at Waterton National Park, we took a boat ride for a couple of hours that showed us how much this Park and our own Glacier National Park are, in fact, a single preservation area. 

As we traveled down Waterton Lake, we passed from Canada into the United States! On either side of the Lake we could see the cut out path of the international border between our two countries, the longest un-defended border between two countries in the entire world.  

We learned that where hiking trails cross the border, there is a QR code on a post so that you can scan the QR code and make a legal border crossing of record!

At the far south end of the Lake, we landed at the Goat Haunt Ranger Station of the US National Park Service.  A single ranger is posted here for the season. We got to stamp our National Park Passport Book. This locale is called Goat Haunt because the Blackfoot Natives called it “the place with many goats,” (mountain goats), and someone later remarked that it was virtually “haunted with goats!” 

As we rode back up the lake, we had several sunsets as the sun went in and out behind the peaks on the west side.

Then we spotted our hotel back at our starting place and enjoyed seeing just how long this magnificent Lake is.  The boat we were on was the International. It was nearly a hundred years old.  In the early days, people traveled on the United States side up to Goat Haunt by horse or Stagecoach, then took the International boat up to the Prince of Wales Hotel.  We loved making this journey!

Waterton National Park

 In 1932 the final approval happened to create the Glacier-Waterton International Peace Park. This giant preserve of 1,766 square miles is made up of the conjoined Glacier National Park in the US and Waterton National Park in Alberta, Canada. 

We drove from Glacier to Waterton to spend several days at Waterton at the historic Prince of Wales Hotel.

The Prince of Wales, one of eleven hotels built by the Northern Pacific Railroad, was built in 1926-27 and was opened when The Prince of Wales (the future Edward VIII, who abdicated) was on a trip to Canada. It was names thusly to try to entice him to visit Waterton.  He did not come, but, Trish and I did!

Our room was on the top floor right at the center peak and we had a glorious view right down the middle of Waterton Lake day and night.  We couldn’t stop looking!

The little village of Waterton down below the hotel has a population of about seventy year-round.  The winters are very harsh here with average daily winds of about forty miles per hour.  The lake freezes solid.  Our hotel only has a four month open season from mid-May to mid-September.  We had perfect days of beautiful weather with the highs in the 70’s. They told us we got the very best days of the short summer.

We were here by the full moon!

Glacier Red Busses

 In 1876 the White Sewing Machine Company was incorporated in Cleveland, Ohio. By 1900, Rollin White, the son of the founder, was more interested in automobiles than in sewing machines.  He perfected an automobile steam engine and began to manufacture steam automobiles. 

By World War I, White had converted to internal combustion and was supplying trucks for military use.  White Trucks continued to grow and develop after the War and its successors still operate today.

In early years of National Park tourism in the West, most visitors arrived by train and then traveled by stagecoach to and through the parks.  In 1933, a contest was held at Yellowstone National Park inviting manufacturers to submit potential bus models to replace the stagecoaches. White Truck Company model 706 was selected as the winner.

Between 1936 and 1939 the White Truck Company manufactured 500 of these busses for a half dozen western Parks.  Thirty five of them came to Glacier National Park where the Going to the Sun Road, too difficult for stagecoaches, had been completed in 1933, and few private cars attempted the drive.

The original busses had a 94 horsepower flathead engine, mechanical brakes that made downshifting the main form of downhill speed control, and a non-synchromeshed transmission.  The drivers hired for the summer driving jobs has to be college age men who were either pre-law or pre-med students as these were considered to be “smart.” (Today’s drivers cover a wide age-span and are both men and women.)

The drivers became known as “gear jammers” from the sounds made by double-clutching the manual transmissions on the steep road.  

As time passed and private automobiles became the choice for travelers instead of the train, other parks gradually discontinued the use of the busses. But, the Going to the Sun Road route kept the Glacier bus demands alive. 

By the 1980’s the busses were mechanically out of date and besides had each logged more than 600,000 miles. A plan was made with Ford Motor Company to refurbish 33 of the Park’s 35 busses. (One was kept museum-original and one had been destroyed in an accident.)

The refurbished busses came back with V-8 engines, automatic transmission, modern brakes, larger wheels, power-steering, complete drive-train replacement, and other mechanical features as well as safety and cosmetic upgrades. 

With a total cost of nearly ten million dollars for the thirty-three busses, Ford made a deal to donate the project to the Park Service if they could put the word “Ford” on hubcaps, the steering wheel and below the original “White” emblem on the grille.  There is also a small acknowledgement of  “Refurbished by Ford.” These small notes were worth more than ten million in advertising.

With its rolled-back top, we could see everything and even stand and take photos when the bus stopped.  The driver knew much more about what to show us than we would have known on our own, and we did not have to either drive or search for scarce parking.

We would both recommend this trip to others and we would take it again ourselves. In fact, we have another such tour planned later on this trip in Yellowstone where the refurbished busses are yellow!

Glacier National Park

 Trish and I arrived in West Glacier,  Montana, where we have several days at Glacier National Park.

We planned ahead to take a Red Bus tour of the Going to the Sun Road rather than driving ourselves.  That way we do not have to struggle for parking and the tour guide will very likely know of places to point out that we would not know ourselves.

This road, often clinging to the very edge of the mountains, runs through the center of the Park from West Glacier to the east side at St. Mary.  It goes through Logan Pass at the top, often called the Crown of the Rockies.

We met our Red Bus and our driver, Dave.  We were lucky in that Dave is the longest term driver and is the one who trains the new drivers. He was also charming and loves this Park so much he even drives this road with his wife on his day off!

The morning started cold, especially with the top on the bus rolled back. But, it was the way to see the most and it warmed as the day progressed. Sure enough, Dave knew exactly where to stop and things to show us we would have never otherwise seen.

The Going to the Sun Road is, in itself, breathtaking. It is hard to imagine what it took to build this road  starting nearly a century ago.

From mountains, to glaciers, to lakes, to waterfalls, the scenery this day was spectacular.  And, we could look all the time since neither of us had to drive!

We are glad to have a couple of days here.  Our eyes are full already!  And, I’ll tell more about the Red Busses tomorrow.

Devil’s Tower

 From DeSmet, Trish and I traveled to Devil’s Tower National Monument in Wyoming.  This was the very first National Monument established in the National Park System.  Devil’s Tower is the largest magma intrusion in the world and, in Native land, is the subject of many myths and legends.

Devil’s Tower was the major film location for “Close Encounters…” and there are lots of reminders of that when you visit.

Trish and I stayed at Devil’s Tower Lodge while we were here.  This is a place where people who are climbing the Tower start and finish.  We had dinner with staff people who climb to the top several times a week and with tourists who were on their first climb.  We had no interest at all in such an adventure, but, the view from our room was spectacular!

Devil’s Tower is not near anything.  You have to be coming here to get here, but, it is a trip well worth the travel.

Little Town on the Prairie

 Laura Ingalls Wilder’s series of books, often referred to as the Little House on the Prairie books, were some of my favorites not only in growing up years but repeatedly into adulthood.  As Trish and I make our way westward, we routed our travel to include a couple of days in DeSmet, South Dakota.  This town is the homestead setting for: By The Shores of Silver Lake, The Long Winter, The Little Town on the Prairie, The First Four Years, and These Happy Golden Years.

We visited the homestead site where this reconstructed house just like the one Pa built is open to visitors, as is a reconstruction of the sod house that preceded it.

Back in town, about two miles away, the Surveyors’ Shack, where the Ingalls family lived during The Long Winter of 1880-81 still exists as it did then and is on a special tour of Ingalls’ properties and sites.

This excellent tour included not only the Surveyers’ Shack, but also two of the school buildings where Laura taught, one being the relocated school where she taught at age fifteen during the Long Winter.

We finished our visit with the house which became their permanent home in town as years passed.  We loved walking around DeSmet, which is still about the same size that it was in the Little House days!

Another Ferry

 Living on Ocracoke, we are totally accustomed to living by the ferry.  As we are making our way west in Michigan toward South Dakota, we needed to get past Lake Michigan!  The driving choices are: go around the south end with Chicago traffic, or go north by way of the Upper Peninsula.  Instead we decided to take the Lake Michigan Express ferry.

The Express Ferry runs from Muskegon, Michigan, to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  The crossing distance is eighty miles and the ferry makes this run in two-and-a-half hours.

The ferry has a bar and also food service.  You sit at your seats…no staying in cars…and a server waits on you.  This is a good idea since with 3-5 foot waves, the ride at full speed was very rough and walking almost impossible.

We were comfortably seated except for the rough ride.  This seems to go along with the high speed.

Oh yes, and while people on Ocracoke complain about potential increases in our ferry fares, this little trip across Lake Michigan cost us $405.00, yes, that’s four hundred and five dollars!

Gilmore Car Museum

 As we travel, Trish and I both enjoy visiting automobile museums.  We have been to many such museums all over the United States, but, we were not prepared for the car Museum we found in Hickory Corners, Michigan.

There is nothing in Hickory Corners, an unincorporated crossroads in rural central Michigan, except the Gilmore Car Museum.  Started in 1966 with a personal collection, the Gilmore Museum is now the largest classic car museum in the United States displaying well over five hundred beautiful classic vehicles.

In addition to the multiple galleries in the main building, there are seven other large buildings with cars on display.  There are no ropes, so you can get up close to the vehicles. They even have open windows so you can see well into the interior.

There is one entire building housing only Packards as well as many other Packards throughout the collection. There is also an entire building filled with Pierce-Arrows, something you don’t see everyday. Trish is photographing the archer on the radiator cap.

The restorations are exquisite and the rarity of some vehicles is spectacular. There is a special gallery of car makes from Michigan that no longer exist.  The largest vehicle we have ever seen was this gigantic Columbia.

It is obvious that most of the large luxury models were driven by chauffeurs and never by their wealthy owners.  If Trish and I were to choose a vehicle to be driven in by a chauffeur, this sixteen cylinder Cadillac would be acceptable.  It was a great visit and we will come again…our eyes got full before we exhausted the collection.

Sandhills Cranes

 As we left Trish’s mother’s house and started our drive down the street, we saw a large long-legged bird crossing the street in the neighborhood.  From our distance it looked like a great blue heron.

As we drew closer, we saw that there were three more of these birds in a yard and soon the four of them were together.  Close up it did not look like a heron.  It was larger, about five feet tall, and brown instead of blue-gray.  It also had a red cap from its beak to the top of its head.

While Trish drove, I looked up the birds and discovered that they were Michigan Sandhill Cranes. The Sandhill Cranes usually live as couples and family groups and we were looking at two couples.

We were familiar with the Platte River Sandhill Cranes that migrate between southern Alaska and the Sandhill area around Kearney, Nebraska, but did not know if the Michigan sub-group.  This population summers all over Michigan, arriving in late February and early March, and winters in Florida starting in November each year.  As we drove on our way across Michigan, we saw other large groups in farm areas.

This experience illustrates why we enjoy driving everywhere rather than flying.  If we were flying, we would neither see nor even know about these magnificent birds.

Michigan Visit

 From the Cataloochee Reunion, Trish and I drove up to Lake Orion, Michigan, to visit her mother, Betty.

Betty is ninety-four years old and is still living in the home where Trish’s family moved in 1966 when her father retired from the Navy. Trish’s dad died in 2019. He and Betty were married sixty-eight years.

We spent three days and nights there visiting and catching up on things.  Betty lives close to the Seventh Day Adventist church where she goes each Saturday.  Every week her church has a pot luck dinner after the worship service.  One couple from the church picks her up each Saturday and then her good friend, Ruby, stays for pot luck with her and takes her home.  She and Ruby also go out on the town a couple of times each week.

On Tuesday, Trish’s brother, Jerry, came over to mow the lawn.  He usually mows on Monday, but, it rained all day then.  So, we got to see him since he came a day late.

We had a good visit, but it was, for Betty, “just too short.”  We’ll come this way again whenever our travel routes make it possible.