purple room vents: CRAZY ALBERTANS!!!!!

Wow! the closer you get to the Alberta/BC border, the more red plates show up....until there don't seem to be any other. Whats with that??!!! Is their province not good enough? And the vast number of those vehicles are giant diesel pickup trucks loaded with outdoor toys...atv'ers, skidoos, dirt bikes, bikes etc.... They must be keeping our economy going!!!!

We had a wonderful trip. Its a long way...seven hours with no stopping. A lot longer if you stop to snooze, eat and take pictures. I have learned that when I get that super sleepy brain numb happening, pull over, haul out your neck pillow you thoughtfully remembered to pack within reach, lay back and go to sleep for half an hour.

Our first stop for a snooze (for me, Anne was fine) was at Skunk Cabbage Boardwalk, just past Revelstoke. I slept for half an hour and Anne strolled about. Its really beautiful there! We stopped in Revelstoke at Denny's and had the best lunch! It was surprisingly delicious food. Then we went on and didn't eat til we got to Larry and Yukino's place. Yukino made the most delicious dinner and they waited for us! We didn't get there til eight that night. And they are the most delightful family!!

We stayed at the Super 8. It was good. The next morning Anne went for the breakfast they serve. I didn't. I don't often eat that early. We then met Larry and family outside and followed them to Fort Steel. We had a lovely day there. But I was remembering the last time we were there.

In 2003 we went to Jen's wedding in Banff. Just before we left, April picked her gerbil, Ross, up off the couch by the tail. Ross dug his nails into the couch and long story short, Ross got his tail skinned. It bled and leaked fluid so bad he got dehydrated. His eyes sunk into his head. So we didn't have any choice but to take him with us.

For the next few days we carefully fed Ross, watered him and nursed him back to health. We were so happy and relieved when one of his eyes went back to normal. The other one didn't but he was a lot better. After the wedding we went to Fort Steele. It was an overcast chilly kind of day. And we had the best time. It was Canada day and we were fed watermelon and cake!

After a long and wonderful day, the tired family went back to the truck...to find that it had heated up in the cab and ....ROSS WAS DEAD!!! OMG!!! He cooked! God, we were all crying..even Bill! We had all so bonded over nursing that little critter. So sadly we drove up kicking horse canyon and solemnly buried the little guy. At least she still had Eddie at home.

Anywhoo, we had a fantastic time in Cranbrook. We drove around sightseeing, climbed a beautiful green and yellow flowered hillside (just like the hill in the Sound of Music)...surrounded by majestic snow covered sharp peak mountains. We went out to a Bavarian restaurant in nearby Kimberly for an outstanding dinner. We spent half a day browsing through a crazy second hand three story junk store. That was a hoot!

We left Cranbrook around ten in the morning after one last visit with the family on Monday. We hit Radium Hot Springs pool around one. Awwwwww.......so awesome! First you get way overheated in the hot pool, then you shiver like hell zipping over to the cool pool, then shivering back to the awesome hot pool and so on!! Heaven!

And we rented a wee cabin in Radium. It was so wonderful we didn't want to leave! We went out for dinner and then back to that cozy, pretty comfy cabin. We were asleep by ten. The next morning the motel put on the most scrumptious incredible breakfast.

The lady there made all the pastries and they were actually the best I have ever had. And there was hot ham, scrambled egg filled home made croissants, boiled eggs, fruit salad (the good kind) yoghurt, cereal, four different breads, waffles and pastries. Oh and a breakfast casserole...bread, apple sausage with a hint of maple. Mmmmmmm......

We headed home around ten. We again stopped at the Denny's in Rev. and had a great lunch.

But at Shuswap we ran into a wind storm that was so bad I almost couldn't drive. It was really hard to keep that contentious critter on the road. Sometimes I had to put both my hands on one side of the steering wheel and pull hard to keep her on the right side of the highway. But...we made it home.

A fantastic trip I must say. Tomorrow I will tell you about today....I spent a good portion of this day ranting and swearing at a certain government agency. TTYL