August 20, 2010: BIG SKY COUNTRY

This is a bear that we saw on Ketchikan before we got on the ferry on the 17th. We sat on a hill at this hatchery just waiting for one of the black bears to show up....and he did.... We got off the ferry in Prince Rupert, British Columbia...spent the night in a campground and then headed east.

Chris spotted this BIG black bear off the side of the road. He just stuck out against the green grass. He was not far away.....and oh, so big....

Then we came upon this little pioneer church at Usk. It is the exact replica of a church that was washed away (along with a whole village) in a flood about 80 years ago....and is open by the road side for all the travelers.

And then the fun began on our trek across B.C. and Alberta. There were fires that we could see the red over the side of the mountains. Not a good picture, but was taken from a moving car.

Notice the lake in the picture....it is red from the red sky....from the fires....

Then all of our travel almost the rest of the way through Canada was driving through smoke....could not see a lot....just very smokey. Most of the time we were in the Rocky Mountains in Banff and Jasper National Parks and could not even see the mountains. Quite sad. But we had seen the beauty 2 years ago. I felt sorry for any folks who had breathing problems.

For a little while yesterday we could see the mountains. The haze cleared.....

More shots from Banff Nat'l Park.

A glacier in this mountain....

We camped last night at High River, south of Calgary, Alberta. It was a beautiful campground in the city. We could still smell the smoke. This morning the prevailing winds brought the smoke in and we drove through smoke for several hours until about 5 miles before we crossed the border to Sweet Grass, Montana. What a blessing to be out of that smoke that we had been in for 2 days.

We are almost home. Just a few more days and our adventure will be over....but the memories live on.

So, until we connect again.....