Ye Olde Quilt Shop

Yep, they have them in Northern Canada too.  Found this one along the way, nestled on a back street of a town we drove through. It had a fabulous selection of quality fabrics.  Nice to see all the colors again, and it inspired me to get out my one quilting project I brought along on the trip.  Yesterday on our relaxed day beside "The Pond" I pulled the supplies out of the box and worked on cutting out the first flower. Working space was the picnic table outside our door, and I only had to gather everything up twice and take it inside because of threat of rain-it only sprinkled both times.  The flower will be appliqued onto a tree (?) trunk I've already applied to the center square.  Helen

Toad River Campground,

After seeing the Stone Sheep and some great views of the Rockies (first photo), we soon arrived at Toad River, a campground, restaurant, gas station, etc - with a tiny airstrip next to the road. The lake next to the camp has 10 species of ducks nesting. Three species of swallows nest around the campsites, while Purple Finches and Pine Siskins sing overhead. It's Sunday, so we decided to stay - found the best campsite with a wonderful view (second photo). Helen baked cherry cobbler - first oven use.

Stone Sheep and Stone Mountain, British Columbia

One of the best mornings of the trip so far - left the icy Summit Lake and drove a short distance through rocky slopes that turned out to be home to at least eight Stone Sheep - magnificent animals - we stayed and watched for a long time. Can you find the four Stone Sheep on the above photo?

At the summit

We camped last night at Summit Lake, part of Stone Mountain Provincial Park in BC.  The lake was thawing, making beautiful patterns of green on white.  Took a short hike up the ridge across from Stone Mountain, which was just one huge monolith of rock, no trees or flowers or grasses. The Tioga, our motorhome, is the second one from the left in the campground.  Helen
 

Fort Nelson, BC and the first bear

Found a beautiful provincial campground last night along a river - got the bikes of and rode a couple kilometers on the Alaska Highway. This morning the sky was completely clear and forecast is for a week of sunshine. We saw our first Black Bear along the way to Fort Nelson this morning.

More from Pioneer Village

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A touch of History



Taylor House





Taylor's Kitchen



Today I walked through Walter Wright Pioneer Village. It has a couple schools, churches, farm buildings, stores, barns.  Great fun.
Helen














Another beginning - Mile Zero

Two weeks ago we began our Alaska trip.  Today we began travels on the Alaska Highway, or The Alcan.  It begins in Dawson Creek, British Columbia.  It's 1600 miles long, 1200 of it in Canada, so it will be a while before we do get to Alaska. 

The history of this road is quite a story.  It was initially constructed from May to November in 1942, initiated because of the need for transporting military supplies duringWWII.  It has been improved and changed many times since, but it's been a cooperative effort between Canada and the U.S.  There's lots of information about the road, it's construction, it's stories and heroes.  We watched a video, read information, and tomorrow we start traversing this piece of history.

Tomorrow we leave mile 0.

Helen

Yesterday's beauties

We found these along the Going to the Sun Road yesterday. They are now blooming in Glacier National Park.  Treasures, eh?

I do need a wildflower book!  Waiting until Alaska to purchase one.

Helen

Oh, not again.

Once again we're sitting in a town waiting for a tire store to open in the morning.  We arrived around noon, and it's a Canadian holiday! Once again it's raining, but we had already found a great campground and  a nature trail. We walked a while before the rain started (see photo), ate supper, and now have plenty of activities to keep us occupied. 

When we awoke at Glacier this morning we had two flat tires-the inside duals.  We limped to Cardston, and hope to have the tires repaired in the morning.  Still have high hopes of getting things properly fixed.

Helen

Glacier tension

Anyone who's talked hiking, camping with me for very long knows we once encountered a grizzly in Glacier.  It ups the tension a bit while hiking in bear country!  Here are a couple shots from our walks yesterday, no bears I'm glad to report. 

Helen

What camping should be like

The rain stopped, the mountains appeared as we neared Glacier National Park. Almost everything is still closed by snow - all campgrounds except one primitive section at St.Mary's Lake. Incredible place! Quiet, peaceful, amazing mountains and great amounts of snow.
Bruce

Sat May 21, Butte, Montana

Another Walmart night (Butte) but no rain. Yesterday was beautiful, driving from Sheridan, Wyoming up through Billings and Bozeman to Butte (the B towns). Snow on the highest areas and rain which gave way to rising clouds, showing the mountains for the first time. The Tioga seems to be doing well now that the separating tires have been replaced. Heading for Great Falls and the east side of Glacier National Park this morning.
Bruce

Sea of Grass

What good fortune to cross the great plains in the spring when the grasses are lush, active, colored a multitude of greens.  They move like waves on the sea, or rivulets of water racing down a slope of stone.  There is a Willa Cather quote that perfectly says what I can’t, “And there was so much motion in it (the grass), the whole country seems, somehow, to be running.”
Helen

Billings Montana (still in the rain)

Well, I'm feeling really good again - hope it lasts. We are at a tire business in Billings where we discovered that two of our tires on the duals in the back are separating - thus the thumping we have increasingly been feeling. With new tires on we hope to be heading north by northwest, out of the rain and through Montana to Alberta. As Carol Helen suggested, I think we'll go for some ice cream, maybe a shake.

There is no blue like the Mountain Bluebird blue.

That unbelievable flash of brilliance against a grey sky, almost glowing in its luminosity.

At the Cedar Pass campground in Badlands National Park they flew around our campsite, they preceded us on our walk, flying from post to post, drawing us onward.

Helen

Looking Back

We left Hickory House last Friday, in the splendor of the spring flowering season-lilacs, highbush cranberry, dwarf iris, azalea-all scenting the air with any step outside the house. I’m sorry to be missing the emergence and growth of flowers and vegetable (spring was too slow to give me the spinach, radishes, and lettuce I anticipated before our departure), but there are compensations. In this dry plains grasslands, we saw four low blooming wildflowers, one four inch poppy type, the flower way larger than the stem and leaves, hooded phlox, a tiny yarrow like yellow one that’s fragrant, a legume like purple one, a dry lands variety of edelweiss I need a local wildflower guide!
Helen

Badlands that aren’t –bad, that is.

It rained last night, while we were camping in Badlands National Park.  It also rained before we arrived.  The grasslands are brilliant, every plant that has gained a roothold in the park is shouting "I’m alive".  The memories of our last visit-painfully dry, dusty, and painfully hot are now tempered with the glorious season of spring.

Helen

On the Road Again

We're in Goshen, Indiana, leaving in the morning for Freeman, South Dakota, and points North by Northwest.