Oh Canada

Boy have we covered some ground since the last time I blogged from Calgary, Alberta. I am currently sitting at the Crest Hotel in Prince Rupert, British Colombia. Calgary to Prince Rupert is 933 miles of winding two lane highways through mountains and valley’s following the railroad and rivers leading to the West Coast. It is a beautiful drive, but exhausting as well due to the two lane road and mountain driving where you have to drive extra cautious. We arrived in PR at 9:00pm Monday evening after staying the previous night in McBride. Here is a little bit about our trip through Canada to bring you up to speed with what’s going on today.


Calgary, Alberta - Canada

We have had a blast driving through Canada as we arrived in Calgary we learned that we were coming in on the tail end of the annual Calgary Stampede. For those of you who don’t know it’s like the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo where they have performers, rodeo, exhibits, food, rides and lots of people. Naturally I wanted to go for the experience (once in a lifetime). Jordan and I caught the C Train just outside of downtown Calgary and rode it in to the Stampede grounds. Amazing! We didn’t have to hassle with parking or traffic after Stampeded closed for the night. While we were in Calgary we also got to see the old Olympic grounds from when Alberta, Canada hosted in the 80’s. That was amazing to see and it looks so different without the snow around it.

Banff National Park

After Leaving Calgary we drove west to Banff National Park. It’s a little different than Yellowstone because it serves as a major through way to the West Coast so there are more people just traveling through to get to their destination, but it does offer side roads and higher roads through the Iceland’s where big trucks can’t go. I have been looking forward to Iceland Parkway since we began planning our trip through Canada. Everything I read about this drive promised breathtaking views, pictures, wildlife, and the perfect picnic spot. Well it delivered on everything except for the wildlife. The only wildlife that we saw was to mangy mountain goats standing by the rail just before Bridal Falls. Despite the fact that we only saw two mountain goats I would still recommend this drive because you never know what wildlife will be out when you drive through. We were really hoping for a moose. It’s the only thing on our list that Jordan has not seen in the wild yet. Come on Moose!

McBride- there is not much to tell about McBride except we stayed, we ate, and we left. With a population of 784 there was not a lot going on in this town except for watching deer out our MOTEL window while we got ready Monday Morning. I do have to give credit to McBride because this is where we saw our 2nd bear. This time I was driving and looked out in the field and spotted a black spot in the field that looked out of place. I turned the car around and sure enough it was a cub playing in the grass. He was playing along the tree line so our pictures didn’t turn out so great because of the lighting and distance, but he was adorable. The first bear sighting was in Yellowstone Park when we saw a grizzly walking in the trees alongside the main road. We have some pictures from inside the car for that one. He was a little too close to get out of the car; plus we were on the main road driving.

Prince Rupert and the Inner Passage Ferry-

Not this brings us to today. We will be hanging out in Price Rupert today taking in the harbor view and washing some clothes before loading ourselves and our car on the Ferry. The Ferry will take us up through the inner passage and drop us off in Juneau, AK where we will stay for a day and one night and then board the ferry again and proceed on to Skagway, AK where we will stay one night. After Skagway we will drive to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory hop on the Alaskan Highway and finish up the home stretch of driving into Anchorage (2 day journey). We should arrive in Anchorage on July 24th.

Jordan and I are really looking forward to the day on the boat. Driving has been fun, but as you know one person has to always be focused on the road and misses out on lots of things. This will give us an opportunity to relax and both take in the sights.