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We left our campground in Jasper at 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday, receiving farewells from the resident elk bulls and cows.  Leaving at the crack of dawn has its advantages:   lots of deer, sheep, and elk spotted along the roadways. As we traveled on Highway 40, the vistas changed from snow-capped mountains to tree-covered alpines. We hit some rain, of course.   We were greeted by sunshine as we got closer to Grand Cache, but experienced some periods of rough roadways, including using a newly-constructed hilly mud pit for passage where a bridge washed out recently. There is nothing between Grand Cache and Grand Prairie except miles and miles of wilderness, logging trucks, and energy companies. While stopped in Beaverlodge for Mike/Claudia to refill their motorhome propane tank, I introduced myself to “Beaver”.  No, not Beaver Cleaver, but the mascot of Beaverlodge, Alberta, Canada, erected in 2004 to increase tourism. ...

We departed Banff Trailer Court enroute to Jasper National Park on a dreary, damp, drizzly Monday morning.   30 seconds into takeoff, we spotted 4 elk cows eating!   Within our first hour, we had sightings of 3 bears (sans Goldi Locks) and 6 deer!   Of course, not one photo as evidence—bummer! The rain turned to light snow flurries as we entered the Ice Fields Parkway, a fully paved road with several large frost heaves to deal with between Ice Field Centre and Jasper.   Despite the rough patches, we’ve been on much worse roads in the States.   The views were just spectacular, like professional photos in National Geographic!   Every turn gives you another picture postcard panorama!   The Glacier Skywalk We stopped at the Ice Fields Centre to view the impressive Columbia Ice Fields, which include Athabasca Glacier.   Unlike at Glacier National Park in Montana, I can actually see glaciers here! We set up at Whist...

We left Salt Lake City on Saturday, fueled up, and headed to Yellowstone National Park.   Of course, we could not travel through Idaho without a pit stop at the Army Surplus Store in Idaho Falls.  This place was ginormous, and Dad was like a kid in the candy store checking out all the cool goods.   He would have loved to have a foot locker, camouflage suit, even a giant machete!   But Mom kept him focused and on track, both with time schedule and money spent.   She sure can ruin a guy’s fun!  Dad's Idea of Heaven Because this is considered the “shoulder” season, we were limited on what we could do in Yellowstone—lots of road closures, hiking trail closures, and Visitor Centers not open yet.   In fact, getting from one area of the park to another would sometimes require you to go outside the park.   If this were our first visit to Yellowstone, we would be VERY disappointed.   However, since we all have been here several times p...