Change of Plans again!

We spent one night at Gunnison, CO KOA, but found it too depressing to stay. We are learning the hard way that the wonderful Mt. Rushmore KOA we enjoyed at the beginning of our trip is more the exception than the rule. We steeled ourselves for a third straight day of driving/riding to NM and are now in the Las Vegas, NM KOA (located b/n Santa Fe and Taos). It's ok at this campground, not great, but doable.

Our plan for the rest of the week - do some much-needed laundry tomorrow with some pool-time (thankfully, there is a pool here), on Friday, go into Santa Fe and see what's doin' for the Fourth. On Sat, Pat and B plan to go horseback riding, I will probably take the dog for a short hike in same area. We will start driving home on Sunday.

Lake Louise TeaHouse Hike

Back-posting again, this is from our Canada stay. We started this hike at Lake Louise, one of the prettiest spots in the world (see the pics of B in the last 2 photos). We hiked up to the Lake Agnes Teahouse, several hundred feet elevation, 2 miles up. 3/4 of the way, there is another smaller lake, hidden away in the woods like an emerald gem - the lake colors in this area just slay me (see pic of Pat and B). Almost at top, just below teahouse is a nice waterfall, see pic of Pat cooling himself off! The teahouse offered dozens of selections of tea. B and I shared a pot of wild strawberry, which was delicious. And we got sandwiches and sweet treats too. All really good and worth the 1/2 day hike.

Happy Canada Day!

We didn't know it was Canada Day until we got to the park - thought about staying for it, but decided we needed to get closer to home for the last week. We will be driving all day to get to the Gunnison, Colorado KOA before midnight tonight. It is in central Colorado. We nixed our original Steamboat Springs plan. Decided to find the most comfy KOA in CO we could for the remainder of our stay. No sightseeing, no places to be. Just want to enjoy an easy camping experience for the last days of the trip, while celebrating the US and B's bdays. We will be driving home on Sunday and Monday.

The Glacier Ride

B and I took the bus tour from Lake Louise campground on the Iceland Parkway (in the top 10 international scenic drives) to the Athabasca Glacier Tour. We rode on asp ecially outiftted bus onto an actual glacier! Way cool. We both tasted some glacier water from the spring (see B in front of it). The scenic drive was good too - hundreds of mountains, many with glaciers on them - astounding to see. The pic of me and B - we are standing at the info center in front of the Athabasca Glacier (the white area b/n the 2 mountains - that's what we were standing on later in the day.

The same day, Pat took Pepper on a 10 mile hike on a partially snowy trail in another part of the park (this park is huge). The were both pooped!

Lake Morraine last week

We spent 6 nights in Banff National Park. We only spent 1/2 day at Lake Morraine - wish it could've been longer. B and Pat took a canoe out on the lake while I took the dog on a short hike around the lake. Beautiful!

Sorry for so few posts lately - we lost our internet access and had spotty cell phone coverage too.

Banff/Lake Louise area - the one spot on our "tour" I want to return to again and again - I didn't get to see everything I wanted to see this time....and it is so beautiful I could see the stuff I already did over again!

Prarie Dog in Banff, CA camground

They call them ground squirrels in Banff. Banff campground great - was told by bus driver Banff stands for "Better Not Ask, Nothing For Free!" The time with the prairie dogs was, though. One of B and my favorite parts. We also did some hikes and the downtown is very nice. We spent a few hours there yesterday on Monday before driving south (we are currently in Idaho Falls in Walmart parking lot - hoping to get to Colorado tonight). In Banff yesterday, we went to a lovely organic tea shop and B and I had small pots of rooibos peach and lavendar early grey - the earl grey was unique and delicious so we bought some of that to bring home.

RV Living

Joy again (posting under Pat's sign in)

I'm sure some of you are wondering if I've yet cracked under the strain.  Nope.  But I am REALLY looking forward to sleeping in my own bed again.  And not having to flip switches and fill the toilet before I use it.  And not having the contents of my fridge shift and fly out at me almost every time I open the door.  And not having to wait 20 mins for hot water before taking a 4 min or less shower on a good day.  And not living on a tilt 80% of my time.  

But there are benefits to this experience.  Early in the trip, B said she likes "living a smaller life".  I have to agree.  The hotel we stayed in last night seemed so spacious, and I could easily imagine living comfortably in it, although it was about 1/10 the size of my home.  It will be interesting to see how we react when we get back to our home in TX.  

One of the other benefits of staying in this rv.  The views change regularly and are exceedingly beautiful!!