BANFF NATIONAL PARK

BANFF NATIONAL PARK

2 MAY 2011

Cold start to the day--40 degrees in the van; still feeling crappy with throat quite sore. I'm beginning to wonder if it might be strep. That'd suck.

Fixed a hot breakfast in my wonderful campsite at Great Falls Super Wal-Mart (heh heh) and it is a beautiful day! Not a cloud in the sky. Rockies are the backdrop on my left driving north to Shelby.

An even better way to start the day is to find out Osama bin Laden is dead. Special Forces went in and took out his wife and put a bullet in his head. Of course, the Mongrel-in-Chief goes on TV and in a short announcement used "I" "me" or "my" about a dozen times. Piece of crap thinks it is all about him. I can't wait to hear the polls in a few days where his Kept-Whores in the media will be licking his feet pronouncing what a great president he is as his numbers bounced. Of course, those same Kept-Whores, three days afterwards, when his numbers go down again, will not even mention it.

When I pulled in to Browning, MT I was appalled. It's a Blackfeet Indian Tribe town and is a piece of crap. Trash blowing in the wind everywhere. Houseyards filled with junked cars. Everything in disrepair.

Houses falling apart. This place is a shithole. A SHITHOLE!

Typically stereotypical Rezzie town. Amazing what alcohol and government dependency can do to you.

What a shame as the backdrop is stunningly beautiful!!! Given its location I would think the place could be a veritible gold mine of a tourist attraction but based on what I saw the LAST thing I wanted to do there was stop for anything short of gas.

Got into Canada at 1:30. Just over the border and the difference is amazing. Cardston, a few miles from the border is stunningly clean, the houses immaculate and people walking the sides of the road picking up trash. You'd think the Bureau of Indian Affairs would take the Indians on a road trip so they could see how much nicer they could live if they only had some pride. OH! That's right! Almost forgot that if they did that they'd be out of business with no one depending on them to keep themselves downtrodden.

Gasoline here is $1.23.....a liter! Making it about $5.05 a gallon!!!!! And in Cutbank, Browning and Shelby MT it was $3.62.

Being in Canada is "almost" like being in the US what with McD's, Costco, Sam's Club, Home Depot, etc. Seems a little too nanny-state for me. Can't ID it just yet but can't shake it off, either.

Exchanged money in Lethbridge. Very nice little town. Was actually quite warm today. Got up to 19C (about 70 F)

Did some grocery shopping and got charged taxes on it. Things are not cheap here so I don't quite know how people manage.

4 MAY

Lots of snow on the ground. Hell, the shopping centers still have piles of snow!!!!

Lakes are still frozen over. I imagine people living here endure freezing weather at least 6 months out of the year. Sure makes yard work a breeze!!!

Makes you wonder at the amount of walking the Indians did long ago as they went south for the winter and north for the summer, following game animals. I need to do more research and reading into that.

Made it to Banff (OMIGOD!!! THIS PLACE IS SPECTACULAR!!!!!) Not sure we have anything quite like it in the states. Yeah, sure, the majesty of the Rockies, Yellowstone, Glacier, but it's the way it's set up here.

Anyway, everyone I talk to mentions how Al Gore's Global Warming is thumbing its nose at him. Spring is a good 3 weeks behind. Unprecendented snow, avalanches, cold etc. Hell, I was heatingb up lunch in the campground and it was snowing!

Here's an odd observation: have seen only ONE POLICE CAR in all the miles I've travelled and I've gone through 2 good sized cities AND Calgary. The one I DID see had a gumball machine red light on the roof!! I thought of Andy Griffith!

As is my wont, while at the Visitor Information Center I got into a discussion about politics with the woman helping me out. I mentioned it because yesterday was election day in Canada and Steven Harper, the conservative, who the pundits all but wrote off, swept to a huge victory grabbing majorities in Parliament.

Listened to the CBC (the equivalent of the BBC and our Kept-Whores in the leftist media) and they were beside themselves with grief. And to think Canadian taxpayers pay for these morons to spout their nonsense. Anyway, they cried in their beers about how the pundits got it all wrong and failed to call the right shots.

Anyway, back to the lady: she thinks the divide between the rich and the poor is too big with the middle class getting squeezed out. I tried explaining to her that when you have a government giving bennies to people they take the path of least resistance and would rather live in shabbier conditions knowing someone takes care of them than to make it on their own. She lamented the state of the poor and how they never get a leg up on life. I tried explaining to her that life is full of decision points and we need to take responsibility for our decisions starting with when we are in school and fail to study. She wanted them helped; I told her their failures were Darwin at work. She railed at the rich and I told her THEY were the ones paying the lion's share of taxes already with many paying no taxes.

We went back and forth for quite a while.

Afterwards, I was reading some literature and saw where Banff was named for one of the major Scottish investers of the railroads here!!! Back then THESE GUYS were the capitalists she so railed against and if it weren't them she would not have a job today. I am tempted to return there tomorrow and tweak her about it.

Decided to spend two days at the campground only 2.5 KM from town center. It's called Tunnel Mtn Village. Costs $28 CAD per night, no electric but has showers. In season also has kitchen buildings to cook and clean up. Some sites have fire pits, wood costs extra.

Looking for a gas station I was just driving around and ended up in some "booonie areas."

Pretty slick how they've done things here. Where the tourists go it's all shops and what not. However, this boonie area is where trucks and equipment are stored and where buses are parked and maintenece gets done. No garages in town to speak of but there are two gas stations that, it you aren't paying attention, you'd miss. Sorta like being in Aspen (and probably just as pricey here, too.) Residential areas, business areas, and industrial areas: all perfectly delineated.

Anyhoo.........I scouted around town for the "tourist sites" and made it up to where the gondolas take you to Sulphur Mountain. A few buses disgorged their almost exclusively oriental passengers. Then I went to Bow Falls where more oriental passengers showed up. Then it dawned on me: I was here at probably THE BEST time because in about three weeks this place will have all the campgrounds and other facilities open, those buses I saw in the maintemence yard will be running the streets asnd even more tourist buses will be arriving making this place a madhouse.

Right now the weather, albeit a bit cool, is nice. The traffic is minimal. The snow is melting. The effects of the snow and running waters, rivers, mountains, etc. are spectacular. Perfect for pictures.

Business owners will love it but tourists will have to run the gamut of traffic and stupid pedestrians taking pictures and not paying attention to where they're going.

It's gonna be a bitch of a cold night tonight. Throughout the day it snowed flurries here and there as some stray cloud flew overhead. The wind is blowing to beat the band and the forecast is for about 22 degrees. I will be in sweat pants, hat, sweat shirt, long sleeved undershirt, my 30 degree rated bad with a blanket on top. BRRRRRR!!!!!!

4 MAY

So far I am realizing that trusting weather forecasts isn't really worth the effort. last night was supposed to be damned cold. Barely hit 32. 40 degrees in the van. Downright balmy!!

Wearing a hat to bed made a big difference, too. I felt warmer.

Bailed out of the campground by 6:30 and was in a coffee shop before 7Am sucking up therir wi-fi.

Visited the Norquay ski area for the views but it was closed due to avalanche dangers.

Taking lots of photos now and it will be intereting to compare them to the ones I will take when I return here in about 2 weeks. The snow is melting quickly and people are industriously sweeping all the gravel and sand out of their grass areas (near the streets on the curbs where the snowplows laid it down over the winter.) Literally inches of the stuff and they use these weird motorized beaters to pound them out of the grass.

Lake Louise is beautiful but lots of cabins, hotels, restaurants, etc. are closed due to piled up snow. The lake is frozen and I took a walk on it as did lots of tourists. The hotels that are open are doing a booming business and there's not a room here under $100+ per night. Many are resort hotels so they're probably north of $200 a night.

Went back to take photos at Bow Falls to see what difference a polarizing filter would make. Saw a couple of moose and got close enough to take nice pictures. A bunch of moose in the campground last night, too. As well as a deer right smack dab in town, nibbling away at the grass.

Took a trip on the Sulphur Mountain gondola. The bottom is at about 5100 feet and it climbs to almost 8000 feet on a 51% incline.

Could not help myself and checked weather. Satellite shows a storm front that promises to totally obscure the skies for the next 10 days. I will hit Alaska without seeing the sun. As I write the clouds are moving in so maybe this time they will get it right.....but I hope they are wrong as tons of beautiful scenery is coming up.

Will head to Jasper and then points west towards Prince George, BC.

Been averaging about 70 pix a day. Today I hit 200.

For future reference, verified that using a credit or debit card is cheaper than exchanging money at a bank. By almost 2%. May not sound like much but on $2000 that's $40. And $40 buys a lot of beer!!

THE ADVENTURE CONTINUES HERE AS I PICK UP A NAMED HIGHWAY LEADING TO ALASKA. CLICK HERE TO MOVE ON.