Rocks and Lakes and Trees, Oh My!

Our drive from Thunder Bay to Banff was as grueling as expected. But we made it safe, but tired. While the others sleep or soak in the hot tub, I am sitting poolside, blogging... just for you...!

The western part of Ontario was very hilly, rocky and full of thick fir forests... not like the lower part of Ontario. After we crossed the border into Manitoba, the landscape changed drastically into the prarie grasslands one thinks of the mid western states. It was similar to Nebraska and Iowa.

Saskatchewan was still flat, but we had rain in the night. It was hard to see, but luckily, not many vehicles out on the road at 2 am. Alberta brought morning and dry weather... and some foothils.

Driving through Calgary was awful...! Traffic, and more traffic and road construction and NO interstates and the main highway goes through downtown and did I mention the traffic? Whew.. glad I won't have to do that again.

Why are there not any rest stops on the Canadian Highway 1? I must be spoiled with the USA system of insterstates and rest areas every 30 to 60 miles. Every time we needed to "rest", we had to find a gas station (with invariable dirty bathrooms) or a McDonalds, Tim Hortons, etc.

We made it to our chalet by noon. It's fabulous, just fabulous. See pictures...!! We have one bedroom (for the people footing the bill), and the loft is for the kids. We have a great room with a couch, table and four chairs, a kitchen area, a fireplace, and a deck. The view out the deck is mountains, the view out the front door is more mountains. We can walk into the parking lot and see more mountains.

My youngest son said it best, "wow..."