Jasper (population 4,738) sat on the northern end of Jasper National Park. We stayed in Whistler’s Campground, part of several National Park campgrounds, which provided accommodations for over 1,000 campers. I tried in advance to make our reservation online, but only one dry site was shown as available. Finding this difficult to believe, I finally…
We made two stops in route to our next destination. The first was at Mount Robson Provincial Park in Valemount, BC. There we found the tallest mountain in the Canadian Rockies at 12,972′ (3,954 m). Two days prior, we photographed Mt Robson from the Jasper Skytram mountain station, but only its snowy top peak had…
Our next stop was Jasper, AB Canada, and until I checked out our route several days before heading north, I had no idea this meant driving the world famous (according to Canadians anyway) 140-mile Icefields Parkway. There were ten primary sites along the parkway identified as “most visited” by tourists, although the views of the…
We wanted to stay in Calgary (population 1,361,852) for our next stop, but I couldn’t find a full hookup campground on the west side of town. We had been to Calgary on a business trip some years ago and really enjoyed the vibe. Our route paralleled the Canadian Rockies as we headed toward Calgary, and…
Once again, our drive to Granum (population 406) was incredibly scenic, and in some ways even a better experience than the next 3 days we camped there. I could hardly get over the fact that so many pictures taken through Sid’s windows turned out so well. The drive took us around the southern and eastern…
The road to West Glacier (population 221) provided beautiful scenes of tree-lined rivers, lakes, broad valleys, and snow-capped mountains. I also took pictures of some photogenic wilderness homes and structures, which I like. This drive was an occasion when the journey was equally as impressive as the destination. We stayed 3 days at Moose Creek…
The drive to Coeur d’Alene (population 54,628) wasn’t particularly scenic, but nonetheless, it was comfortable and uneventful. We camped at Blackwell Island RV Park less than 2 miles from the historic downtown. This family-owned and run business didn’t have “resort” in their name; however, it provided a number of amenities worthy of a resort. There…
Our trek to Fairbanks, Alaska (population 32,515) was 3,590 miles long. We intentionally took 45 days to get there, choosing to experience the drive by camping a minimum of 3 days at each stop. This is the first of 15 blogs, which capture each of those travel legs and stops. Where appropriate, I’ve included pictures…
MFI visited our friends Claudia Schlosser and Nick Fermor back in 2012 when they lived in Kirkland, WA near Seattle. During her visit, they took her to see the Big Four Mountain Ice Caves. As we departed our tour of Roozen Gaarde tulip farms, she asked me how far it was to the ice caves….
As we approached spring, MFI and I saw a growing number of television commercials and billboards advertising the upcoming Skagit Valley Tulip Festival in Mount Vernon, WA (population 35,219). In the early ’80’s, we were fortunate to tour the world famous Keokenhof Gardens in Lisse, Netherlands while stationed in Germany. Once mid-April rolled around, we…
