July - rodeo and rockslides

We have water! 

And it’s clear, sweet, cold and comes out of the tap! If you didn’t read my previous blog you’ll have no idea how wonderful this news is. It squirted out of the pipes just in time: All our visitors showed up just days after the new system was activated. Robin (our friend from Maui) got here on the 10^th and Sherry and Sharon drove in on the 15^th.

            

A day at the Stampede

Robin wanted to see the Calgary Stampede, so Jim and I, with cousins Shane and Myrna, treated her to a full day at “the grounds”, starting with a walk through the midway, a tour of the house being raffled, horse barns, western art gallery and lunch.

Shane, Joy, Robin

At 1 we were in our grandstand seats for the rodeo and enjoyed every minute although it threatened to rain the whole afternoon and, in fact, parts of south Calgary were flooded while we watched the bulls, bucking horses and other rodeo events. We had time for a walkabout and supper before the evening show started with the world-famous chuckwagon races. I can’t think of a more exciting three minutes in all of sportdom. Google Calgary Stampede Chuckwagon Races if you haven’t had the opportunity to see for yourself the heart-stopping action.

Aloha and howdy!  

When the Barnettes arrived they parked their huge motorhome in the usual spot and kicked back with the rest of us. During the past two weeks we’ve had visits from Tony and Debbie from across the creek, my old friend Allen Hembree and his lovely wife Virginia, and Peter and Shane.  It has been a quiet, peaceful time.

Jim and I came down with nasty coughs two weeks ago and although we’re both much better now it took a few days of bed rest to get past the fever and congestion. Just about the time I thought we should check into a hospital the fevers broke and we rejoined the living. Unfortunately, a couple of our friends are now coughing and not feeling great.

Doing the tourist thing     

Looking west from Coutts Center for Western Canadian Heritage

Our day trips have been a hoot. We drove to the Crowsnest Pass area for lunch at a fabulous new down-home restaurant in Bellevue – the Chefs on 213. The owners were previously the chefs at the Bar U and have now set up their own establishment in the little town near the World Heritage Site of Frank Slide. After lunch we visited the interpretive center built on the site of Canada’s worst rock avalanche. Our guests were appropriately enthralled by the historic exhibits and movies of the disaster.

Jim painting at Coutts Center

By chance we heard about a plein aire paint-out happening the next day near the town of Nanton so Jim, Robin and I headed out in the morning and found the delightful Coutts Centre for Western Canadian Heritage. What a gem. The restored buildings of the 112-year-old homestead are surrounded by extensive gardens planted with prairie grasses, native flowers and introduced ornamentals. We spent the entire day in the dappled shade of trees, watching the artists (including Jim) as they recorded the beauty of that place. The day was magnificently clear as only an Alberta summer day can be.

Shane arranged for the three of us (Jim, Robin and me) to tour the Cayley Hutterite Colony last week and it was an eye-opening, very pleasant three hours with Jolene. We toured the kitchen and dining areas, sheep barns, slaughter house, machine shops, leather shop, woodworking shop and community gardens, and then enjoyed fresh saskatoons in her kitchen, surrounded by four of her five girls. What a lovely afternoon spent with a lovely family.

Destiny, Shane, Jim, Robin

Fishing and fauna  

Robin and I fished once only, mainly because the water is so low and so warm that we hesitate to disturb the trout – they would not be good eating. The one time we ventured out, we both caught smaller fish and threw them back; then I caught a nice 13-½ inch cutthroat, which is now in the freezer. I’m hoping the water level will be up and the current colder when Jim and I are back in September. We saw a lot of wildlife action in July, including black and grizzly bear, moose, elk and deer with lots of coyotes, two jackrabbits and a black wolf was seen in the area.

Morning sun on the mountains to the west.

Sherry and Sharon have now hit the road on their slow drift homeward to Arizona, and Robin flies home tomorrow. Jim and I will drop her at the airport and then head north from Calgary on the first day of our road trip, which will take us as far as Churchill, Manitoba where the polar bears and beluga whales are waiting for us. At least that’s the plan right now. I’ll let you know how it works out in my next blog.

The Maui–Alberta Connection

What’s the difference between living on Maui and a holiday in Alberta? Just about everything. Many people, when they hear we’re from Maui ask “What are you doing here?” ('here' being anywhere in Southern Alberta – the hardware store, WalMart, a local Chinese restaurant, a community lobsterfest). We’re here for so many reasons, all of them good. For starters, my whole family is in the area and the older I get the more I miss them – my mom, my brother and his wife, my cousins and my nephews and their families. Usually I manage to visit Alberta twice a year – the other time during the winter – but now that Dad is gone it just isn’t the same; a February trip once meant his birthday celebration.

            We arrived in Calgary on June 9^th after a red-eye flight from Maui. Those overnighters are taking a lot longer to recover from – have you noticed that? We spent a few days with Shane and Peter in High River, got our shopping done and headed for the hills.

“The hills” 

The Webster Ranch is in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies, about an hour and a half drive southwest of Calgary off Highway 22, a.k.a. the Cowboy Trail. Tony and Debbie raise cattle on their place (and run Chimney Rock B&B) and on Mom’s land – and Jim and I live in Mom’s house, built in 1950 and still as snug and welcoming as when Tony and I were growing up there. It has power, gas, phone and a big old wood-burning stove to take the chill off in the morning. Alas, no indoor toilet so trips to the outhouse in the middle of the night are common.

            Tony has been concerned about the water quality in the house for several years so we have been working on building a new springhouse to protect the artesian water source that has provide clear, clean water for more than 100 years. Until the structure is completed, Jim and I don’t have running water; we’re getting darn competent at heating water for dishes, spit baths, shampoos and spot cleaning. And because this has been a pretty dry year, I conserve all the used water to pour on my small garden – radishes, carrots, beets and onions and a potted tomato plant. The learnin’ I received as a child is paying off.

Fishing

Three weeks ago I ventured forth with my worms and brought home two large, fat cutthroat trout. They’re in the freezer, waiting for additional fish to make a real feast. My friend Robin (no relation) Webster will be here in a couple of weeks and she's as avid a fisherman as I am, so.... stay tuned.

Wild animals

Yep, they’re out there. We’ve seen elk, dear, moose, coyotes and the other morning the cattle were disturbed by a big momma grizzly and three yearling cubs. They were heading south down the valley but I wouldn’t be surprised to see them again this summer.

Jim has been spending time in his studio in the attic (when not working with Tony on the springhouse); while I work in my own studio. This summer is dedicated to expanding my comfort zone – using lots of embellishments on bags, getting fancy with the accessories, and designing hats. 

Back to the ranch

The view out every window in the house is outstanding: mountains in the dining room window, the kitchen window frames the ridges to the north, the bedroom windows look out to the east ridge and meadow, even the bathroom window gives me a great view of the creek. And right now things are green – every shade of green – the cattle are fat and happy, the calves are growing like crazy. The bird life is amazing, from raucous magpies to tiny chickadees and today we saw a hummingbird. Hawks circle above the meadows, flickers, jays, swallows and starlings swoop and dive for the mosquitoes; and a pair of Sandhill cranes clack their way overhead occasionally. We have two saucy squirrels in the pine trees surrounding the yard, and newborn kittens in the barn. Life goes on and we love being here to enjoy it.

            We do miss Jim’s mom and our own loving cats but know they’re all getting attention from our house sitter – a kind and lovely lady.

            June has been a kind of settling-in time for us. I’m tasked with sorting and disposing of Mom and Dad’s personal items; Mom no longer needs two easy chairs and a dining table, right? Fortunately, we can find room for a few things in her ranch house and the rest of her things? Well, I’m not rushing the process so it could take me the remaining three months of our summer holiday.

            So to get back to the question, What’s the difference between Maui and Alberta?… well, the weather comes to mind. I think we’re past the nighttime freezing now although I still worry about my tomato plant. The other morning there was new snow on the mountains just to the west. The wind blows almost always, mostly from the southwest, although no guarantees. We had a good thunderstorm the other day but not a lot of rain and yesterday brought the wildest, wickedest hailstorm anyone around here has ever seen, “here” being High River where we’re staying for a couple of nights with Peter and Shane so we can do laundry and catch up our Internet doings. Did I mention there is no Internet at the ranch? No cellphone service? No TV? And other than Tony and Debbie, whose home is a quarter mile away across the creek, we cannot see another house, we rarely see vehicular traffic on the road (we’re more likely to see riders checking their cattle or moving bulls), and the quiet is broken only by the wind in the pines or the yap of a coyote.

            We're so blessed to have two homes: Maui the tropical paradise and our ranch house in the Alberta wilderness.   

Oh give me a home… where Jim and Joy roam...

Aloha once more, as we continue our road trip through four western states and back home to Alberta. When last I blogged we had reached Lead, South Dakota. And now we turn west.

Buffalo, Wyoming

As we drove west from the Black Hills the scenery changed abruptly from treed and pleasant hills to a landscape of vast stretches of dry basins and treeless plains. Plenty of antelope but no livestock, no farms, no towns, and very few signs of habitation. The craggy hills offered visual relief in the form of sandstone hoodoos and eroded columns. Eagles, hawks and turkey vultures soared in the hot and never-ending desert wind. We were happy to find our next stopover, the town of Buffalo. And it really was just a one-night stop with little time to explore.

The following morning we left early going west on Highway 16 and discovered our brand of heaven. The road climbed quickly to the 9665-foot Powder River Pass and if yesterday was a trial of hot winds and sifting sand, today was our reward. The mountain at the top of the pass has been dated at 3 billion years old; the shale tumbles down from the heights revealing the area’s ancient history. Stunted pines dot the rocky terrain and brilliant moss and lichens cover granite boulders scattered like jacks from a giant’s hand. We hiked up a hillside to the nearest collection of rocks and discovered open views for miles around.

High above the Powder River Pass

This day of discovery wasn’t over. A few minutes later, as we drove down the west side of the pass we spotted a structure high on a promontory off to the south. A small sign directed us to the St. Christopher Chapel so we turned off the highway, crossed a cattle guard and slowly made our way along a dirt trail. It was soon obvious that the building we saw wasn’t the chapel; another trail led off to the right. So we continued along, over another cattle guard and followed the steadily climbing trail through a herd of cows and calves and slowly approached the cliffs on the top of which our goal perched. We found a small parking area at the head of a hiking trail and a sign describing the CCC fire spotting station above. The hike was moderately easy, the trail winding through a forest of pine trees and boulders as it ascended 300 feet. And there it was – a simple wooden building, built in the 1930s with a 360º view, a walkway all around, and air as fresh and clear as the top of Haleakala. It was magnificent.

Open-air St. Christopher Chapel

Back at the bottom of the mountain we turned onto the dirt road leading to the chapel and, after a short walk we discovered a lovely open-air sanctuary with rough-hewn logs for pews, a clever jack fence to keep out the deer, and a stone pulpit. A doe and fawn joined us for a peaceful meditation under the pines.

Thermopolis, WY

The great attraction for me to visit this town was the dinosaur museum. I was curious to see how it compared to the Tyrell Museum in Drumheller, and I wasn’t disappointed. Although much smaller in size, the Thermopolis display seemed more complete, with fossils of every critter from every corner of the world and descriptions to boot. We spent a couple of hours in the museum, then another couple of hours walking the thermal springs boardwalk nearby, and another couple of hours enjoying the monthly Art Walk downtown. I would say we made the most of our day in Thermopolis.

Fossils

Legend Rock petroglyphs

Legend Rock is about five miles off the road from Thermopolis to Cody, and about 500 years away from today. The vivid petroglyphs are outstanding. Just watch out for the rattlesnakes.

The next morning we were headed to Lovell with a stop in Cody. By this time we were about museumed-out, especially museums filled with the utensils and artifacts of yesteryear; you know, the things we still use at the ranch! So we bypassed the Buffalo Bill museum and headed straight to the Buffalo Bill Dam where – as chance would have it – the once-a-year Dam Day was in full swing. The public was invited to go through the gates and down the narrow road to the canyon below where the Shoshone River flowed from the 100-plus year-old dam. This is where the word “awesome” truly fits. Towering cliffs guard this narrow gorge; we were glad it was late afternoon by the time we reached the bottom and the sun was disappearing behind the cliffs. Volunteers from the Cody community had stations set up to hand out iced bottled water and give cart rides back to the top; I took advantage of both!

The gorge below Buffalo Bill Dam, Cody WY

Lovell, WY

Another stop along our route to Billings. We had little time to explore the town, opting for one of our “bed picnics” for supper and getting an early night after a full day of adventure. Lovell is the sugar beet capitol of the area and sports a huge multi-cylinder storage tower at the sugar beet co-operative.

Billings, Montana

Yes, we’ve been to Billings many times before. No, we have no clue how to get around in the maze of streets, one-ways, railroad tracks, interstate highway, overpasses and cloverleafs. In one place, six roads converge under a bridge and only one road escapes on the other side! It isn’t Minot, but it’s close.

As I was checking into the motel Jim phoned his daughter Gillan who was due in from Boston that morning with our granddaughters. They had just landed, picked up their rental car and met us for breakfast at Cracker Barrel. It was a fine reunion. They left for their home on the Lazy EL ranch, where we joined them a couple of days later.

Jim enjoys the Yellowstone Art Museum in Billings; I enjoy the Marketplace – a 40,000 square-foot antique mall with dozens of individual stalls. During our second day in Billings we parted ways and spent several hours doing our things before meeting for lunch. And we were happy to get out of town the next day.

The Lazy EL Ranch, MT

Michael’s family has owned this sprawling ranch for more than 100 years. It lies in the rolling grasslands just north of Yellowstone and has magnificent views of the northern ranges of the park’s mountains. Charlie Russell was a regular visitor to the ranch in the early 1900s and one of the cabins is named for him and contains many of his paintings, tools and personal items.

View from the living room window, Lazy EL Ranch

We enjoyed one perfect day at the ranch and then the smoke from wildfires in Washington, Idaho and western Montana crept it, hiding the mountains and triggering my asthma. I ventured out occasionally but the breathing was difficult and the view was nil. The day Michael arrived from Boston the three of us drove back to Billings to pick him up and drop off the rental car. The following day the air cleared a little so we ventured out in the truck for a picnic on the West Rosebud.

Great Falls, Montana

Now THIS is a great town, easy to figure out, drive in, locate places and it offers a casino on every corner. We spent two nights in a funky little motel on 10^th Avenue South (the main thoroughfare from points east, north and south) and made several trips around the town, including a drive along the Missouri River.

Did you know the “great falls” of Great Falls was really a series of five falls, none of them large but all of them an impediment to river travel. 

Lethbridge, Alberta

It’s always a relief to be back in Canada. Of course, it’s always wonderful to be back home on Maui as well. I guess it’s the border crossings that give me the willies. At any rate, we left Great Falls early in the morning and by noon we were crossing into Canada at Coutts. About an hour later we were checking into the Quality Inn in Lethbridge. Now, if you ever have reason to overnight in this southern Alberta city, I recommend you stay at the Quality Inn. It wasn’t just the fine buffet breakfast included in the price, or the proximity to the casino, or even the iced bottled water in the lobby. But when the gal told Jim she was serving chocolate cake and cookies in the lobby at 7:30 that did it – they have us hooked for life.

Yes, the mountains have had their first covering of snow.
This is the view from our house at the Webster Ranch.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch

All good trips come to an end. We had a great time, meandering through the West, crossing the Lewis & Clark trail many times, visiting the haunts of Custer and Crazy Horse, discovering ancient sites and historic places. We had no schedule and no set route. Try it; you’ll like it.

We have another couple of weeks in Alberta before flying home to Maui. The past three months of summer have disappeared into memories of fishing, travelling, reunions and family gatherings. There’s more to come and I’ll make one more entry at the end of our trip.

And away we go!

August is our Road Trip Month! This year we covered 3400 miles and visited towns and sites in two provinces and four states. Here is the First Chapter; the second to follow in a week or so.

Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan

Tunnel tours, two of them in fact. One covered the history of Chinese workers who were imported to work on the trans-continental railroad. Considered at the time to be less than second-class persons, they were relegated to the underground where they developed miles of tunnels connecting their living quarters, laundry, apothecary, kitchen and a few private areas. The other tour involved the exploits of none other than Al Capone who, during Prohibition, made Moose Jaw the hub of his activities. He hid out there, used the tunnels to evade the law, brewed hooch, shipped barrels of illicit grog to the parched States, and generally contributed to the growing town.

We enjoyed a few hours at the Moose Jaw Art Museum as well and it was there I discovered a use for old neckties. Introducing the newest Bag of Joy line: ReTies! Look for them on www.BagofJoy.com beginning October 1.

Estevan, SK

We planned to spend two nights in this small prairie town so we could take a tour of the hydroelectric dam, the coalmines and the power plant. Wouldn’t you know… the tour guide took the weekend off! So we shortened our stay, did our own tour of the Rafferty Dam and the prehistoric rocks at nearby Roche Percee.

Roche Percee near Estevan

Minot, North Dakota

Have you been there? Don’t bother.

Did you know that
three-quarters of the
country’s sunflower
crop goes to the food
industry in the form
of sunflower oil and
snacks? The rest of it
(500,000 acres worth)
is sold as birdseed.

Custer House at Fort Abraham
Lincoln State Park

Prairie storm on our way to Pierre

Bismarck, ND

Have you been there? A wonderful city, right? As we arrived we missed our motel entirely and ended up at the capitol building where the annual art fair was taking place, so we joined in and toured the entire fair, had a terrific plate lunch and listened for a while to some local gospel music. We enjoyed everything about Bismarck, especially the bike paths in their city park along the Missouri River.

Fort Abraham Lincoln is a short drive from Bismarck through Mandan (you Lewis & Clark buffs know about Mandan) and we spent a couple of hours in this historic spot, biking and exploring the re-created Mandan village and the Custer Home. This fort is where General Custer mustered his troops for the fateful journey to the Little Bighorn in Montana.

Fort Yates, ND

The Prairie Knights Resort and Casino is located in the Standing Rock Indian Reservation of the Sioux and is the only viable commercial entity we could find. Of course, my modest jackpot win deprived them of some profit but they really didn’t seem to worry much. By the way, Sitting Bull is buried in Ft. Yates; we made a point of visiting his gravesite and giving thought to his words.

Pierre, South Dakota

This was a return trip for us; we were here in 2005 with our new-to-us RV. This time we stayed in a motel and biked La Framboise Island, did the tour of the Oahe Dam and hydro plant, and toured a little more of this lovely city on the Missouri.

Right about this time we realized our plan to head to Deadwood wouldn’t work due to the 1.5 million bikers who had descended on Sturgis for the annual Harley rally. Every hotel, motel, B&B and campsite in a 200-mile radius was booked solid. So we turned south, thinking we could spend some time in Nebraska quite happily.

Winner, SD

What comes to mind when you hear the words “prairie town”? Tree-lined streets, friendly folk, quaint shops, lots of churches? Yep, that’s Winner. We biked most of the town, visited a few little shops, and learned that Winner is the Pheasant Capital of the US – as in pheasant hunting.

On a hunch, before leaving Winner I checked hotels.com for rooms in the Deadwood area, knowing that the rally had come to a close and hordes of bikers were now seen migrating in the opposite direction. Sure enough, we had options to stay in Hot Springs and Lead, so we stayed in both!

Hot Springs, SD

If the history of this town wasn’t spectacular, and the mammoth digs didn’t yank your crank, and the magnificent museum bored you, well…  maybe you really would like Minot. We were enthralled by this gold rush throwback of old homes, storefronts, mineral springs and living history. The museum, a converted three-story sandstone schoolhouse, is the best I’ve ever seen. The Veteran’s Memorial Cemetery is breathtaking. The ongoing mammoth dig is a fascinating look into a 26,000-year-old mammoth graveyard. And the buildings – well, for Jim I think the architecture was the highlight for him, from the 100-year old Lutheran Hospital (abandoned on a hilltop) to the gabled and colonnaded mansions of yesteryear.

Digging mammoths in Hot Springs

Lead, SD

Lead, Deadwood’s civilized sister, is just three miles from the notorious capital of the gold rush days. We found a wonderful place to stay – the Blackstone Inn – and made a few trips around both towns when not playing in the casinos. Our self-guided tour included the infamous Mt. Mariah Cemetery where Wild Bill Hickok is buried alongside Calamity Jane, and the huge Homestake goldmine, which has been taken over by the Sanford Underground Research Facility. 

Did you know that of the 3200-plus people buried in Deadwood's "Boot Hill", one-third of them are indigents - drifters and hobos in unmarked graves.

And now we leave you for a week or two to give you time to read and digest, or hit delete. Chapter Two will follow soon.

If it's Summer, this must be Alberta!

Three weeks into our 2015 Summer and we've enjoyed every moment of it. Busy? Oh, man, you won't believe it unless you read on.

We arrived in Calgary on June 10 and stayed with cousins Shane and Peter in High River for five days, right up until they left for England for their own holiday. At that point Jim and I packed up and moved to our summer house at the ranch. What a wonderful place - thanks Mom! And thanks to Tony and Debbie as well, for taking such good care of it in our absence each year.

On the 13th Shane, Myrna and I took part in the 6th Annual Lobsterfest at Stavely. Hard to believe that way out on the prairie, hundreds of miles from the closest ocean, about 300 fresh lobsters found their way to the small-town community hall and fed folks from around the area. We had a great time, made new friends and plan to be there next year.

Joy, Shane, Myrna with their own personal lobsters.

A week after settling into the old ranch house we were visited by good friends from Maui - Tom Reed and Judy McCorkle were on an excursion of their own, from Glacier to Jasper and on to Seattle. They stopped by our place for a couple of nights and we had a wonderful time showing them the surrounding area. An evening drive turned up an array of wildlife: a black bear, a grizzly, five elk, three deer and two Sandhill cranes. The only critter missing was a moose!

Jim, Tom and Judy on a perfect day at the ranch.

We took them on a day trip down the Cowboy Trail (Hwy 22) to Highway 3 and west to the Frank Slide where we investigated the interpretive center and hiked the trail atop the rocks that covered the town in 1903. After lunch in Blairmore we drove the forestry road north and took the Hump Road turnoff. A glorious day, blue skies and puffy little clouds the whole way.

Jim and Joy at Frank Slide.

When we were on our own again, Jim got busy in the studio and has finished two or three landscapes mostly done plein aire. His favorite spot is a duck pond up the road but in the last few days the biting flies and mosquitoes arrived so it will be a while before he can get back out there in comfort.

Meantime, you all know what I've been up to: sewing and fishing. Well, more sewing than fishing I guess, but I've done well in both departments. Some of the things I've made will be taken back to Maui and listed on the Bag of Joy website or sold at the fall and winter community fairs. The fish, as you can imagine, get eaten pretty darn fast and with great gusto.

Three cutthroat and a brook trout.

Yesterday my best friend arrived from Maui. Robin Webster (no relation) visited us at the ranch two years ago and made it work again this year. We're at Peter and Shane's until tomorrow when we take Jim to the airport for a flight to Atlanta. He'll be gone a week and Robin will help me fish, read, cook fish, relax, eat fish and enjoy the ranch the whole time. Peter and Shane return on Monday, Jim returns on Tuesday and Robin flies home on Wednesday.

The weather has been darn close to perfect - not too hot mostly and not too cold mostly, with a thunderstorm thrown in here and there to remind us where we are. As you know, if you read last year's blog, we sold our RV and now get around in Dad's old Jeep, a 1998 Cherokee Sport. It's just the right size for two adventurous seniors so that's what we'll be driving when we head out on the road in August. But first we have the month of July coming up. We're looking forward to seeing Sherry and Sharon from Sun City, Rick and Daphne from Kimberley, and an old high school friend, Murray Castle and his wife from Calgary. It's been 46 years since we've seen each other, so it will be a fun reunion. We hope you check in again for our next post on this blog.

View from the summit of the Hump Road. Is that Saskatchewan I see in the distance?

September 22, 2014

Meanwhile, back on Maui…

Yes, we made it through another incredible summer in Canada and are happily home on Maui. The four months went quickly, especially as we spent three weeks on the road in our Jeep – almost the whole month of August.

Jim, Joy, Shane and Peter at dinner in Winnemucca

When last I wrote we were in Jackson California, visiting the Fullers and loving the gold-rush history of the place. Our next stop was Roseville to see my dear friend Katie and her wonderful husband Chuck. We had a full schedule: a trip to Nevada City to walk the old gold-mining town, a visit to Old Sacramento, Jim’s tour of the Crocker Museum, and Katie and I managed a couple of thrift-store stops as well. All of that in two days!

Desert views

We headed east to Reno and played for a couple of days at the Circus Circus casino, and then drove to Winnemucca where we rendezvoused with cousins Shane and Peter. They were heading in the direction we had just come from – near Jackson. We enjoyed a terrific Chinese meal at China Garden Restaurant (yes, this is a huge recommendation!) and the next morning we parted ways. Our route took us to Elko, then north through Owyhee to Boise Idaho. The scenery was spectacular in its desert bleakness. From Boise to Lewiston, again through incredible scenery as we gained elevation, then to Missoula Montana over the Lolo Pass, and north to Canada.

Shortly after returning to the ranch we experienced a rare but not unheard-of snowstorm with the heaviest snowfall recorded in 130 years. And cold. Oh my. Morning temperatures in the 20s. We kept a fire going in the wood stove and turned up the gas heat but it was still difficult to work up the enthusiasm to go out to the outhouse when nature called. The 10-12 inches of snow around the house melted off within a week and the weather turned into Indian Summer on steroids. The poplar leaves started changing and we were treated to a breathtaking array of colors.

Heavy snow, morning light on the mountains

The family got together on the 14^th for a memorial for Dad, spreading his ashes on “Boot Hill”, a slope on the East Ridge with a panoramic view of Happy Valley with the Rockies in the background. Mom enjoyed the day and seeing her family, in spite of the purpose of the gathering, and even cracked a few jokes amid the tears. A few days later we celebrated her 92^nd birthday with a private lunch at Cottonwood. She is Superwoman disguised as a little old lady. Amazing.

Dad's memorial celebration up on the ridge

Jim spent a lot of time in his studio this summer, producing some lovely oil paintings that are now for sale at Against the Grain on Main Street in Nanton. If you’re in the area, please go see his artwork. And some of my bags and aprons are there as well – it’s a family effort! With the rain and flooding in June, our trip away during August, and snow and flooding in September, the fishing wasn’t too productive but I have a good feeling about next year: The fish I didn’t catch will be bigger and more plentiful!

May the sun forever shine on Dad's resting place

Finally the day came when we had to pack up, clean and tidy our house at the ranch and get the laundry done at Shane and Peter’s house. The next day we left for the airport and I’m glad to report another successful, stress-free flight on WestJet got us safely home. The good weather followed us and Maui is definitely the place to be as Winter finds its way to Southern Alberta.

Thanks for coming along with us this summer. See you again next year when we head off for who-knows-where?

Thursday, August 14

California Bloggin’

It’s Day Twelve of our journey to the Golden State and back and it has been a hoot. Right upfront let me get this out of my system: California needs signs! With complete information: highway numbers, arrows, distances and maybe even a mention of a ferry terminal where one exists. While the motto of Oregon drivers is “I’d rather go really fast and kill someone than drive the speed limit and piss ‘em off”, the California motorists’ motto is: “Signs? We don’t need no stinkin’ signs! We got GPS.” Well, some of us don’t and it sure would be nice to know where the Larkspur Ferry Terminal is, if it exists, which we doubt, but that’s another story.

On August 2 we waved goodbye to Canada, then waved again, then again… it took an hour and a half to get through the border crossing south of Cranbrook. Once we reached Idaho it was smooth driving to Sandpoint. On this, our first day on the adventure, we did not have motel reservations as Jim’s thinking was, “How busy can it be?” After driving around the town a few times, stopping at half a dozen motels that were so busy they hadn’t had time to put out the NO Vacancy sign, we opted for a “spa suite” (Jacuzzi in the room) at a Days Inn on the north side of town. And then it was time for the highlight of the day: pizza at Second Avenue Pizza! Don’t miss it if you’re ever in Sandpoint.

As we finished our dinner I noticed the wind coming up and then a huge tree branch flew across the sky and we knew something was happening. The power went out just about then and we packed up the rest of our pizza and went out the door. It was bizarre, only 7 pm but really dark, thunder and lightning and the wind was ferocious. We got in the Jeep to make the 10-minute drive back to the hotel and discovered trees down, limbs crashing into cars, roads covered side-to-side in small branches and ripped-off leaves. We had to keep detouring through the old neighborhoods and when we finally made it to the one and only road out of town to the north, it was blocked by emergency crews and traffic. Power had failed for the entire town. So of course, no traffic lights anywhere, and all the intersections were dicey. Finally we drove all the way across the causeway south to the other side of the lake, turned around and managed to drive all the way back to Ponderay and our hotel on the new bypass that goes right through the town but has no on-ramps! It took us over an hour to get there. Sirens, lightning and wind all night. The electricity came back on at 3:45 a.m., which meant, of course, we had no opportunity to use our “spa.” Oh well.

Days Inn sign blew down during the Sandpoint storm

The long drive to Lewiston passes through spectacular farming country, full of low, rolling hills and old farmsteads in the Palouse area. The town of Lewiston is a treasure – historic old buildings and meandering streets along the Snake and Clearwater rivers. Wildfires all around kept the air thick and orangey so there wasn’t a Kodak Moment during our stay. And then we were away to Pendleton Oregon, a place neither of us has visited, and where the underground tunnel tours are famous – and don’t happen on Tuesdays – when we were there. So we opted for a tour of the world-famous Pendleton Wool Factory – which was on a different schedule than we were told. We ended up leaving Pendleton with a bag of wool off-cuts and a “maybe next time” promise.

Down the Columbia River Gorge to Portland the air was really bad with thick smoke but we were able to see Mt. Hood to the south and Mt. St. Helens to the north.

Mt. Hood

Have you driven to/through Portland? Not pleasant, is it? We were so glad to be through that city and on the western outskirts (Beaverton), although we’re still shaking our heads at the thought that one must travel the freeway to go to dinner a mile away. Perhaps we’ve lived on Maui too long. Dinner at the Olive Garden was well worth the white-knuckle experience and we managed to get back to the motel via surface roads, with only three wrong turns. Dang those one-way streets!

The Oregon Coast was our destination the next day and we made it to the Tillamook Cheese Factory with no problem, picked up our requisite three pounds of cheese, and turned south. This is highway we hadn’t traveled before and we found it interesting but not as spectacular as we had hoped. True, Highway 1 goes through some wonderful rain forest, along wide expanses of beach and pounding surf, and has a never-ending view of offshore rocks, promontories and little old fishing villages… but it gets a little repetitive. We spent the night in Lincoln City then traveled on to Coos Bay, then to Crescent City California and to Ukiah.

Generic Oregon coastline

Jim decided at the last minute to drive to Novato via the coastal route so we headed west through Boonville and found the narrowest, windiest, wildest two-lane highway since the road to Hana. Some places were too narrow for a centerline; some spots had 500-foot drop-offs on both sides, few stretches had guardrails. Oh, what fun. Jim drove and I laughed. When we reached the ocean at Port Arena it was my turn to drive and Jim’s turn to laugh. Highway 1 hugs the coastal cliffs in a series of tight s-curves and dips and, of course, we were on the outside. Did I mention the lack of guardrails? By the time we got to Jenner I was bug-eyed with tension and Jim took over.

As we got closer to San Francisco I got in touch with my old friend Stella who lives in San Anselmo. She and I worked together in the printing business 35 years ago on Maui and we’ve stayed in touch ever since. We checked into our motel in Novato then made our way to Stella’s house for dinner with her and her gorgeous son, Nick. A lovely evening, ending with plans to go into the city with her the next morning.

It wasn’t to be – Stella had a job interview to prepare for and her daughter arriving for a visit, so Jim and I were on our own for the day. We were told to take the Larkspur Ferry to Fisherman’s Wharf. We’re pretty sure the Larkspur Ferry is a myth. By the time we realized we weren’t going to find it, we were all the way down to Tiburon, and finally managed to find that ferry terminal but only by stopping a cyclist and asking where the heck it was! Truly, signs would be helpful, California.

Jim on the Tiburon Ferry to San Francisco

Joy on the hill to Coit Tower

Our day in the big city was wonderful: clam chowder at Fisherman’s Wharf, people-watching, and then the Big Hike up to Coit Tower and then down to Market Street where Jim found the old office building where he worked as an architect in the early 70s. He had a terrific day, recognizing places and remembering times and people he knew back then. We caught the ferry back to Tiburon only to hear of the death of Robin Williams that very day in that very town. Shock and grief were stamped on faces everywhere, and my friend Stella was personally struck by this sadness. She has known him since their Mill Valley days when they often double-dated.

Well, after the frenetic pace of freeways and traffic we were happy to head east to Jackson where we’re spending a few days with one of Jim’s oldest friends. Clark and Suzanne have a lovely home in the hills with easy access to everything one could ask for: thrift stores for me, bakeries for Jim and casinos for all. We’re about to go exploring Sutter Creek right now so I’ll give this a rest and post it tomorrow morning. Sorry it’s so long but, well… it has been 12 days and I do like to talk story.