Kootenay National Park, BC ~ Alaska Trip Day 6

How do I fit 144 pictures into 1 blog post? Perhaps I am taking too many pictures!

Our breakfast was interrupted by a herd of bighorn sheep slowly grazing along right past the motor home and up the hill. Our first wildlife encounter on the trip! And we were parked in a Radium Hot Springs gravel lot; no campsite, no forest, no stream.

After our cereal, fruit, granola, and yogurt were devoured, we entered Kootenay National Park. The road took us right through dramatic Sinclair Canyon.

We parked at the Hot Springs and observed the bathing tourists, took some kiddy photos, then started down the Sinclair Canyon Trail.

It was a nice trail, winding up the side of a mountain in the evergreens to an overlook of Columbia Lake and another jaunt down steps to the canyon overlook.

The "silent place" was a quiet respite from the busy town and people hubbub. We just happened to entered the parks on a Canadian 4 day weekend = busy, busy.

Our drive through Kootenay brought many magnificent vistas to our eyes. Each curve in the road, clearing of the pines, or rise in altitude made a lovely change in the scenery.

Vermilion Crossing allowed a nap break for the RV drivers, and time to explore for the youngers. The glacial river waters were rushing at this point with steep rocky drop-offs. Cora picked some daisies and had to squish bugs that crawled on her fingers. (I accidentally captured them in this photo.)

Shannon and Riley skipped rocks toward each other. They could break off huge chunks of the slate rock and have nice flat slabs for skipping.

Along came a rain shower and hindered our exploring just a bit. It soon cleared and we enjoyed another beautiful hike over the river on the Paint Pots trail.

Our last stop in Kootenay Park was Marble Canyon. We hiked a ways up the canyon trail looking down, down, down. The water got further below us as the trail climbed. The river was quite narrow in some passages. And rushing!

little critters are fascinating to little people

We overnighted at Frontcountry Campground inside the park.

It drizzled in the evening, rained, and hailed in the night. Not so fun for paying for a campsite we could hardly use, but very thankful to have a roof over our heads and floor beneath us.

Montana to Radium Hot Springs, BC ~Alaska Trip Day 5

Fifth day on the road...Heather's birthday! It started out with a nice breakfast and farewell at Uncle Danny's, then a beautiful drive in northern Montana up to the Canadian border. (We made a quick stop at Chad's mechanic shop, but were disappointed to miss Sally this run through.) Flathead Lake water was sparkling on the sunny warm day.

These cute mountain towns reminded me of the touristy areas in Colorado and the Smokey Mountains: beautiful flowers, beautiful views, cute shops, eclectic eateries, and ice cream!

A windshield photo of the road close to our border crossing in Roosville.

I have never been to Canada, so this is a fantastic birthday treat!

Bull River in Wardner, BC.

Fort Steele, BC

We pulled into a lookout over Columbia Lake for a lovely supper spot. A finer dining atmosphere couldn't be found at any fancy Italian bistro!

Montana ~Alaska Trip Days 3 & 4

Wednesday morning we stopped for a short visit at the Brubaker residences in Laurel, Montana. Anthony gave us a tour of their herb greenhouses and his own cute house on skids. We were sorry to miss his parents who were traveling on business, but it was nice to meet his wife, Miranda, & sweet baby Ally, and see Kimra again.

The rest of the day was a long drive across Montana. The fields changed into mountains as we neared Missoula and turned north toward our overnight destination in St. Ignatius.

We were blessed with a short visit at Johnny and Heidi's Thursday morning. Riley spent the rest of the day there with their teenage boys, working a little, then swimming at the dam.

My girls also swam, in cousin Joanna's backyard pool, after they picked a bucket of apricots from Aunt Shirley's loaded fruit tree. It was a sunny, hot, dry 95 degree day. We washed several loads of laundry and stashed a sack of apricots in our rig for munching on down the road.

We had sweet fellowship with our western family, around the table, under the backyard shade tree, and on the front porch after sunset.

Bowmans Back on the Road ~ Alaska Trip Days 1 & 2

After a long wait on FAHRAH's RV alignment in Great Bend, we finally got on the road, making some time, driving west. We overnighted at a rest area between Colby, KS and the Colorado state line. These two early risers are waiting on everyone else to gather at the picnic table for a quick breakfast.

We had a long day passing through the vastness of wide open places. This is some of the scenery near Chugwater, WY.

We pulled over for salad supper at a "parking area", which was right next to a tall animal fence. FAHRAH distributed their multiple binoculars so we could view the grazing pronghorn antelope family Shannon spotted.

God displayed a beautiful sunset to our meandering caravan's view.

Gardening in July

The annuals are starting to pop out bright colors.

Zinnias, sunflowers, and marigolds.

Calendula came up again this year in several spots. I pulled some young plants that I thought were weeds before I realized what it was. I need to read again how to harvest the flowers for medicinal purposes.

A hybrid squash. I thought I'd planted spaghetti squash, but this one looks a bit different than normal.

Cucumber plants climbing up the tepee.

The corn patch. 

We ate like kings for over a week, every day feasting on sweet, buttery goodness. Until Cora lost her very first front tooth, then it became not so queenly for her to munch on an ear as she rather gnawed at it on the side of her mouth.

***garden goodness***