This was a trip not to see the sights so much but to visit with friends and family. In some cases, I hadn’t seen in years.  It was filled with wonderful visits and guess what, I saw some incredible sights (sites), too. Personally, I recommend that you enlarge the pictures to really see the beauty of our country.

First, lucky me, I drove right on the ferry without booking a reservation, even though I left home later than I was planning on.  (One thing I resent is having to pay for a reservation. The ferries are part of the highway system).

First stop was Chilliwack (25th), then up the Fraser Canyon to Kamloops (26th and 27th)

Then to Prince George (28th,  29th and 30th).  Along the way between Kamloops and Pr. George, I had a visit from an RCMP officer…..Oops!

From there it was driving on Hwy 16 to Jasper, then hwy 93 and the Columbia Icefields, turning at the Saskatchewan River Crossing onto Hwy 40 to Lacombe, Alberta. 

Next, I spent a few days (July 1-4) visiting a friend in Lacombe and doing a little exploring.

Next it was driving through lots and lots more florescent yellow fields of canola on the flat prairie highways of Alberta and Saskatchewan.  I stopped at the airport in Saskatoon to pick up a friend coming from Victoria.  Together we travelled to see our friends that live in Prince Albert, Candle Lake and Waskesui Lake. We had first met them in Guayabitos, Mexico.  For a time it looked like we wouldn’t be travelling to those northern reaches because of forest fires but they managed to get them under control .  So much of our country has had wildfires, each year it seems, getting worse and worse.  We did experience some smoke but it was not too bad.  One thing I was expecting was that temperatures would be stinking hot.  Because of the smoke in the air, even though low, helped to keep the temperatures down.  We spent July 5-10 in Saskatchewan then I travelled back to Alberta  on the 11th, this time to visit friends in Red Deer.

I spent July 11-13 in Red Deer with friends, then to Carstairs (July 14) to visit another but with a detour down to the badlands of Drumheller and the amazing Tyrrell Museum of Dinosaurs. I had never been before so needed to go.

Next day (July 15th) I drove on through the Rockies again (Hwy 1), this time through Banff, Yoho National Park and Rogers Pass to Kamloops. 

July 16th I left Kamloops on Hwy 5 (the Coquihalla), dropping off to see a friend to pick up the jacket I left behind in Chilliwack.  Then it was onto the ferry (again no reservation and driving right on….yeah, and home.