a trip to northwestern canada / usa

My family (Rachel-my wife, David-my son and Jeff-me) had this exciting Rockies trip between 10-30 July 2004 in southwestern Canada and northwestern USA. We drove through five provinces and eight states, which added 12,500 km to the odometer of my SUV. There were many highs and a few lows. Although we tried hard to record all beautiful things we saw, there were a lot we could not for a lot of reasons. Here are some of them:

Driving along the east coast of Lake Superior during the sunset is like driving in the heaven. Hwy17 is build on the cliffs. When you look down the islands, trees, rocks, waves and colours of all above, you would be shocked. Sometimes both sides of the roads are cliffs, and the cliffs are so high that you see nothing but a beam of light. So when the road is downhill, you feel you are driving directly to the water; and when it is uphill, you are flying to the sky. And you could see a black bear playing in the bush, how is that?

Driving in Prairie is rather boring, but there are surprises. For example you may find yourself surrounded by endless blossoming yellow canola.

When you are so focused on steering on the way up to Mount Edith Cavel (part of Jasper Rockies), you see a giant grizzly bear standing 5 meters ahead of you, how would you react?
Driving to Takakkaw Falls of Yoho is like climbing a sky-ladder with your vehicle. The Z-shaped road challenges every driver. So don't even try if you are driving an RV.
Our last high (and low!) was driving along Beartooth Byway (US 212). This is a chance you could actually look DOWN glaciers from the skytop plateau (at 3,900m), besides all other spectacular views: snow-capped peaks and alpine lakes. The only low here was that we were scared of low-gas warning for 2 hours without finding a sign of gas-bar.

Below I would like to share some snapshots during trip. Although David and I tried our best, I swear what we saw is a thousand times more beautiful than what you are seeing from those pictures. I also have to apologize here as we messed up the date of the camera, so you would have to trust what I say about the date. So here it comes:

07/13 Badland, Dinasour Provincial Park









	07/13 The Royal Tyrrell Museum - the biggest dinosaur museum in the world, Drumheller, Alberta






07/14 The worls's largest dinosaur, Drumheller, Alberta


	7/15-18 Jasper, Alberta
		Maligne Canyon

		Maligne Lake

		Maligne Lake

		Maligne Lake

Ice Lake by Mount Edith Cavell

Mount Edith Cavell

Ice Lake by Mount Edith Cavell

		Athabasca Glacier - A view from Columbia Icefield Centre
Bring enough clothes - it is COLD there!
		Athabasca Glacier - the first step

		Athabasca Glacier

		Athabasca Glacier

		Athabasca Glacier

Surprise! Deers near our campground

7/18-20 Banff, Alberta
		Mountain goat - near Lake Minnewanka

		Lake Minnewanka

		Cave and Basin

		Loraine Lake - near Lake Louise

		Lake Louise - A diamond mounted on the jade



	7/21 Yoho, British Columbia
		Takakkaw Falls - one of the highest falls in Canada



		Natual Bridge


7/22 Vancouver, British Columbia
Stanley Park

	7/23 Tofino, British Columbia
		Frank Island - plenty of crabs, star fish and tons of shells - you can walk to the island from Chesterman Beach after ebb

7/27 Yellowstone, Wyoming (and Montana)
		Mammoth Hot Spring

		Mammoth Hot Spring

		Sheepeater Cliff

		A little creek near Roaring Mountain - look at the colour of the water!

		Norris Geyser Basin

		Lower Geyser Basin

		Lower Geyser Basin

		Lower Geyser Basin

		West Thumb and Yellowstone Lake

		bufallo - near Canyon Vallige

		sunset