More photos!

Rita and Art, hamming it up!

Look at all these smiling faces:

Life is just dandy, when you go RVing…especially with Monacos-in-Motion friends!

Time to say goodbye…

Our final Monaco-in-Motion social time, with a little something-something for our rally leaders:

We all then enjoyed a very nice farewell dinner at a restaurant near the campground, and were entertained by this visitor:

She moved on down the fence and started eating on the other side of it, where the grass is always greener!

See y’all down the road.

Monaco-ers on ice!

Columbia Icefield:



And some more adventurers who made it up to Mt. Edith Cavell:



Photos by Kathy.

Keep'em coming!

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

So long…au revoir

Thanks to everyone who tagged along with us on this great caravan.  And a special thanks to all who actually left us comments.  We certainly appreciated them.

We are (mostly) all leaving Jasper NP today after our farewell hugs, heading to various parts of Canada (for some), and back to the United States (for others).  For several of us, we will soon meet again in Oregon for a Monaco International Rally.  Have motorhome; will travel!

So, this is not “The End,” but simply a “so long till we meet again.”

Safe travels, everyone!

Fraser River float

Here are the Monaco-ers, all ready to hop on the bus to head to the river for a relaxing float trip down the Fraser River, with scenic Mt. Robson looming in the background:

But first, we had to supervise the off loading of the two rafts:

We saw beautiful scenery…and even a bear!

Everyone had fun, without even lifting the first oar, and learned about the area from our young guides.  It was certainly the easiest river trip we had ever done!

Tonight is our farewell dinner, and it will be a happy/sad occasion…but relief for our rally masters that they are officially off duty as of 9a in the morning!  We will lift a toast or two tonight to your careful planning, and for the execution of this great Canadian Rockies Ramble adventure.  It has been a great trip, with good people.

Check back here again for more photos to follow.  There are more to come!

From all of us below, we say THANKS to Paul, Betsy and Kathy…as well as Don and Norma… for being our fearless leaders for 19 days.  Y’all rock!!!

Dick and Sandy B…Jim and Carol…Wilt and Barbara…

John and Pam…Patrick and Sandy K…Art and Rita…

Mt. Edith Cavell and other stuff

Check out this big boy that was right next to the road this morning, just outside the campground!

Just down the road, we spotted a coyote but he didn’t stick around and pose for us.

Our first attraction this morning was Mount Edith Cavell, a mountain located in the Athabasca River and Astoria River valleys of Jasper National Park, and the most prominent peak entirely within Alberta.

The mountain was named in 1916 for Edith Cavell, an English nurse who was executed by the Germans during World War I for having helped allied soldiers escape from occupied Belgium to the Netherlands, in violation of military law.

Most everyone eventually made it to the top viewing area.  These were the first arrivals.  On the way down the mountain, we saw a mama black bear and two cubs!

After this hike, we got a short rest while driving over to view Athabasca Falls.  A powerful, picturesque waterfall, Athabasca Falls is not known so much for the height of the falls (23 meters), as it is known for its force due to the large quantity of water falling into the gorge. The river 'falls' over a layer of hard quartzite and through the softer limestone below, carving the short gorge and a number of potholes. Also note the “Alpine Gardens’ clinging to the canyon walls:

 

We enjoyed a picnic on the banks of the river before heading to downtown Jasper for a town walking tour.

To top off a perfect day, dinner was at Jasper Brewery.

These caravans are a whole lot of fun!  More photos can be viewed at my personal blog, so if you are interested, click here.

We have one more day here in Jasper, and it involves………water…………and it is not the drinking variety either.  Stay tuned…

Bear jam, glaciers, and waterfalls

The group got caught in a “bear jam” en route to the icefield this morning, so we pulled over for a few shots...with the cameras.  See that hump?  This is a grizzly bear that was grazing beside the roadway:

The Columbia Icefield is an icefield located in the Canadian Rockies, astride the Continental Divide of North America. The icefield lies partly in the northwestern tip of Banff National Park, and the southern end of Jasper National Park. The icefield feeds eight major glaciers.  It is a major destination for ski mountaineering in the winter months, and sightseeing by snowcoaches during the summer.

On the way back to the CG, we stopped off at a couple of beautiful waterfalls, Tangle Creek and Sunwapta:

We are doing heavy hors d’oeuvres at the CG tonight, so we hope the elk crew (4 mamas and 2 babies) come back again to entertain us.  We already had two munching this afternoon (check the background over the car for the second one):

It’s just another day in paradise!

Maligne Lake boat ride and Maligne Canyon

Maligne Lake is the largest lake in Jasper National Park, being approximately 14 miles long. The valley in which the lake lies was carved and excavated by valley glaciers, and is famed for the color of its water, the surrounding peaks, the three glaciers visible from the lake… and Spirit Island, one of the most photographed locations in the world. The group took a 90 minute ride to the Island and back:

The Maligne Valley is riddled by the most extensive "karst" system in the world. A karst system is a geological formation of caves above and below ground level. In the case of the Maligne Valley, no one knows just where water from Maligne Lake goes.

When traced by dyes it has taken anywhere from half a day to a week for the water to make the trip from Medicine Lake to Maligne Canyon, a distance of about ten miles. Even then, the dyes didn't show up at only one final destination. Dyes turned up in the Canyon, Lac Beauvert by Jasper Park Lodge, and in several of the other lakes between.

This innocent looking river goes from this………to this…eroding deep canyons in the softer limerock!

Tomorrow, we explore the nearby icefields, so check back and enjoy with us.  Oh, we saw a small bear en route this morning, a mule deer along the lake today, and two elk last evening after dinner.  Pam saw even more elk in the CG, and will send me some photos.

Jasper is great!

Rocky Mountain high!

Banff Gondola goes up to the top of that mountain, up to about 8,000’…and windy:

This is the Banff Springs Hotel where we were Wednesday:

This guy was in the road as we left Tunnel Mountain, just before entering town:

And this guy was spotted enjoying his lunch, near the BS Hotel…yep, even closer as we got back to town, seeking our own lunch:

Here is the promised bear photo:

Everyone had a free afternoon, then we met for social time and a discussion of our departure for today (then we went to an Irish pub for dinner and music!).

We are all rolling to Jasper today to our final group CG.  Again, we will be staying in a provincial park, and seeking out internet in town when we can, so the adventure continues, but reporting will be as able. 

Glad y’all are coming along for the ride with us!  Leave us a comment, please…