Welcome to my blog. I document my adventures in travel, style, and food. Hope you have a nice stay!
All in Vacation
Even though we'd only been in New York for a couple nights, we took an overnight side-trip to the Hudson River Valley. Our plans for the day were to visit the FDR Library and Museum, then have dinner at the Culinary Institute of America.
Our tourist activities for Friday centered around Central Park, and dinner once again near Union Square. And once again considered the Empire State Building.
For a long time we had intended to go to New York to visit Celeste, and this was finally the year. We got a later start than we intended, but after a red-eye flight, we took it easy for our first day in the City.
We once again made the annual trek to Southern California to be with family and play tourist for a bit, this time at Exposition Park. We also get the opportunity to thaw out a bit in the warmer weather.
We made it home after the last leg of our trip. Of course, that meant crossing the border, which could have been worse.
Having finished the national park part of our trip, it was time to start the trip home. Our route happened to take us through a couple more national parks, so we made a quick stop in one of them.
The whole day consisted of one hike. One long, steep hike. A bookend for our long, steep hike at Glacier National Park.
We fit in a medium-length hike and got sidetracked watching a helicopter work on a small forest fire. Then we returned to the hostel to lots of haze and smoke in the air.
On the way to our fourth (and last) national park for this trip, we drove the Icefields Parkway again, this time stopping at the Athabasca Glacier. Then into Yoho where we saw a natural bridge.
Our second of two full days in Jasper National Park was spent mostly north of Jasper town in the Maligne area, although we did wander into the town for a bit. And we got caught in afternoon animal rush hour traffic.
Another gondola ride with hiking to a summit, going around a set of five lakes, and a quick stop at another Fairmont hotel. Just another day in Jasper.
Between Banff and Jasper National Park we traveled along the Icefields Parkway, seeing lakes, waterfalls, and glaciers. Later, we saw several animals wandering along the side of the road.
Our second full day in Banff, and we went to Johnston Canyon, Lake Johnson, and in between, took a boat ride on an artificial lake.
The weather started getting cloudier, but we lucked out on our gondola ride to the top of Sulphur Mountain. We then went back to Cave and Basin for a rematch with the mosquitoes, after which we walked around the Banff Springs Hotel area. That was enough for the day.
The reason we decided to make a road trip that brought us into Canada was because the National Parks were giving away free passes, which we started to use. Since the short drive from Calgary got us into Banff much before our room was ready, we went on a short hike which introduced us to Canadian mosquitoes.
Time to drive north to Canada, but not before driving through Glacier on the Going to the Sun road. Once we got to Calgary, it took longer than we expected to figure things out, but once we did, we ended up hopping all around our particular part of the University of Calgary campus.
No earthquakes, no one from New Orleans. We did make it to the Many Glacier area on the east side of Glacier National Park to hike.
Our first full day at Glacier National Park started with a jolt, a bit of déjà vu, and an impulsive change of plans. It got very hot, but we not only survived, but really enjoyed our long hike.
Time to hit the first national park on our trip, Glacier. Since it wasn't that far from Missoula, we went all the way to the park and did a quick trail before going back to our motel.
We had a quiet 4th of July in Missoula. We spent a bit of time with Ken and Karen, which is always fun. We also got to see the base of operations for smokejumpers.
