Alberta and back to the states- MT-MN & ND

Statues in a town waiting to decorate you lawn or business.
Once a viable farm house -but no more.
one of the neat buildings we saw while heading home.
the storm front is moving in once again, this time in ND.
one of the many canola fields in ND

One of the towns in Montana had several statues across the hills near by.
We see and like the old buildings-churches - schools etc.

We had a lot of roads that look like this -long and straight.
This is Chinook MT one of the small towns we passed through on the way to MN.

one of God's beautiful sunsets.
Once a thriving farm--now not so much.
the beauty is everywhere in everything
Pigeon Lake in Alberta is way down, but still very enjoyable and pretty to see.
one of the glacial lakes we saw along the way

Drumheller is one of the cities we passed through on the way back to the states. They have a lot of large prehistoric statues in the town.
These bugs would swarm the campers near the lake it Alberta where we stayed with our friends.
close up of one of the bugs seen above
This is supposed to be the larges tepee in the world.
We saw this neat Crown Victoria pulling a small trailer.Bil had one back in the day.

Valemount , Columbia ice fields & Athabasca glacier

The view from our campsite in Valemount B C
This bear was alongside the road feeding. People have been feeding the bears recently causing problems for the bears as well as the people. We saw an article in the paper with a bears front feet up on the guardrail waiting for food.
Some of the many big horn sheep we saw along the way.
This tells of the retreat of the Athabasca Glacier and the following photo shows the glacier from where we were standing reading the sign.


The bus has a fairly steep descent so you can take photos through the roof of the glaciers.
Bil and I on the glacier--yeah those are Bil's winter shorts.
A view across one of the lakes headed for the Columbia ice fields.
A group of people on the glacier. We all had to stay in a set area due to the crevices in the glacier and the chance of slipping into oblivion if we went in the wrong places. Plus they want to protect the rest of the glacier.
One of the glacier's in the ice fields.

This is the bus that is used to take people onto the glacier.
This was the original bus-no suspension & windows did not open- it gets really hot in it inside so they named it "shake and bake".
One of the nicer falls we saw on the way to the glacier.
Lots of wildlife. This mother mountain goat was very protective of her baby.
These trees are 300 years old. Their growth is stunted due to the cold weather here most of the year. The Glacier area is open for only 41/2 to 5 months a year.

A good view of glacial water and the mountains that create them.
One of the beautiful sites driving through BC to Alberta
Apparently, there is more than wildlife to watch out for at these parks.
There are flowers and neat sites wherever you look.
The two shots below are both Mt Robson.

Interesting Canadian things we happened across

heading for Canada and it is raining again. This is truly the Winter of our Summer.
These old buildings were near the airport in later photos below.
Appears to have been an old gas station, note the pump on the right side with glass top.
The following hotel was built in 1908 so I would think the other buildings may be from near that time as well.
It is now like a B & B with a coffee shop, dining room etc. It is beautifully redone.

This was an interesting compound we ran across. It appears to be a castle sort of house and fencing. But an interesting object in the yard--a shuttle.


The castle type buildings and fencing.
The shuttle note as you enlarge the photo there is an air conditioner on the rear portion. I don't think that was stock on the ones we sent into space.
One of the many rushing creeks from all the melting snows.
The bumper of the pick up has a sign that says "Toughest Truck in America" so is he pushing the big rig in front of him??? I think not!
This marmot and it's family had taken over the underside of an old church.
The old Murray church from 1876 in one of the small towns along the way. The cemetery surrounds the church.
You have to be careful taking a drive as you often find all sorts of animals in the roads.

This was the road ahead as we were going through the mountains in BC headed toward Kamloops.
Lots of melting snow in the Rockies resulting in many waterfalls.
We often run across interesting things we question and have no answers for. Like why the bear looking over the mountain.
This was the gate of a small airport and the runway is in the next photo.