Day (+1), August 6^th, Friday:

Drive to Ferry and continue to the Rockies

The hike is done, everyone had a good sleep and woke up around 8am the next morning. We headed down stairs to compete with the rest of the cheap tourists for the uninspired complimentary breakfast. It took a couple of passes to get what you wanted, especially if it included a donut or bagel AND a cup of coffee. You had to wait upstairs between passes for the breakfast bar to be resuplied. We eventually got a few munchies and some weak coffee, just as everyone gave in and was ready to head downtown to Starbucks for breakfast.

Chris and Dana decided they were in a rush to get back to Saskatoon and didn’t want to hang around the four hours until Sandy’s plane left, so Rick volunteered to ride with them, at least until Kelona.

Sandy, Warren, Joan, Bill and Elaine took the opportunity to explore Victoria, and wandered through China town, Market square, etc. The “Black Humour” store made a killing when Sandy, Joan and Elaine each purchased a thousand cards and other curios. A quick stop at Whitespot for lunch and then Sandy was dropped off at the airport. We drove to the ferry and missed the 2pm traverse by 4 cars. Oh well, it gave us lots of time to examine ALL of the many sidewalk stands until next ferry at 3pm. Once on the ferry, the deck it was cool and uncrowded. We hit the road and Warren drove to Kamloops for dinner at the local Boston Pizza at 10pm. Joan did a two hour driving stint from Kamloops and then Bill did a two-hour stint which got us to Jasper. While driving, Bill and Joan had the chance to see lightening strike which started a tree burning, high up on once of the mountain sides. Warren and Elaine woke up and we stopped to have a look and to take a fuzzy photo. While watching the fire, another lighting bolt struck very near us, making us jump. It was very close and very loud. The thunder continued to reverberate off the valley walls for some time after. We saw a number of elk along the road. Big racks on some of them.

Day (+2), August 7^th, Saturday:

Shop in Calgary, drive across the Prairies

We reached Jasper at 4am local time where Warren and Elaine took over driving. A big storm on the approach into Edmonton forced us to slow down, with very little visibility and lots of aquaplaning. We accidentailly passed Campers Village and had to backtrack to it. It wasn’t open yet, so, once again, we hit Starbucks/Chapters for coffee and books. After the wait, Campers Village was very disappointing and the staff not very knowledgeable. To make up for the disappointment, we headed in to MEC. It was well worth the visit. Warren dropped 70$ as does Bill, Joan dropped about $200 while Elaine spent $.99 on a magazine. Warren then drove to the outskirts of town where he was willing to let the manual-novice Elaine take over driving. With much gnashing of gears we were off. Had a quick lunch at subway in Lloydminster (every one ordered the roasted pepper chicken, except Joan, who ordered the plain roasted chicken!). We arrived in Saskatoon at 5:30 p.m.

Images with borders are thumbnails (click on them)

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Mail Me! warren.long@shaw.ca

Warren's Hiking page is HERE

Warren & Sandy's HomePage is HERE.