Banff and Mt Revelstoke, 7/1 & 7/2

After dropping Kristin off at the airport in Calgary on 7/1, I was on my own to drive to the farm. Her flight was at 8:05, so we wanted to get to the airport by 6:30 since this was technically an international flight. We asked the hotel staff in Calgary how much time we should allot to get the airport, and they told us that even at 5:45 in the morning, there would be traffic and to allow at least 40 minutes to get there. But as we were driving at 5:45, we didn't see any traffic at all. The roads were completely deserted, in fact. Well, what we all forgot to consider was that July 1st was Canada Day and everybody was off for the holiday. Unfortunately, that also meant that I had a very hard time finding a place to get my oil changed... but it really was in need of being done, particularly because I didn't know how easy it would be to find something like a Jiffy Lube in Sorrento. I eventually found a Minit Lube that opened at 10:00am, so killed some time by having a long breakfast, doing some grocery shopping, and withdrawing some money at Scotiabank.

By the way, if any of you reading this blog do a lot of international travel, you might consider opening a Bank of America checking account. They have a partner bank in many of the countries Americans visit frequently, and there are no ATM fees, exchange surcharges, or anything else at those banks. Scotiabank in Canada, Deutsche Bank in Germany, Barclays in the UK, Westpac in Australia. Plus, a bunch of these banks have locations in other countries as well. It's worth it after the first time seeing what foreign withdrawal surcharges can do to your account...

Anyway, I eventually got on the road heading through Banff. My goal for July 1st was just to make it to Golden, British Columbia, which was only 3-4 hours away. Of course, I also wanted to take some extra time to stop and take some pictures and see the park. The traffic heading towards Banff was pretty heavy because of the holiday:


Once I reached the entrance to the park, there was a checkpoint where you either purchase a park pass or tell the attendant that you are passing through. It was funny--when I arrived at the checkpoint, the attendant started speaking to me in French. I am not sure if it was my license plate, her having a bit of fun, or some other mix-up of which I am not aware.

The park itself was great, though it was hard to compare to Glacier. I think if I had more time to do a few hikes, I would have experienced a lot more of what the park had to offer:



Bighorn sheep:


There were lots of views like this: I think I look tired after so many days of driving:

After driving through Banff, I settled down in Golden, BC for the night. It is a small mountain town that formed around the Trans-Canada Highway, and is completely surrounded by snow-capped mountains. I got in kind of early, relaxed, caught up on some sleep, and had a hearty meal. The locals were very friendly, and I had a nice chat with two guys that were heading even further north for some summer snowboarding:



Finally, on 7/2, I drove from Golden to Sorrento. The landscape changed yet again--Mt Revelstoke is the world's only temperate inland rain forest (and it definitely was wet), and then suddenly the clouds cleared up a bit, the mountains were a bit smaller, and I entered a beautiful lake district. Sorrento and the surrounding towns in the Shuswap region of BC seem like they should be one of the biggest tourist attractions in North America, I can't believe there aren't more people here:




In my next post, I'll write about the farm, the work I've been doing, and the people I've met so far. Here's my route for 7/1 and 7/2:


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