Heading north! - Montana Owners Club

HamRad · 06-09-2006, 05:06 AM

Hello Everyone,
Well we have changed our plans. We are just south of Portland and headed to the Astoria area for a few days. We had planned to work our way up the OR coast but after reviewing our objectives we decided we would not have time. Since we've already seen the area once we decided to simply come back some other time.

We will go on up to the Olympia coastal area when we leave Astoria. Spend a few days there then over to Dick and Toni's. Visit for a day or so and then head on up into Canada. Calgary is our destination in Canada. From there we'll drop south and visit the Waterton area and Glacier East. Then on down to Yellowstone. Eventually hope to make it to Bryce Canyon. Then home.

If anyone has "MUST SEES" please let us know. Specifics would be appreciated. We are planning to do a lot of sightseeing in the Banff area. Tunnel Mountain is on our list of places to stay. Thanks to Sharon and Bob(FireTrucker & FireTruckerWife). Thanks in advance to those who have info to share.

Happy travels to everyone and see you on down the road.

Dennis and Mary Kay

drhowell · 06-09-2006, 08:21 AM

Barbara will be in the Sweetgrass, Montana / Coutts, Alberta the first week of July at a family reunion. Thats on interstate 15.

I get to stay home , irrigate and watch Fuzzy.

vickir · 06-09-2006, 11:23 AM

Sounds like fun! When you get to East Glacier, be sure to stop and eat at the Two Sisters Cafe. Also, the Park Cafe - great pie at a great restaurant near the East Glacier entrance. (Hmmmmmm ... I'm noticing a trend here ... other people tell you about places to see, we tell you about places to eat!

)

jrgwdenner · 06-09-2006, 11:52 AM

Tunnel Mountain is a great place to stay. If your satellite doesn't work for internet, there are internet cafes downtown for a reasonable price. There's also a wonderful Chinese resturant on the second floor of one of the main blocks of downtown. (We hang out with the Reigles too much!) Can't remember the name. Sounds like you have a wonderful trip planned! Safe travels.

rlwhit · 06-09-2006, 12:57 PM

I can see you. Enjoy Astoria. I'm sure you will check out the Lewis and Clark sites. I just started following you the other day and I don't know if that is strange or neat. Kinda spooky. You can not hide. LOL.

sreigle · 06-09-2006, 04:00 PM

Sounds like a great trip, Dennis and Mary Kay. Be sure to say hi to Dick and Toni for us when you see them (yeah, I know, my post is just below Dick's -- hi Dick!).

JH Sechelt · 06-09-2006, 04:43 PM

Hi Dennis and Mary,

You love Banff, A little comercialized ( downtown) but the mountains are spectactular. Some of the best in the world.
Tunnel mountain is a great place to camp, but make sure you don't leave your awning out if you are away from the campground. Afternoon thunderstroms are not uncommon in the area, and I've seen every thing thats not tied down blown up against the snow fences, including evey tent in the park. Other places of intrest could be Calgary Zoo and another very interesting area is Drumhellier ( Canada's own Preastoric Park) The Prarie Badlands are something to be seen and the museaum if full of all sorts of dinasors.

foggyb · 06-10-2006, 01:17 AM

Hi Dennis When you said just south of Portland, I was going to intice you to stop here. Wrong Portland

. I'll wait till you get to the other Portland

in Maine. Have a great trip. Spent last winter in Florida but heading out west again in your direction next winter. Maybe we will cross trails again. Dan

adelmoll · 06-10-2006, 05:10 AM

The whole area is wonderful Dennis and Mary Kay. Be sure you spend some time at Waterton Lakes. You won't have to drive too far to see the wild life. They come right into the campground. It was one of our favorite places.

I think Minter Gardens is right on your route after crossing into Canada. It is beautiful. They have a path that is very easy for you to get around.

Helen

D and M On The Road · 06-10-2006, 05:57 AM

Dennis & Mary Kay...... I haven't been to Banff in years but will be watching your location and satellite pictures. Looking forwards to them especially when you do get around the Canadian Rockies. Spectacular!

RLWhit..... I used to "stalk" Dennis & Mary Kay a year or so ago by satellite and made it a game to see if I could pinpoint the name of the campground or where they may have happened to have stopped at.

I named it the "Where In The World Are Dennis & Mary Kay" game. They should be scared.............

HamRad · 06-14-2006, 08:06 PM

Wow!
Thanks everyone for the info. We're now in Forks, WA. Been doing some sightseeing and today visited the most north and west point in the continental U.S. --- Cape Flattery. Very interesting drive out to the point. Roscoe and I guarded the pickup while Mary Kay hiked out to the viewpoint. It was a bit too steep and rugged for my handicap cart. :-(

The day before we visited the HOH Rain Forest. Really nice!

Farmer Don..... Wish we could work out a visit but our schedule is getting really crowded. We're not sure we're going to have enough time to do all we want..... Sure glad we're retired otherwise we wouldn't have enough time to leave our driveway!

Vickir..... Thanks for the eating recommendation. We will try to find it and take your advise. Like I NEED another place to eat!

Judy..... We have seen the pictures FireTruckerWife posted about their stay at the park. It looks really nice and we're looking forward to staying there. We hardly ever even put out our awning. If we do we NEVER leave camp with it out. Thanks for the heads up.

Steve.... We will certainly say hello for you folks when we see Dick and Toni. We are going to be there Sunday PM. Will stay a couple of days or until they kick us out.... Roscoe needs another shot and Toni has lined up a vet for us. Can you believe it has been almost a month already?

John and Dawn.... Thanks for the reminder about the Drumhellier area. That is one of my "must see" areas.

Don and Sandy..... Wish we were on your side of the world. Some day we hope to take you up on your offer. When we get out that way we will definitely take you up on staying at your CG. You notice it doesn't take much for us to take up on an "invitation".

Bill and Helen..... We certainly plan to do as much sightseeing in that area as is possible. We've had great reports from Steve and Vicki on this part of the world. You sure sound like you are having a great time on your Alaska trip. Keep enjoying it and one of these days we hope to be doing the same route.

Doug and Margee.... We are looking forward to this part of the world. It promises to be a most beautiful area. And it is always fun to have folks email us or even show up at our camp site..... having followed us on our GPS/Ham Radio computer link. It is a great deal of fun. We've met some great MOCers via this process and hope to meet even more!

Dennis and Mary Kay

Imp · 06-15-2006, 09:08 PM

Dennis & Mary Kay... looking forward to seeing you on Tuesday. We will be joining you at Dick & Toni's.
Myrna & Bob

HamRad · 06-16-2006, 12:30 AM

Myrna and Bob,
We are excited to be in this area. In spite of the rain..... ..... We're enjoying our visit to this part of the world. I hope all is well with you folks and we are looking forward to the "mini MOC rally" being held at Dick and Toni's RV Park and Resort!

See you soon.

Dennis and Mary Kay

vickir · 06-16-2006, 04:48 PM

Dennis ... Helen's post reminded me of our all-too-brief visit to Waterton Lakes last year. Steve convinced me that we should rent a canoe and row across one of the Waterton Lakes (don't remember which one) and it freaked me out every time the canoe rocked. But I was able to take one of my favorite pictures of him by holding the camera on top of my head and shooting ... that's why it's a little crooked.

jrgwdenner · 06-17-2006, 03:44 AM

Nice picture! Steve looks like a pro!

HamRad · 06-19-2006, 01:09 AM

Vicki,
Steve looks really cute in his rowing outfit! As much as I like the idea..... I don't think we'll try that. Glad you had so much fun doing this.

We are at Dick and Toni's. What a nice place they have. If I ever find the transfer cable for my camera I'll post some pics! As we were making camp a deer strolled across the yard! What a great place.

We had a great experience taking the Monty on a ferry. Nothing as exciting as Bill and Helen's ferry crossing but still interesting. The ride across the Juan de Fuca Straits was very smooth. Talking to Toni I later learned that the winds often close the ferry crossing. But our crossing was great. And it saved us about 200 miles of driving. So we figure we came out about even with the $65 ferry fee.

We drove north up Whidbey Island and enjoyed the scenery. Very nice drive.

HamRad

markwick · 06-19-2006, 07:29 PM

Couple of places - the Icefields Parkway between Banff and Jasper is spectacular (if the weather is good) be sure to take a trip up on to the glaciers - tours are available. There is a campground just south of Jasper called Whistler campground. Great spot, Elk, coyotes and bears wander throught he area. Caution - if you have a dog it must be leashed at all times.
On the way through BC visit the Okanagan (the most northern part of the Senora desert is in Osoyoos) Dozens of wineries throughout the Southern part. Also the East and West Kootenays around Arrow Lakes and Kootenay lakes are very beautiful.
The Provincial campgrounds are like the State parks in Washington and Oregon, but DO NOT have hook-ups.
Have a great trip.

HamRad · 06-19-2006, 11:30 PM

Markwick,
Thank you for sharing Peter. Since we will be very close to several of the places you mention we will certainly check them out. I appreciate your sharing this information with us.

Peter our plan is to cross into Canada at Sumas and hookup with Hwy. 1 and head toward Kamloops. I notice that Hwy 1 connects to Hwy 5 and that it looks like it is a toll road. Do you know how expensive it is to take the toll road or would be just as well off taking an alternative?

HamRad

jrgwdenner · 06-20-2006, 01:59 AM

Dennis and Mary Kay, it sounds like you're having a wonderful trip and what a special treat to meet up with those MOCers. I envy you for your trip to Banff as it was one of my favorite areas. We also saw more animals in that area that we did farther north. Safe travels.

adelmoll · 06-20-2006, 04:13 AM

We also saw lots of animals in that area. One of them was a black bear that Bill and I met on one of our walks. We were the only ones on the trail and it scared us to death. Scared the bear too and he climbed up a tree. We got good pictures as we were backing away with our heart down at our feet. Keep us posted on your where abouts as we will be going through that area on our way back from Alaska. Have a great time with Toni and Dick. They are great hostess' and just plain nice people.
Helen

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