Grandeur

Let us return to Canada while the memory is fresh. As to today's title, there really is no other word to describe the landscape we drove through before we leaving Canada. That said, to quote Madonna, "beauty is where you find it", and if you at all pay attention, you will find it everywhere. Just this morning, while searching the trees along the lakefront for the owl, the sun was glinting off the water enough so that I was able to see small fish darting to and fro, and what's not to like about that?

Before we go back in time, I wanted to let you know that we are getting settled slowly, but surely. Yesterday morning, I decided that the way I'd set the kitchen up before leaving just wouldn't work very well following two nights of cooking. Pam to the rescue!! Putting our heads together, things are now much more user friendly. As to how we are going to remodel the kitchen in the near future, well, we have not yet decided. Last evening we joined a group down at the big pool and while talking to Sandy she said she'd had her kitchen remodeled in the last few months and could not be happier with the results. Today we have scheduled a tour.

The rain, holy cow! Twice while going to the grocery store I have been drenched. Plus, David pointed out lightening in the sky last night, something that as far as we know, is mostly nonexistent in Vancouver. For the most part we've been working indoors, so I cannot comment on the heat just yet. You can be certain that soon enough, I will.

Our first night on the road, during our stop in Merritt, I woke early hoping for a lovely sunrise. Not epic, but lovely nonetheless.

For much of our trip we saw beautiful wildflowers alongside the roads as well as in the fields, along with some very interesting grasses.

Unlike Florida, where water is everywhere you look, when we saw a body of water it was beautiful, as water tends to be, and remarkable because it isn't everywhere. Or, at least where we were.

I've heard from Jackie, my garden friend in Vancouver, and she pointed out that when talking about the area around Kelowna, I should have identified it as the Okanagan Valley. Duly noted. Whatever you call it, there were some pretty unreal lakes to be seen.

I don't know if it is because we were looking down on the lakes, or what exactly makes the water so gorgeous, which is actually pretty irrelevant, isn't it? Whatever the reason, they are breathtaking.

That crazy roadside attraction where we stopped for a few minutes? Their claim to fame is a goat walk which I cannot explain, but there is something about putting food in the buckets and cranking them upward.

Not to mention the crazy collection of statuary. I skimmed right past it in the earlier post, however, the Trans Canada railroad was a remarkable achievement, made possible by a huge army of Chinese workers, not unlike what occurred in America. When you drive through the landscape you have to marvel at how they got it done. Then again, the roads we drove on pretty much follow the railroad.

Of note in the photo below is the huge hanging baskets held together at the bottom by Astro turf which I found very interesting.

Our hotel in Revelstoke was but a few blocks from the Columbia River, so once again, I got up for the sunrise and made my way riverside to see what I could see.

On our drive out to Vancouver we crossed the Columbia River in Washington State, where the riverbank looked nothing like this, more desert-like to be more descriptive.

The winding roads in the mountains kept Bruce alert, as we would go right,

and then to the left, in this case through a mountainside tunnel.

My vocabulary is lacking when it comes to describing the enormous mountains of the Canadian Rockies. Perhaps there are larger mountain ranges, and I suspect, maybe even prettier, but having seen grandeur like this in person is plenty for us.

A road trip is really all about the quality of the roads. Thankfully, they were excellent everywhere we went.

Can you imagine the construction of this highway? On the right, the yellow sign warns the traveler about the possibility of seeing elk on the highway, which we did not. For a while we did see some wildlife, including three deer, it would have been awesome to have seen more.

Apparently rock minerals are the source of this water color which could be described as a very pale shade of green. Maybe I was partial to it because once home, I realized the wall color I'd chosen to paint the living area is quite similar.

How would you describe Emerald Lake and the surrounding landscape? Grandeur comes to my mind.

You hear, before seeing, the mountain waterfalls. Power comes to mind.

The obligatory photo of my beloved beside Lake Louise. With the crowds there, I can't imagine I was able to single him out.

Had this trip been only a sightseeing one, we would have stayed in Banff for longer, however, as this one was more about getting home, we cut our stay there short. I managed to get one sunrise photograph before leaving.

Onward through Alberta, leaving the Rockies behind, the fields were abundant and every now and again, we would pass an oil derrick, the source of Alberta's wealth. It was very interesting to be in Canada while the provinces were engaged in suing one another over the pipeline.

Because we were on the highway, we never could pull over to see these blue plants, but I sure wanted to.

I know it is hard to see, but trust me, blue dominated the middle portion of the landscape.

In my next post we'll look a little closer at the scenery in Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota where the grandeur of the West continues. Something that kept coming to our mind was how the early settlers could have been so brave as to move westward. Your thoughts?

your friend,

Gail