A field trip to "The Trop"!

By her own admission NaNa isn't much of a baseball fan.  As sports go, she's much more a football fan. Specifically she's a Florida State Seminole fan.  Unfortunately in recent years her Seminoles have had the upper hand on my Gators.  A fact that in her own subtle way she has reminded me of over and over.
So even though she's not a baseball fan she is still a fan of going places and doing things. Usually before she's finished her first cup of coffee she'll ask Beth and I "what are we going to do today?".  It can be as simple as sitting at the beach or on the bayside, getting ice cream at Two Scoops, going out to eat or taking in sunset (which she never misses).  She's always up for an adventure and greeted the suggestion that we go to the Tampa Bay Rays game at Tropicana Field (aka "The Trop") with her usual enthusiasm.  She had been to a few Texas Rangers games with us back when we lived in Texas but this would be her first Rays game.  As much or more so than the game, her enthusiasm was for the adventure.  She knew getting to the game would mean a trip across the Skyway Bridge which she calls "one of the prettiest drives anywhere" and that food would be involved.
The Skyway Bridge drive was great both ways.  The food was ballpark food at it's best.  Apparently she's quite the traditionalist and even opted for a hot dog as she proclaimed that's what you're supposed to have at a baseball game.  She was even pleased with the outcome of the game which the Rays won 8-3.  I'm not sure she's a bigger baseball fan now than she was this morning but if a drive across the Skyway and a hot dog is involved maybe so!

Chilling out at "The Trop"

Baseball Buddies



Rays Up!

 

They're never the same and they never get old!

I've heard it said by people a lot smarter than me that no two snowflakes are the same.  I guess I'll have to take their word for it.  What I can say with reasonable certainty is that no two sunsets are the same.  Also, they never get old and they're as spectacular on AMI as they are anywhere.
Enjoy!

A Wrigley Field Doubleheader!

Ernie Banks played his entire 19 year baseball career with the Chicago Cubs.  He was so beloved by the fans that he earned the nickname "Mr. Cub".  He so loved the game and the friendly confines of Wrigley Field that one quote he was famous for saying on game day was "it's a beautiful day, let's play two". 
Wrigley Field is a unique and special place even for the casual or non-baseball fan.  It's tucked away in a neighborhood on the north side of the city in a neighborhood that has appropriately become known as "Wrigleyville".  Over the years we've been fortunate enough to go to several games there and the setting and atmosphere is unique and special.
A month from today we'll be at Wrigley for the second part of a unique doubleheader that in this case doesn't involve the Cubs.  For a few days Wrigley Field is going to be transformed from a baseball stadium to a concert arena and we're making it a doubleheader that just so happens to include two of our favorites. 
On Saturday, July 15 the great Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band will be taking the stage.  Now if you've never been to a Jimmy concert it's quite a spectacle.  There will be plenty of grass skirts, Hawaiian shirts, coconut bras and a few margaritas.  There will also be three, and who knows, maybe four generations of parrothead families there to enjoy the concert. 
On Monday we'll be back for the second half of the doubleheader when James Taylor and his All Star Band strike up a tune.  I'm more Jimmy and Beth's more James but for this particular doubleheader the James concert is going to be more special.  As fate would have it July 17 will be our 35th wedding anniversary!
Great music on a special day at a special place with an extraordinary special person...........now that's a Grand Slam!

Our Sweet Baby James!  Taking after his Poppy, loving him some watermelon.

That's a wrap for this adventure!

This adventure is about to come to an end.  Tomorrow morning we leave Whistler for Vancouver where we will catch a flight to DFW and then on to Tampa.  It's been an amazing five weeks that has taken us to Indiana and Kentucky first.  We followed that up with a few days in Monterey and San Francisco before cruising up the Pacific coast to Oregon and on to Alaska and Canada.  Since disembarking in Vancouver we've put about 1800 miles on the rental car covering much of British Columbia and a bit of Alberta.  It  has been a great adventure every single day and I'm so thankful.
As I've mentioned before, we're often asked if we have a favorite place.  We really don't because every place is unique in it's own right but I'll tell you what, Canada is pretty high on the list right now.
Friendly people, great cities, small towns and a real bargain.  Beth and I were talking as we were heading into Whistler at the end of our drive from Salmon Arm yesterday.  With the exception of the hour or so that it took to get out of the Vancouver metro area the driving has been one of the highlights.  The scenery has always been interesting and for the great majority of the time absolutely stunning.  I don't have an expensive camera, I have an iphone.  It takes nice pictures but I really don't think even one of those expensive cameras would capture the scenery adequately.
Whistler certainly fits right in to the "stunning" category.  While it is known mainly as a "ski resort" and the host site for the alpine events in the 2010 Winter Olympics there is plenty to do here in the summer.  First of all, they're still skiing a bit at the top of the mountain but down lower in the village there are hiking and biking trails everywhere.  There is also Whistler Village which is full of shops and restaurants and the Olympic Plaza.  The lower ski slopes have already been turned into a bike park for mountain biking enthusiasts (which I'm sure the Orthopedic Surgeons in the area appreciate).  As Beth and I watched these men, women and children flying down the slopes on two wheels I have to admit a strong sense of pride as I realized that although I might not be the sharpest pencil in the box I do recognize my limitations.  My skiing days were few and far between and I've never been on a bike doing anything close to what these people are doing and it isn't going to happen in this lifetime!
https://www.whistler.com
We'll be spending quite a bit of the summer in Florida helping out with NaNa (I feel a pounding in rummy coming on already).  We're excited that Ben, Sarah and Sweet Baby James are going to get a little beach time with us (Sorry Joey!).  We're also looking forward to SBJ's first birthday celebration that will be coming up in July.
Other adventures are being planned and finalized.  I look forward to sharing those plans soon and really look forward to blogging about them!

The last picture of a snow covered mountain and lake you'll see from this trip.  On the drive from Salmon Arm to Whistler

Nairn Falls-Near Whistler

I'm not too worried about the raccoons but not so sure about sharing my burger with a bear

Whistler Village on a quiet Monday afternoon

Everyday low prices at a discount!

The entire land portion of this trip was booked in about two hours time earlier this year.  We were in the Admirals Club at DFW waiting to catch a flight to London in early March. Thanks to Beth's amazing ability to plan, everything has worked out incredibly smooth and all of the routing made perfect sense.  Well at least until yesterday.  We left Jasper heading for Salmon Arm which the GPS showed to be about a five and a half hour drive.  The scenery was typical of what we've had on every drive.  Mountains, forests, rivers, lakes and a little wildlife mixed in for good measure.  No bears, but elk and deer grazing happily along side the road every once in a while.
We stopped at Wells Gray Provincial Park (Provincial Parks are similar to state parks in the US).  A short hike took us to the Spahats Creek Falls where the 200 foot main drop looked to be coming out of a hole in the canyon wall (or out of my nose depending on which picture you're looking at)
http://wellsgray.ca/
As we got closer to Salmon Arm we stretched our legs in the town of Kamloops.  It was at this point we realized that Salmon Arm wasn't quite on the way and that to reach it we would be driving about an hour to the east when we should be heading west.  A drive we'll have to repeat Sunday when we leave here headed for Whistler.  No big deal, kind of like driving to Dallas in the old days and the scenery is much better and the drivers are much more courteous. 
I get amused watching people have total meltdowns at airports, hotels, cruise ships and other places while they are on a relaxing "get away".  Yes, things can and will happen.  Sometimes you have to wonder "can they really be that stupid" (hint: the answer is yes).  Other times you have to wonder "could I have really been that stupid" (hint: the answer is yes).  Roll with it.  It will most likely be one of the things you remember the most in the long run.  Like the time we got to the airport in Copenhagen flying to Prague only to find out that the airline had gone out of business 2 weeks earlier.  We still got to Prague, but it did cost us a little bit more. 
Speaking of rolling with it, a lot of folks up here are having to do that this weekend.  In previous blogs I mentioned how much snow and rain they have had up here so far this year and the flooding it has caused.  A bridge on the Trans Canada Highway between Revelstoke and Banff was flooded a day or two back which has closed that section of the highway.  Unfortunately there aren't many options around this area without going hundreds of miles out of the way or waiting up to half a day for a ferry.  We drove the route that is currently closed a week ago. Had we booked the trip in the reverse order we might be seeing way more of Canada than we had planned on seeing and maybe I wouldn't be so Dr. Phil like in saying "roll with it".
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/highway-1-closure-drivebc-1.4153269
Salmon Arm is a city of around 20,000 of the most laid back people I have ever seen.  We love it here because it is about as far removed from the beaten path of tourists and travelers as you can get. Not a t-shirt or souvenir shop in sight! We've enjoyed walking the waterfront and downtown, eaten at a couple of nice restaurants and even taken in a movie at the downtown one screen theater.  Heck, today we even did a little shopping and visited the Wal-Mart not once but twice!  We're not ones to pass up a bargain and of course there are the "Everyday Low Prices" of Wally World but thanks to a very favorable exchange rate we're getting around 25% more of a discount!  The movie tonight....... two tickets, popcorn, diet coke and m&m's for $18!  If the natural beauty of this part of Canada isn't enough for you consider coming for the prices!
http://shuswaptourism.ca/discover/salmon-arm

It was Beth's idea.........really, it was!

A better picture of Spahats Creek Falls

Kamloops Park

Salmon Arm Wharf

Salmon Arm Waterfront Nature Trail

Salmon Arm Wharf

If only........

Technically we were a little further north in Canada when we were on the cruise.  We rented a car in Skagway and drove to the Yukon Territory.  We rambled past Carcross to the Trans Canada Highway (Highway 1). If we would have turned left we could have gone to Whitehorse but we turned right and went to Jakes Corner.  Now Jakes Corner wasn't really bustling.  There was a combination small restaurant where we had lunch and a gas station.  You can read more about it in the May 23 "Glaciers, Bears and Whales" post if you feel so moved.  All of that rambling above was to simply say that we've been as far north in Canada as we are going on this trip.  Our northern most stay was in Jasper at the north end of the Icefields Parkway.  Jasper has a population of around 5,000 people and is located in the Jasper National Park, making it the sixth national park we've visited on the "road trip" portion of this adventure.
We stayed at a place that Beth was familiar with, the Patricia Lake Bungalows.  She had stayed there  before on one of her legendary "old lady trips".  The bungalows are small cabin/cottages located about four miles out of town on the crystal clear Patricia Lake.  The town of Jasper has a small but busy downtown with enough shops and restaurants to keep both the tourists and locals happy.  It also has some great destinations just out of town such as the Jasper Fairmont Hotel which has a great walking trail around it's lake, Maligne Canyon, Medicine Lake which disappears underground during the dry season and much more.  We had a great time roaming around many of these places (saw another black bear).  We also used a great resource in Jasper that we take advantage of more and more as we travel the globe........the library!
http://www.jasper.travel/
https://www.explorejasper.com/medicine-lake/
Yes, in the US and abroad the libraries are great resources because you will typically find free and very good internet access.  It makes staying in touch with family and friends easier and is all so very helpful for researching future destinations.  Yesterday we spent several hours working on and booking some of our future travel.
Dang!  If I had only realized how useful the library could be back in my high school and college days no telling what may have happened!

Patricia Lake

Patricia Lake Bungalows-This picture was taken at about 11:00PM.  I'm not sure what time it finely gets dark but daylight is around 5:30AM.

The dock at Patricia Lake Bunglows

From the walking trail at the Fairmont Jasper Hotel

Maligne Canyon

Maligne Canyon-That's actually a park service employee who repelled down into the canyon to get some trash.  Better him than me!

Maligne Canyon

The Icefields Parkway

The Icefields Parkway is a 144 mile road from Lake Louise to Jasper.  If you read the literature it is often described as the worlds most scenic drive.  What I know after doing it is that I really can't make an argument for any other drive being as scenic.  It took us over 10 hours to make the drive which is probably evidence enough.  Hopefully the pictures will do some justice to it's beauty.
http://www.icefieldsparkway.ca/

Crowfoot Glacier

Bow Lake

Bow Summit/Peyto Lake

Bow Summit/Peyto Lake

Mistaya Canyon

Picnic along Coleman Creek

The Weeping Wall

Icefield Glacier-"Toe of the Glacier"

Mountain Sheep along a very sheer wall

Sunwapta Falls

Bear #4

Athabasca Falls

Athabasca Falls

20 Somethings just have a different prespective!

Our hotel (Castle Mountain Chalets) in the Banff area was actually located about 20 miles out of town.  It was between Lake Louise and Banff so it was a nice location that made access to both areas very easy.  We took the Bow Valley Parkway (1A) towards Banff stopping first at the Johnston Canyon for a fairly short but great hike through the canyon.  The trail was built along the canyon wall and the mist from the waterfalls was both cool and refreshing.
https://www.banfflakelouise.com/
Our first stop in the city of Banff was the visitors center where a nice young lady was very helpful in making a couple of suggestions based on our interest in walking.  After a picnic along the Bow River we were off on the first of the two hikes she suggested.  The first one was fairly short and basic following the river to Bow Falls which is located close to the very impressive (and expensive) Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel.
The second hike she suggested was longer (around 6 miles) roundtrip again following along the river but taking us out of town to the Hoodoo's.  The Hoodoo's are rock formations created by a whole bunch of time and weather.  It sounded like a nice hike and that the Hoodoo's were worth seeing.  We asked the very friendly, helpful, 20 something if the trail had much elevation.  She smiled and cheerfully said no, just a little bit.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoodoo_(geology)
It was a great hike and the Hoodoo's were worth seeing but we did realize about half way out that elevation change means something very different to a 20 year old than it does to us.  We were happy to have completed it especially after we took a different trail back that took us a little off course. Fortunately the diversion ran right by an ice cream store!
As we headed back towards the hotel at the end of a long fun day we made one more stop at Marble Canyon.  This was a short hike to a deep narrow canyon with walls that looked like marble.  Even though we were pretty pooped by the time we got there it was well worth the effort.  We also accomplished two other things by making this side trip.  First, we visited our fifth Canadian National Park, Kootenay National Park and second, we crossed the Continental Divide!

Johnston Canyon Trail

Johnston Canyon

Elk along the Bow Falls Trail

Bow Falls

Banff Springs Hotel

We walked right up on this guy before we saw him

A well deserved rest near the turnaround point on the Hoodoo Trail

The Hoodoo's!

Marble Canyon

Splitting the Continental Divide!  Left side flows to the Pacific, right side to the Atlantic