Saturday, Day 7 Last full day in Banff

We are all still tired from yesterdays exertions so we decided to go and check out the Cave and Basin. The facility there is amazing, not only showing what caused the founding of Banff but of the National Park Systems in Canada. The cave was dark and mysterious, easy to see why the Nakoda First Nations held it as a place to have their spiritual celebrations. Parks staff were out where the old pool was dressed as pioneers, fur traders and Metis and shared information about the various activities of the fur trade. After that, we headed back to the condo for grilled cheese sandwiches, a nap and decided that supper was going to be at Earl's tonight.

We actually found parking without too much trouble... for a change and were actually a bit early for our  dinner. Everything was lovely and after supper, we walked downtown picking up some of the lovely treats to take home with us. Hard to believe we are leaving here tomorrow heading for Calgary to see Dan, Susan and Megan then home. Can't wait to see the kitchen in it's semi finished glory. LOL!

Friday, Day 6 Funtimes, Johnson Lake adventures

The day started warm and sunny and we decided we would go to Johnson Lake for a hike as it was a 3 km easy one. We found our way via Lake Minnewanka as the shorter route was closed due to road closure / washout from the June floods. Today I remembered to bring my bottle of water and as we walked the trail on the north side of the lake, in mostly sun, I was thankful I did. At the head of the lake, about the halfway point, were a couple of benches so we had a bit of a rest there. We did find though that at the furthest point of the lake where the stream leaves the lake, the bridge had washed out during the floods and a temporary log bridge was there. It looked quite precarious but we shuffled over and no one fell in. We saw little minnows in the stream and lots of deadfall around for them to hide in. There was a loon on the lake popping underwater for a snack now and then. As we hiked along the southern side, the elevation gradually went up and we saw the cutline where the power supply from the hydro plant at Minnewanka came down to Banff. As we came to the final leg of our hike, we saw people paddleboarding on the lake and canoeing, others enjoying the beach. All in all it was a lovely hike.

Upon returning and having lunch at the condo, we were all pretty wiped from our hike so we chilled for the afternoon, I took a brief nap as did Norm. We had warmed over leftover lasagna for supper and went downtown to stock up on candy apples and other goodies to take home. We introduced mom and dad Filtz to the joys of Bubble Tea. Mango Coconut... sooo tasty! Back at the condo we watched "Snow White and the Huntsman". All in all, a great day.

Thursday, Day 5 Johnston Canyon Falls

The morning started overcast but mild, today we were going to hike Johnston Canyon and check out the falls. Parking was, once again, challenging but after a few laps of the parking lot, we found a spot. Today I was prepared with my trusty bottle of water, sneakers and leaving my purse at the condo. Away we went! The start of the trail was nicely paved but as you get deeper in to the canyon, the trail gets more uneven and narrow. Sometimes you are on a catwalk hanging over the rushing waters. It's about 1/2 mile in to the lower falls, mostly uphill. It is said to be an easy walk but mom and dad Filtz found it challenging (heck, I did too, my ankle was angry from me doing all those stairs the day previous in sandals) so the Lower Falls was it for me. Connor and Tim opted to go to the Upper Falls, another mile in so Mom, Dad and I slowly made our way back, resting on some of the benches provided to take in the view, waste some time and make our way back to the restaurant to wait for the boys to return from their hike. When we reached the restaurant/shop, we took a look around the shop and found some reasonably priced treasures. I found a multi-purpose knife/tool (like a Swiss Army knife) that had the name Connor engraved on it for $13. Norm chose to buy it for Connor. I found a gift for my neighbour that is watering my tomatoes while I am away. Once our purchases were made, we went to have coffee and wait for the boys.

We didn't have to wait long! Our first cup of coffee wasn't even drank yet when we saw them come by. Norm dashed after them and we had lunch. I tried the Bison and Brie Burger, Sophie had the hotdog which was split with bacon and cheese, Connor had chicken strips, Norm had a burger and Tim had a chicken burger. The food was fantastic and reasonably priced. Now that we were fed and watered, it was time to head back to Lake Louise so Norm could take a look around at the hotels for when he brings family here. Then we picked up a couple of groceries and boogied back to the condo to chillax and BBQ for supper. All in all, a great day!

Wednesday, Day 4 Sulfur Mountain Gondola!

Mom and Dad Filtz have company coming from Ontario in September so they wanted to prolong their trip up the Gondola until then so Tim, Connor and I made our way up the mountain to ride the Gondola. The parking lot was super busy but we got rock star parking which bode well. We purchased our tickets (Connor was free again, thanks Student Union Ticket Pack!) and got in line. There were lots of people in line as it appeared a number of tour busses had arrived at the same time... no matter! The Gondola is a 4 person one, so the 3 of us got a car to ourselves. On the way up the mountain, we spotted a tree with two pair of runners hanging from it like Christmas decorations. We took several pictures with Connor and his Orthodontist, Dr. Bowen Miles, for a contest they have "Travelling Miles". As I still cannot download photos in to this blog from my phone, I will show them a bit later. Once at the top, we opted to walk the 1 km, 300+ stairs over to the observatory. In my gladiator sandals, that was fun. NOT! It was really hot up there and hauling my purse was not fun... oh, woe is me! I made it 99% of the way, the upper platform was very crowded so I stayed one level down, not that interested in the observatory or crowds. Took all those stairs all the way back to the Gondola station, took a few more pictures, grabbed a drink (3 drinks was $12 OI!) and headed back down the mountain. After that hike, we were hungry and decided to try the Sushi Bistro for lunch. Alas, our parking Karma was all used up in the morning as there was a Farmers Market and parking was next to impossible. After 45 minutes of cruising around, we finally found a spot and made our way to Sushi Bistro. We were pleasantly surprised with the quality and value of the sushi. Then we went for a wander downtown, in search of dessert. We stopped and bought ridiculous nut logs, $7 each... basically fresh nougat on a stick, rolled in caramel, then nuts. Tim and Connor's were also dipped in Chocolate. So rich and delicious, probably the only one I will ever eat in my lifetime. A woman stopped us on the street asking "What is THAT?" and we told her it is not good for you but she thought it looked fantastic anyhow... oh the naughty things in Banff shops. We went back to the condo, had supper then back downtown for ice cream and another walk around. Bought myself a tiger eye bracelet and Connor bought himself a sweet piece of Bismuth crystal that looks like a pyramid. Doing our bit for the economy, yep, that's us Filtz's.

Tuesday, Day 3 2013 Vacation Funtimes

This morning we awoke a bit more refreshed after having set up our fan to circulate the air, our room was a bit more comfortable. No central air here but I'm sure we'll survive. After breakfast, we decided to go to Minnewanka Lake for a boat tour. It was fantastic. We saved Connor's entry from a coupon in the Student Union Ticket Pack and Norm and Sophie saved from their AMA membership. The boat is enclosed and Paul our guide, was entertaining and informative. We were not aware that during the heavy rains in June that Lake Minnewanka rose 15 ft and they had to open the spillway which carved new routes of the river that normally flowed from there. There is still lots of debris that had washed off the mountains. We also learned that "controlled burn" forest fires are no more, they are "prescribed burns" whereby a shopping list of criteria must be met such as weather patterns/forecasts, relative humidity, etc before a fire will be set. They learned from a 1 km controlled burn that got out of control at Minnewaka back in the 80's. It burned so hot it sterilized the soil and now it is finally recovering and growing vegetation again. After the boat tour, we returned to the condo for lunch then for a drive out to the Spiral Tunnels and Lake Louise. Didn't get to see any trains in the Spiral Tunnels, a bit disappointing but Tim ran in to a former co-worker and had a nice chat. We returned for supper and Tim, Connor and I went downtown for more treats while mom and dad chillaxed at the Condo. Busy day but now we feel like we are on vacation!

Monday, day 2 of this trip to Banff

Oh dreary Monday... overcast and cool, our room was really hot last night. The resort provided fans but we thought it would cool down at night but it did not! Nobody slept particularly well. After a slow start,  we decided to brave the weather and go for a hike on the Fenland Trail. Of course when we started out, it started to rain, so we drove past the Vermillion Lakes for a bit, then, since it was only sprinkling, decided to hit the Fenland Trail regardless.

The Fenland Trail is a 2 km trail that meanders through a fen than runs along one of the streams in Banff. It is a fairly easy hike except that with the flooding in June, the trail was silty and somewhat uneven. It was interesting to see how high the water had gotten up the trees and how quickly the ecosystem has recovered with vegetation. Many trees were uprooted and parks had cut some up, most likely for safety reasons. The mosquitos were voracious which made for great motivation to move quickly through this hike. Parks suggests 1/2 hour for this hike, I think we did it in 20 minutes... LOL! Connor was goofing around with Grandpas umbrella but no catastrophes befell us. Of course about an hour after we finished our hike, the sun came out and the rest of the day was lovely. We went downtown to get a few supplies, had supper and then watched some of "The Hobbit" before bed. I crashed early as I was exhausted. Still doesn't feel like vacation but maybe tomorrow will be better.

2013 Vacation is here!! FINALLY!!

After 2 weeks of "camping" in our own home as we proceed with our kitchen renovation, working furiously at work and then the final push to get laundry done and packing, Sunday, August 11th could not come fast enough. Tim's folks put their timeshare on the exchange for a 2 bedroom condo in Banff for the week so all 5 Filtz's were heading to the mountains!!!

Mom and Dad Filtz showed up at 10 a.m., Tim and I were finishing packing and getting dressed but a few minutes later, we were dragging our suitcases downstairs and while Tim loaded everyone's stuff in to the truck, I loaded our foodstuffs in to our cooler. When I went outside finally confident that we hadn't forgotten anything, I found that the box of the truck was almost full!!! Lots of stuff for a week of vacation!

By 11 a.m. we were on the road to take our puppies to Country Kennels Bed & Biscuit. They were excited that something was up, they like their truck trips!

After dropping the pups off, we were finally on our way!

At 12:30 we had a quick pit stop at Costco in Red Deer for lunch (MMMM-- Montreal Smoked Meat Sandwich on ciabatta... ) and didn't stop again until Airdrie for a final fuel up before we made it in to Banff. I grabbed Tim and I some delicious Starbucks coffees (Cinnamon Dolce Latte and Carmel Macchiatto... yum!) We changed up our seating arrangements as Norm took a tumble on a travel bus tour and hurt his arm, broke his elbow and having the seatbelt over that shoulder was irritating.

Back on the road for the final push... we arrived in Banff and unloaded our truck bed worth of stuff. What met us at the Banff Rocky Mountain Resort was a very charming, rustically decorated 2 storey 2 bedroom condo unit. Lots of wolves, from photo prints to wolf door pulls in the kitchen. Knotty pine  and slate accents throughout. The bedrooms have tree bedding and one bedroom has a king bed with 5 pillows!! Really quite lovely I think.

After we loaded all our stuff in and put it away it was suppertime so we headed to Downtown Banff to find a place to eat. Tony Roma's was our choice. It filled that hunger gap and we of course had to stop for Candy after. Coconut Brittle is a favourite! We watched "Bedtime Stories" before bed... very fitting don't ya think?

Staycation 2012 - Day 3 - August 13, 2012

Fort Edmonton Park!! We haven't been so good at getting out of the house by noon... leisurely mornings on vacation are pretty darned good. So we made our choice to go to Fort Edmonton Park.

Train was about 20 minutes to wait at the gate and a helpful young lady at the gate told us that the 4D movie was starting in about 15 minutes and was about a 3 minute walk. So, walk we did! I have to say, the 4D movie was stellar!! Connor loved it. It could have had more content but all in all, very well done.

Then we checked out the streets en route to the Fort... talking to the interactive guides as we came to them. Connor chased chickens in a pursuit of petting the lovely Rhode Island Reds they had meandering around. We stopped in at the hotel for snacks / baked goods and a bevy at the half way point. Tried Pumpkin Pie Fudge, Connor and I enjoyed it, Tim did not.

We saw Turkeys hanging out under a wagon, pigs in their pen... period costumes and lots of neat old stuff. Bought some colour changing nuggets for our gas fireplace for this winter at the "hardware store". Made it to the Fort, did our thing there then went to catch the train.

We caught the train back to the main gate, but then walked over to the fair grounds in search of the good old fashioned candy and toys... after they had been found, we were invited to see a puppet show. It was "little Red Cap" and the interpreter/actors/puppeteers were really funny and good.

After that, we had exhausted our Fort Edmonton visit and decided to go get some deliciousness at the Italian Centre Shop. Many shopping bags later, we were ready to head home to the puppies to have Italian Sandwiches for supper and another nice, quiet evening at home.

Staycation 2012 Day 2 - August 12

Today was a VERY exciting day!! I worked on laundry, puttered around the house, worked on cleaning the en suite bathroom while Tim went and flew his model airplane... see, exciting stuff. Good to decompress though. Didn't get everything done I wanted to but hey, I'm on vacation!!!

Staycation 2012 - Day 1, August 11

Yay! Vacation Time!! Since we sold our trailer earlier this summer, this years plan is a Staycation and take in some of the local goodness within an hour or so of home.

After a late start, we decided that today was a good day to stop in a Jumbo Dim Sum for lunch and to take in the Telus World of Science (TWOS).

After to checking out the perpetual motion machine outside, we went in and Tim realized he left his glasses in the car... so as we were waiting for him, I calculated what it would cost to enter and review the membership benefits. Connor has attended summer camp at TWOS before, and with the Star Wars exhibit coming this fall, it made sense to buy an annual membership for the whole family.

We made it through the Human exhibit first, there is a section in there that is extraordinarily gross... but there is a multi-axis machine and Connor had to check it out. He thought it was fantastic and wants one in the back yard. Go figure.

Connor got to test out a Segway, he did really well at it! Funniest part is the gentleman told him to "lean forward to go forward" so he bent at the waist. It was so funny! We thought we could see "Experience the Aurora" and although we rushed up to the theater, we arrived too late to see it... with our membership, we can always catch it next time. We meandered back downstairs and as Connor and I checked out some of the interactive physics exhibits, Tim managed to find some gentlemen that were from the U of A with an exhibit on the unmanned GPS guided radio control planes (leave it to him to find his hobby and people to talk about it with where ever we go) and proceeded through the rest of the first floor...

The next area we visited was the Crime Scene Investigation exhibit, and I must say, as a fan of the mystery genre, I enjoyed it a lot! You view the scene, go through some stations and then go to "court" on the computer inputting your evidence and if it contributed to the guilt of the suspect. So very fun!

They announced "Tales of the Maya Skies" was starting soon, so we scampered upstairs to view at the Star Theatre. We were early this time so were the first in the theatre. It was a very interesting movie.

When it was done, we came down to the second floor and viewed the "Robots" exhibit. It was okay but could have been a bit better. Of the characters from the movie, we missed Aunt Fannie and Piper. The interactive "build a robot" stations were cool for the kids, and the domino stations were also good but with the movie references, so much more could have been done. I suppose funding comes in to play with what they could present but it was less than what I expected. I hope "Star Wars" is much much better considering all the build up.

By the time this was done, I was getting dehydrated so we went back to the main floor to get drinks. Once sitting down, we were feeling pretty done for the day so decided to check out the gift shop and go home.

Once back at the ranch, we released the hounds, fed and watered them then watched "Predator" at Connor's request. Kidlet loves him some classic Schwartzeneggar!

Day 1 of vacation -- DONE!

Two days and six hours later

I ran out of stripper last night and was only halfway done stripping the second window so I packed the works up because my hubby wasn't parking in the garage and that makes him cranky... so today I set up my work station in front of the car and I have sufficient room to move so he is happy as am I...

I am getting excited!! The window that is bowed out that needs the cames repaired... I soaked the hardware from the latch in stripper after removing it and worked on stripping the bottom edge cleanly without the hardware on... happy with the results thus far.

Is it me or does this look like copper??

another view.... I'm going to research this!

I bought a small brush set when I picked up another 500 mL container of stripper at Home Hardware, package said that the stainless steel brush was for removing paint... uh ya and wood!! Learned that one pretty quick, not too much damage done... there was a nylon brush as well and it is doing well at removing paint from the nooks and crannies. I did use the stainless brush though on these metal pieces and I think it did beautifully. If you look at the pictures below, you can see how, on window two, it is still on there pretty thick after about 3 rounds of stripping chemical. I've exposed the screws and cleared out the channel for the screwdriver so I will attempt removal tomorrow.

window 2 side 2 after 3 layers of stripper, still lots of layers of paint to go except on the bottom pane. That came off second go round...

look at the pretty colour underneath (ugh!)

Sorry again for the poor photo, camera not a fan of these windows or something!!! You can just barely see the screw heads exposed on the hardware. This is what the hardware above had looked like when I started working on the project after supper. Yay me!

So, I need to do some research... both for my own interest (is the hardware brass or copper) and if I can get the Workmate to work as a clamp so I can put the windows upright to do the one end piece that has black tarry paint on it without making such a mess. It's making me crazy!! It's lots of fun though. Well, best get to the laptop and get researching now! Later!

My latest project

Snow is gone, been working in the garden... preparing for the lazy hazy days of summer... NOT! More like "what do I want to do now?"

I found some old leaded bevel glass windows for sale on Kijiji and since I love the rainbows they throw off, I bought them!! They are old and beaten up, seen better days but I am confident that I can bring them back to their previous glory... here are the pictures of my 2 hours spent doing one side of a window this evening. Well worth it!! Once I have the other side stripped down, I will clean up the glass and take it in to have the lead caning repaired. Stay tuned for more progress reports!

flaky old paint, layers and layers

paint on the glass too

Big ol' blob o' something on the bottom, sorry, camera would not focus!

you can see that the paint was cracking before I started

this is a shot of the glass that is popping out of it's canes

You could tell someone painted the windows shut at some point.

Stripper at work! Paint stripper people! Get your mind OUT of the gutter!

Me, illustrating "Safety First!"

After 2 hours, the better part of one side DONE!

My garage work station using my husbands underutilized Black & Decker Workmate <3

Products used: disposable paint brushes, scraper, small putty knife, paint stripper, safety glasses, floor covering (plastic recommended, I have a large old coroplast poster I used for this), nitrile gloves.

In the words of Porky Pig: "Be-de be-de be-de, That's all folks!!" Stay tuned for more elbow grease and tales of my adventures in to antique restoration.

2 Day Hummus Dip

K, I know this sounds crazy but it isn't. It is super duper easy and if you are a busy nut like myself, with the steps and having to pick up one more ingredient, it can take two days to make something. If you only have one day, then okay, you can speed it up by soaking the chickpeas in hot water for a few hours or start with chickpeas in a can... but here is what I did, with spectacular results.

Adapted from Food.com

Creamy Roasted Garlic Hummus

Ingredients:

1 c. dry chickpeas or 2 cans storebought chickpeas
1 large head of garlic
2 tablespoons tahini
4 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 c warm water
1 fresh lemon, juice of
1/4 tsp sea salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven or BBQ to 375 degrees F. Cut off the very top of the garlic clove so the tops of the cloves are exposed slightly. Set on a square of tin foil. Drizzle with olive oil. Wrap securely, roast for 1 hr in the oven or 1/2 hr on the BBQ (I set ours on the upper shelf, put it on while it preheats for the meat of choice that night and take it off after everything is done and it has worked just fine for me). Using the BBQ keeps the super garlic smell, although it is delightful, from permeating the entire house. This can be done the night previous to prepare the next day if you wish.

2. In a medium sized bowl, pour your chickpeas and cover with water to roughly 3 times their depth. Leave to soak overnight (get your beauty sleep and dream of the tastebud delights the next day). Rinse the soaked beans in a colander and place in a medium saucepan. Cover with water and bring to a boil on your stovetop. Reduce heat and allow to simmer roughly an hour (if you like your beans a bit el dente or super mushy, that is your call, just take a couple out to test them). Once the beans are done cooking, remove from heat and drain the excess water from them.

3. Using your fingers, squeeze the soft, roasted garlic out of each clove into your food processor. If using canned chickpeas, be sure to rinse them well before putting in the processor as well. Add the remaining ingredients in the order given and blend until completely smooth. You will have to stop and scrape down the sides to make sure it blends well.

4. Finger test: With your food processor off, open up the food processor and take a test. If the texture is too thick, add a bit more olive oil or water, a little at a time, ensuring it blends well before adding more.

5. Transfer to your serving dish, cover and refrigerate. Serve at room temperature with crudites, crackers or whatever other things you like to eat with hummus.

I hope you enjoy this tasty healthy snack with your family. Next time I might just add a bit more garlic... LOL!

Day 12 - Our last day in West Yellowstone

We were pretty pooped from the driving yesterday so we took the opportunity to sleep in and take it easy this morning. After breakfast, we showered and went for a little pedal about town. We stopped in at Freeheel & Wheel as I had checked out their website and wanted to see their custom cycling jerseys, as my Sugoi XL is a wee bit tight yet... While we were there, Jo mentioned the awesome trail system they have here that is Cross Country Ski trails in the winter and Biking in the summer. Tim was all over that like a dirty shirt so we went back to our camp, loaded up our water bottles, I changed in to appropriate cycling gear (Tim was jealous that I thought ahead and brought my gloves and shorts, he doesn't know where his gloves are and didn't think to bring his shorts either... but no matter) and we were off!! We took the Rendezvous Trail easy level loop to Grizzly Trail and back, about 8.5 km round trip. Connor was having troubles with his gearing and I stayed with him because of bears, Tim blasted on ahead and waited for us. I walked a few hills with Connor and coached him a bit on pedalling when you are starting up the next hill, I'm a big chicken going down the hills and the offroad dirt track was something I wasn't overly comfortable with but it was pretty darned fun in hindsight. On the way home, Connor and I stopped in at Yellowstone Cycle to see about getting him a water bottle and cage, but he doesn't have mounting holes on the frame of his bike so that didn't work out. I did, however, get myself a shopping basket mounted on the front of my bike for little trips downtown or to the store. No need to take the car!! We also bought a wind toy for outside on our deck as a keepsake as well. Connor and I pedaled back to camp and we bbq'd burgers for lunch. Then Tim said I was free to go shopping so I mounted my trusty bicycle and pedaled on back to Freeheel & Wheel to let Jo know we did the recommended trail she had suggested but she wasn't there. I bought some kickin' cycling socks that say "Bike Yellowstone National Park" on the ankle and freeheelandwheel.com on the bottom, with a geyser in the background. I think they are super cool coolmax socks!! I also meandered downtown in all my cycling gear glory going in and out of shops, didn't find anything until I got to a Scrapbook Station in a jewelry store. There I found papers, stickers and other goodies for when I get around to documenting this on paper rather than my blog... LOL! I returned to camp at about 5 p.m. to my boys who had been playing frisbee and taking it easy. We then took a walk downtown for ice cream... they have this neat one where they have a vanilla or chocolate ice cream or frozen yogurt and they add the flavours with this masher thing then it comes out as flavoured soft serve in a home made waffle cone (my choice). It was fantastic. Glad I didn't discover it earlier or I would have had that every night! Better than Dairy Queen anyhow...

We walked back and on the way stopped in at Yellowstone Cycle again to get Tim his very own water bottle for when he goes to fly his airplanes. Then we came back to camp, put up our campfire in a can and have been chillaxin' and planning our attack on the tent trailer teardown tomorrow. Big day to go to Lethbridge with a food and shopping break in Helena. Hard to believe our vacation is almost over! Back to work for Tim and I on Monday, Connor back to school on Thursday.

Day 11 - Billings to Cody to West Yellowstone

 Waking up refreshed, I was surprised that I didn't have too bad of an allergic reaction to the feather bedding and pillows in the hotel room. We all showered and got dressed and went downstairs for the complimentary breakfast. It was fantastic! There were the make your own waffles, scrambled eggs, hash browns, back bacon, and oatmeal for hot items, a fantastic fruit salad, a choice of fruit and cereals, breads for toasting, many toppings, juice, coffee... almost too much to list really, it was way, WAY better than what we had at the Ho Jo's in Lethbridge. We filled our tanks, finished packing and checked out by 9:15 a.m. and were on our way to find a gas station to fill up then head to Cody.

This is where it got interesting. Tim and his iPhone directed us to the nearest Exxon fuel station (my Esso Fleet Card works there so we have been fuelling at them regularly). Try #1, nothing there, try #2, no pumps and shut down, finally, clear across Billings, try #3 we found a fully functioning Exxon. We gassed up and headed out to Cody, WY, whose founding father was none other than W.F. Cody, otherwise known as Buffalo Bill Cody.

There was lots of construction on the way to Cody, 3 different locations we had to stop and be piloted across the construction. It was interesting driving through though, not much but sage brush and the odd tuft of grass in the valleys.

We (I mean I) decided the best way to start would be to take the Cody Trolley Tour. They claim "if you give us 1 hour we'll give you 100 years!". That was certainly true!

between the tunnels, looking towards the dam. I think that is a natural rock arch.

The inside of the trolley and the back of Patty's head

You can't see them in this picture but this is where the rock climbers go to practice their skills.

The dam holds back 12 miles of water!

looking back towards the dam. It was an engineering marvel when it was completed, the tallest arch dam ever. Hoover Dam is based on it's design.

The mountain that Buffalo Bill wanted to be buried on.

We also got to see a large portion of town via the trolley and get the basic lay of the land so to speak. Our next stop was for lunch, we popped in to a little Italian place called Adriano's: Home of the Spaghetti Western. I don't know about that but the sandwiches Tim and I had were delicious and Connor could not finish his cheese pizza. We had to sample the Cannoli, still not like at home from the Italian Centre Shop but still good.

Next was the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. It not only featured Buffalo Bill, but Annie Oakley and many of his famous friends. It also had a Natural Museum of Yellowstone, an Art Museum and a Gun Section. It was amazing. If you are ever in the area, seriously give yourself 2 days. We got kicked out and we only saw half!!

Photos compliments of Tim with my camera whose batteries died!!

We had to hit the road anyhow so we fuelled up again (not that we had to but you have to take the less expensive gas when it crosses your path) and headed to East Yellowstone Entrance with the plan to eat at Fishing Bridge again. What an extraordinarily breathtakingly beautiful drive that was.

It was all so amazing. Of course our trip would not be complete without our buddy, Buffalo Bob making a cameo appearance roadside!

Bob, are you stalking us??

There were also some astonishing views of Yellowstone Lake coming in from the East side.

We made it to Fishing Bridge by 8 p.m., they closed at 8:30 so we had to eat quick and leave. It was dark out by the time we left and we still had to get across the park to West Yellowstone. This took us another 2 hours!! People can sometimes try ones patience I tell you!! We finally got back to our trailer, quietly unloaded and tucked ourselves in. A long but enjoyable day.

Day 10 - West Yellowstone to Little Big Horn to Billings

Today was the day Tim has been looking forward to all holiday. It was a cool morning when we packed our suitcases and other necessary items into our truck for our overnight trip. We stopped in Billings at Sonic for lunch (they have gourmet hot dogs that were, meh, the onion rings Tim had were meh, but Connor LOVED it!) then pressed on to Little Big Horn, the site of Custer's Last Stand.

When we got out of the truck, it was apparent that it was very, very hot out so I put on my hiking fanny pack with the two water bottle holders and prepared for the heat. We all put on our hats and sunscreen too. We walked up to the Visitor Center and there was an outdoor area where a ranger was talking about what happened at Little Big Horn. He was a fantastic speaker and it was very interesting. Tim spoke to him for a bit with questions about how far away things were and whatnot then we proceeded inside to the air conditioned Visitor Center. We viewed the displays of uniforms, firearms and such and then watched another video about what had happened that June 25 so long ago. We also visited the gift shop where Tim bought a DVD to watch about it as well.

For those of you who know me, I do not care much for history, I like looking ahead so this was not my idea of a good time. But I think I was a good sport about it. In the hot weather, with a hot wind, I hiked to the top of Last Stand Hill to view the memorial where they buried all the bodies in a mass grave.

the smaller white stones are where the army men fell on the day. Some just say "7th Calvary fell here"; many were not identified. There were also red granite stones for where the Native American's fell, they were few where the army were many.

There is also a beautiful circular monument with a wrought iron sculpture of Native Americans on horseback with names of all those who were warriors in the battle of Little Big Horn. It was their victory that brought about their eventual defeat in the Indian Wars.

As I stated previously, not my thing so I did not take many pictures, from the comfort of the air conditioned truck I took pictures of the military cemetary that is also on site. Servicemen from all branches and their families can be buried at Little Big Horn.

We then took the 5 mile drive along the road of where the battle started, how they think the troops moved and retreated and whatnot. Tim had to stop at every location and read every bit of information to soak it all in to gain understanding of what happened there so long ago. All because white men wanted to renege on their Reservation Treaty and take the Black Hills of Dakota for their own. Plain old greed, pure and simple... driven by politics into a war neither side really understood. Very sad really, what people do to each other.

Finally it was almost closing time by the time we left Little Big Horn, so we wheeled back to Billings, checked into our hotel and went shopping at Target!! Yay shopping!!! I bought Connor 1 pair of jeans and 2 pairs of shorts, Connor bought himself an Action Replay and Tim bought a 3D enhancement device for his iPhone (don't ask!). Then it was time for supper. We finally decided on Fuddruckers for the worlds best burgers. They tasted fantastic and glass upon glass of lemonade was consumed trying to rehydrate from the day. We then returned to the hotel, Connor went for a swim and when we returned, Tim had checked the weather and Little Big Horn had been 101 degrees F. For my fellow Canadians, that is 40 C. No wonder we were half baked!! Our hotel, Country Inns and Suites, is really great, the mattress feels good and we are looking forward to a good night's sleep.