Icewind's Ramblings

Doctor Dolittle Day - Day 5 – – Part 1 The day of the trip I have been waiting for . . . the long drive through the Canadian Rockies and the possibility of seeing the wildlife that we have seen signs along the side of the road for the last several days. There are many signs stating this or that are crossing the road over the next so many miles or kilometers that you start to think it is a hoax put there by the different Bureau’s of Tourism. We have seen the signs . . . but not to many animals so far. There was the occasional deer in Idaho , a few elk in Montana , and the fox or beaver in Canada so far. We have seen a moose or two but since they cannot read they were not crossing the road where the signs indicated. Go figure. We depart Ft. Nelson around 7:30 am waiting until the restaurant opened for a quick breakfast and coffee before we head out. It is not long before we are heading into the mountains and start the long climb up towards Stone Mountain ...

Day 4 Edmonton to Fort Nelson . . . We stayed up late and awoke early and made a good breakfast before we left Russ’ house. I had one quick trip to the hardware store to finish my plumbing project before we left and we were there when the doors opened at 8 am. We quickly made the repairs and were on the road by 8:30 am heading west out of Edmonton towards Grand Prairie . Today is a long day of driving . . . with many horizons . . . both behind us and in front of our path . . . Driving the Great Plains of Canada is a monotone of shades of brown. Spring is in the air but not quite arriving so the green season coming is still a few weeks away. The rolling hills . . . the same scene repeating itself in front of your view through the windshield slowly readying oneself for the beautiful changes tomorrow driving through the mountains of the Canadian Rockies. Our one hiccup on the trip was the interchange that was added to the approach of Grand Prair...

Day 3 On the road - Edmonton When we arrived in Edmonton , Alberta yesterday afternoon I was struck by the shear number of ‘stores’ everywhere. As we drove from the south side of town to my friend’s house on the north side we traveled past more strip mall stores that I can remember lately. Miles and miles on both sides of the street were filled with people, vehicles, and all sorts of store fronts selling almost everything imaginable. As we made our way through town at one of the turns there was an interesting sign . . . Gate of Happy Arrival Edmonton has just over a million people and it seemed like Friday evening when we arrived and Saturday while we visited a few areas around town we must have seen almost every one of them. Many different cultures . . . this, an orthodox church at the stop light . . . More people and vehicles were seen than I care to remember. The town was pretty and we visited the West Edmonton Mall (largest i...

The Trip North . . . Day 2 We awoke early to hit the road, eager to make our way to the Canadian Border and points north. We had stayed at a Hampton Inn, part of the Hilton Hotel chain and ate our quick breakfast and grabbed our little “to go bag” and off we went into the Great Plains . . . During my first driving trip up to Alaska it was the sixth month anniversary of the attack on September 11, 2001. My daughter and I were listening to the radio which was playing a tribute to those that lost their lives on that horrific morning. Within one minute of the tribute finishing we came upon something that made us both break into tears. We were in the middle of ‘nowhere USA’ washed in a landscape of white from the snow and an overcast snowing sky just a few miles south of the border crossing. This is what we came upon in the distance . . . As we drove by that morning the impact of that day hit both of us . . . Driving again this sa...