Our City Tour

We left this morning early for a tour of Calgary. We started out at a special garden with flowers and veggies brought over here. Next we went to Calgary Tower alot like the space needle in Seattle. We had lunch on top and had a 360 degree view of the city. I also stepped out on the glass floor. Really hard to look down at that height. Then we had a few hours to walk around down town . They have a few blocks blocked off of cars and vendors down the middle and stores to shop along the sides. Lots of people on the streets. Came back to camp and BBQ our dinner. The weather here has been cool and lots of cloudy days and the wind is quite strong and gusty.

Friday July 8th This is our longest day. Left camp at 6:30 and got to our bleacher seats. Luckily they are only 5 high. The parade was 3 hours long with bands, lots of horse drawn wagons, and usual stuff. Our highlights were to see the car with Will & Kate. We saw him really well and Kate was on the other side of the car. Also liked the tanks with army guys, a guy riding a steer with a saddle on him and the parade is 5 miles long. Than we were off for our rodeo. The guys here seem to know what they are doing. Watched the calf roping, bull riding and bucking horses. Got home around 7 so it was a long day. The dogs did fine being home for that long.

Calgary

We drove through the beautiful Canadian Rockies to get here in Calgary. We saw a female moose just standing in the middle of the road and a mama bear with her cub eating along side the road. We arrived here at Bow River Campground and got settled in. They have a beautiful walkway along side the river where John walks the dogs and Buddy can run free. It is nice campground with lots of space in between and Pat & Elmon are parked next to us. We met for orientation and a catered dinner and got acquainted with people from all over the US and even a few Canadians are with us.

Tues, we got on our big bus at 8:30 AM and drove into town to Heritage Park which outlines the history of this part of Canada and people dress in costume and cook, farm, play organ in church, bake things in bakery and such. We had a good tour and lunch at hotel was sandwiches, mushroom soup and pie. Then we were off to Olympic Park where the winter Olympics were held in the 1980's. You can see the ski jumps from far away. There were lots of kids there riding up the ski lift and bicycling down. We went on the lift and enjoyed the view from up there. We drove into city and looked around and were surprises at all the huge sky scrapers. There is construction everywhere on roads, houses, sky scrapers. We decided not to try and drive in ourselves and take our bus and dogs will have to survive till we get back as they want $20 each to walk and feed the dogs a day and other places in US we could give the kids a few dollars or it was even free.

on the way to Canada

We are here in Calgary and have been really busy and no time to write. We spent a week in Idaho with our good friends Bob & Laurel. We caught up on a lot of news, had a family BBQ, went to church, went for a drive around the area in a game preserve. We didn't see a lot of wild life but enjoyed the river, fields and farmland. Pat & Elmon arrived and spent a few days there in Idaho with us. We had a fire one evening and got eaten with mosquitoes again. My allergy's are still going and most days I need a pill.We left Idaho early Mon morning and drove to Radium Hot Springs in Canada. We stayed at a different RV spot this time which was down in canyon. Just before we arrived there we saw 3 Big Horn Sheep. They were just beautiful=no time for pictures. The canyon park had really tight spaces and had a hard time getting into them. We had to cross a small bridge over the creek which was really high and flowing good. The motorhome just barely fit in width and even though big heavy things go across it alot is was still scarey. I drove the car across. The Manes and us were separated quite a bit but did manage to have a BBQ dinner together. We played a game of golf=we learned to play hand & foot but didn't want to think a lot.

Mt Hood Trip

Today is partly cloudy and in the 70's. We packed a lunch and Max & Buddy in the car and drove up to Mt. Hood. It wasn't cold up there and just a beautiful ride. The mountain just sticks up in the sky like all the snow capped mountains around here. They have had a good snow fall this year and will be skiing on real snow until about Sept. We had a tour of Timberline Lodge built in 1930's during depression years. A lot of people were working there for a job. It is quite a beautiful place and alot of craftsmen spent time making it.

Later in the evening we went to a German Restaurant called the Rheilander. The kids remember being there when they were little and we of course had the cheese fondue for old time sakes. We shared a beer and John had sausages and sauerkraut and I had a chicken cutlet and spaetzel(noodles). We've enjoyed our stay here in Portland and tomorrow we leave for Goldendale.

News of Washington Stay

We have spent the last few days here in Goldendale, Wash. with our friends Scott & Doreen. The dogs have had a good time running free in the yard, woods and being around their 4 girl dogs. We have eaten way too much food. Thurs evening we met friends of theirs in the Dallas at the Saloon. We all split a dinner. We had halibut which was very good. John & Scott did some tinkering with the motor home and shot guns and visited. Doreen and I went antiquing and on Sat we went to a Blue Grass Festival and listened to a few different bands. Sun we had a great prime rib roast and garlic mashed potatoes after church. We played alot of golf and played a game of spinners where I led the pack with an all time high score. Not much going on in their garden yet this summer as hasn't been warm enough yet. It was nice weather though only in the 70's most days.

Portland

Monday, Arrived here at Janzen Beach, Portland, Oregon. We found the path on our walk at the full time trailer park at walked along the Columbia River. From this park we hear the airplanes, trains and boats. We are getting use to that noise. We went to our favorite Mexican Restaurant last night. We sat in the bar since they were so crowded and got deal on Margarita's, guacamole, and dinner. It was fun watching the bar tender, manager and waitresses work like crazy to keep up. Don't know how they kept track of everything.

Tues, We moved to another spot just before we had to leave for our boat trip. This will be our spot now until we leave. We had a great lunch and leisure trip down the Willamette River and went under 8 0f the 9 bridges. I saw a bald eagle fly over. A lot of Canadian Geese in the river and saw quite a few babies. Saw the jet boat go by and glad we didn't do that trip. Today it was in the 80's and a beautiful day. We might go to the show tonight.

Father's Day Happenings

Nice day today. Clouds are breaking up and in the 70's. Had bacon & pancakes for breakfast and gave John his card. He heard from everybody else on his phone. We drove over to Newport on the Oregon coast. We found a great little restaurant and had clam chowder and fish & chips. They have a 6 pound burger there. You certainly could share it with alot of people. After that we drove to Yaquina Head Lighthouse. We saw lots of birds nesting on the rocks, some sea lions and a harbor seal. I climbed the 104 steps to the top of the lighthouse. The view was great and the lens was beautiful. A little chickadee sang us a song. The clouds have moved back in but is still nice outside. Had our leftover salmon, rice and veggies.

Monday We are here in Jantzen Beach RV Park in Portland. It is cloudy and in the 70"s again. Seem really humid. Went to Costco and had a hot dog lunch and than drove to see where we board our boat for lunch tomorrow and a ride on the Willamette River and see the sights.