Still in Alberta

We have been staying close to home mostly.  We did take our motor home in and to have the levellers fixed and yes, they are working great.  While the rig was in the shop we took the car and traveled to Minnesota to see our daughter and her family.  On the way we stopped in Morris, Minnesota where our oldest grandson goes to university.  He showed us around the campus and then we took him out to lunch at Don's.  It's a Mom and Pop style restaurant with good food and homey atmosphere.

We overnighted at the farm and then next day continued into Buffalo to see the rest of the family.  Minnesota was still quite cool.  Most of the snow was gone and the trees were just starting to show a tinge of green.  We were fortunate to see the return of the orioles.  They are a beautiful bird.

Baltimore Oriole

they love the orange halves

 

We were entertained by a pair of Orioles with their aerial combats and antics. 

 

Lots of red winged blackbirds came to the feeders as well as some house finches and American goldfinches.  Watched osprey flying over the lake, heard lots of Canada geese and saw lots of those pesky grackles.

 

 

The ice went off Buffalo Lake a day or so after we arrived.  We were able to spot loons and hear their haunting call.

There were several terns skimming over the lake and dipping down for a catch.

 

 

 

We had a wonderful visit with Sally, Mark and Patrick.  The day before we left, Colm came home from university.  It is definitely a busy household and one we were glad to share for a week.

 

On the way back into Canada, near Weyburn, Saskatchewan we came across hundreds of snow geese stopping over on the flooded fields before their long trek northward.

 



 



 We will stay around Pincher Creek for most of the summer with side trips to see family and friends.  Once the weather warms we will be able to take the grandkids fishing and picnicking and that is always fun.

We have been visiting some of the old haunts through Crowsnest Pass and watching the snow disappear from the mountains.  The trees are all in leaf and the new green is a wonderful welcome after a long winter. 

April in Alberta

We arrived back in Pincher Creek on April 8th and on the 9th we had a snowfall.  Weather isn't as nice as we hoped it would be but we are here for two weeks in town, parked in Cleland's Trailer Park just off main street.  We are within walking distance of everything in town.  A & W  and Subway for coffee, a short drive to hug the grandkids and just down the block from our favorite restaurant at the Heritage Inn.  When we got back we went to the Heritage and got hugged by our favorite waitress.  How's that for a welcome home!

The weather this past week hasn't been overly welcoming but we are nice and cozy in the rig and that's all that counts.  We have had to pull in the slides to get the snow off the slide awnings a couple of times and Clark just fills up the water tank so we have water for showers, otherwise the hose outside would freeze.  Spring time in Alberta.  Got to love it!

Next year we will use a different tactic and time for coming back to Alberta.  Live and learn :)  Have loved going to the kids for coffee and playing games with the grandkids.

After not having levellers on this rig all winter we are going to get it checked out this Thursday and hopefully the fellow at Scougall's RV can order the parts and we can have some stability again.

There is still snow on the mountains and as of yesterday snow back on the ground.  I will take pics this week and post some of the mountains.

our town is in a valley so you have to 'come up top' to get a view of the mountains

looking towards the west and into Crownest Pass

Crowsnest Mountain

Turtle Mountain that buried the town of Frank

stubble showing in the fields

 

The snow in the mountains is the result of this past week's dump of nearly 6 inches. 

 

Today, April 17th, the sun is shining and we are expected to reach a high of 9C.  Lots of melting will occur.

Winter wrap up

We are back in Pincher Creek.  Arrived here on our grandson, Colm's 20th birthday.

We were parked at Avi Casino near Laughlin, Nevada for one night and the weather looked good for heading north, so on March 31 we drove through Las Vegas and continued north finally stopping at Ely, Nevada for the night.

going through Vegas on a Sunday



one of many multi levelled overpasses

 

 

On the way to Ely we passed through some Joshua trees.  I love these trees with their spiky branches.

 

not as good a specimen but then it was taken on the fly!

 

highway to Ely, Nevada

 From Ely, we headed north only to run into some wet snow and it was getting worse as we headed further north.  Not knowing what was ahead of us and knowing what was behind us, we turned around and headed 30 miles back to Ely and then southward until we hit the highway heading east to Salt Lake City.  We traveled on dry roads from then on.  We will take in Jackpot, Nevada another time but not in winter.

 

We stopped for the night in Ogden, Utah, just north of Salt Lake City after a very long day of driving. 

lots of snow on this mountain east of Salt Lake City

 

We stayed at Wasatch View Estates in Ogden, Utah.   We got the last site left and because the gal thought it was a crappy site she gave it to us for free.  We will definitely stop here again when we are in the area because of the graciousness of the hostess.

 

April 2 dawned sunny and clear and we made good time on the road. 

you don't realize how many hills there are until you drive a motor home!

Clark just caught this sign through the window screen

Missouri river just by those rocks - we saw lots of fishermen on the river

We overnighted at Dillon, Montana south of Butte.

 

April 3 we made it to Conrad, Montana.  Wanted to stop before the border so we could fill up with cheap gas in Shelby before heading home.

 

April 4th, we hit the border around noon and waited in line for an hour before we could get through.  Lots of trailers, fifth wheels and motor homes heading north into Alberta.

 

Camped in Lethbridge and spent the weekend as we needed a few things from Costco, WalMart and Canadian Tire.  Took our granddaughter, who is going to University of Lethbridge out for supper.  Drove to Pincher on Saturday and had coffee and hugs with grandkids and daughter-in-law.  The little ones have grown.

 

April 8th finds us once more in Pincher Creek.  Feels good to be home and I guess that's because everything is familiar. 



Arizona - Hoover Dam

Since we were within an hour and a bit of the Hoover Dam we decided to drive over and maybe go for a tour.  We however forgot to calculate into our plans another week of spring break!  Needless to say there were hoards of people.

road to Hoover Dam

not the big overpass

We thought we would check out the tours and see when one was available.  Unfortunately, to get into the tourist center costs $7 per person and we don't have wifi capabilities on our cell phone so needless to say it would have been expensive to check out tour times and availability.  We opted not to as we have been on a tour before.  Clark would have liked to check out the power plants but  we will leave that for another year when times are better.

a make work project after World War I

a local inhabitant

 

Hoover Dam has become very commercialized.  You pay to park, you pay to go into the tourist center, you pay for the tours (this I can see) and you probably pay a lot to have a meal.  You can't get in to see the exhibits without a tour pass but you can use the bathrooms for free.  We did this tour before when we were in Las Vegas and paid for a package.  It was worth it.

We drove over the new causeway to get to the entrance to Hoover Dam, which is the old highway.  We thought we would leave by the old way but it is now a cul de sac and you have to go back through the people to exit. 

pictures just don't do the size justice

we parked on an upper (free) level an opted to walk down to the dam

notice how low the water is

(the white lines on the cliffs are how far down the water has dropped)

overflow bypasses the turbines

overflow entrance to the Colorado River

 

this part wouldn't normally be visable but the water is so low

the intake towers

the dam wall holding back Lake Mead

Colorado River below the dam

the new causeway over the Colorado River

notice the screens on the tower -

they are to prevent debris from entering the turbines

Lake Mead formed from the construction of the dam

 

We were going to drive into Boulder City for lunch but just outside Hoover Dam is a casino with a full lunch buffet that we couldn't pass up.  $6.95 each including your coffee - what a deal and it was good.

Clark just told me that water in Lake Mead is 100 feet below capacity.  The all time low was in 2011 but has risen a bit since then.