Vacation!

Even full-time RVer's have to have a "vacation" from time to time!  For us, this year, it was flying to the islands of Maui for a week, then to Kaua'i for the another week.  Ah, the joys of being retired...

We parked our baby at my nephew's side yard in Tacoma for the two weeks and flew off to sunny Hawaii!  Our timeshare hosts greeted us with packages of wonderful goodies and promises of a good time while we were on the island!  We planned on taking them up on it too.  Jack and I hadn't been on this island in over 25 years, and for me, I had only been for a couple of days, so hadn't seen much when I was here!  So much to see and do, I hardly could sleep!

Our first day trip was to Lahaina.  Both of us wanted to see how much it had changed over the years.  It used to be the "heart" of Maui...a small, quaint town, always full of fun.  Well, like everything else of course...it's grown!  Still fun and lively.  We were able to spend some lovely time just wandering around, enjoying the various sights, like the beautiful old banyan tree that was originally planted back in 1873 by William Owen Smith and has spread out to cover several acres now.  They have created a whole park around them!  Simply beautiful...

A wonderful surprise was a sand dune Japanese cemetery, Puupiha Cemetery, that was across the street from the Namu Amida Butsu, Jodo Mission.  I've visited a lot of interesting cemeteries in my travels, but never one built in sand before!  The Japanese never cease to amaze me.

It was such a clear day, we even got a wonderful view of Moloka'l from town!

And what's a shot of the beach/ocean without seeing surfers?

A trip to Maui isn't "complete" without taking the drive to Hana!  So, off we went (complete with "app" in hand).  What fun!  Jack loves driving all those twists and turns, and the traffic wasn't all that bad, and lucky us, it was a nice clear day too.  Of course, we had to stop a hundred and one times so that I could jump out and take a picture (or three) of every waterfall, weeping wall, flower, tree, and 'special scenes' we saw!  Me and everyone else too!  ha ha 

There were "extra special" highlights along the way tho...  I absolutely fell in love with the Ke'anae Peninsula.  The black lava rock jutting out from the deep blue of the ocean with the green plants alongside, was just so beautiful.  Then, add a 150 year old church and small cemetery to the scene, and you have a photographer's dream!  I could have stayed there all day...

Another special stop was at the black sand beach, Honokalani, where I could get my feet wet and gather up some of it to take back with me!  

Jack had only one wish for the day, and that was to visit the grave site of Charles Lindbergh who was buried in Kipahulu in 1974.  Lindberg loved Maui and it was his wish to live out his days here & be buried here.  It's quite off the beaten path, which I'm sure was also his wish, after all the hounding he suffered while he was alive.  There is also a sweet church here, built in 1857 along with a small cemetery.  When we arrived, we were greeted with a couple of horses peeing through a banyan tree!  No one else was around.

The rental car (and phone app) people tell you to turn around here and go back the same way, but our local host told us as long as it wasn't raining, and we kept our eyes out for "cows", the locals just continue on around the island, and we could too!  She shared that the scenery really changes, and it would be a shame to miss it, and to just repeat the same long road back (we agreed), so on we went!

We were so glad we did too!  We came across such wonderful surprises and beautiful scenery!  

The first was a beautiful rainbow came out to greet us.  We never saw any rain, but what a glorious rainbow, it just filled the sky everywhere you looked!  Once, when we turned a corner, we came upon a lovely old church and when I got out to take it's picture, the rainbow followed me...I think I captured the most perfect picture...don't you?

And some of the wonderful scenes we would have missed...

..and of course those cows! 

All to soon our visit to Maui was coming to an end.  It was our last day, and our last trip back to the condo, and BANG!  We were hit!  Jack saw blue and red lights coming at him, a car coming AT him, he said "holy shit!" and swerved (just in time!!) and was able to save our lives by only colliding our headlight into his taillight.  I had been looking down until I heard him, when I looked up, all I saw was a silver car flying into the air and crashing down and another coming at us (the one that hit us) and then BOOM, the air bags going off.  Minutes later a policeman rapped on the side window and asked if we were "okay?"  We assured him we were, to go to the others.  We were the only ones that survived.  We were sent to the hospital for ex rays, etc. and came away with deep tissue bruises, cuts and scratches, but the whole ordeal was very sad.  It had been a police chase, and the young man (29) had crossed the meridian into on coming traffic, hitting a young woman (33) head on, sending her into us.  If Jack hadn't seen it all in time and reacted as fast as he had, we would also had been hit head on.  A heck of a way to end our stay.

We were glad to be moving on to Kaua'i and joining our friends for another week!

...on our way to Kaua'i,  Marie

If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/

The beauty of Ruby Falls!

There are caves and caverns all over the country.  Stalactites and stalagmites, and all kinds of shapes and pretty rocks all "discovered" for us tourists to oh and ah over as we climb in and around the various ones touting the "largest" cavern, or the "deepest" cave, or the "longest", etc.  24 states out of our 50, have caves open to the public to come and view.  That's half the US!  Last count in the National Cave Directory stated that there were 77 caves.  Out of all of all those, only one has an underground waterfall...and that is here in Chattanooga at Ruby Falls Cave.  All 145 feet of it.

Leo Lambert thought that he could re-open the cave he had played in as a child, as a tourist attraction and formed a company to do so. He planned to make an opening further up the mountain than the original opening and transport tourists to the cave via an elevator. For this purpose, his company purchased land on the side of Lookout Mountain above Lookout Mountain Cave and in 1928 began to drill through the limestone. In doing so, they discovered a small passageway about 18 inches high and four feet wide.

Lambert and a group of fellow explorers entered a small opening to the newly found cave in Lookout Mountain.  They spent 17 hours exploring on hands and knees before hearing the sound of rushing water.  They were awestruck by the magnificent beauty of the waterfall they discovered at the deepest point.  Leo later named the falls in honor of his wife, Ruby. 

Ruby Falls Cave features many of the more well-known types of cave formations including stalactites & stalagmites, columns, drapery, and flowstone.

The Falls are located at the end of the main passage of Ruby Falls Cave, in a large vertical shaft. The stream, 1120 feet underground, is fed both by rainwater and natural springs. It collects in a pool in the cave floor and then continues through the mountain until finally joining the Tennessee River at the base of Lookout Mountain.

We've only been through a few caves, trying to only go to the most "unusual" ones (because, lets face it, once you've seen one set of stalactites & stalagmites, you've seen them all) - but I will say, this one was a beauty! 

Having the waterfall, and it's "light show" at the end, made it all worth the trip!

...kicking back in Chattanooga, Marie

 If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/ 

...and then we got to see Glacier National Park in Montana!

When you experience so much natural beauty and wonderful experiences, you can't help but ask yourself if that wasn't "the best one yet?"  Always thinking that nothing can top it...then, surprisingly so, Mother Nature continues to flash her beauty in more ways than you could ever have thought.  Such was our visit to the Glacier National Park in Montana.

When we left Canada...that in itself was an experience I should share...just in case it should ever happen to you!  You see, Jack's passport expired while we were in Canada.  Yep, we thought, now what?  Well, as my kids will be so proud, I immediately got on my trusty computer and started searching (should I say "googling"?) around for answers.  I found out that we were not the first to have this happen (hmm) and the general consensus was that since we are US citizens, they have to let us back in.  That it could get as bad as a delay at the border with a "scolding", to as little as them not even noticing.  We were (emotionally) ready as we approached the border, expecting just about anything (I mean, who would yell at two little old folks like us anyway, right?).  The nice gentleman did notice the expired passport, asked Jack if he knew it was expired, "oh my, no, really?" The guard said "we were US citizens, so of course he would let us in, but that we should get that fixed at our earliest convenience, and, welcome home."  It was good to be back home again.

We entered at the Carway/Piegan Canadian/American Border and you are greeted by a rather large statue by the Blackfeet Nation welcoming you.  Seems you enter right into their reservation!

We spent that first day driving through Montana en route to the western side of the park where we had decided to camp.  Driving through Montana has been a joy for us as we have viewed the various crops, learning what they are (we learned about "seed potatoes" this time!), watching the harvesting & bailing, seeing some great barns and beautiful lakes.  I have to say, Montana is a beautiful state (but, no, still don't want to move here!). 

Once settled into the campground, off we went on the "one thing everyone does" - the drive: Going-to-the-Sun-Road!  They say to allow 2-3 hours, ha!  Not if your driving me, the one who has to stop at every single turn-out and read the sign, see the sight and take pictures!  It's an all-day trip...and a really awesome one at that!  What fun it was!  Busy, it's July after all, and the tourists are in full force, but who cares?  We were in no hurry and the sun was shining, so life is good!

You would think, I would think, that I would get used to seeing such incredible beauty.  That I wouldn't be surprised or amazed any longer by what Mother Nature can create, but I am.  At each turn (and there were hundreds along this very twisty road) was one more "oh my" moment.  A waterfall, a lake, a glacier you could touch, mountains that took your breath away, big horn sheep cooling off on a glacier, wildflowers blooming, and history.  We met a nice ranger just before she was about to leave her station at the very first ranger station built back in 1917.  No indoor plumbing, way back in the woods...think about it, Montana in the winter...how many feet of snow?  With how many animals hungry around you?  Winter, hell, Spring would be worse really, 'cause they would really be hungry!  Nope, not for me!  Brave people...one and all.  We owe them all our gratitude, then and today.

Jack and I had decided that we wanted to see as many National Parks as we could this year and it has really been a wonderful experience.  I thought it would be "fun".  I thought it would be "cool" to do.  Something to "check off" on my mental list of things & places to do & see.  But what I didn't expect was how moved I would be.  How the history of them would touch me emotionally as the beauty does spiritually. 

Our parks are special.   I wish I knew some better way to say that sentence.  It's not enough to put it into a different font.  As I type, I just want to pick you up by the shoulders, and place you in front of where I was, (at any of the parks) even for 5 minutes, and say "just look at that".  Then stand back and watch you.  Watch while you soak it all in.  It changes you.  Once you see it, it changes you.  It's like you can hear all the voices of all the people who had the vision and wherewithal to turn these lands into National Parks so that you and I and our children and their children could see them...and you just want to thank them.  Because, if you allow yourself to think, even for a minute, what this place would look like if no one would have preserved it, you would cry.  As beautiful as Mother Nature is, Man Kind can as easily destroy.  I thank these men every day that they didn't let that happen.

National Parks are the best gifts this country has given us, take advantage of them as much as you can, you won't regret it, I promise you...

 Blackfeet Nation Welcome at the border

 Seed potato field, Montana

 McDonald Falls, Glacier National Park

 Jackson Glacier,  Going-to-the-Sun Road, Glacier National Park

 St Mary Lake, Glacier National Park

 Bird Woman Falls (492 Ft High), Going-to-the-Sun Road, Glacier National Park

 Big Horn Sheep on Jackson Glacier at Logan Pass, Going-to-the-Sun Road

 Wildflowers, Glacier National Park

 Cut Bank Ranger Station (c1917) first buildings built in Glacier National Park

McDonald Lake, Glacier National Park

...on the road in Montana,  Marie

If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/   

 

Oh Canada! Beautiful Banff

When you share with people that you are planning a trip to Alberta Canada, one of the first things they say is "you must go to Banff and Lake Louise!"  So, as with our habit, we happily added them to our "list" of places to see.  Once the Stampede was over and we spent some time with our friends, we learned that Banff wasn't all that far from Calgary and that it was actually more practical for us to leave our rig at their place and just take our small truck and do a two-day/over-night trip there and back. So that's what we did.

We decided to drive straight to Lake Louise first.  The drive itself goes through Banff National Park with the Canadian Rockies all around you.  They are breathtakingly beautiful.  Not as much snow on them though as I would have thought, so that was a bit of a surprise.  It was also interesting, I thought, how different their shapes were from each other and as you traveled through the Park and saw them from different angles.  I never tired of looking at them.  Another sight that I have enjoyed my whole time in Canada is all the Canola fields.  Acres and acres of sunshine yellow flowers!  They are so very pretty to look at.  It seems that the farmers are not particularly keen on growing them, but that they are a higher cash crop than the grain crops are, so that's what they have to grow, and boy do they!  Miles and miles all across the country.  Besides seeing the cultivated lands, all the wildflowers are in full bloom too.  So as we drove to our destination green and yellow fields, dotted with open grazing land full of wildflowers, interspersed with creeks trimmed with trees and all of this edged with those beautiful mountains, filled our scenery.  Jealous yet?  (had to tease!)

You would think all that would have prepared us for the lake we were about to see (that and every one's insistence on us going there), but I don't think anything could...it's that spectacular.  I don't think I have ever seen a turquoise colored lake before.  Deep blue perhaps, even emerald green, but the shade of that lake is almost surreal, so when you see my pictures, don't think they were doctored up, it really is that color!  Put that in front of those Rocky Mountains with the Victoria Glacier and you have a perfect picture postcard!  It was mesmerizing, you just wanted to sit there and stare at it for a long long time.  We lucked out and the day was perfect as well, sun shining and just warm enough.  Only down side were the crowds, hunting for parking took almost as long as you stayed looking at the lake!  Oh well, guess one can't always have everything (not sure why not, but that's what they keep telling me anyway!).

After a bit of lunch, we headed to another sweet lake that our friends recommended that they said wasn't as "popular" as Louise, but that they really liked as well, Moraine Lake.  A little smaller, a little bluer, a little less crowded but very nice.  It had a large "rock pile" next to it that people were climbing to a high plateau to see further.  I walked around it and found some stairs to it and climbed them (150!) and the view was worth the effort, besides I figured it worked off my lunch!  A nice gentleman took my picture up there to prove I actually made it that high (Jack declined the climb).

After the two lakes, we traveled into the town of Banff and to the Banff Ave Bed & Breakfast spot we had made reservations at.  Connie was a wonderful hostess as well as the B&B was the perfect place to stay.

The next day we took the time to walk around Banff then headed out to see a couple of lakes & waterfalls nearby and to take a look at "the castle" as the The Fairmont Banff Springs National Historic Hotel is called locally, and we could see why.  Phew, what a place!   We even ran into some friendly wildlife...a small heard of Big Horn Sheep (Ewes), that wandered over to see who we were.

Time to head back to Calgary and start to get ourselves ready to head back to the US and our next adventure, Glacier National Park.

Canada, you've treated us well, and it's been a beautiful trip that we will long remember.

 Canadian Rocky Mountains

 Canola Fields

 

Wildflowers

 

Lake Louise & Victoria Glacier

 Moraine Lake

City of Banff

Johnson Lake

The Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel

Ewes saying Goodbye as we left Banff

...kicking back in Alberta Canada,  Marie

If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/