Crossing into Canada

 Wednesday June 1, 2022 - Today we entered Canada through Carway, which is 20 minutes north of St Mary, MT.  We had submitted our Covid plan through the ArriveCan app and were hoping we wouldn't have any issues with the border patrol.  We had been eating lots of our fruits and veggies, because we heard you couldn't bring them in.  When we got there they didn't ask anything about our Covid plan or fruits/vegetables.  They asked about firearms and chicken.  We had bought chicken in Great Falls that was in our freezer.  They sent us to the side and said bring the chicken in.  As she started to fill out the paper work she checked the chicken and said that it had been processed in Chicago, so we could keep it.  I guess there is Avian flu in Montana?   We headed north to Calgary but decided to make a quick detour to the UNESCO site, Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump.  The museum had a 15 minute movie depicting the buffalo jump and then we went to the top floor of the museum and walked out onto the jump.  It was a beautiful view with the Canadian Rockies off in the distance and the vast plains surrounding us.  The museum was quite interesting, we were so glad we stopped here.  We then spent the night in a city park in the small town of Cayley.  There weren't any services here but it was a nice "free" spot for the night.  

US border

Canadian border

waiting for the confiscation of the chicken

Lep waiting for us 

The walk out to the buffalo jump

View from the top

those glasses look good on you

the Canadian Rockies in the distance

dinner at Chinook Park in Cayley, Alberta

Kev hawking his "Level-Ease" app to the Diullos, that helps us get the van level using leveling blocks

Mirabelle was so happy to get to play catch in the big field

Sunset over the ball field 

Thursday June 2, 2022 - Today was our first full drive day in Canada.  We drove for an hour and stopped at a Walmart for groceries.  Then another hour and lunch at a city park that had a farmers market in the ice arena (next to the curling facility...we really are in Canada).  We then drove 2 hours to the Spruce Grove Grain Elevator, and got a very interesting tour of the facility.  Then a 30 minute drive to another city park, in Onoway Alberta, that allows overnight camping in the field.  

planning for the day

our "site" at Chinook Park

The Spruce Grove Grain Elevator

The docent, showing us how the elevator works.  Inside this door are scoops that scoop the grain that has been dumped by the farmer.  The scoops carry the grain to the top and then are shuttled through pipes to the proper bin.  The round dial above the door determines which bin the grain goes to

The site for the night (Ruth Cust Park) came with a dog park for Mirabelle AND a friend to run with

view of the Ruth Cust park in Onoway 

Mirabelle got an early morning run in the dog park

Our First Grizzly!

 Monday May 30, 2022 - Today we drove into the St Mary Entrance to the park.  We stopped at the Information center to find out what hikes we should do.  The ranger said that there is more snow than usual for this time of year, and helped us find a few hikes that wouldn't be as snowy.  It was a rainy cold morning but we decided to walk part of the Going-to-the-Sun Road, which is closed until probably July.  We drove to the Rising Sun Boat Dock and walked up the road to a few overlooks of St Mary Lake.  In the afternoon Aunt Gerry & Uncle Gene showed up and we walked around the campground and played lots of games. 

The rainy, foggy drive into the park

Walk on the Going-to-the-Sun Road

Foggy view of Goose Island in St Mary Lake.  This view was used at the beginning of the movie The Shining

Strawberry Rhubarb pie and hot chocolate and coffee to warm up, at Johnson's cafe (part of our campground)

Aunt Gerry & Uncle Gene (and Mirabelle and their new RV Lep)

Mirabelle was happy to be out for a walk and making new friends

We moved to the front of the campground for the next two nights the sites have water and electric and some big views

view to the left of our site

and view to the right

Tuesday, May 31, 2022 - What a difference a day makes!  We woke up to a beautiful clear view of the mountains from our RV window!  We decided to head back to the Many Glacier Entrance to get a morning hike in.  The ranger had said the morning views were best from there.  We parked at the Grinnell Glacier lot and hiked Grinnell Lake Trail to the bottom of Lake Josephine.  It was only 2 miles round trip, but a nice quick hike.  The hike to Grinnell Glacier is supposed to be an epic hike, but can only be done in the middle of the summer.  We passed the trailhead for The Swift Current trail and it was closed .5 miles from there due to bear activity.  The ranger had told us that a few days ago a grizzly had taken down a baby moose near the Many Glacier Hotel and the Mama moose started chasing it, the bear ran into a glass window in the hotel and broke it.  He said this is a 2-3 week period when the grizzly's are feeding on the baby moose.  On the drive back to the campground we saw a fox ran across the road in front of us, we saw a bunch of mountain goats AND we saw a grizzly bear on the bank of Sherburne Lake!  After lunch we went into the St Mary Entrance and walked up the Going-to-the-Sun road so we could see the view without all the rain and fog and then did a quick hike on the Beaver Lake loop.  

Good Morning!!

Welcome Moose

Views and reflections over Sherburne Lake

Nice Glacier bench for my photo collection of benches

WOW! view over Lake Josephine

Over Gerry's shoulder is the Many Glacier Hotel

Funny looking tree and funny looking guy

More mountain goats

Okay, so I took a few pics of the grizzly...

He seemed to be digging in a hole

a little computer work, after lunch

A much better view of Goose Island today

The three flags flying at the visitor center.  American, Blackfeet (since Glacier is part of the Blackfeet territory) and the Canadian flag.  Glacier National Park is part of the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park that spans the border of the US/Canada.  You can boat from Goat Hunt in Glacier to Waterton Park in Canada in the summer.

Beaver Pond Loop hike

A wild elk sighting

Dinner in the sun

Gene the grill master