Another busy and eventful day. First, we spent about ten hours today travelling and sightseeing with the Tracker from our campground in Hinton. We drove 255 miles. The weather today was mostly cloudy with an occasional burst of sunshine and rain. We toured two waterfalls and saw a couple more mountain lakes. We took lots of pictures again, but I don't think they will be too great since it was cloudy. We had rain and just a bit of sleet at the last lake we visited, about 90 miles from camp. However, by the time we returned to camp, the sun was shining and the wind had picked up.

Bad news. As we approached our campsite, we noticed something unusual.....the awning, which I had stupidly left out, was now flapping over the roof of the motorhome. Brackets were broken, so I just went up on the roof and cut the awning away from the side of the camper. Looks like no awning the rest of the trip unless we can get it replaced in Alaska.

And now for the good news. The first waterfall we toured, Athabasca Falls, was beautiful and very unique for the holes it created in the stone. It was a good hike by paved path and lots of steps to see it all. Barb (Grammy to the kids) hiked it all with me like a trooper. Her knee is doing very well, and the rest of her ain't bad either.;) The second falls, Sunwapta Falls, was not as unusual, but pretty none the less. We left there to return to Jasper for dinner and a bit of shopping before heading to the lake. Of all the restaurants in town, Barb had a hankering for KFC, so that is where we ate.

Now for the best part. On the way to Lake Maligne (pronounced Ma-leen.....them French have a different word for everything) we spotted two vehicles pulled off to the side of the road. Around here, that can only mean one thing....WILD ANIMALS. This was to be the highlight of Barb's day. Right along the road was a big black bear grazing, oblivious to us parked right along side. Since it was on her side, she got a really great closeup of him. We also saw elk, deer and later a black bear sow with her cub as they ran across the road and disappeared into the forest.

So, all in all, a very exciting and rewarding day. (except for the awning, of course)
I'm still working on the pictures and hope to have them available soon. So very hard to pick out just a few to post, since our connection is so slow. (BTW, it's 10:10 pm and still as light outside as about 8 o'clock your time.)

Hey kids, keep watching for the picture of the BIG BLACK BEAR!

Keep in touch......Love to all,

Barb & Ron