2012.07.29 – Edmonton (AB)
Today, we went shopping at MEC. We went to the movies to see “The Watch”. In the evening, we went for a long walk with Jinglang, Hifou,Victoria and Jason. The mosquitoes were particularly bad.
2012.07.30 – Edmonton (AB)
Today, we did some last minutes purchases (batteries, shampoo)
2012.07.31 – Edmonton (AB) – Brooks(AB)
With the cars loaded up and one last breakfast at home, we headed out of Edmonton with our auto GPS towards Drumhellere where we planned to visit the Royal Tyrrel Museum. The museum was quite interesting as we spent 2 1/2 hours enjoying it. We stopped at an IGA in Drumheller to pick some lunch for the road. Two hours later we entered the Dinosaur Park. The landscape of these badlands amazed everyone. After setting up the tents, the entire group went for a hiking in one of several trails available. The 40 minutes walk provided great scenery and fabulous photo opportunity. In the evening, we made a camp fire and Victoria played her guitar and sang a few songs. A great start to the two combined family vacation.
2012.08.01 – Brooks(AB) – Helena (Mo)
During the night we got heavy winds and light rain. After packing up the tents and gears, everybody’s thoughts were on getting gas in the nearest town to the Dinosaur Provincial Park which was 30 kms away in Brooks. We took the opportunity to have breakfast at the local Tim Horton as this was possibly our last one before making our way to the US border. The border crossing took a look time -although the formalities for us were simple. Jinlang and Hifou did not have it so easy as they were scrutinized for Chinese foods. We stopped in Shelby at a Pizza Hut for lunch. We appreciated the 0 tax on our food bill. We stopped again in Great Falls with the intent to do some shopping but the biggest shopping mall was very disappointing. We continued our route with a lookout for campgrounds. To our chagrin, we discovered that most campgrounds in this area did not provide shower facilities. After giving up on finding an acceptable campground, we resign ourselves to take a motel room for our second night on the road. We stopped at a Super 8 in Helena. We went to Chinese buffet for supper. The cost of the room was quite reasonable and provided good value.
2012.08.02 – Helena (Mo) -YNP (Canyon Village)
After having our free breakfast at the motel, we took the road towards YellowStone National Park. We stopped in Livingstone to buy some groceries. We entered the park through the North entrance. The road towards Canyon Village, where our first two nights camping were reserved, appeared to be far away. We registered quickly for our campsite which was conveniently located near the shower facilities. The flush toilet facilities were also very clean and modern. After setting up our tents, we went to explore the Visitor’s Center and browse the gift shops and restaurant. We booked some horse riding for Saturday morning at 7:45am. We opted to explore the Southern rim trails of the YellowStone’s Canyon. We had a good workout on the “Uncle Tom s” trail which goes down straight into the Canyon. We ate lunch left-overs for supper. Everybody is happy that mosquitoes are not overly present.
2012.08.03 – YNP (Canyon Village)
The night was cool. We cooked an egg and toast breakfast at our campsite before heading to explore the Northern part of the park. We visited the Hanging Falls, Petrified Tree, Lower and High Basins of Mammoth Hot Springs and finally the Norris Bassin.
2012.08.04 – YNP (Grant Village)
2012.08.05 – YNP (Grant Village)
2012.08.06 – YNP (Grant Village) – Rapid City
The day that Jenny and Jinlang dreaded had finally arrived. The time to split up and say “goodbye”. After some final pictures and hugs, both families took their own route out of YellowStone National Park, them using the west entrance while we exited through the east entrance. The road was very scenic, especially when we climbed up to 9,000 feet through a mountain pass. In the afternoon, we stopped at a Starbucks for coffee and snacks. We noticed an ever increasing amount of motorcycles on the road in the later part of the afternoon. It is not until we got to the Rapid City KOA campground that we were informed of the 72nd yearly Sturgis Motorcycle Extravaganza that just started yesterday. The event apparently attracts over 650,000 motorcyclists from all over North America. We had supper at a Mexican restaurant called “On the Border”.
2012.08.07 – Rapid City – Austin
Although we were awaken by a motorcycle leaving our KOA campground at 6:00am, we were quite pleased by how quiet the campground had been during the night. Given the noise level we had heard the evening before. The campground’s washrooms are extremely busy this morning. We leave,by 7am, our campground and many visitors of the famous Sturgis Annual Motorcycle Extravaganza behind us. We stop along the way at a convenience store for some coffee and muffins. Early afternoon, we have cold sweat as our gas gauge is showing empty and we failed to exist into the town of Sioux Falls. We managed to find a gas station by chance along our return route to Sioux Falls. We stopped at a very nice grocery store where we bought lunch supplies and had them on-site. Got a Starbucks coffee for the road. We realized that our CAA Woodall’s RV book did not extend east to where we were now. Luckily we encountered a Tourist Information Office where we got plenty of information for campground.. We opted again for a KOA campground Albert Lea/Austin. The camping fee was much more reasonable at $23. After setting up the tent, we dipped our feet in the pool for awhile. We had a light supper at our campsite given that we had lunch around 2:30pm. This KOA campground is not busy compared to the one we stayed at in Rapid City.
2012.08.08 – Austin – Battle Creek(MI)
We had a great night sleep at our KOA campground (Albert Lea/Austin) even thought it was on the side of I-90. We stopped for some coffee and a breakfast sandwich at a McDonald’s. We encountered our first tool road about 40 miles from Chicago. We stopped at a Weggman’s to grab some food for lunch. It was disappointing visit as they did not have much in terms of prepared food. We must have encountered ten or so toll booth (~$20). Going through Chicago was slow at times. We stopped at a Michigan Tourist Office to get details about campgrounds in the area of Marshall. We opted to stop at the Fort Custer State Park for our last night of camping. We struggled to locate the state park but our perseverance paid out and we found the campground down a long gravel road. It was around 7:00pm by the time we setup our tent. We went to a restaurant in the nearest village where we had some great chicken wings and a scrimp/crab plate. Back at the remote campground, we showered and slipped into the tent for the night. Victoria kept on singing in the tent as she had slept for long periods in car earlier today.
2012.08.09 – Battle Creek(MI) – Ottawa (ON)
We were awoken by the rain this morning. The unglued window panel from our tent’s double roof allowed rain to come in. We packed up the tent and gear between two rain showers. We are glad that we don’t plan to do camping this evening. We struggled using the GPS to locate a Starbucks this morning in Battle Creek. We gave up! Instead we picked up coffee at McDonald’s along the way. Rain kept our coming down, sometimes heavily, throughout our drive. Crossing at Port Huron the Canadian border was faster than when we went through the US at Sweet Grass (Mo) We stopped at a Tim Horton to reunite with its coffee and pastries. Jenny took the driver seat for the first time on this trip while I took the opportunity to catch up on this travelogue. The rain continued to come down throughout our return trip to Ottawa.