National Park madness

Banff National Park was breathtaking. We spent three nights in the park - one at a very chilly campsite, the next warming up at a hostel in Lake Louise and the third in the epicenter - Banff town. The first night was so chilly, in fact, that it was necessary that we air our truck bed out and dry some bedding. We had accumulated quite a bit of condensation that had frozen on the roof of the truck and on our blankets. Since then we've been experimenting with ventilation. Perhaps we had our windows cracked too much? 

It was nice to spend the night in the hostel indoors with time to read and relax, do some laundry and even take a sauna! (It was mostly weak - we sure are missing our steambath buds!!)

It's kind of strange the way Jasper and Banff both have towns inside the borders of the park. Jasper was pretty quaint (pop. 4,000) in the off season, but Banff was entirely overwhelming - even in October. The city of Banff was super upscale and in my humble opinion, way too overdeveloped. Think Paris meets wilderness. Tourism gone wild; sort of like Disneyworld. Amid all the 5-star resorts, chatteaus and palaces, we still managed to find a camp spot at least. We even took advantage of the high culture and attended a fabulous piano and cello concerto. I've been entirely enamored with the cello for the past couple of years - particularly the fiddlin' cello and of course Andrew plays the piano.  With all of our recent healing work and practice at presence, it felt wonderful to open ourselves to all the sensations of the music. Thank you, Beethoven.

Upscale 1920s style- Banff Hot Springs

I told you I had a onesie comin'.

After a day hike at Boom Lake the next day, we hit the road headed south, again right into yet another bordering national park. Crazy, huh! Kootenay NP was another variation of majestic.

Boom Lake in Banff NP

Frozen moss bubbles at Boom Lake

We stopped at some hot springs for a delicious morning soak. On the drive out we saw two wolves cross the road in front of us. Andrew swears they were coyotes but I'm holding strong on this one. :-) A huge, badass bighorn sheep barely allowed us to pass as we drove south on interstate 93.

 Very badass bighorn daddy-o.

Within no time at all, we had crossed into the States again! Well, not without a friendly border search! And I do mean that sincerely. The two border guards were downright chatty. Though they confiscated two oranges and a tomato ("fighting crime one orange at a time"), they allowed us to keep our beaver pelt, jarred caribou, salmon and tundra berry jam and dozen bags of suspicious-looking dried kale. Truth be told, they didn't see the kale! So sneaky we are! (sorry no pictures)

Montana is downright fabulous as well.  We were struck by the beauty of the mountains mingling with the plains, and the fall colors still in full display. Woo hoo! Here are some photos of our next few days in Glacier National Park:

Now we're a few hours south in the western, college town of Missoula. We stopped by the Occupy Missoula protests (hmmm) and are staying for another night with a sweet couple and their two pitbull-mix dogs. (Just like Cooper and Spencer!) Hopefully we'll catch some good ol' bluegrass music tonight before heading south towards Yellowstone tomorrow. 

Today marks 3 weeks of road trip fun! I can't say that without acknowledging that it has been difficult at times, no doubt... But we sure are a lucky bunch.

Lots of love!

Kristy