So as we left Yellowstone we had a bit of a jaunt to get to our next hotel stop. (about 250 miles or so) So we were fortunate in the fact that we were in Montana, land of the "no posted speed limit durring daylight hours." Or something like that. So we engaged the hyperdrive and took it to Ludicrous Speed. Furtunately we didn't quite make to plaid or I'd have a bit of explaining to do.
Anyways, our drive was fairly uneventful during the daylight hours, however, about twilight (with 150 miles to go) we hit a snag. The road we were routed to travel on was, well, no longer paved. I'm sute that Montana DOT had a project on the books or something, they just forgot to register it with AAA. Well we figured that we'd fight on through and sure enough, the road was paved again about 10 miles down. This was fine until we hit a railroad crossing where we decided to take the opportunity to rustle up some evening snacks for the kids from the back of the van. What came next was the biggest shocker of all.
Mosquitoes. Lots of them. And they were hungry. So I moved as quickly as I could and got everyone situated, but wouldn't you know a few of the vampire bugs decided to stay in the van. So for the next half hour or so all we heard from the back rows was "Mom, there's another one." SPLAT!
However, that was not the last we'd hear from the lost tribes of the blood sucking insects. We got back onto an Interstate and were making good time when we started to hear the sound... "plink, plink, plink plink plink". I turned to Erika and said (fully knowing the answer) "Is it raining outside dear?" Um, no. Not rain. Bugs. Lots and lots of bugs meeting a van going somewhere around 65 MPH (
that 65 was for Fed's sake, it was really closer to 90) When we got to the hotel the front of the van had a mean 5 o'clock shadow.
So we got settled into our Hapton Inn in Great Falls, MT for a nice relaxing night. This room was really nice. Not as modern as the Springhill, or as spacious as the Best Western, but overall nice. We had 2 queen beds and a pull out which suited our family well. There was still room to walk through so we were all happy. The next morning we all helped ourselves to the complementary breakfast which was similar to the others we had earlier. Given that this was one of the cheapest rates we had, very happy! Solid B+ rating for Hampton Inn.
Well, we finished up breakfast and headed on north. Today's destination was...
GRANDMA'S HOUSE!!!! (oh, and Granddad too)
So we got moving and hit the road. Before we leaft the country, we wanted to send along some postcards to Nani and Opa back in Chicago so we stopped at a little post office near the border.
If you look closely, you can see all (yes ALL) of the mail recipient's boxes that they serve (I think it was 20 total).
It was a cute little town with a grain elevator, a general store (with gas pump) and this post office. Erika we're definitely not in Chicago anymore.
Well we mailed our post cards and headed on down the road to CANADA!!!
I always knew there would be a line to get in. Why wouldn't there be? Its Canada!
Seriously though, the line wnet farily quickly and we were on our way. We continued on toward Lethbridge and followed the signs for Hwy 2. I thought we were making really good time, until I saw a sign that said Fernie, 60 km. Um, Fernie is in BC, why would it only be 60 km away? Wait.... D'oh!!!! Missed that turn back at Lethbridge for Hwy 2. So we pulled the U-turn and enjoyed the scenery for the last 40 miles for a second time. Just cause.
We found the turn that I missed the first time and low and behold we were travelling North again. (and the crowd rejoiced) Unfortunately our little 40 mile detour although scenic, landed us in the middle of rush hour traffic in Calgary on the Wednesday before Canada Day.
So we crawled though the Stampede City and every few minutes would point out to the girls, look out the left side, you can see the Calgary Tower and the Rockies. See that girls.
All in all, it wasn't too bad, we got through Calgary in about 45 minutes (South side to North side) and were once again on the open road. One thing I forgot to mention was that the weather was beautiful! 85 degrees, sunny, perfect driving / sight seeing weather. The reason I remembered this now was that as we got close to Edmonton (about 30 miles away) we hit a storm. Big, nasty, thunderstorm. This is not atypical during the summer to have these big rainstorms in the middle of the afternoon. They typically blast for 30 minutes or so, then clear out. Well this one was a little different. It hung. And it was brutal. As we inched along the highway we watched the temperature plummet. As I said before it was 85 degrees, well by the time we pulled off the Highway, it was 55!!!!
Fortunately the rain stopped for a while once we got to Grandma's and Grandad's house so that we could head inside and finally relax as the journey was done.
Up Next. A Canada Day BBQ and "Are those Dinosaurs in the woods?"