The words of that great Tom Russell tune "Blue Wing" have been running through my head for the entire trip:
"They paroled Blue Wing in August, 1963. He made his way picking apples to the town of Wenatchee."
We passed through Wenatchee en route from North Cascades National Park to Glacier National Park in Montana. After a great family visit with my Dad, my brother and his awesome family in Seattle we headed north on I5 to catch highway 20 through the Cascade mountains. Highway 20 is billed as the most scenic drive in America. After our experiences in Alaska, this was a tall order. It was pretty darn impressive I have to say. Amazing mountain peaks with impossibly blue lakes at the summit. The most impressive part, however, was the way the "American Alps" morphed into a fruit tree laden desert on the eastern descent. The girls had not seen fruit trees before and were wide eyed as we passed beautiful brown desert scenes patched with a bounty of pear, apple and peach trees and endless wine orchards. We camped in a great desert campground surrounded by hills that must have been full of cougars and coyotes. The girls swam in the warm lake and marveled at the Milky Way that spilled across the pitch black desert sky.
The drive from Wenatchee through to Montana was a mix of desert, urban nothingness, lakelands and more mountain beauty. We expected our drive across the US Northwest to be fairly routine but we found ourselves stopping every half hour or so to soak it all in. What a beautiful part of the world. Thanks to high powered drugs, neck patches and bracelets from Uncle Dave, the car sickness improved notably on this sector, although it did nothing for the driving sickness.
We stayed at a casino hotel in Polson, Montana on the south shores of Flathead Lake. The kids went bananas in the pool with other kids who had spent their days imprisoned in their parents' cars. We had cereal and peanut butter bread on the balcony before heading north on our LAST day of driving. Hard to believe the northwest portion of the trip is almost over!
It's getting sort of repetitive but the drive through Glacier National Park was out of this world. This was supposed to be a commuting day to Alberta but we decided to take the "Road to the Sun" through the park. Lord Thunderin' Jaysus! I still can't figure out why anyone in their right mind would build a road through this country. But nice for everyone who gets a chance to drive it that they did. This road, which is closed for much of the year, starts at a beautiful mountain lake and then ascends right up the side of a bloody vertical cliffside. I'm sure the passenger side mirrors were scraping the cliffs as we wound our way along the edge of this UNESCO heritage site goat path. To the white knuckle drive you add in incredible alpine scenery, glaciers you could almost reach out and touch, pristine waterfalls that splash right onto the road and gorgeous alpine meadow and valleys. It feels like I'm running out of adjectives to describe all this and the photos never do it justice, but this drive was damn impressive. Even Mira, who we sat up front to minimize the projective vomiting, was duly impressed. THIS must be the most scenic drive in America, but an extra pair of underwear is recommended for drivers and passengers afraid of dead blind turns and vertigious drop-offs right next to the outside wheel of your car.
After a nice lunch near the eastern gate of the park we crossed the border back into Canada after our first 10 day absence and headed straight for Lethbridge. How amazing the contrast in scenery as we hit the big sky and rolling farmlands of southern Alberta. You really could sit on your front step and watch your dog run away for three days here.
We arrived at our dear friend Mike and Anne's just as suppertime. Mike has damn near cut his thumb off preparing taco soup for us and was just returning from having it stitched up as we hopped out of the mini van for hopefully the last time! Mike and Anne have four kids ranging from 5 to 9 so our girls were in heaven to get to play with humans their own age that they would not have to say good bye forever to the next morning.
We plan to stay here three or four nights and then catch the bus up to Edmonton where we will hop on the train. In our van we will say farewell to all the extra gear we have been packing because we could. After this its just the four of us and our backpacks. Feels like the saucer separating from the mother ship. In the meantime, we plan to relax in the company of good friends and take stock of all we've seen thus far. No one will be happier to bid farewell to the van than Mira who may be ruined for life on road trips. Oh well, hopefully it will make the trains, plains, sailboats and camels more palatable in comparison.
Here's hoping everyone is well. Its fine and warm here in southern Alberta but all the talk of returning to school puts me in mind of fall. We should get a good dose of that in the Maritimes and Newfoundland. Will write more from Winnipeg - first stop on the cross Canada train journey.