On to Alberta!

Greetings,

After heading east from the Oregon coast we stayed a few days in Coeur d' Alene, Idaho before heading to Glacier National Park.   As it was early in the season, much of  the park was closed, but we still enjoyed its beauty. 

Sure wish I could have had a ride in this big red touring car.

 We stayed in the same campground we were at in 2009, but with one big difference...the weather! We woke up one morning to find....

 It was my first snow, wish someone had gotten a picture of me when mom opened the door. I stuck my paw into this cold white stuff and immediately pulled it out, but it was everywhere so I soldiered on. Luckily I had on my warm sherpa coat that Yvette gave me.

After the snow melted we took off for Alberta, Canada. Our first stop was in Calgary, lots of rain, but they had a Costco, so mom and dad  stocked up. The next day  we headed to Drumheller, in the heart of the Canadian badlands,

 not as impressive as the US badlands, but this area is known as Dinosaur Valley, home to some of the richest dinosaur fossil beds. The Dinosaur Provincial Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site includes a graveyard of more than 300 dinosaurs of 35 species, many of which have been found nowhere else in the world.

Mom and dad left me in the car while they visited the Royal Tyrrell Museum, the world's largest museum devoted entirely to paleontology, and they saw more than 80,000 specimens, including 50 full size dinosaur skeletons. Here  are just a few.

On the way out of town we stopped at the visitor center so I could sit at the feet of the largest dinosaur sculpture. Can you see me?

 From Calgary we headed to Banff National Park. I got excited as we drove towards the beautiful Canadian Rockies. 

 There were mountains everywhere, even next to our home.

I looked out the window and what did I see but an elk grazing right in front of me.

We walked around Banff taking in the sights.

 and took some longs walks  on Tunnel mountain, where dad got these great shots of the Banff Springs hotel in the distance.

Later we drove up another mountain to get a shot of Banff below.

 One day we drove through Kootenay National Park  on the continental divide

 On the way we saw moose drinking from the river

and enjoyed the views of the beautiful Castle Mountain

We saw lots of Big Horn sheep

 Look, they caught sight of me!

 But I was more interested in getting to the next tree

 We are starting a bear count - here is Bear 1

                                                                             Bear 2

Bear 3 ( can you spot the cub in the trees)

Mom hopes the only bears we see are from the car! We enjoyed our 4 days in Banff

Now  we are off to Lake Louise and then on to Jasper National Park.

Adios,

Yuki