What I did on my Summer Vac

I just looked at the last time I actually posted something and realized it was before summer vacation. And it reminded me of when I was a kid and had just gone back to school in the fall and the teacher had us write the essay, what did you do on your summer vacation. Being a kid who lived on a farm it was milked the cows, made hay, cultivated corn, weeded corn, vacation bible school, and swimming lessons.

This summer as you can see started out with another hike up Half Dome in Yosemite. I did it with my old Navy buddy his wife and a close friend of his wife. For me it was the third time I had done the hike so I knew what to prepare for. It was a good hike and we all had fun.

After returning from Yosemite it was get ready for our first real road trip since I retired. WB was done for the summer so we loaded the Camry up with all our stuff and headed out. The main goal of the trip was Banff National Park in Canada. We started the trip by going to Glacier National Park in the US. A must see place if you have not been there. There was still lots of snow so we could not take the going to the Sun highway across the park. But the waterfalls, wildlife were out in full force. After three days of camping it was off to Canada and the town of Banff. The Canadian Rockies again are a must see. We stayed in Canada for seven days and did all of the tourist stuff. Took the Ice field tour on the big bus that drive on the Glacier. Drove the full length of the Ice fields parkway like three times. Stayed in Jasper at the North end of the Park. Lots and lots of stuff to see. In total we took almost 700 pictures. Much more than I could ever upload.
There was lots of animals to see, Elk, black Bears, Grizzly bears, Big Horn Sheep, Mountain Goats, Moose, and even a Wolverine. A very rare event. The guy standing next to us told us after seeing it he had lived and worked in the woods in the Canadian Rockies for 20 years and had only seen one other Wolverine. But the photo that best describes what happens when someone sees and animal along the drive is the one of of the folks taking photos. Almost more entertaining than the animal itself. I don't think in the 1800's people would have taken the same approach to see a bear, elk, etc.

With so many pictures, it is now time for a new computer. Stay tuned for what I get. I think I will try to post once a week with a review of the previous week of what a retired guy does.