An awesome night’s sleep in one of the most comfy beds I have ever slept in. The room was one I hated to leave but there’s no way I could ever afford to stay in a place like this for an extended period of time.

I finally got to see my surroundings this morning since I arrived after dark last night. Boy, was I surprised.

This is what I saw from the windows of my suite. I took this one outside when leaving. AS you can see the weather is beautiful.

I went to Tim Horton’s (again) and got a delicious breakfast – a back bacon, egg, and cheese croissant, hash brown patty, and a dark-roast coffee black.  Great way to start the day!

After I ate I went hopped in the truck and headed east to Mount Revelstoke National Park. The Canadian Rockies I have seen before (Banff, Jasper, etc.) have been spectacular and this park was just as incredible. I drove up to the parking area as far as I could go then hopped a shuttle for the last part – which ended up not being very much farther.

The weather was perfect but it was cool – it was in the mid-30s F and later on started spitting snow on me.

At the top there are several trails and I opted for the one that went up to the old fire lookout. Nearly every trail I saw has signs about grizzly bear activity so you bet I was very aware of my surroundings. I hiked around and, well, I’ll let the pictures do the narration:

Instead of riding the shuttle down I opted to take a walk in the woods and it was a really nice trail and the surroundings were beautiful. I did not see any bears, but I told some people behind me they looked more delicious than I did and they could go ahead. I don’t know how they took that other than a nervous laugh…then they stopped somewhere behind me. Maybe a bear ate them. I heard no screams though.

I left the park and went back to town. Unfortunately I had to get fuel and a snack to make the trip to Canada’s own Glacier National Park. It was another beautiful drive:

I stopped at the Visitor’s Center to buy souvenirs (which they did not have) and I discovered that you are REQUIRED to hike in groups of four or six (depending on the trail) because of the bear danger. Since I was alone, I could NOT hike there so that was disappointing. I also saw a sign that said the fine for feeding the animals is TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS! I had to look at it twice to make sure what I was reading was correct. Holy shit! That’s serious!

I kept on going and thought I would get a room at Radium Hot Springs until they told me it would be over $200 so I drove on. I ended up in Cranbrook at a Super 8, and this is a far cry from the luxury I enjoyed the previous night.

While driving I do a lot of thinking. I had just listened to a few hours of music and it hit me…after checking my posts here in the Super 8, it was during my journey five years and two days ago I was driving this very stretch of road! This was totally unplanned and quite ironic that this unfolded like this almost five years to the very day. Tomorrow, though, I am heading a different way than I did before. I’ll be heading southeast into Montana instead of southwest into Idaho toward Washington.

I remember driving this particular stretch of highway. I had come out of Kootenay National Park after spending time in Banff, Jasper, and Yoho National Parks. Radium Hot Springs village is at the end of the highway coming out of Kootenay and then you either go north or south. This junction is in a beautiful valley and here I was again!

More thinking – the last few days I have been leaving my phone off. International roaming and data are spendy so I put my phone in airplane mode and just update my daughters when I get wifi. No phone ringing since Monday and it has actually been kinda nice. I wonder how many messages I will have when I turn it back on…

I bought a candy bar the other day called a “Wonderbar”. It is basically a Butterfinger, but there is caramel around the peanut butter part and they are sooo good. Thinking about that experience, I stopped at Walmart to grab a few Canadian snacks to take back with me. It ended up being about $90 worth.

Hahahaha!