Purple

SEQUIM, WA -  - Lavender, it's what Sequim is know for.  There's a festival honoring the fragrant flower.  Look hard enough and you'll find lots of things lavender besides the sachets above...like lavender lemonade.  Purple flags adorn lots of building fronts; fence posts surrounding the lots of lavender growers; plenty of pick-your-own bouquet places and all because of this fragrant decoration.
 

Logging steam engine

 PORT ANGELES, WA - - This steam engine locomotive has been out of action for 90 years.  Number 4 or eight built, it looks worn enough to have been on display since 1932.  The advent of diesel power brought its log hauling days to an end for the biggest lumber company in Port Angeles.

    The bottom pic is a solitary seagull skimming the waves along Dungeness Spit.

From Calgary to Sequim

SEQUIM,WA - - The trip from Calgary to Sequim featured plenty of miles through areas of farm land and orchards rather than large herds (spread out) of beef cattle.  Colorful forage for winter feed was seen in a lot of areas. Two spots we stopped at for browsing and camping featured friendly (four-legged) locals.  

     Our campsite at Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge featured a great location for watching sunsets while a walk on Dungeness Spit provided a look at storm and sea-action weathered wood cast ashore from the Strait of Juan De Fuca.
 

Rollback pick up

This is the photo which belongs with the previous blog.  Fortunately, things worked out; the van is repaired and we're now in Sequim, WA.  Illustrated updates to follow since our favorite coffee house here has good wi-fi and relaxed rules on how long you nurse a cup of coffee and play with your computer.

 

Sometimes s**t happens

 BANFF, AB, CAN - - From Saturday night on, it's been wait...wait...wait to get back on the road.  The van spit up a fan belt / alternator belt / or ???.  So, when the engine died it was time to get in touch with the Canadian version of AAA.  They work pretty good.  Of course, you have to wait for (in this case) a rollback recovery vehicle to show up and move us from Lake Louise to Banff.  Trip no problem...finding a garage to check / work on the van a big problem.  It's now Tuesday mid-morning and we are waiting for another lift; this time to Calgary where we've found a shop which will not only check our mechanical problem but might actually have the spare parts to fix it. Fortunately, the camping hostel where we stayed last night has good wifi.

Old "war horse" on display

JASPER , AB, CAN - - Canadian railways engine 6015, one of a group of 16 'mountain engines' built in 1923, stands ready for action.  The engine is on display in Jasper at the train station / rail yard transfer station.  It gets plenty of company each day as the Rocky Mountaineer (passenger train) and plenty of Canadian National freight trains...heading East and West pass by.  There is also a 'crew change over' accommodation nearby.
 

Stay inside the white line

The 'goat gang' and a good sized black bear

 JASPER, AB, CAN - - The nearly 100-mile jaunt up the Icefields Parkway from Banff to Jasper has been good to us (animal-wise) in the past.  Monday's trip was no different.  Mountain goats aren't a big catch as they are quite numerous in the general area.  However, this was a group of adults and 'kids' who ambled back and forth across traffic lanes before the families split up...leaving four adults to wonder what all the fuss was about.

     A bit farther on Lydia spotted a black shape ambling alongside the southbound side of the road. No hurry, no worry seemed to be his mantra.  So, while camera shutters clicked this apparently well fed carnivore kept on walking.  The bear didn't pose; didn't stop and didn't wander into the woods alongside the roadway.  It was our first 'good' bear photos in years.  And just to prove it wasn't a fluke we spotted another black bear later on but this one was in the woods so no photo opportunity.

The Rockies look the same from the Canadian side of the line

Waterton Lakes

 WATERTON LAKES, CAN - - Well, the Rocky Mountains...Canadian range version... look just the same on this side of the border.  If you look real hard you might see the dotted line across the lake (at the top of the top photo) denoting the US / CAN border.  The division is a joining also as Waterton Lakes and Glacier NP combined to form the world's first (in 1932) International Peace Park.

Off to Canada

No caption needed

WEST GLACIER, MT - - After 11 days at Glacier Campground, we're off to Canada.  Our first journey across the border since before Covid restrictions.
 Not sure how great the internet will be,  but there will be posts.  First stop: Waterton Lakes and the it's West ...somewhere.