The Galoots are four friends who travel together annually. Bob (left), Gary (my left), and Bruce (right) are or were marathon runners who were neighbors in…
Gary and I flew to Seattle where we saw two icons of the city: Mount Rainier and the shipping docks.
As a Washington resident, Bob hosted us on a tour of the regional sights, appropriately starting with a fun ferry ride.
On the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the ocean inlet leading to Seattle, near Bob's home on the Olympic peninsula. This is Salt Creek Recreation Area. I was reminded…
Continuing the New England theme, this resembles a Wyeth backdrop. In fact the house on the left is described as the "Cape Cod–style keeper's quarters." This is…
A steep trail, cedar trees, and a waterfall. This must be the Olympic Peninsula! Marymere Falls is indeed on the north edge of Olympic National Park.
Having met Bruce's flight in Spokane, the fully-constituted Galoots began our tour of the Canadian Rockies. This stream feeds YoHo National Park's beautiful…
The Emerald Lake Lodge has a setting that can't be beat but you would have to get used to a stream of tourists (like us) strolling past your door.
We headed toward Jasper National Park and gained altitude on the Icefields Parkway. Here, we survey the Athabasca Pass area, explored by pioneering Scottish…
Athabasca Glacier is awesome and sad at the same time. It is shrinking by about 16 ft per year and has receded by a mile in the past 125 years.
I recognized the familiar Mount Rundle, overlooking Banff. We had a tasty brunch in Banff but headed down valley to Canmore for more economical lodging. Banff…
Here is Gary happily improving the composition of this shot of Lake Louise. Accessing the lake requires tactical planning. We were shut out of the limited…
I find Lake Louise's popularity to be well deserved. The composition of the surrounding mountains, glaciers, and valley is perfect. The lake is named after a…
The Canadian Pacific built a grand railroad hotel at the base of Lake Louise at the turn of the twentieth century. They are still expanding it. The milky shade…
It wasn't all mountains and lakes. Water rushing downhill through limestone formations creates narrow canyons, some of which you can enter. This is one of the…
After another long drive, we arrived at Glacier National Park in the U.S. We knew we were getting there early if we wanted to drive the Going to the Sun road,…
We saw mountain sheep ewes and calves trying to cross a creek. They repeatedly shied away from tourists occupying the opposite shore. Confusingly, the ewes have…
A black bear nonchalantly strolled along the highway and Bob was quick with his camera. Glacier became famous for its bears in 1967 when two hikers were killed…
On the evening of our arrival at East Glacier, we heard that the snow had been cleared from the Going to the Sun highway and the road was open! It was the…
