Cheyenne and the Fam

Due to weather and fires and the like, we decided to cut some of our adventures short and started to head home to Boise, Idaho.  Since it takes a while to get there (the West side of the country is HUGE), we have made a few stops along the way.  One of the stops was in Cheyenne, Wyoming.  We chose this because I have a lot of family in the city of Cheyenne and the surrounding areas like Casper, Torrington and Denver.  We all gathered at my cousins' restaurant in Cheyenne called, "Estevan's Cafe" which was super yummy!   I got to see my uncles and aunts on my dad's side of the family!!  To some people this is not a big deal but to me it was a HUGE and monumental thing!!  I have not seen some of them for almost 20 years and I was so happy I cried!  (For those of you that don't know me, I rarely cry.)  I also got to see cousins I haven't seen for just as long, as well as some cousins I have never met!!  :)  Yes, some families are just THAT big!  ;)  The whole night brought back the best of memories and my heart was filled with so much love.  It is times like this that I am so thankful that we have embarked on this adventure.  I hope to have many more experiences like this.  

Cheyenne KOA, Cheyenne, WY

We were literally here for 18 hours so we didn't check out all amenities.  It is a gravel site and the parking spots are gravel as well. They have a putt putt course at the entrance and a playground for the kiddos.  It is located right off the freeway.  The water pressure was so bad that we couldn't even fill the toilets after flushing.  We give this campground a 2 due to the poor amenities and the high price we paid for them.

Hansen Family Campground & Storage

This campground in Havre was a pleasant surprise.  It is a working farm/ranch with a petting zoo for the kiddos!  :)  The majority of their sites are pull thru and the utilities are updated and work exceptionally well.  We were only there for one night but we will stay again when we travel thru Montana. We give this campsite a 3 due to its location, site size and updates.

Rushmore Shadows, Rapid City, SD

This park was an unexpected surprise for us. It has a great location right off SD 16 which gives you easy access to Mt. Rushmore, Deadwood, Custer State Park and also convenient driving to the many other sites in the area. The parking portion of the sites are concrete, very long and extremely wide. Each site has a picnic table and decent sized grass area. There are no significant trees at the sites, so it is very satellite friendly. The park offers wi-fi that works decent enough to check email, but not much else for most of the day. We rate this park a 4 out of 5 and will definitely stay here again.

North Park Campground, Dickinson, ND

Conveniently located park right off the major freeway giving easy access to the sights in the area. The park is a split between a 55+ community of park models and a large RV area. The roads are a bit rough, but fine if you take it slow. The sites are gravel and many are rutted. We had rain our last day at the park and our sewer spout was under water as we disconnected. The sites are long enough for a big rig and tow car with reasonable space between sites. We give this park a 3 out of 5.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park, Dickinson, ND

The smoke around Glacier NP and in B.C. chased us away from our original route from Calgary. With hourly updates from some friends in the area, we made the painful decision to abandon Glacier and head to the Dakotas to escape the fires. After a quick night in central Montana, we pulled into Dickinson, North Dakota. That area of ND was beautiful. We spent two days exploring Theodore Roosevelt NP. I had never heard of the park, so I was not sure what to expect. The park is surprising with its sandstone formations and grass plains. We spent one day at the south unit and the second day at the north unit. The air was hazy from the smoke on our first day, so the pictures don't do it justice. We enjoyed our first experience with a prairie dog town, saw several bison and learned a lot about the formation of the sandstone features and the Little Missouri River. Fun fact about ND is that it is the least visited state in the US, but tourism is the #3 source of income for the state.

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

After our time in Banff I was looking forward to seeing more of Canada.  I view Canada as what the Pacific North West of America used to be like in the 40's or so.  Still kind of the last frontier and gorgeous!  The drive from Banff to Edmonton was beautiful and full of golden farm land.
We pulled into our RV park which was in  a suburb of Edmonton and it was very pretty.  It was in an area called St. Albert.  As we have been on our journey I have discovered that I am a suburban girl and this area was right up my alley!  :)  It had all the amenities of a city without the traffic!
We did manage to go into the city though.  We explored the downtown area and the area of town known as Whyte Avenue.
The city has a "green belt" much like my hometown does right along the river.  We took a bike ride along there and appreciated the lovely scenery of the trees, the river and the general sights.  We also took a little ride onto the campus of the University of Alberta.
Sticking to our "roots", we took a drive out to a National Park called Elk Island where there are supposed to be a lot of buffalo but we didn't see any.  ;)
Since it was Labor Day weekend while we were there, we felt like we needed to do something fun for Labor Day.  We decided to go to the indoor water park that is located in the biggest mall in North America!  :) It was a lot of fun and a great way to spend a day!  Overall Edmonton is a big city but their suburbs are quite beautiful.  :)

Calgary, Alberta

Unfortunately, we ended up in Calgary right as the fires in Glacier and the rest of the NW peaked. The smoke was so think it limited our visibility to a mile or two and we decided to not go for the bike rides that we had planned along the river and through their beautiful parks. We ended up changing our schedule to leave Calgary a week early and head East with the hope of getting out of the smoke. As I mentioned on FB, we broke down an hour outside of Calgary and got a bonus two days in the city. The good news is that the coach was fixed Monday morning and we had clear skies on Sunday to do a little site seeing. Comparing Edmonton to Calgary, we liked the downtown area of Calgary better, but the suburbs of Edmonton better. It's an even race as far as we saw in the head to head challenge between the rivalry cities. We had a chance to meet up with a good friend from Boise for dinner at a great steak house while in town, which was a highlight and a much needed reminder of home. We went to the top of the Calgary tower on our one clear day for some amazing views of southern Alberta. We also were able to spend half of a day at the Heritage Park Historical Village to get a feel for the history of Alberta. We are looking forward to coming back to this area and will be anxious to visit for the rodeo.

Calgary West Campground

We were a little disappointed with this campground after reading reviews and its website. The park is more of a campground and less of an RV park. The roads and sites are all gravel/dirt. The sites are also tight with a shared area for the hookups for you and your neighbor. We had a few people show up for a single night in the sight next to us and it was nerve wracking to see them pull in just a couple of feet away from our slide out. We had barely enough room for our 43' coach and to park our Jeep. The park has OK showers and laundry services along with a swimming pool and small convenience store as part of the office. The wifi was spotty, but worked at slow speeds for 75% of the time. Due to the cost of the park being on the high side, the sites being way too tight and not level, we rate this park a 2 out of 5.

St. Albert Kinsmen RV Park

We picked this park for our time exploring Edmonton and we were very happy with that decision. The park is located in St. Albert, which is a suburb of Edmonton. We were very close to the main freeways, which put us 10 minutes away from the West Edmonton Mall and 15 minutes or so from downtown. The park is located right next to a soccer/rugby field complex and also a bike/walking path which gives it a quiet and secluded feel. The sites are back-in around the edge and pull through in the middle section of the park. They are spaced apart perfectly so that you don't feel crowded by your neighbors. They have a small and clean shower and bathroom facility and their wi-fi worked reasonably. We rate this park a 4 out of 5 due to price and convenience.

Tunnel Mountain Village 2, Banff

For our stay in Banff, we wanted to stay as close to town and the sites as possible, so we picked the Tunnel Mountain Village. Unfortunately, the park that has full hook up was full, so we stayed at the Village 2 which only offers power. The village is just a short mile out of the very center of town and has easy access to the main Canada highway running through the area. To pull into your site you just parallel park along side the road next to your power hook up. They have bathrooms and showers located all over the park, so the lack of water and sewer was not a big deal for us. They have a dumping and water station at the entrance of the park when you need it. The best thing about the park was the location and scenery. Even though it is a large park you still get the camping feel. We highly recommend this park and give it a 4 out of 5 rating.

Banff, Alberta

As we ventured into Canada, exploring the crown jewel of the Canadian National Parks was high on our list. The drive into Banff is breathtaking. When you picture the Canadian Rockies, you are probably close to the scale and beauty of the mountains. We started off our visit to the area with a day at Lake Louise. This is a postcard picture in every shot type of location. We hiked up to one of the tea houses, which were built to lure the rich and famous to the area, and then continue our hike up a glacier canyon for some amazing views of the glaciers and lake. We spent a day exploring the town of Banff which is a lot like Park City or Sun Valley, but on steroids. We took a long drive up 93 to see the mountains, lakes and glaciers along the historic road connecting Jasper to Lake Louise. We wrapped up our stay in the area with a nice and challenging hike up to the top of Sulfur Mountain for the 360' views of the entire area. We were very impressed with the area and are already in discussion with our ski racer to come back in the winter to check out the 3 ski resorts in the area.