27th July 2017

Well, we had an eventful day, in a way, starting early as I mentioned in my first post for this trip with the effect of the jetlag affecting all of us to the extent that we were all ready for some breakfast at about 7.00am. We had planned to have something at the Italian deli next to the Italian restaurant we had eaten in the day before, but they only opened at 8.00 and we were way too hungry, so we set off for  Tim Norton’s, which, for those of you who are not in the know such as yours truly, is a Canadian Starbucks. It was a bit of a walk, but the morning was fresh and we were ravenous, so we didn’t mind that. What did give us a bit of a surprise was that it was a drive through! So no leisurely lingering over our croissant and coffee, but it was back to the BnB and breakfast round the dining table. Luckily Test Match Special was available to amuse us all – well, at least me and Nick.

Imran arrived on time, we piled all our luggage in (we are travelling surprisingly light, but there still seems to be quite a lot of it) and set off to drive down to Kalispell,  Montana. There are about 3 ways to get there and we went via Crowsnest Pass and then south to Roosville on the border and then down US93 through Whitefish. Initially there was endless flat fields, mostly of cereal crops stretching into the distance to the east, but once we turned right and headed west we were faced with stunning scenery as you might expect here by the Rockies. Crowsnest is noted for two major disasters. The first one was a landslide of rocks that buried the town killing about 90 people in the early years of the 20th Century, followed by a mining disater in 1914 when 189 men were killed in an explosion. It was said that there was a man who managed to be late for his first day in the town and missed the landslide and then was working down the mine, but changed shifts to go to the movies and missed the explosion. I suspect he was nicknamed Lucky! There was also a notorious rum running murder.  So all very jolly! Oh and not forgetting what was claimed to be the world’s largest truck.

Some photos of the crew!

We made sure that we were also jolly by a dip into our respective playlists and a bit of a singing, much to the delight (or was it bemusement?) of Imran. At least he stayed awake.

Our border crossing went fine, though I don’t think they get many Brits coming in that way. The nice immigration chap managed first to mispronounce SHIVONNE name and then Valsala proved a bit tricky, prompting Nick, when asked who wasNicholasto respond with, “it’s pronounced Nikerlas”. I amtempted to say thatNick is now doing hard labour in some Montana penitentiary,  but, amazingly, the man saw the funny side and we all had a good laugh.

We did eventually arrive at Glacier International Airport to pick up the rental car only to find that Enterprise  are not located there, but a bit further in the town. Not a problem and we picked up the beast that is our Chrysler Dodge Grand Caravan and set off for our hotel. This proved interesting as it seemed we only had one room booked as muggins here had strangely booked the other room for the next night. So that was no good, not least as they were fully booked. The lady on the front desk, Sheila, could not have been nicer and phoned another hotel to get us the right number of rooms on the right night. This is the Aero Inn, which is the standard US motel type, but comfortable enough. The bed is quite highly sprung and has that slightly worrying aspect of sloping outwards so that you either have to head for the centre or hang on somewhat. We also have an air conditioner that must be joining in the aeronautical theme of the hotel as it seems to have only one setting of ‘jet engine strength’. It is also of a similar sound volume. Still, nice and cool.

We were all a bit whacked with some residual jetlag, so we decided to try a burger place across the road from the hotel that had a sign saying it had been voted best burger joint 2016. Sounded good, but, guess what – it was drive through only, with no tables and chairs. Aaaarrrggghhhh!!!! Oh well, needs must and it was a quick walk down the road to, I am ashamed to say, Burger King. Actually, not bad, though hunger might have dampened my tastebuds. And possibly my sense of propriety!

And so to bed for another early night. Tomorrow we go to explore Glacier National Park.

26th – 27th July, 2017

We are on the road again! Yes, dear readers, we are on our travels again, this time on a road trip through Canada (a bit) and the USA (a LOT!) with the main aim of stopping off at Cody, Wyoming for the reunion of descendants of Buffalo Bill on the anniversary year of his death in 1917. For those of you that are not aware, he was (is?) my Great-Great Grandfather, but more on that in due course when we are nearer to Cody.

For now let me fill you in on what has happened so far. I am typing this at 4.30am in Calgary or 1130 UK time having gone to sleep at 7.30 last night local time.

Well, our party this trip consists of myself and Val, Christopher and our lovely Texan daughter-in-law, Shivonne and Caroline and her (lovely?) partner, Nick. So we are six if you don’t count the bump that Caroline is carrying. Did I mention that Val and I are going to be grandparents? 21st January, 2018 is the due date. Very exciting.

All went well with a very civilised pickup at 0930 and a drive to Gatwick by taxi. Checking in went fine, we settled down to wait for the flight to be called, the kids went off to find something to eat (Boots meal deal), Nick worried about whether he had packed his new toy, a sort of GoPro camera (he had, we discovered on arrival at Calgary), Val and I fretted that we needed to get to the gate (we were fine, but we can’t help it) and then it was all aboard our WestJet flight to Calgary.

An uneventful 9 hour flight and several films (Hidden Figures, very good, Master & Commander, a classic and opportune as I am rereading the books and Once, which, if you have not seen it, is brilliant) later we touched down in sunny and nicely warm Calgary. WestJet are decidedly budget, but they try very hard and the stewardesses (there were no stewards for some reason) were endlessly cheerful. We were met, after a small delay, by Imran who took us all to our AirBNB where we were to overnight.

The apartment is good – clean, comfy and with all the modcons and will do us fine. See photos above. A walk down the road and we were sitting down to a nice Italian meal, despite several Chinese restaurants en route, which was very brave and decent of Val. Then an early night and, as you can see, an early morning. We will head off for some breakfast before Imran picks us up at 0900 to transfer us all to Kalispell in Montana. Why not drive yourselves, I hear you ask? I did look into this, but it is impossible to do a one-way hire from Canada to the USA and as it was soooo much cheaper to fly to Calgary than to anywhere even remotely close in the US, this is the best option.

I am glad to report that everyone is in good spirits. Val had a bit of a pre-trip wobble, but is now OK, Chris and Shivonne are in top form, Caro is tired, but holding up well and Nick has only made about half a dozen puns so far – indeed I must acknowledge his contribution to the title of this post. I will be intrigued by what he can come up with for Kalispell, our next destination!

More soon!