The Double Double

 What do you have to have when you're in Canada? Maple creme cookies? A&W? A trip to Roots? A bucket of Tim Bits? Or possible all of the above? I mean, are Tim Horton donuts the best donuts around? Nope. But Tim Bits make us smile! We've been going to Tim Horton long before we started reading Louise Penny, but I still REALLY wanted to order Gamache's Double Double. You know, just to have an inside literary joke. ;) 

On Monday we traveled from Idaho to Canmore, Alberta. It wasn't as long as Sunday's trip, so we did sleep in a little bit (whew!). We didn't bring our large cooler (aptly named the death cooler from the amount of cooler related injuries we've sustained),  but we did bring a little one big enough for keeping cold drinks.  You know what's great about coolers? They keep your stuff cold! You know what bites about coolers? You have to deal with them ASAP in the morning.  You know, before coffee, before you've come to terms with the day (or the heat!). As usual, and as promised, I survived. Barely. 

Early in the day, we rolled up on Columbia Lake in British Columbia.  Guess what it's known for? It's the source of our mighty Columbia River! How cool is that? 

The rest of our journey was filled with anticipation as we kept getting little glimpses of the Canadian Rockies. We were awestruck then, but wait until you see tomorrow's pics! 

To get to Banff, we had to drive through Kootenay National Park. And guess what strolled across the highway? The cutest black bear! We didn't get a picture, just enjoyed getting to see him. 

We are staying in Canmore, which is just outside the park. The mountains are big, and the town is lovely. It's very international here, like much of Canada that we have visited. For dinner we had pizza. We chose the chicken, bacon, ranch pie. It was tandoori chicken! When have you ever seen that? (It was delicious!).  

💕

On the Road Again

I know, I know. That's a well worn blog title. But as a point of tradition, we play it at the start of our road trips, and sing from the tops of our lungs.  So it's perfect!

Thelma and Louise are heading out for a summer adventure; one last hurrah for this teacher. We are so happy to be able to go back to Canada! Sure, covid shut down that travel option for a while, but it's also not as accessible in Oregon as it is from the Seattle area. I still struggle with understanding that when people say they are going to Vancouver, they're not taking their bikes for a spin in Stanley Park. 😉 We aren't headed to Vancouver though; we are off to Banff!

Today's driving adventure took us from home, all the way to Bonners Ferry, ID. I assume we drove here, but as I was unconscious most of the time, I cannot account for most of the trip. Ha! I looked like this for part of the afternoon after falling asleep on my ponytail holder!

And before 7pm that was almost the most interesting thing that happened today! But at 7, we rolled up to our hotel in Bonner's Ferry, and near about ran over a former colleague from Opstad. What's that quote from Casablanca?  "Of all the gin joints in all of the towns in all the world, she walks into mine." Having not seen Karen for almost a decade, this seemed like a pretty random reunion! Had a nice time catching up over dinner. :) 

As you might tell from my tomato face, it's warm here! Especially if you came from the low 60s on the coast. 😉 Tomorrow is a much shorter day across the border and into the park. It's going to be beautiful!

Why Missouri?

This has been a fun question to answer! I love watching all of your faces as you navigate asking what we were thinking in taking this trip.  Yes, there is a National Park. But the deal maker was MoBot -- the Missouri Botanical Garden. 

The Garden was created by Henry Shaw in 1859. It has about 80 acres of different gardens and research facilities. Fun fact: One of us used the MoBot plant finder in her job on a daily basis. You can too!: Plant Finder  In the perfect Spring Break world that we dream of every year, it's NOT March, and it's warmer, and in this case, there would be many more plants in bloom. Not so.  I give you March.  In Missouri.  

It was soooooo cold today. Well, it wasn't so much the temperature as the biting wind. We headed first to the Climatron as that is a big old bubble of warmth. It has around 1,500 plants from the lowland rain forest. Obviously I'm parroting some printed information here. Ha! All I know is that it was warm, and there were some HUGE plants.

I'm quite sure all of these plants have wonderful names, both scientific and common. And I don't know a one of them! But I travel with a walking plant encyclopedia, and she'd love to share. :)

After the Climatron, we headed to the Japanese Garden, which was really beautiful, and balanced in all the ways that Japanese Gardens are. It's really quite striking to be in a place where you can feel the harmony, where each branch and rock serves a design purpose. 

And after the Japanese Garden we wandered into the Chinese Garden. One thing I learned today is that Chinese Gardens are built, meaning they include architecture as focal points, and Japanese Gardens are grown, meaning they focus more on the natural elements. I sort of learned that today. I've recently had help remembering. Ha! :)

And the first day would be remiss if I didn't include a picture of the inside of the Linnean House, named after Carl Linnaeus. I didn't have to look that up! He is the father of modern taxonomy, the naming of animals and plants. I won't forget that as there was a minor familial skirmish over the spelling of his name. Ha!

And then, miracle of miracles, we found high tea at the London Tea Room. Right here in St Louis. If there's a better way to warm up than earl grey and scones, we don't know of it!

Bonus, there was a retail side to this tea shop. We came home with clotted cream in our suitcases!

The Down Day

You know when you’re on vacation and you just need a day? That was Thursday! We slept in, and the headed out for a shopping adventure. The Galleria (I think that’s what it was called) isn’t an especially interesting mall, but we do love to shop and can make most things work. 😉 The trying on is half the fun! If you get stuck in a dress with the lining out the left arm hole and the waist wrung around your neck and you’re alone, that’s just tragic. With a friend, it’s downright hilarious! 😆

On our list of things to try in St Louis was frozen custard. We went to Andy’s. Mom had a mint Oreo “Concrete” which is basically a Blizzard. I had a frozen root beer float. 

If it looks like I’m sucking my brains out through a straw, that’s right! 😂

For an afternoon adventure we drove back to the Alton/Grafton area (we’ll never tell why!). This time instead of driving by the corner of the “Great Debate” we stopped. The Great Debate was the last between Lincoln and Douglas. We both assumed it was the debates in the run up to Lincoln’s presidency. But it was for senator! I didn’t know this: Lincoln ran against Stephen Douglas for senator of IL, and lost. Later he ran against him (and some other folks) and won the presidency. In these parts, the 7 debate series for senator is thought to have shaped part of his future run for president. And it was cold, so the only picture evidence is an original brick road. Which I took from the car. ☺️

To close out another great day, we ate at Sen Thai, which was a Thai/Japanese restaurant. We had gyoza, tempura, and Pad Thai. And Japanese French fries. I have no idea why they were delicious! They had saffron on top, and delicious dipping sauces, but however they were fried was special too. No pics of that either/devoured too quickly! 

Not bad for a down day! 

The Pig Lizard at the Zoo

Once you start with move/tv references, it's hard to stop. 😉 The pig lizard is the creature that "exploded and turned inside out" after they used the digitizer in Galaxy Quest. While we use that quote quite a bit, we haven't seen a pig lizard before.  They call it a "takin" here, and it seemed to have considerably less teeth (and drool) than a pig lizard. 

We spent the day at the St Louis Zoo!

It was another cold and rainy day here in St Louis, and while we wished for different clothes, and tried on ear muffs, we had a wonderful day exploring this FREE zoo.

Besides the pig lizards, we saw lots of animals. Maybe because of the breezy conditions, or maybe because they were happy to see us, the animals were super active. We saw bears digging holes, monkeys running around in their overhead canopies, hippos frolicking about, and painted dogs herding each other around. 

Before we rolled up on the penguins, the bears and zebras were our favorite stops. But the penguins! It's a good thing they are separated from the rest of the animals so there isn't a lot of jealousness about their humorous charm. Despite the frigid conditions, we stayed in the penguin habitat for quite some time. There were some zookeepers in the exhibit trouble shooting a sprinkler problem and restocking the ice. And the penguins were giving them the business! The king penguins were following the every move of the workers, while the rockhopper penguins in the other exhibit were nearly losing their minds with squawking. My favorite was a gentoo penguin, who despite the chaos, seemed to be taking some personal time on a snorkel tour. What fun creatures!

We were SO COLD today! We've reminded ourselves (or tried) that this isn't the coldest we've been on Spring Break. We were ill prepared for the winter storm in Jasper National Park. or the snow in Santa Fe. We expected temperatures about 10 degrees higher, but it hasn't ruined our fun! 

Long Johns and Sprinkles

Do you know that part in American President when the president confidently says, of a Dogwood, "It's a tree and a flower"?  (American President is quoted by me almost as much as Fawlty Towers...) The Dogwood scene inspires me to quote that in any sort of word play.  Today it was in a donut shop after the gal told us they had Long Johns in many flavors. 👀 Long John: An underwear AND a donut. Ha! 

We found the best donut shop just a few minutes from downtown St Louis. Fun fact #1: It's on the old Route 66. Fun fact #2: It was called Donut Drive-In and was NOT a drive-in! 😆 They had the sprinkle donuts like the old ones QFC used to make before they went to Top Pot. Heaven! 

Donuts in hand, we headed out to Illinois (again!) to Cahokia Mounds. Cahokia Mounds is a pre-Columbian Native American City that, in addition to being a National Historical Landmark, is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Even though the interpretive center was closed for a remodel, and the weather was not on our side, we really wanted to see it. How could we be so close to something so amazing and NOT see it?

I would like so desperately to tell you all about what we saw, but...even if the interpretive center had been open, I'm not sure what we would have learned.  It was a city of approximately 20,000 people at its heyday (1120 CE), built across over 100 mounds. Like many ancient civilizations, they just disappeared. There's no evidence of war on the grounds, but they built huge fences and defense palisades. Or possibly they moved because of drought or disease. One of the neat things archeologists have found on the site is evidence of trading with peoples from Pennsylvania, Minnesota and the Gulf Coast. One of the not so neat things is evidence of human sacrifice. Sigh. They know so little about these people, that they don't even know who they are! The area had been abandoned for centuries before the Cahokian people (an American Indian people from this area) made it their home. I love that in a time when we know so much, and have so much information available at our fingertips, there are still mysteries out there to be solved, and stories to be told.

The story of today turned out to be weather. It was rainy and cold in the parking lot, but downright breezy at the top of Monk's Mound about 100ft up. 

At a certain point you really can't get any wetter! This is why you bring extra Long Johns on your vacay. See what I did there? Ha!!

☔