Washington State-British Columbia-Alberta-Montana-Wyoming

We have been moving at such a fast pace since we left California that we hardly have any time to keep up with our blog-sorry about that. We are also seldom able to connect with the internet since most of our days are spent right now in National Parks. Our time at Oak Harbor, Washington was amazing but too brief. We left Monday morning and headed up into British Columbia, Canada; we slept in a cheap motel in Kamloops, BC and then headed onward towards Banff in Alberta; as we neared the place we realized that the weather would probably make camping a very miserable experience so we opted for another night in a hotel; believe it or not there was snow falling from 5000 feet and up in that area, so you can imagine how chilly it was. We finally arrived in Banff, and it was as beautiful as I had imagined it would be. We were a little afraid of being in rural campgrounds in bear country, but we managed just fine. After the amazing time in Banff we headed south across the border into Montana. Bastian was able to renew his tourist visa as we reentered the USA, which was a relief; otherwise he would have had to return to Germany on July 23rd, cutting our roadtrip significantly short. We enjoyed camping in Glacier national park for two nights and then we went to visit my great aunt, Hazel at her home in Great Falls, MT; I hadn't seen her for more than 30 years, so it was a special reunion. We enjoyed every minute of our brief visit and were spoiled rotten by them. On Sunday we drove south and camped at a little campground just outside of the north gate to Yellowstone, waking the next morning to head into the park. We spent the day seeing the sights and looking for camping; alas, there wasn't a single campground with an available spot, so we headed outside the camp for a place in a nearby national forest; this morning we woke up early and got into the park in time to find a nice spot here in Grand Teton, just on the lake with the very Grand Tetons looming in the distance beyond the lake. Again, sorry for such a delayed and rushed blog entry. We won't be able to upload pictures until we leave the park and sleep in a hotel again, so please check back on Friday or Saturday...