Category: General

Southeast Alberta is a flat to slightly rolling prairie dotted with large farms and ranches. About an hour east of Calgary we crossed the Red Deer River Valley, paused and wondered what happened to the prairie. Canadian Badlands? Really? Due to a unique mix of prehistoric sandstone formation, glaciers and floods that occurred millions of years ago, the Red Deer River carved a more-or-less diagonal slash through this part of Alberta creating deep colorful badlands approximately 2 km (1.2 mi) wide and 28 km (17 mi) long. Having spent time on our trip two years ago in the Dakotas, we found the spectacular geology of this area to be surprisingly familiar.

Ron, our jam buddy from Prince Albert, suggested we visit the Drumheller dinosaur museum. Larry, our jam buddy from Linden, and his wife Barb suggested we go to Drumheller to tour the Badlands. More than enough for us to set a course…

Continue reading “Drumheller, AB, part 1: Badlands and Dinosaurs”

The power outage only lasted 36 hours. We savored our last night in our RV in our own driveway (which would get a 5-star review by our criteria – quiet, dark, level, nice view, close to hiking and other activities, free). It’ll take a couple of days to transition back to stationary mode – then the focus will shift to skiing, music and planning the next adventure.

The frequency of our posting will slow a bit now that we’re home, although we do plan a few updates. Otherwise, we’ll catch you when the next adventure begins. Thanks for joining us!

Having thoroughly enjoyed ourselves on this year’s adventure and already thinking about what’s next, we pulled into our driveway in Vermont to… a power outage. Estimated to last 3-4 days. No electric, no water, no heat, although we do have a wood stove. We walked into the house, started a fire, assessed the situation over a cup of tea, and moved back into the RV. Let the adventure continue…

If you’re looking for my usual warped, humorous and light-hearted travelog posts, don’t read this one. Stop at part 1. I’m going to take a short break from that…

We expected to see barges, bridges, river towns and manufacturing plants in the historic Ohio River Valley, and that we did. However, there were also a few surprises… Travel (especially nomadic style) has a way of shaking up the usual everyday stuff to create learning opportunities, provide different perspectives, and stimulate deeper thinking to all who heed the call.

Continue reading “The Ohio River Valley, part 2 – the serious”

From our point of view, our friends and family tour of the west was hugely fun! Since August 10, we’ve made 16 stops to visit friends and family (17 if we count seeing Dana and Muffin twice). It’s important for us to stay in touch. And it was outrageous to meet up with long lost cousins!

Ah, but the leaves are changing, the temps are dropping, and there’s snow on the higher ridges. That can only mean one thing…  We’re onto the fourth portion of this year’s adventure – our re-positioning back to Vermont. There’ll be fewer destination stops. And we’ll be seeking out adventures along a more direct (our definition) route while keeping an eye out for early cold snaps and snowstorms.

Stay tuned…