Living the Dream 2018

"We travel not to escape life,  but for life not to escape us." - Anonymous   Needless to say, it was tough leaving the spectacular beauty of Canada. As July approached, we absolutely could not believe it was already near the end of our trip. Reports from back home were not encouraging weather-wise. Drenching rain coupled with increasing humidity did not sound pleasant at all compared to the low humidity and consistently perfect temperatures we had become accustomed to since March. The one thought that helped us to accept our fate was knowing that our favorite places would soon be too hot or too crowded as summer and vacation season kicked into high gear. This, along with the draw of missing family, always calls us home.  "In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past,  bridge to our future." - Alex Haley Every three years, Doug's family on his mother's side holds a week-long family reunion. This tradition started with the W...

"I haven't been everywhere, but it's on my list" - Susan Sontag  For those of you who maintain a bucket list of places to visit, cross out whatever you have listed as #1 and replace it with: Banff, Jasper and the Columbia Ice Fields.  We're not kidding.  If you do not have a bucket list, then just go there! We first visited Banff, Canada in August of 2015 during our very first year of RV traveling. While there, we drove up the Icefield Parkway to see the collection of glaciers visible from the Columbia Ice Fields. Even though we did not get as north as Jasper during that trip, we kept hearing people say: "If you think Banff is beautiful, wait until you see Jasper!". That's when we decided to return sometime to visit all three places.  The towns of Banff and Jasper are located in the province of Alberta, Canada and are contained within Banff and Jasper National Parks, which are adjacent to each other. This set up is uniquely different...