This was the final day of our drive west.

_D7A2080 The temperature as we left Strathmore this morning was a measly -2°C.

How magnificent it was to see those mountains in the distance as we were driving west.

In Calgary the temperature reached +5°, and then began slowly dropping. Very strong cross winds as we approached the mountains.

_D7A2082 We stopped in Canmore for a breakfast sandwich and coffee. It was -4°C.

It was euphoric to be in the mountains and driving through Banff National Park.

The downside was that we had to keep moving and did not have time to linger.

_D7A2088 The skies were sunny with some low-lying clouds, a beautiful landscape.

That's Castle Mountain hidden in the clouds above the Bow River. 

Next was my required coffee and pastry stop at Laggan's in the Lake Louise Mall. Put this place on your itinerary whenever you are in Banff National Park. They serve Illy coffee and have tasty food and sweets.

_D7A2110 This photo I took at the Alberta British Columbia border. Here we leave Banff and enter Yoho National Park.

The Trans-Canada as a four lane road narrows to two. It seems that here we always encounter more snow, not only in the mountains but also on the highway as we descend by the spiral railroad tunnels to the village of Field. The skies were now gray for the rest of the drive.

_D7A2114 Here we were delayed for a short time because of road construction. This 600 million dollar project is four-laning a relatively short section of the Trans-Canada through Kicking Horse Canyon just east of Golden. It is amazing to see how this construction is taking place. The valley sides are exceedingly steep, requiring unique engineering and construction skills. It was slow going through the construction zone. At the best of times this has been a narrow winding road.

_D7A2123 Driving was quite good even though parts of the highway were snow covered or snow-packed. That is, until we hit Rogers Pass, where we encountered a line of cars and trucks all the way to Sicamous. The heavy traffic situation was exacerbated by delays for avalanche control.

_D7A2125 These avalanche sheds are in Albert Canyon, east of Revelstoke.

_D7A2126 At Sicamous, we turned off the Trans-Canada south on Hwy. 97 along Mara Lake and south to Vernon.

The final 30 kilometres were difficult driving. It was dark, the road was wet, the road lines were mostly invisible, and we were met by an inordinate number of cars heading north out of Vernon.

We arrived at the house in Coldstream at 6:00 p.m., a total of 3544 kilometres.

Now we are into unpacking the car, getting organized in the house, shopping for food and other essentials, and eventually picking up our ski equipment from the home of Ann and Michael Berry, who have been gracious enough to store these items.

After five days on the road, we arrived in Vernon today around 6:00 p.m.

Nine hours en route today and then quickly unpacking the car, and a bottle of wine, I'm not up to writing this blog.

Please excuse me, but I will post a summary of today's drive tomorrow.

What a difference a day makes.

Even though it was -24C this morning, it was so much more bearable, with no wind.

_D7A2056 This illustrates how flat the landscape is between Regina and Moose Jaw.

The temperature did drop to -28 before we stopped at Tim's to pick a breakfast and have a visit with...

_D7A2058 Supposedly the world's tallest moose, in, where else but Moose Jaw.

_D7A2060 These were our driving conditions today. Compare this to the photo in yesterday's blog.

_D7A2061

There still a few of the original grain elevators standing and in use in Saskatchewan. This is in Herbert.

_D7A2070 This is an example of the landscape in the eastern part of Saskatchewan.

Once into Alberta, the terrain was very flat. We passed Medicine Hat where we picked up an excellent coffee at Starbucks.

Then the sky clouded over, so there was no opportunity for photography.

_D7A2075 This sunset was just before our stop for the night in Strathmore.