Day trips around Jasper

Sunny and 12C at 8am. Eggs and toast cooked outside on the Coleman, then we headed the 48 km to the Miette Hot Springs. We saw an elk and sheep along the way. Our Lab had a (cold) swim.

Fox crossing the road

We got to the Hot Springs before they opened at 10:30. They open at 9:30 in the “summer”. I guess the lineup waiting for the 10:30 opening doesn't count as busy. $6 each, plus $1 for coin-operated lockers in the change rooms. There are 2 hot pools, one at 104F, one at 101F. Also 2 coolers ones, at 19C and 12C (not sure why the change in temperature units). We went in the hotter one for about ½ hr, then moved to the 101F one for another ½ hr. Very nice! Different than the ones in New Mexico, ie shared large pool instead of private rooms, but very nice anyway.

Then we had a nice drive back to Jasper, had burgers at an Internet hot spot cafe, and Cath had another browse at the quilt shoppe. 

The rest of the day we were just lazy at the campsite, one of the nicest sites we've had this trip (number 62K).

After supper we drove to Pyramid Lake and took a short hike out to an island in the lake. 

Our Lab was able to come with us on some hikes in Jasper Park, anywhere dogs weren't specifically excluded because of wildlife concerns mostly. Then we drove around to another road on the other side of Jasper, and got a real nice view of the Fairmont Jasper Lodge. 

Back at the camper we poured ourselves a drink and sat around outside until 10. Still mild, and very few bugs.

More Yellowstone touring

A packed day, here are some highlights.

On the way in from West Yellowstone we saw a bald eagle in the mist:

West Yellowstone to Madison, bison almost guaranteed.

Mammoth Hot Springs – spectacular crystals

Long 6% grade down to town, more downhill to Gardiner. This would be a long uphill pull from the Gardiner (north) entrance.

- Mammoth to Canyon clockwise – WOW!
- Big hills, clear, good wildlife views
- started seeing bears through a ranger spotting scope
- very hilly, feels high, about 6000 ft at Mammoth, up over 8900 ft at Dunraven Pass, 4C and sleet there
- we saw a bear find and kill an elk calf in the distance, with the mother elk running around in circles, helpless. A coyote sat and watched the whole thing too, from a nearby ridge.
- looked down on a flying Golden eagle
- Roosevelt Lodge looked like a great place for activities, cabins, horseback rides, stagecoach, wagons. Lots of open meadow, good views.
- Dunraven Pass is a bit scary in places – high, steep, winding, many places with no guiderails

We stopped in to the Grizzly Center in West Yellowstone afterwards and had a closeup view of Grizzly bears and wolves,  $21 for two. It felt like a donation to grizzly rescue, we're ok with that. It was kind of sad to see these amazing beasts penned up, but they are there for necessary reasons.

Homeward Bound. *END* of Florida trip

Our only picture of the way home

 We're just heading north today and for the next couple of days. It was a lovely drive today, up through Alabama and Tennessee, and on into Kentucky. We were able to mostly stay on good secondary roads until we reached I65 northbound. A lot of rolling wooded hills and farms, well cared for places. Downtown Birmingham looked lovely from I65, with a nice waterfront. I65 was quite rough through there though.

We got to Nashville about 4pm EST, and just stayed on I65 right through town, and ended up camped at Cave Country RV Park, near Cave City KY, exit 53 off I65. This was a good park for overnights, just good level gravel sites with full hookups and wifi, $28 with Good Sam discount. They had good washrooms too, except for the auto-off lights even when the washroom gets very dark! I think they are open year round.

 Thursday March 5

We wimped out and stayed in a motel tonight. We couldn't find an open campground except a KOA, and the modest motel discount rate was likely no more than a KOA. The room was $47 with a coupon from the accommodation booklets. Clean enough, TV, Wifi, newspaper and breakfast. We don't really remember the motel name, but it was only 1/2 hour from the Canadian border.

Friday March 6

And we're off to Canada, only about 1/2 hour to the border at Port Huron/Sarnia. An easy border crossing at 7:30 am.

We stopped in at a Costco in London for an expensive restocking of home supplies, and at an M&M for a thank-you gift certificate for our doggy care friends when we picked up our fur kid.

Home at 3pm, 11C and sunny. 

 

St Andrews to Rocky Bayou park

 

We weren't sure where we were going today, except starting to head north. My cousin Ken had recommended Henderson Beach state park, so we looked for that but didn't find it. It looks from the maps later that we didn't go far enough west before heading north. 

We had a good stop at a Bass Pro shop near Destin. It's a very builtup area right from Panama City west all along the Panhandle, and most places looked like they'd be expensive.

We had an early stop at Rocky Bayou. By arriving there at 11 am we got 1 of the two remaining sites available for tonight, and only tonight. This was well away from the main salt water areas, so we thought it wouldn't be too busy. Maybe the large sandy sites with water/electric for $12.50 have something to do with the popularity. 

In the afternoon we had a hike on the Rocky Bayou nature trail:

We saw several deer

The white clumps are Deer Moss

A closeup of the moss

  

 

4 days at St Andrews park, near Panama City FL

Typically windy at the Gulf shore, sometimes calmer than this

 We spent some time the first day touring Panama City and learning our way around. We found that our GPS doesn't like Panama City at all, which contributed to our navigation problems yesterday. However we did have some good stops in town, lunch at a Chick Filet, good groceries at a Publix store.

On the way back in to the park we found a seafood market, and picked up a piece of grouper, a BIG piece of salmon, and a piece of key lime pie, all very good. 

While Cathie had some quiet time at the site, I biked around the campground. We had an optimistically large supper with the whole piece of salmon (steamed) along with potato and salad. Boy were we full! Then we sat around enjoying the soft evening air.

The next day we stayed around the campground. We had our breakfast outside, then a good bike ride around the park. We toured the turpentine and saw mill exhibits, then walked some of the long white sand beach.

After lunch we drove to the beach, after donning our swim togs. No swimming today though, it became very windy, and red flags were flying indicating dangerous surf conditions. The para-boarders and surfers were out in force though:

 

Back at the site we took our chairs over to an empty waterfront site across from us. The beach was stony here, but on a more protected bay. Then we rode our bikes over to a nearby pier to see some fishermen, birds and passing dolphins.

The next day, Sunday, it was very windy. There were tornado warnings for north of here. It's only supposed to get up to 12C today but actually only made it to 8C (46F). We're really glad we're not camped at one of those lovely sandspits we saw on the way here the other day, and that our site here is nestled in a protected area.

Since it wasn't a nice beach day, we drove into Panama City for breakfast and some more shopping, then back to the trailer for reading, naps, then a good long walk. 

The next day, Monday, was cool again. We walked around the park and out to a fishing pier:

The birds kept trying to eat little bait fish from the fisherman's jugs

Later we drove into the City again, it's kind of nice after ll to have a city nearby. On our way out of the park we saw smoke, and drove through some of it, a "prescribed burn" day.

The burns keep the vegetation at bay.

Lunch was Jimmy Dean sausage and eggs today:

We'll be leaving St Andrews tomorrow morning, starting to head home. This was an unexpectedly nice park to visit.

 

 

 

 

 

Moving from Manatee Springs to St Andrews park near Panama City

Dunes at St Andrews park

 A sunny travel day today, we were off by 7:40 am. We're looking forward to a coastal drive around the "Big Bend" up to and in the Panhandle area of Florida.

Our first real elevation in quite a while

Bird condos

High elevation coming up

Lots of fishing/marine activity along the way

Very sandy in the Big Bend area

Beach near our St Andrews campsite

 The shoreline drive from Alligator Point to St Andrews (see map) was really pretty. We could see what looked like very scenic campsites out on St George Island. It did get quite windy at times during our 5 days here, and likely would blow harder on St George, as they are basically barrier islands with lots of sand.

We had to go through part of Panama City to get to St Andrews park. The city part was a tough drive, lots of traffic and we had trouble following the route to the park. This got better over the course of our stay, as we started to learn the city better.

When we did get to the park we were pretty much worn out, and ready to just head home. We didn't do that, but did shorten our 8 night reservation to 5 nights. We're glad we didn't head home, as we enjoyed our stay at St Andrews after all. Sunny and up to 22C today.

Our nicely-sheltered campsite