Mary – 08-02-12 WY/Canada Trip – Sherwood Park / Edmonton to Hinton, AB

It was very sad to leave our friends in Sherwood Park today. Hinton was just a stop in the road on our way to Jasper but it turned out being a fun stop. The drive was beautiful with storm clouds looming ahead and the Canadian Rockies off in the distance.

Much to our surprise we drove right past the scenic route to Alaska. It was tempting to make a right but, alas, we stayed the course. Alaska by RV will have to wait for another year.

As we approached Hinton the clouds formed rows across the sky. Isn't our world amazing?

Our campground in Hinton gave us a preview of the Rockies in Jasper National Park ... what a view. They also had beautiful flower gardens around the office with a few unusual vegetables tossed in the mix. Check out the above-ground onions!

One of our most delicious discoveries in Albert were giant BC cherries. They were almost too big to put in my mouth whole and the flavor was out of this world.

We drove into Hinton for dinner and caught a few cool and unusual sights. In one section of town, all of the light poles were adorned with metal cutouts of wildlife -- moose, elk, bears, etc. And, when was the last time you saw a full service gas station? We saw several and ended up refueling at one. It seemed very odd having someone pump the gas for us. Many gas stations in Canada are referred to as gas bars.





















The next morning we decided to wash the RV before heading to Jasper. It was really dirty and we knew there wouldn't be any mobile RV washers in the park. Having never attempted to wash the monster ourselves, we learned several things:

• First and foremost, it is worth paying someone else to perform the chore for us. I learned this - not sure Conni did. Even though it cost us about $55, it saved us $50-$100 for a mobile wash crew.
• Truckers (as in 18 wheeler drivers) enjoy watching two 60+ old women washing a big rig for the first time. The trucker waiting for us to finish made notice of my soaking wet clothes and asked if I thought I got any water on the RV - ha, ha, everybody has a sense of humor.
• We actually did have fun - fortunately, the temperature was in the low 70s.
• It was exhausting! Anyone who would like to come over and help wash it when we get home is more than welcome -- free beer, wine, snacks .....

I caught this picture of Conni as she was attempting to manage the hose. I'm not sure how the drops ended up on my camera lense but I think she took a shot at me (with the hose) before I got one of her.