OH Canada, I Have Longed to See You~

Last October, some may remember the husby and myself got expedited Passports so that we could travel up into Canada, while visiting Glacier National Park.  

We also spent quite a bit to have the dogs all ready for the border crossing as well.  

You are not allowed to transport their food unless you have special permissions as well as health certifications etc.

Yep, we had to do all of that again at $185.00 clip each time ;(

THEN the Government SHUTDOWN kept us out of our own National Park system...GRR ;)

THEN we were enroute to the Canadian border when we got into a snowstorm, like we had never been in before.  

We had no cell phone service and no way of knowing what lay ahead.  

We travel in a Lincoln Towncar with good tires, but not for road conditions like we encountered.  

HUGE SIGH, we turned around and went back to our lodging in Whitefish Montana, quite deflated, but safe and warm.

We promised ourselves that we would make it next time.

This year we found that the day we were to arrive at Glacier NP, the higher altitudes as well as Waterton Lakes NP in Canada had received 2' of snow.  

BUT ;) on the day we planned to travel, we still could not go through Glacier NP, but we could go on up into Canada~

YEA!

Remember to double click on the first image, to view a larger slide show presentation after you have read the narratives~

I will be linking up with Judith for:

www.lavendercottagegardening.com

Mosaic Monday

&

Stewart for:

   http://paying-ready-attention-gallery.blogspot.com.au/

Wild Bird Wednesday

This was one of our first scenes as we went through the gates entering Alberta, Canada and Waterton Lakes National Park.

GORGEOUS~

Once we had reached the village where we would be staying for 2 evenings, we saw right away, the famed Prince of Wales Hotels.  

We had wanted to stay here and even with the dogs, could have, but the husby scheduled us for a long weekend and even though we book rooms a month in advance, there were no vacancies~

The first sign of wildlife was this lovely juvenile Osprey, trying to get itself perched up in a tree~

Bighorn Sheep were out just about everywhere, as it was rutting season.  

I really love these big guys and they had been elusive to us, until a couple of years ago in South Dakota~

The village within Waterton Lakes National Park was very lovely.  

Great accomodations and restaurants.  

We were very cautious with our 2 dogs, knowing this was big bear country.  

We saw quite a few Brown and Black Bears.  

They just want to keep moving and not bother with mankind, but sometimes mankind acts really stupid.  

Sadly people are killed at times, and a gentleman was the same week we were traveling in the Grand Tetons National Park~

A Bighorn Sheep Ewe.  

Poor things were constantly having to battle the rams, silly boys ;)

My beauties, my friends, my favorites.

Silveit is on the left and is 20 months old and Meaka on the right will turn 7 soon~

A single Daisy in the snow~

This large beauty is a female without cubs.  

Maybe next year~

And another one.  

This one was walking and then running down the road, as it just wanted to get to the safety if the mountains and all of the rich berries that awaited it~

A darling Least Chipmunk surprised me at the park, as there was so much snow and yet there it was awake and alert!

I get happy when we head west for many reasons and one of them is the wonderful Steller's Jays~

This mama bear had 2 cubs, a brown and a black one.  

She was giving people trouble the night before, as she did not want to move her cubs out of the road that leads into the village~

Another ram on the scent of ewes~

Red Rock Canyon.  

Can you tell why ;) 

Really beautiful!

And another Bighorn Sheep, on the prowl~

One of the few lakes within the park, and a young woman taking photographs.  

Several of us, took advantage of the beauty of the moment~

Now then...I spoke about being cautious with the dogs in these parks, knowing of the wildlife dangers.  

It appears that our dogs have no leads on.  

However, trust me!  

They do! 

 I had to retouch them out of the photos, so that they looked PRETTY ;)

A Mule Deer stops in someones front yard to nurse her twin fawns~

Traveling Into the Badlands National Park~

On our journey now into South Dakota, we stopped for a fuel fill up and that is where I saw the charming Ring-billed Gulls, flying above me.  We were heading for the Badlands National Park, and this was about an hour east along the Missouri River area.

Once inside the park, the first wildlife that we saw, were these friendly
Prairie Dogs.  One of the birds that I had seen flying over this land our last visit 2 years ago were Golden Eagles, that easily take Prairie Dogs, but this year, we saw none...

One of my favorites are the Bighorn Sheep and though we saw no rams this journey, we saw this small herd of ewes and  lambs.  Note the set of twins, which were way too cute!

Our German Shepherd Meaka, thought that she ruled the park, at least for a few minutes, I guess she may have;)

At Last~

This was my 4th visit to the Rocky Mountains National Park in recent years and every time I miss my first viewing of the male Bighorn Sheep. Last season I saw some females and their offspring in the Badlands National Park, but I had always hoped to view and photograph the big boys. While driving thru Custer State Park in South Dakota, a few cars had pulled along side the road. This usually means something has been spotted, and for me, it is most often buffalo, and or elk. This time, it was 4 handsome Bighorn Sheep rams and they were so close and so handsome, and I could not have been more delighted~