North America Cross-Continent Road Trip, Part 2: Jasper, Banff, and Glacier National Parks1/21/2024 Quick recap in case you missed it: we moved! A few months ago, we bought a travel trailer, packed up our stuff, sold our house, and started off on an epic 31 day road trip across North America. Yes, we *drove* from Alaska all the way to our new home in South Carolina. The first leg of our trip was the most intimidating. We drove the entirety of the Alaska Highway on the brink of winter and it was not for the faint of heart! And after 1500 miles, we were about 1/3 of the way done with our trip and not even through Canada yet! You can read all about part 1 in the last post, but this part picks up where we left off in Grande Prairie, Alberta. Day 6Our night in Grande Prairie was pretty eventful. We stayed at Country Roads RV Park, which was a super fun place to stay, especially in the fall. If we had more time, we would’ve loved to explore their corn maze and other activities! We were excited that their laundry accepted quarters since we kept forgetting to exchange money and when we did need money, the front desk was usually happy to exchange. But this was the first time we needed to do laundry on our trip and we started after the desk had closed for the night. Since we had the laundry room to ourselves, we took the opportunity to run 3 loads at once but when it came to drying, unfortunately, the slot for quarters on the dryer was too small!! And while it is comical now, at the time, it was pretty frustrating since we had to find ways to hang 3 loads of laundry around our trailer to dry (insert facepalm emoji). We had no one to blame but ourselves since we were in a foreign country and hadn’t taken the time to exchange money…so travelers be warned: Even if a place says they take quarters, it’s worth it to exchange ;) Our drive was pretty short on this day since we were camping in Jasper National Park! We were so looking forward to exploring but our dog had other plans. While loading up the truck, he decided to slip away and take himself on a grand tour of Grande Prairie! I’m not convinced he got far away from the campground but we couldn’t find him for a few hours and the staff were so helpful for keeping an eye out for him. Day 6 did not get off on the right foot, however, once we finally got to Jasper National Park, we were blown away! We had reservations to camp at Whistlers Campground and as we pulled in at dusk, the entire place was crawling with herds of elk! It was absolutely incredible. We set up camp and enjoyed listening to them bugle all around our trailer all night. When I say all night, we could still see them right outside when we got up in the morning. It was unbelievable. Our family definitely made a core memory that night. Day 7This part of our drive was one of the most highly anticipated days. At least it was for me! On Day 7, we drove the Icefields Parkway! We started off with a visit to Pyramid Lake. It was a beautiful day and a great little walk around the island for the kids. Next stop was Maligne Canyon, which was stunning! We then went back into downtown Jasper and grabbed some lunch for the road. HIGHLY recommend Patricia Street Deli! It’s a build-your-own sandwich place and I was so grateful for their recommendations. I was informed that the cran-mayo and cranberry chutney were local favorites so we went all out and, man! It was amazing. Also we took the opportunity to taste some of Canada’s chip flavors: Ketchup, pickle, sweet chili and sour cream. Are these a thing in the US? Cuz we’ve never seen them, but they are everywhere in Canada! Once on the Icefields Parkway, we stopped at Athabasca Falls, Sunwapta Falls, Tangle Creek Falls….okay…all the falls…and took in the stunning views of the glacier from the road. We pulled into Downtown Banff close to dusk and parked in the free trailer parking just outside of town. We packed up little bags and walked 6 minutes to our hotel for the next two nights! Day 8Pure adventure on Day 8 with the only drive being up to the shuttle for Moraine Lake and Lake Louise. The only problem was that we hit a pot hole the day before and bent the jack on our trailer :( so we had to tow it with us back up the canyon because we had no way to unhitch. And before you ask, we tried to find RV services in the area but, low and behold, we found ourselves celebrating yet another Canadian holiday (Thanksgiving) so the stores were closed. Which also explained why everywhere felt so crowded haha. We kinda thought we were hitting the beginning of shoulder season and that we were really just not used to being around people but it made sense after learning it was a major holiday weekend. With beautiful weather, at that! Despite having to navigate parking lots full of tourists with a trailer for the second day in a row, we had a great time exploring. Full disclosure though, I know Lake Louise is a major bucket list destination (at least it was for me!) but it was not worth the crowds! We kinda wished we had spent more time at Moraine instead. We also explored a little of Johnston Canyon, which was a major highlight! Even with all the people, the views were stunning and my kids loved going into the cave to see the lower waterfall. You really can’t go wrong with any kind of visit to Banff <3 I have wanted to visit here for a very long time (and one of the reasons we even decided to drive instead of fly) and it did not disappoint! Day 9Back in the USA! On day 9, we stopped in Calgary to get a new jack for our trailer. Jon took the opportunity to get an electric one ;) We did a little bit of a family history tour through Cardston, where my great-grandparents were married! And then we crossed the border into Montana in Carway. What took 45 minutes to an hour when going into Canada took 5-10 minutes leaving ;) Then we found ourselves in Glacier National Park! This place was also a big bucket list item for me but we quickly realized this might not have been the right time of year for a visit. Even though it was early October and beautiful, sunny, 70*, services were closed for the winter season. During this time, you can camp with discounted prices, but be aware that restrooms and hookups are closed. We camped at Saint Mary Campground and had beautiful views. The sky was so clear and perfect for star gazing. In the morning, the lake was stunning and smooth as glass but was closed to all watercraft for the season, which was highly disappointing! We didn’t spend much time in the park and maybe we need to give it another try under different circumstances. Day 10This was the first day that we didn’t get as far on our drive as we had planned. We didn’t realize we would be driving on such rural roads so we couldn’t drive as fast as we had been driving the last few days. But we did stop at the KOA in Butte, Montana for the night and we thought it was such a pretty little town. Had we looked into the route of our drive a little more, we probably would’ve made a few short pit stops as there were a lot of dinosaur spots to explore! They have found a lot of fossils in the areas we drove through. Montana is actually where they found the first dinosaur fossils in North America in the mid-1800s. Our route took us right through Choteau, near Egg Mountain, where they have found baby dinosaur fossils in 76 million year old nests! On Day 11 we made it to our friend’s house in Idaho Falls, Idaho and had a great time catching up and on Day 12, we made it to Utah to stay with family for a little over a week. It was a fun and restful break for our cross continent road trip. That was the second leg of our trip! Don't miss part 3! We still have a long ways to go! Have questions about our route or other parts of our trip? We’re always happy to answer! Or if you’ve done this route, is there anything you would add that we might’ve missed?? Make sure to pin so you can come back to this post! Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram or TikTok for some of our day-to-day adventures and until next time, get out and explore where you live!
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AuthorWe're just a military family enjoying where we live, one PCS at a time. Follow us as we explore our current home, South Carolina, and beyond. The world is our backyard. Archives
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