Canada...finally

May 21   Cut Bank, Montana to Fort MacLeod, Alberta, Canada    112 miles  3hrs

We crossed the border and entered Canada today. At the last campsite, we were told to enter thru the port of Del Bonita instead of Sweet Grass because at Del Bonita they weren't as strict.When we got there the border patrol came into the motorhome and started asking a lot of questions. He was pretty laid back but then he asked if we had any liquor on board. Joe explained that we had some vodka and crown and started towards the cabinet to show him the bottles. He kind of got excited and told Joe to stay put or he would have to draw his weapon. Other than that it was uneventful.

Port of Del Bonita

We're staying at the Daisy May campground in Fort MacLeod. It's really nice, right on the river. They gave us a Good Sam rate of $33. We're planning to drive to Banff tomorrow but the weather doesn't look too good. It looks like rain for the whole drive up to Calgary and out to Banff.

Joe cooking dinner

Glacier National Park, Mt

May 18    Helena to Cut Bank, Montana     190 miles     4 hrs

We decided to drive to Cut Bank in northern Montana and stay at the Riverview RV Park. From there, we can drive the Kia to Glacier National Park. The rate here is $30 per night, we'll probably stay for 3 nites. Cut Bank is a small industrial town and to get to the RV park was kind of questionable but once we got here, it's really nice. It's pretty quiet and very scenic. If you walk a little ways, it overlooks a river.

May 19   We had an exciting day. We drove to Glacier National Park and did some sightseeing. The first stop was Many Glacier. This park is spectacular, the scenery takes your breath away.

We took a side road to see the Glacier Hotel that was still closed for the season and on the way out, came our first wildlife sighting, big horn sheep. About 5 of them came out from the side of the road and slowly crossed the street, right in front of our car! Then they stopped and blocked the road, so we had to wait. We didn't mind because Joe & I started clicking away on our cameras.

We didn't dare get out of the car

After that, was kind of funny because we were so excited about seeing the sheep, Joe started driving real slow around the rest of the area hoping to find more animals.

Then all of a sudden Joe spotted a moose in the trees right off the road. Was kind of hard to see him, but he was right there...munching on some vegetation. Then he sat down and just rested. When he did that, he blended right in. We would have passed right by him if he was sitting down.

Our next stop was St. Mary's. This is where the road to the sun is but because we're kind of early in the season, we couldn't go up too far. We went as far as Jackson Glacier Overlook and had to turn around.

On the way up we saw this white coyote in an open field.

Then in the trees, we spotted a deer. I know, it's hard to see in this picture, but it's there.

Joe wasn't into doing any hiking, especially after hearing there was a mama grizzly and 2 cubs on one of the trails. We did get out and walk around a little at the Sunrift Gorge at Baring Bridge. This is a 190 foot stone bridge completed in 1933.

I actually touched the icy, cold water

Not much of a hike

We talked to Josh on the way back to the RV park. They just finished cleaning the Crozier lot and was going to cook out with the family. We're so happy our kids are into family get togethers. They said everyone was coming. That made us miss home and the family.

May 20    This morning we drove to East Glacier Park and out to Two Medicine. Was really nice. We had lunch on the lake and started our drive back.

We took a scenic route that took us thru the mountain on a very curvy and winding road. Just when I thought we wouldn't see any wildlife today, we spotted a moose on the side of the road. We took a couple of pictures, but when she saw us she disappeared down the  mountain.

We couldn't get too close

We're driving into Canada tomorrow. We'll be turning off our phones but will be available by email...waialuajoe@gmail.com. We think we'll be able to call from the computer but not able to receive any phone calls.

Lewis & Clark Caverns State Park

May 15   Dillon, Montana to Lewis & Clark Caverns State Park   72 miles  1hr 50mins

Our campsite at Lewis & Clark Caverns State Park

We've spent the last 6 days in Dillon and now it's time to move on. Judy, Lindsey, Kawika, and Alika left yesterday to fly back to Hawaii. Kawika seemed pretty sad...I think he'll miss Dillon, Montana.

 Bryce spent last night with us, today we need to take him to Bozeman airport. He's flying to visit Sheri in Seattle, then on Friday, off to Alaska. We decided kind of last minute to make this move today to Lewis & Clark Caverns State Park. It's located between Butte and Bozeman. We arrived at the park at about 2pm and had to hurry and park the RV and unhook the car to get Bryce to Bozeman for a flight at 3:50pm. We got him to the airport at 3:10pm. Lucky this airport is small, he checked in and made his flight. That was a close call.

I forgot to mention earlier....while we were in Dillon, it was getting pretty cold. At night it would get down to the low 40's. We went to Arco and found an electric blanket that was on sale. What a lifesaver....I don't know why we didn't think of buying an electric blanket earlier. Between our portable heater and electric blanket, we're sleeping real good. 

May 16   Lewis & Clark Caverns State Park to Helena, Montana   107miles   2hrs 15mins

This morning we went on a tour of the caverns which is one of the largest limestone caverns in the Northwest. These spectacular caverns lined with stalactites, stalagmites, columns, and helictites are naturally air-conditioned. From the campsite, we drove 3 miles up the mountain.

Joe on the trail

This is where the tour started with a 1/2 mile hike up to the mouth of the caverns. This hike was long and steep, the elevation was pretty high and Joe & I felt so out of shape. There were 8 people in our group and we were the youngest so was kind of "make ass" to be breathing so hard next to all these seniors. Once we got into the cave it was pretty dark and cold.

Ready to go in

Our tour guide gave us the history about this cavern and all the formations. Then we had to go down 600 steps to the first room, and let me tell you...what we saw was incredible. For the next mile we hiked from room to room. It wasn't an easy hike. We had to stoop down a lot, the path twisted and turned all kinds of ways,  and there were steps up and down. There was a short slide that we had to go on, and Joe said his ass was too big for the slide so he couldn't slide smoothly like the rest of us. Lucky he was last. All in all, we enjoyed ourselves. The caverns are amazing and breathtaking.

When we came out of the caverns, there was another 1/2 mile hike back to the visitor's center where our car was parked. When we were driving back to the campsite Joe told me his back was sore. When we got back to camp I made us some lunch and could tell that he was in a lot of pain so I gave him some 800 ibuprofen. I was a little worried about him but I think the meds helped. After lunch he felt okay so we made the drive to Helena. We're staying at the Lincoln Road RV Park. We're staying for 2 nites so Joe can take it easy and rest his back. The rate for 2 nites here is $77. It gives me some time to plan our next few days. It's pretty chilly here...the temperature ranges from high 30's to mid 60's.

Mother's day

May 12   Happy Mother's Day!  We had breakfast with the whole gang at Sparky's Garage. The food was real good and the portions were big. The boys were a little hung over. Bryce kept leaving to go to the bathroom.

Then we were off to a ghost town at Bannack State Park. We all had a great time. This was a good ghost town to visit because we could go into the buildings to explore. Lindsey was kind of scared but she was a good sport. When we got to the Bessette house, at first the Yama's would not go in. They say this is a haunted house where you can hear babies crying. Kawika and Lindsey finally came in, but Judy would have no part of it. Then there was a house with someone playing the piano. I say "someone" because we couldn't tell if this was a man or woman. It was kind of eerie.

Inside Hotel Meade

This hotel operated until the 1940's

Entering church

Praise the Lord.

Bryce waiting for a hair cut

Alika ready to bust out

 We had a late lunch at the Mexican lunch wagon. This is Kawika's favorite place to eat in Dillon.
 We agree....the food was ono!

Must be good...nobody's talking

Kawika's graduation

May 10     Lava Hot Springs, Idaho to Dillon, Montana     226 miles     5 hrs
We're staying at the Southside RV Park for a few nights. They offer Good Sam discount so the rate here is $35 a nite. This park is pretty nice and the people who run it are very friendly.

May 11   Today we attended Kawika Yamanouchi's graduation from the University of Montana Western. This is the school that some Waialua boys attended back in 2007, including our son Josh.
                               Kawika is the only one that finished....we are so proud of him.

Judy got to wear a gown too!

The Yama's....Lindsey, Kawika, Judy

Dawn and Kawika

Dustin, Blake, Kawika, Alika, Bryce

Alika, Kawika, Bryce

Utah and Idaho

April 28 - May 7  We've spent the last 10 days getting everything ready, visiting some old friends, making new friends, eating, and gambling. We got the tow package installed and had to buy a lot of other necessities to get the RV ready. We shared some meals with Winki & Leslie. We finally got to see their house and all their dogs. They know all the good places to eat in Vegas. Greg, aka Pepe, drove over from Laughlin a couple of times. He even transported our new bed for us and got rid of our old one. Thanks, Pepe! Our neighbors from Kaamooloa Road, Scott & Donna, who now lives in Vegas, visited with us a few times. So nice to see old friends. We also made new friends. Dean & Vivian who are living in Vegas now, are friends of Winki & Leslie. Wendell Nunes, originally from Kauai, has traveled in his RV all over the US. Lloyd & Lorraine Uto are also RVers from Hawaii. They parked next to us at Mainstreet RV park. They drove to Alaska last summer so they gave us a lot of tips. They're on their way to Branson, MO.

Lloyd & Lorraine

On my last night in Vegas I was playing 3 card poker and got a straight flush. That's a first...my $20 bet turned into about $480! That was the most I made, the other days was only small stuff.

Leaving Las Vegas

May 8  Las Vegas to Cabela's in Lehi, Utah.   397 miles   8 1/2 hrs
We don't normally travel that much in one day but decided to just go for it. I ordered hiking boots for us and had it delivered to Cabela's in Lehi. We also took advantage of camping for free in their parking lot. Joe started the generator so he could run the TV to watch basketball but it irritated our neighbors so we had to move across the parking lot, that pissed him off. But it was very scenic with snow capped mountains all around us.


 May 9   Lehi, Utah to Lava Hot Springs, Idaho.   176 miles   3 hrs

Joe hooking everything up

We're staying at this RV park called Mary's Place. It's run by Bannack County Deputy Sheriff's Association. We just lucked out by picking this place.We met some of the officers that were doing some work on the campground and when they found out Joe was retired HPD they gave us a discount. Still kind of expensive...$40. Lava Hot Springs is a really small town but they have some water attractions.They have tubing down the Portneuf river in the summer, the Olympic Swimming Complex, which has indoor and outdoor pools, big slides, a rock climbing wall and other fun stuff  will open later this month. But the reason we're here is for the hot springs.

The natural hot springs is absolutely amazing. There's 5 different pools and the temperature ranges from 100 - 112 degrees.We went for a dip after lunch today and had such a nice time, we went back after dinner. Was kind of chilly this evening, about 50 degrees. The water was wonderful. I already told Joe we need to come back.