Our Day In Banff

Well, the last full day of the Noll/Anderson part of this trip is behind us now.   As we sit here in our lodge,  basking in the late afternoon warmth, our memories will be of another wonderful day.

We started out driving to the Banff townsite.   The top picture is taken as we walked on a bridge across the Bow River which runs right through the town.  

We enjoyed meandering the streets and looking at the shops.   Of course we were always on the lookout for a good lunch location.   Roger is

 getting quite a reputation for being able to spot the really good ones!   You can see us at the right enjoying lunch at his pick today-The Wild Bill Saloon.   We think it was the "saloon" part that hooked him.   No matter what, the food and the beer were great.   We were on the upper balcony and you can see some of the town and Sulphur Mountain in the background.   Not a bad spot for lunch.



We also took a little tour of the amazing Banff Springs Hotel.    The place is so huge, that we had to drive off on a mountain road on the other side of the Bow River to get a shot back towards the hotel in order to see it.   Roger is taking it all in as she is shaded by a huge Douglas Fir tree.

Our last stop in Banff was for some snacks.   Marsha chose a caramel apple that had been tempting her since we got to town!  The rest of us opted for ice cream cones at the Cows Ice Cream store.   Pretty darn yummy.   Then it was back on the TransCanadian Highway to Canmore.   The picture at the right is along that road.   We all agreed that we have not tired of this amazing scenery one little bit.  


Right now our agenda is blogging, napping, doing some wash, journaling, and generally hanging out.  The good news is that we still have a whole bottle of wine and half a case of Alexander Keith's, along with some cheese and crackers to finish when "cocktail hour" rolls around.   Then we will meander back into the downtown of Canmore to find a place for our final dinner together.   Tomorrow morning Roger and Marsha will head north, retracing our route all the way back to Jasper.   They will return our rental car and then board the train around 2:00.  Lucky them, the vacation is not over as they will have one more overnight on the train.   The section they will be heading through is supposed to be one of the most amazing train rides in the world.  They will arrive in Vancouver on Saturday morning, and then rent another car and head for Victoria.   The will spend three nights on the island and then return to Vancouver for their last night.   They will catch their flight on Wednesday morning which will take them back to Winnipeg where they will pick up their car and head back to Wisconsin.   Bob and Deb will lazy around the Lodges on Friday until around noon when they will catch the bus to Calgary.   Their flight home leaves for Chicago at 4:00.   Then it's on the Van Galder bus headed for Janesville and finally on to Fort from there.  

What a wonderful trip we have had!   We never know if there will be one final blog picture,  but if not, this will be our good bye.

Hugs to Everyone and see you all soon.

Roger, Marsha, Bob and Deb

Day 5- Banff National Park

 Hello Again.

Well, we finally figured out our technical problems, so we are good to go now.

Wednesday, was just a wonderful day.   We slept in a little bit, and then had breakfast in our very nice condo.   Finally headed out about 9:00 and our first stop was Lake Louise.   The picture you see above is taken at the edge of that beautiful lake.   Unbelievable.  
Then we headed just a short distance away to Moraine Lake.   It is equally as breathtaking, but not quite as popular as Lake Louise.   You can see Roger and Marsha pointing at some beautiful sight at the

edge of that lake.   Had a light lunch on the outdoor deck of the lodge there.   Special note to the Paulinis-it was quite the opposite kind of day that we had when we were there last!   Wish you could  have experienced it today!

Next we headed to Emerald Lake, another crystal clear, aqua-blue glacial lake.   It was our first beer stop of the day.   Sat on the upper balcony of the lodge there.  Pretty darn nice place for a beer!






The last stop was the amazing falls you see below.   It is called Takakkaw Falls.    It comes crashing over the top of the mountain being fed by glaciers up above that you can't see.   It falls about 300 m  and the sound and power are amazing.

We tried very hard to get the rainbow that was created by the sun and the falls, but not sure if you can see it.   Look closely.   Katie, it was pretty.   But I don't think there were any leprechauns or a pot of gold at the bottom.   Only water.

We are having a marvelous time.    Have been unwinding for the last couple hours at our lodging.   Sorry to tell you, Greg, that we are not behaving very well.   Marsha and I are on our  third Alexander Keith's, and Bob and Roger have finished off an entire bottle of red wine.   The good news is that they had some dark chocolate with it, so Roger says they are the "healthiest blokes around"!

Can't believe tomorrow is our last full day here together.   We will be doing Banff itself and taking in as much of the area as we can.    Friday will see Roger and Marsha heading back up to Jasper to catch the train and Bob and Deb will catch a flight out of Calgary back to Chicago and then on home.  

We will blog again tomorrow.

Love you all a bunch,

The Nolls and Andersons

Atop the Glacier

Hello Everyone.  

We were out of touch yesterday due to technical problems with the WIFI at the Lodges.   Got there safe and sound and the place is great-except for that.   This is a picture of us up on top of the Athabasca Glacier along the Icefields Parkway.   It was amazing.

As we blog, we are sitting at the McDonalds in Canmore after another amazing day.   Lake Louise and surrounding areas.   Hope we can blog later with more pictures and details.   Needless to say, it was more of the same astounding scenery.  

We have decided to take some burgers to go and head back to our rooms and drink beer and wine!   We might let Roger get a chocolate shake too.

Hope we can do more later,

Hugs.

The Happy Wanderers

Bullwinkle, Yogi, and Friends

 Hello from Jasper!

What a wonderful day we had!   Started out with a great wildlife  sighting.   The bull elk you can see below had quite a rack!    We continued on toward Maligne Canyon and Maligne Lake.   We had a wonderful boat ride out to Spirit Island which you can see at the left.   It is hard for us to describe the day.   It was sunny, warm, and the scenery was like none we have ever seen.  

On our way out of the canyon we met the young gentleman you see to the left.   We are still arguing as we speak about what type of sheep it is.   It has become increasingly difficult as the evening has passed and we have consumed 2 bottles of wine and beer with our dinner.

Anybody out there in better control of their faculties to help us out???

As we were leaving Maligne Lake, we took a wrong turn, and as we were turning ourselves around, Bob spied the friendly bear you see above.   Brave Roger and Deb stayed safely in the car while crazy Marsha and Bob leaped out to get up close and personal.   Yikes.

It was then on to the liquor store for wine and the grocery store for cheese and crackers.   Needless to say, the rest of the afternoon and evening was more fun than we would want to admit to all our kids.

All in all, our last day in Jasper was more than memorable.  

We leave the Gingerbread House tomorrow morning after breakfast and head for the Icefields Parkway and the Athabasca Glacier.   Our plan is to take this cool Snow Coach right out onto the glacier.   Then it is on to Canmore and Banff.   Can't wait to check in tomorrow night.

Love you all,

M, R, B and D

First Day in Jasper

 Greetings Everyone.

We had a great time on the train yesterday.   We all slept like babies being rocked in our cradles.   It was really relaxing and fun.

Arrived in Jasper at about 1:00.   Picked up our rental car and headed out for some touring.   The top picture it taken at Athabasca Falls and the others are at the top of the Jasper Tramway.   We are settled in at the Gingerbread House after supper at the Jasper Brewing Company and a drive out into the surrounding area to look for some wildlife and a good sunset.   Guess what?   The sun was behind the mountains and the only wildlife we

saw was a cocky bull elk and his harem of 4 ladies grazing on the nice green grass right in the middle of town!

Time for tea and bed.   More to follow.

B, D, R, and M.

Greetings to Everyone from the lovely Sandman Hotel in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada-heh!

We arrived safe and sound at about 6:30 tonight.   You can see Roger and Bob checking us into the hotel in the picture at the right.   Lucky for us, there is a Denny's attached right to the hotel, so we didn't need to get back in the car to find a place for supper.   Just sauntered across the parking lot!   Our trip up was most enjoyable.   It was filled with good scenery and good conversation.   The 12 hours just flew by!

Must admit, we are all glad to be settled in our rooms for the night.   The beds are going to feel mighty good as we were all up by 5 today, and we have all admitted to being just a tad excited for the trip, so we have had trouble sleeping for a few days.   Now the fun will begin.

We plan to visit Denny's again for breakfast and then head to the train station midmorning.   We will explore a bit of the downtown and then our train leaves at 11:45.   Yahoo.

We will blog again when we arrive in Jasper on Sunday.  

Having a wonderful time already.

Love and Hugs to all,

Bob, Deb, Roger and Marsha

O Canada-Here We Come Again!

On Friday, September 14th we will be leaving Fort Atkinson at 6:00 AM for our grand Canadian adventure.   We will spend that night in Winnipeg, Alberta and catch the VIA rail train at noon on Saturday-bound for Jasper, Alberta.


We have checked and rechecked the weather, packed and repacked our bags, talked and talked again about things we would like to do-and we are so thankful that now it is time to go!


We hope that you will all enjoy following along on our trip.   We will be "out of touch" for the day we are on the train, but plan to blog when we get settled in Jasper on Sunday.

Hugs to Everyone.

The Andersons and Nolls

Sunset on the Great Irish Adventure

Here it is, bedtime for us on our last night in Ireland.  The  sun set over Ireland on our way back to Dublin from Kilkenny.   On the way we talked about what things were our favorites.   We decided it would be too hard to choose any one place or experience.   We have had just a wonderful time.   For all of you who know our reputation for getting lost during our travels, you will be impressed to know that we hardly missed a beat this time!   Just a few minor wrong turns. Considering we were driving on the wrong side of the road, with some places so narrow you couldn't have fit a piece of paper between us and the stone wall beside us-we figured we did ok.   The rental car is only dirty-not dented!  We are anxious to share pictures with many of you.    Our thoughts have started to turn to things back home.   Our hearts are a bit heavy as we know that as soon as we get home, we will be preparing to send Scott and Sam and their family on their way to Utah.   That is ebb and flow of life for sure.   So in closing we will say good bye to all and hope that the road will rise to meet you and the sun be always at your back.

Hugs to Everyone and thanks for following along with us.

Bob and Deb

Great Final Day in Kilkenny

Hi All.

Today was spent  in the city of Kilkenny.   It is an old medieval city about an hour and a half southwest of Dublin.   The centerpiece of the city is the Kilkenny Castle which is pictured behind Bob on the right.   It has been painstakingly restored to its original splendor.   What an amazing place.   We were not allowed to take pictures inside, so we are hoping our memories will be solid in our gray heads!    We also took a guided walking tour of the city which gave us lots of interesting background info about the city.

We strolled the cobbled streets, ate, drank beer and finally ended the day with a fun experience at the most famous pub in the city.   It run by a woman who was charged with being a witch!   It was so cool inside.   But the really fun part was our lesson on playing the  bodhran (pronounced bo ron)-a traditional Irish drum.   We don't know how good we were, but it probably helped that we had already had a couple pints!
After we left this pub  at about 7:30 and headed back to our car, we happened to pass another pub with traditional Irish music being played and of course we couldn't resist more music and of course, another pint (only for Deb since Bob was going to drive back to Dublin)!

Needless to say, it was such a fun day.

Hugs,

B and D

Galway to Dublin

 Hello Everyone.  

It is 10:50 PM here and we are just settling in for our cup of tea.   It has been another lovely day as the locals would say.   The picture at the left is of one of the busy streets of Galway last night.   What a buzz going on there!    Pub after pub, after pub.   We were sad to say good bye to that area of Ireland, but we headed out this morning after a hearty breakfast at the Glenlo Abbey.  

On the way to Dublin area we stopped at an ancient
monastic site along the River Shannon.   It is called Clonmacnoise.  It was one of the first Christian sites in the country.   It was so peaceful and "holy" feeling.   You can see the remaining ruins and Celtic crosses in the picture at the right.   Very cool.






We ended our journey at our Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel just south of Dublin.   It is a stately old place with lots of beauty and character.   After a wee nap, we took a nice long stroll into the area nearby called Dalkey.   We had a nice dinner and then walked back to our hotel.   On the way we hiked up to a high hill just in time to see the sun setting over Dublin Bay.   Such a pretty sight.   The city is in the background.    We plan to head south for our last full day here.   Hard to believe our trip is nearly over.  

Good night from Dublin, Ireland.      Hugs to Everyone,   Bob and Deb

A Fine Day On Inishmor

This day has to be a 10.  Not a cloud and temps near 80.  I don't think the Irish no how to react to such weather.  The two beaches we passed on the way to the ferry were already starting to draw crowds.  Our ferry ride out to Inishmor was only slightly rolling, like lying in a hammock and being rocked to sleep.  The ferry ride took about 45 minutes.   To see the sights of the island, people could walk, bike, take a jaunty car ride or a tour van.   We chose  the bike rental.  The island is about 7 miles long and 2 miles wide, so a bike worked out just right, except for the hills we had to climb.  It was nice not having so much car traffic as we have had in the last 3 days.   The biggest feature of the island is Dun Anaengus, a fottification sitting on the highest point of the island, built about 500 BC.  We ended our day on the island having a cold one.   Tasted pretty darn good.  

We are now having a "wee rest" as the locals would say.   Tending to our sunburned faces and arms and our sore butts!   We are heading into the city for dinner and some Irish music.   Galway is supposed to be fantastic for that.   We have been so pooped the last few nights that staying up late hasn't been appealing.   Tonight is it.

Wish all of you could be here to experience this wonderful country.      It has been a fantastic trip so far.   We are sad to think we are on the downhill side of the week.   Heading toward our last hotel tomorrow.   It is south of Dublin and we hope to take in some of the Wiklow Mountain sights, Kilkenny, and Waterford and/or Wexford during these last two full days.

Hugs to everyone.

The Weary Sunburned Travelers

Connemara Coast

Greetings Everyone.  Internet was a little funky last night, so we are a few hours late checking in.   It is another gorgeous day here and we are looking forward to it.   Yesterday, as shown in these pics, we visited a wonderful place called Kylemore Abbey.   It is located in the Connemara area of Ireland.   It was built in the 1850's and is now occupied by the Benedictine Sisters.   Lovely castle and immense walled formal garden.

The picture at the left is on something called the Sky Road.   It wound its way out to the coast on a tiny peninsula.   Nail-biting drive, but worth it when we got to the views of the open ocean.  
We then headed to our hotel just outside Galway.   It is another wonderful place.   We will post pics and details of today's excitement later.   We are heading for the ferry to go over to the Aran Islands.  

Bob and Deb

Another Beautiful Day

 After a wonderful breakfast here at the Lough Eske Castle, we headed a bit further north to one of Ireland's 6 National Parks.   It is called Glenveigh National Park.   As you can see in the picture at the left, most of the park is barren bog land, but about 160 years ago a man named Adare decided he wanted a "hunting lodge".   The castle you see on the lakeshore is it.   It is still nearly in the condition it was back then.   It has immense gardens which surround the castle. All of the gardens AND trees have been planted over the years by owners.   It is a beautiful oasis in a stark and barren land.   It was an interesting morning.

After we were done there, we headed on a scenic drive back toward Donegal.   Stopped on our way to do some shopping a small town called Ardara.   The picture on the right is especially for my brother, Mike.   This is your new hat, Mike.   We had fun looking around for just the right one.   Hope you are going to like it.

We ended the touring part of the day with a tour of Donegal Castle and dinner in Donegal town.  

We are pretty pooped tonight, so plan for a quick dip in the pool and then an early bedtime.   It's hard to get into sleep mode here when it stays light so late!

Tomorrow we head for Galway area.   We will do a bit of touring on our way in the Connemara area and try to fit in a stop at the town of Westport.   There is a pub there owned by Matt Molloy, who is a member of the famous Irish group, The Chieftans.   We can already hear the Guinness calling us!

Hope all is well with everyone.

Debbie

Castles and Coastlines-Day 2 of our Irish Adventure

 Greetings All.

We have had another amazing day.   We left our hotel this morning around 9:00 and reached Belleek around noon.   That is where we toured the famous pottery factory.   It was so wonderful to see all the craftsmen and women working on the beautiful pieces.   After lunch at a nearby diner, we headed to our hotel on the edge of Lough Eske, just outside Donegal.   Lough is Irish for lake.   The picture to the left is what greeted us as we drove up the long, winding, narrow drive.   Just beautiful.   We could hardly believe this was the place we were staying!

The hotel and grounds are lovely.   We took a stroll around before we jumped in the car for another nail-biting, heart-pounding drive along the coast to the cliffs you see on the right.   It is called Slieve League.   We haven't asked anyone specifically, but we are guessing "slieve" must mean cliff or mountain as we have seen it other places.   Anyway, it was a fantastic drive which felt like we were heading off the edge of the earth.  It actually is about the farthest west you can travel in Ireland.   The cliffs rise up out of the Atlantic to a height of 730 feet.  They are some of the highest in Europe, even higher than their famous Irish cousin-The Cliffs of Moher.   We figure the reason that they are not as well known is because it is quite an unbelievable drive to get there, but certainly worth every white-knuckle minute!

We then headed back to Donegal town for dinner.   After we finish here we are hoping our energy will allow one more stroll around the castle before we have our tea and head to bed.   It is 9:00 PM, but the sun is still shining.   Stays light till nearly 11:00!   Tomorrow we head a bit farther north to a National Park which is supposed to be beautiful.  We hope to do some shopping at the woolen mills and craft stores in this area.   Mike, we are looking for just the perfect hat.  

Katie, I have some bad news.   The weather has been so fantastic that we are getting worried that we might not see a rainbow.   That means no pot of gold or leprechauns!   We will keep looking, but we are not crossing our fingers for rain.

Love to everyone,

Bob and Deb

Day 1 of the Great Irish Adventure

 Top O' The Morning to Ya!

Is it still morning back in the good, old, U S of A?  It is 5:15 here is beautiful Ireland.   We had a very smooth flight with only about 6 hours of waiting in line for check in, security, customs, etc!   Neither of us slept during the flight, so we are running on adrenaline about now.   Still have dinner of fish and chips at our beautiful Dunboyne Castle Hotel and then a spa treatment.   Hope we don't fall asleep during the excitement!

These two pics are representative of our first day
The first is at Newgrange.   It is an ancient burial tomb-I mean ancient-500 years older than the pyramids in Egypt.   It was amazing.   The other picture is of Trim castle.   It is the oldest remaining Ango-Saxon castle in Ireland.   It was so amazing.   Dates back to around 1150.   This is where several important parts of the movie Braveheart were filmed.

We have had an amazing first day.   We will be heading to Donegal bright and early tomorrow morning-stopping at the famous Hill of Tara and the Belleek Pottery factory on our way.  

Hope everyone is well back home.   Jeff and Ruth, we climbed up and down 80 narrow, curved steps in that castle that reminded us so much of the tower in Bunratty!

Long-Distant hugs to Everyone.,

Bob and Deb

'Tis Time to Return to Ireland

On May 21 We will be returning for our second visit to the Emerald Isle.  This trip will take us to the northwest side of the island with the last two days in the southeast.  Donegal and Galway will be two of areas will will be touring.  The northeast is some of the least populated area, where the Gaelic language is common. We look forward to lots of beautiful coastlines, beaches and rugged terrain to explore.  We hope you'll enjoy following along with us.  Here are two pictures from our last visit: a coastline castle near Doolin , and the Cliffs of Moher, which are both about an hour south of Galway.

Well, isn't this just Texas??!!  This picture was taken on the LBJ ranch which is not far from Karen and Kenn's house.   We stopped there to visit on our way to Fredericksburg.   We also visited several wineries and neat little shops in the city.   We checked into our little cottage and then went out for dinner at a wonderful German place.   Then had a fun evening of cards and more wine drinking.  It was a rainy day on Monday, so we enjoyed a museum in Fredericksburg and then a nice drive back through the hill country.   Karen and Kenn insisted on taking us out to their local Italian place to celebrate my birthday.   It was a very nice couple days.  

Today we are just hanging around in the New Braunfels area.   The guys are heading to the golf course and Karen and I are heading back into Gruene for a bit of shopping.

Tomorrow is our last day and we will spend it in Austin.   Karen and Kenn will drop us off at the airport in the late afternoon.  It is supposed to be back up into the 70's tomorrow.   Nice way to end our visit.

Toodles,

Deb

Our Day in San Antonio

We spent our third Texas day in the city of San Antonio.   We began the day with a tour of several of the old missions in the city.   They were so peaceful and beautiful.  

As you can see, it was another beautiful day.  The temps were in the 70's and we thoroughly enjoyed the visits.  We made our way into the city center and ended the mission tours with a visit to the most famous of all-The Alamo.   We were even lucky enough to be there in time for a short talk given by a guide at the Alamo about the history of the famous battle there.

After we finished at the Alamo, we headed for the River Walk area.   We meandered through the area, stopping for a beer and snacks at Durty Nellie's pub.  We even experienced  Mass at an old church in the city.   Then we had a barge trip on the River and then dinner at a neat Mexican place.   We ate outside and our table was right on the water.   It was a bustling Saturday night.  Lots of fun.

Our next excursion will be to the German town of Fredericksburg for an overnight stay at a neat bed and breakfast.  

Hugs to Everyone.

B and D

Exploring Gruene, Texas

This picture is especially for our granddaughter, Katie.   She wanted to know if there are cactus in Texas.   You bet, Katie.   Here we are sitting next to a great big one.   It was a funny one because someone pulled all the stickers off of it!   It was a smooth as could be!   It was a beautiful day here.   75 degrees and sunny.   We tried to soak as much up as we could.  






This picture is of the famous Gruene Hall.   Many entertainers have performed here.   It is such a neat old building.  

We had Karen and Kenn's grandchildren with us all day today so it was fun.  

We are going into San Antonio tomorrow for the day.   We will visit some of the missions, the Alamo, the River Walk, go to a mariachi Mass at the cathedral, and eat authentic Mexican food for dinner.   It will be a fun day for sure.  

Karen and Kenn say hi to all the Wisconsin folks.

Love you all,

Deb

Our First Day in Texas

Here we are in New Braunfels!   Our flights were just perfect.   In fact, we got to Austin 20 minutes early!    Karen and Kenn picked us up from the airport and we went out for lunch at Olive Garden nearby.   We came back to see their home for the first time.   What a lovely place!   We have enjoyed seeing the house and the surrounding development.   Just to make you Wisconsin people feel bad, we sat outside for quite a long time and even had windows open in the car!    Kenn said the temp was 70.   Not too hard to take.   We plan to see the surrounding area tomorrow, so we will take some good pictures and blog tomorrow night. Hope all is well at home.

Deb and Bob