Bad Knees Travel

The first outing with the Randy's group.  At the base of Hotel, this is a huge tourist destination. Parking lot full of tour busses. But once past all of the photo takers the number of people thin out and it becomes more day billers,  and people with kids.  A staircase goes up to the  for a 3 mile hike,  with altitude. The maright n trail continues flat around the lake. This trail is wheelchair accessible quite away, then there are two small creeks that have to be stepped over. These could be handled with an assistant  if you have a few steps available.  After  that tree test of the trail is flat and smooth to the top of the lake. At the top of the lake, where the stream flows in, the trail gets steep and rocky. I went a small way past that point around the curve to look up the stream.  I really enjoyed this small walk. Once past the maddening hordes, I met some vertu nice people,  from all over the wo...

Our second day in Banff Johnston Falls. Randy is starting us on some smaller hikes,  closet in.  The group is starting to get its stride. Cynthia will hike twice as far, and be waiting for us at the end of the trail.  I do far less milage than the rest of them.  But I am also accustomed to walking by my self and enjoy it. We have now got a tradition of estimating how long the hike,  and agree on a meeting place and time. We can each do as we like, and nobody has to worry about being responsible.  Johnston Falls is up a slot canyon. Breath taking beauty. But such beauty attracts a lot of people.  Over a million a year.  And this is one spot that people really want to see.  The walk is not steep,  but the surface is not suitable for wheelchairs after the guitar little bit.  There are two falls,  the lower falls is about a mile round trip,  the upper 3 miles and it gets steep. I did the lower falls.  The trail has been d...

As ever  I pull off the highway to find the perfect breakfast.  And I found Sprague while bumming around  south eastern  Washington. Hwy 90. Just another dusty  dieing town. Birthed from the railroad.  Boomed with  the railroad. And a center for the wool industry in the area.  Later it was on the the highway system, one of the towns on a AAA triptych. Then killed  as the interstate bipassed all of the small towns.  But wait. This place is different, really different. And weird. I was driving around,  looking for a place to eat and there was this yard full of old cars. The more I drove, the more cars I found.  And trucks old work horse trucks.  I finally found a restaurant.  Good food, except the sausages. They were horrible.  The waitress, also the owner, told me the story of the trucks. It seems that one guy started collecting old trucks, and more truck...