Revelstoke, British Columbia is a special place for Janet and me. Janet has fond memories of growing up in view of Mount Begbie in Revelstoke. I remember waiting for her at the altar of the big Aluminum roofed United church on Mackenzie Avenue in 1969. A trip through the mountains for the 1999 Centennial homecoming invitation had to be included in our vacation plans.
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The campground in Lake Louise Village has "Pushme-pulyou" drive through sites , ours sloped a bit so I had to stack the Lynx levelers. Power only sites cost $18.00 per night in 1999 so we decided to stay for two days before moving on to Yoho.
We drove to Lake Louise where a friend took the mandatory picture of us in the rain, then went to Moraine Lake. The weather cleared for a while at Moraine Lake.
The old railroad station in Lake Louise Village has been converted in to a restaurant and is also a sort of museum of railroad history from the days of 'Laggan Station.'
"I can give you a site down by the river."
"Sounds OK" I replied to the girl in the registration booth.
Kicking Horse is one of the older campgrounds in Yoho National Park and some of the campsites are quite small. Our site was downhill behind a corner in the road.Parking turned out to be quite a production but we eventually backed our seventeen foot trailer in to the site.
The campground still has some relics of railroad history nearby and is just west of the Spiral Tunnels on the CPR line. A locomotive engineer on a mile long freight emerging from the lower tunnel can look up and see part of his train entering the upper tunnel in the opposite direction.
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"Slide at Heather Hill. Expect Delays"
Golden has a giant electronic sign to warn motorists of road conditions on the Rogers Pass route. Heather Hill turned out to be quite a distance from Golden and the road crew had one lane open so the delay was only about fifteen minutes. A dog walking and gift shop stop at the pass summit was next before continuing West.
Giant Cedars with it's boardwalk through huge trees and rushing stream is a great place to stop for a picnic lunch. We talked to very dusty cyclist from St. Albert who had been through the Heather Hill slide clearing.
"Are you in a hurry after you leave here? We have a policy of giving campers the seventh day free if they stay for six"
The receptionist at the Revelstoke KOA found a large, grassy site with a full hook up for us and we decided to take advantage of the seventh day offer..
Quite a number of former Revelstoke natives were already in the campground for the Homecoming . One of them emerged from his fifth wheel carrying a pail of cherries. "We have more of these things in the back yard than we know what to do with." he said as he handed the pail to Janet.
Eventually camp was made and we went into town to register in Grizzly Plaza. The registration building was packed and Janet enjoyed a wonderful gab fest and a Sunday dinner invitation from Connie and Jim.
Celebrations in the park were under way with a speech from the Mayor, Scottish dancers, Miss Revelstoke, a red coated RCMP officer, Bocce tournaments, etc. The Centennal Cake is barely visible under the blue canopy in the picture below and was delicious.
Later we attended the excellent Knights of Columbus dinner with Janet's old friend Judy. Judy's advice for the day: "You can't live in Revelstoke without an umbrella!"
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Quote of the day from Janet's school days:
Judy "How do you like Mr. Husband as a teacher?"
Janet " He's OK but he gets a little crabby sometimes. But then
he's in his twenties you know."
Bill Husband was there along with enough people to fill the old school to overflowing.
Janet insisted on going to the Strawberry Social at the Senior's center. Things were a bit crowded but renewing old aquaintances and getting served Strawberries by Miss Revelstoke made it worthwhile.
A Beer Garden & sold out dances were also on the agenda.