Canada Update 2

After dropping Tom back at the camp we turned further east toward our next stop at Kamloops. We had planned a stay in Kamloops as that was where Tom was working prior to him moving into camp.
While at Kamloops we had a number of firsts; went shopping at Walmart (just a big K-Mart), ate at Denny's which we found was great food, service and prices. Roberta was still struggling to find a "real" coffee.
We took a drive up to Paul Lake (where Tom lived) and on to Harper Mountain (where Tom worked). Beautiful countryside and lots of snow. We also drove on up to another nearby ski resort, Sun Peaks, which was very large, many condominiums and no people. It was between the high ski season and the coming summer season. It was cold and wet and like a ghost town, very little was open.
Kamloops is a busy industrial, mining (gold) and agricultural centre. It is a key rail centre and a major Rocky Mountain Rail hub in the west of Canada.
Our journey from Kamloops to Banff followed a lot of the Rocky Mountain rail route. On the way were many interesting towns, many of whom were snow bound during the winter months with impassable roads in all directions.
Banff again is a very ski tourist city with hotels, ski shops, restaurants and bars everywhere as well as a liberal dose of the "beautiful people" in their trendy apres ski gear - Roberta and I fitted in perfectly. I attended the local chiropractor to get my back "tweaked" and all was good again in the world. It was cold so some more of our "cold gear" was utilised. The highlight of any trip to Banff is of course Lake Louise. This amazing place is formed from the snow and ice melt of 3 nearby glaciers. Although very cold there were tourists everywhere snapping all sorts of pics. The lake was still partly frozen so the intense blue colour of the water was not there but the lake with the snow covered peaks at their distant shore and the magnificent Fairmont Chateau hotel at its mouth. This has been a big "bucket list" item for me and it did not disappoint.
The following day we travelled by car to Calgary and as there was snow falling overnight the countryside and the trees were covered in a dusting of fresh snow. It was Christmas magic and a wonderful sight which mad the trip memorable. Calgary is a busy city acting as a "T" junction on the the trans-Canada east-west highway and roads to the north especially to Edmonton, which we travelled. The country between Calgary and Edmonton introduced us to the "plains" country. Up to now we had been in the Rocky Mountains and now it was flat and straight. The highway was dangerous as it had dead straight stretches of up to 50klms with nothing to look at other than - nothing!
We went to Edmonton, a 4+ hour dive, to catch up with mt Facebook friend Robert Hockey. I have "spoken" to Robert for some years so I wanted to meet face to face. We caught up at another of Canada's eateries, Red Robin,  and had a great chat about him and his work and family and me the same. Robert lives in Grand Prairie, a city some 5 hours north-west of Edmonton. He calls it 40-40 country - minus 40 in the winter and plus 40 in the summer. We discussed genealogy, families (he has no children), my children, and generally had a great few hours chatting. Then back on the road to Calgary. The next day it was away with the rental car, on the plane and another adventure in Toronto.