Cranbrook (07/3/2005)

Thinking we would get a jump on the holiday weekend, we left Spokane on Thursday, June 30 and drove to Idaho. The countryside in this area is really beautiful. We found a jewel of a RV resort (Twin Rivers Canyon) near Bonners Ferry. It is at the bottom of the canyon where the Moyie River meets the Kootenai and is very lovely. Unfortunately, they were fully booked for the weekend as of Friday so we had to leave after just one day. Expecting that July 4 was an American holiday (and not realizing that July 1 is the Canadian holiday) we drove to Canada. We had an exciting morning. When we returned from our cruise earlier this year we neglected to put our passports away. When we realized we were going to cross the border we initiated a frantic search for them. As usual with a frantic search, we were unable to find the passports. We did have the copies we made so decided to see if they would be enough.
Max as a puppy was afraid to jump out of the backseat of a car. As recently as two weeks ago he was afraid to jump from the backseat of the truck. That Max jumped out of the window of the truck at the Canadian border. We were stopped at the border, Rich had gone into the office and I got out of the truck to join him when Max got loose. I chased him around the traffic and eventually caught him. Not realizing how he got out, I put him back in the truck and left to go to the office. This time I turned just in time to see him jump out of Rich’s open window. We caught him again and this time closed the window.
In the border office the guard was most interested in whether we had any guns. When I said we did not, he asked what we used for protection. Until that moment I had not felt unsafe. No problem at all with the passport copies.
From the border we drove to Cranbrook. Despite the fact that Cranbrook was celebrating their centennial, we were able to find a place to stay behind the Hotel 6 in town. Not exactly a resort, but 48 sites, mostly empty, water, electricity, and sewer. In Cranbrook we went to see the Canadian Rail museum (very nicely restored first class rail cars), my first BC fabric store, and Fort Steele Heritage Village (a very nice 1890’s town).
The weather in Canada has been interesting, bright warm sun one day, rain and hail the next. All in all more nice than not, but shockingly bad when not.