Day 4: Lewiston, MT to Banff NP, Alberta

Day 4:  Left Lewistown, Montana at 7:00 am.  Arrived Banff NP at 4:30.  As we entered Alberta, terrain remained the same: flat ranchland.  Our car was searched at the border by customs agents.  We think because we told them we were moving to Alaska, yet we were not carrying any firearms.  After he asked us about firearms and we denied having any, he asked us incredulously, “handguns, revolvers, anything?”  We said no.  Then he asked about defensive pepper sprays.  After we denied having any of those, he asked us to pull over.  We drove through Calgary, Alberta around 2:00.  Weren’t impressed.  Lots of crazy drivers as in any big city.  We really didn’t start to get into the mountains until 45 mins W of Calgary.  But once we did, wow.  We stopped in Canmore’s visitor center and then in Banff to try to get our marriage license which couldn’t be completed until tomorrow.  The day was nice with puffy clouds and blue sky.  We decided to camp in Banff National Park’s tunnel mtn campground.  After we set up and had dinner, we went for a walk along the hoodoos trail.  The campground was a little noisy, but lucky for us it started raining around 9:30, and that quieted things down.  There was a slow steady rain most of the night, but my little tent did fine.