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Day 12
Today was really quite interesting and diverse. Woke up to a cold drizzly miserable Bigfork, but downstairs and under the hotel was a gourmet grocer/ bakery so after I took a shower I went down there to scout it out and ended up getting a sparkling pomegranate blackberry soda that is apparently good for your skin, an orangina type drink that was actually in the cooler next to Orangina, a new kind of root beer, and a black raspberry soda made locally. We packed up the trailer in the rain and decided to eat our breakfast/ lunch there because it looked so good and was convenient. Rolled out and headed to glacier. At a little store we stopped at we ran into some electricians that we started talking to. They told us that the road we were planning on taking to Canada was closed now and if it was open it would take six and a half hours to drive across (tourist traffic across Glacier). They also told us that the town we were going to spend the night in last night (before Mom hooked us up the day before to stay in Bigfork instead) was a very sketchy and dangerous part of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation... so thank you Mom! Got on the way on our new way to Canada. I recognized a lot of stuff from the last time I had been there (just a side note, I found it interesting that the last time I had been to Bigfork and stayed at the Grand Hotel was the summer before my first year at George Walton and now I was there again the summer after my last year of George Walton... It is like cool bookends to a lot of memories). We got to the Canada border and had to sit in an immigration office while they processed everything, all the little pieces involved with traveling international are really interesting. The really stern border patrol agent asked the group of us if anyone had been to court recently and of course all of the Gonzales' just shook there head creating an awkward silence that I had to break... talk about embarrassing. Anyway, driving across a border was a first for me and that was fun, I love going international. The drive through Glacier National Park and Canada was absolutely amazing and definitely the best yet... though at first Canada looked a lot like Kansas. It is weird seeing speed limit signs in km/h. Constantly surrounded by breathtaking views and saw some of our first wildlife, mountain goats WAY off in the distance, but they were definitely there. It is quite cold in Canada 40's and low 50's all day, perfect for summer vacation... hahaha I guess that's what I get. We were going to camp tonight but lows in the low 30's and threats of snow thankfully made us decide to get a hotel instead. We are staying here in Banff, Alberta which is a really really cool ski resort town in the valley of some amazing mountains. It is just absolutely beautiful here and feels like it is about to become a winter wonderland even though I guess it is trying to come out of being just that. Bonnie and Bryan stayed at the hotel and ordered pizza and let Josh and me go find our own dinner. It was so cool walking around the town because first off the architecture and views was just all gorgeous and secondly it was full daylight at 9 (sun eventually set at 10:45). We found some cool gift shops and potentially nice restaurants but then stumbled into this authentic Irish pub that turned out to be sooooo good! Enjoyed dinner and walked back to the hotel when it was just starting to get dark. Found out they just announced the "iPhone 3G S" and it happens to be absolutely perfect time with my malfunctioning phone, I can't wait until June 19th! I think I'm just going to pre-order it and have it sent to the Alaska house.
Breakfast: Roast beef sandwich with potato and leek soup, freshly made roll, and this organic lime water
Lunch: random assortment of cookies and bread to keep me from starving
Dinner! Mini Yorkshire pudding stuffed with a tangy mayo and beef with au juice, Bangers and mash with caramelized onions on top and a Guinness roll (best bread I've ever had, moist and sweet, asked for the recipe but top secret apparently). All absolutely amazing with good live music too.
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