It’s been more than a while since our return from visiting 2 weeks in Canada, so before all the brain cells rot, here is an attempt to summarize a glorious trip. I managed to snap more than 600 photos (tossed about half), and still they really do not capture the experience.

It is a generalized summary, but I must say the Canadians we met, in city and tiny towns, in the mountains and on the coast, were all gracious, friendly, and genuine– in fact, beside one woman who cut in front of us for a line on a train, we did not meet one rude Canadian. They must have hid them all away when they heard we were coming.

The start was a June 15 flight form Phoenix to Vancouver…

Monday night we drove home to Phoenix skirting the edge of the active Willow wildfire and was awed/dismayed at how the smoke completely obscured the Mazatzal range– the front in the photos below was only 1/2 mile from the Beeline Highway (AZ87) and the radio was reporting that the Beeline was to close the next day so fire fighters could build defense lines to keep it from crossing over. Check out this image of a plane dumping retardant on the fire.

This is a big deal, not like in a metro area where a detour would be perhaps a detour to a surface street 1.2 mile away- closing the highway means for people traveling between Phoenix and Payson, a route that would add maybe another 80-120 miles to a trip (this was cancelled, but sounds like it could happen any day this week).

Anyhow, I snapped a few pics from the truck window as there was no stopping allowed….