Today is our free day. We headed out (just the two of us) around 8 AM. First stop is Lake Louise and Moraine Lake Bow Valley Parkway hoping to see some animals,,,again no luck. Lake Louise is beautiful. The lake is milky blue with a glacial backdrop. We took a short lake stroll. Lake Louise area provides an essential habitat for female grizzly bears. To hike here you need to go in a group of 4 so that it is unlikely that you would surprise a bear and be attacked. If you choose to hike with less than a group of 4 and get caught, the fine is $5000.00.
We also visited the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise. This is a beautiful hotel that looks like a castle more than a hotel. Can’t afford to buy anything in here unless you want to cut your vacation short (ha-ha). It is overlooking Lake Louise . To get a room here will cost you $250.00 to $593.00 a night.
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| CHATEAU LAKE LOUISE |
We then went on about another 10 miles to see Moraine Lake
Next stop was Banff . We decided to take a Gondola Ride to the top of Sulphur Mountain Rocky Mountains . It was an awesome ride up and down. The view from the top was unbelievable. The mountains are spectacular and pictures do not do it justice. It took 8 minutes to get to the summit in an enclosed gondola that seats 4 people. The group in front of us had 4 and the group in back had 4, so Jesse and I got to ride alone,,,,both up and down. Spectacular except for the fact that Jesse’s camera broke down. Next stop was a camera shop in Banff .
Armed with his broken camera we went to the camera
shop. Of course it cannot be fixed because
it has to be sent back to Nikon for them to fix it. We’ll have to do that when we get home. Can’t go to Alaska without a good camera, so he now has
a brand new camera that takes even better pictures than the old one. Makes my camera look like a toy. I do love my camera though. Went looking through a few shops while his
new camera got a charge. After an hour
we returned for the camera and were ready to take pictures.
Decided to stop for supper at the Old Spaghetti
Factory. It was delicious and with full
bellies we could continue on. Did a few
more loop tours looking for animals…….nope none yet. Where are they all hiding?????
No animal sightings but a wonderful day. The scenery is more beautiful each day. We move out tomorrow morning to the Columbia
Icefields where we will board a huge vehicle that will take us onto the
Columbia Icefields.
Having a great time, we are truly blessed.
JULY 19, 2012
Today we left for the Columbia Icefields in Jasper National
Park Rockies today. We stopped at many pullouts to take
pictures. Each area is prettier than the
last. At the summit we were just over
6800 feet. The motorhome did the steep
grades with no problem. We are glad we
had all that work done to prepare for this trip.
This afternoon we went on a Columbia Icefield Glacier
Adventure at the Athabasca Glacier. We
all boarded a bus that took us up to the icefields. We then switched from the bus to an ice
explorer. This vehicle was massive and
specially designed for glacial travel.
An experienced driver-guide shared a wealth of fascinating information
about glaciers, icefields and their impact on our environment. Mid-point on the tour we got to disembark and
spend 20 minutes walking on the glacier.
We brought empty water bottles with us to fill up with glacier
water,,,very cold and taste wonderful.
We are spending the night in their parking lot right in
front of the glacier. It is
beautiful. We are so fortunate to be
able to spend 3 nights in the Canadian Rockies with all of this beauty
surrounding us.
The wagonmaster and tailgunner are making dinner for us as I
write this. Imagine, I don’t even have
to cook tonight.
Tomorrow we are crossing into a new time zone. We will be 3 hrs ahead of Eastern Standard
Time. Tomorrow is another travel day. We will be leaving Jasper National Park Valemount , BC
TO SEE PICTURES CLICK ON LINK BELOW:
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