Canoeing Lake Louise

Steven and Ben on Lake Louise

There is really no need for words here, except to say that this is not a doctored picture.  The water is really that color.  Lake Louise is a deep cold lake at the base of a glacier.  In spring, the water is a brilliant blue, but a dark blue.  By midsummer, the glacier has deposited "rock flour" into the lake, and the lake has changed color again, to a brilliant turquoise.  

How to drive the Icefields Parkway

1. Drive Carefully.  Or, if French Canadian, Soyez Prudent. 

2. Bring snacks, preferably something Canadian.  Might I suggest ketchup flavored potato chips?  

3. Share the road.  That RV is going through a wildlife overpass.  

4. Enjoy the scenery.  Breathtaking miles and miles of it.

The elk in the hedge and on the lawn

Notice the antlers above the hedge?

There aren't too many traffic jams in Jasper, Alberta.  But if you're a tourist, and you notice a largish elk grazing on someone's front hedge, you tend to stop.  So we, and a few other tourists, stopped and snapped some pictures.  As tourists from San Diego, we're entitled. What you can't see clearly in the photo above is the house owner completely ignoring us and his wild visitor.

Wild elk make themselves at home at Jasper Lodge.

This juvenile is keeping the grass trimmed right outside our cabin.

When we arrived at our lodge in Jasper, we were delighted to find more elk loping about.  They were on a mission to trim the grass and couldn't be bothered to acknowledge us.  "They come, they go," a lodge employee told us,  "it's their park, after all."

Athabasca everywhere

Athabasca Falls

It's hard keeping track of all the natural wonders in the Banff area.  Luckily,  Albertans came up with a friendly solution.  Take "Athabasca."  This is a a word that comes from the native Cree language and means "place where the reeds grow."  It was initially just the name of a river.  But now there is an Athabasca mountain, lake, glacier, and assorted roads.  Oh, and one last natural wonder: the Athabasca Falls (pictured above).  It's hard to be heard over the roar of these falls, which you can view from many angles.  We saw several rainbows as we were gently pelted by the fast moving spray of glacial water.

Top view of Athabasca Falls.  A churning cauldron of water.

Columbia Icefield

The Columbia Icefield covers roughly 125 square miles.

Our specially designed arctic bus rests comfortably on a thousand feet of ice. 

On one of the world's most scenic drives, midway between Banff and Jasper, lie a half dozen glaciers within the Columbia Icefield.  These are relics of the great ice age, and a lesser ice age from1844.  All the lower glaciers are receding.  Nonetheless, the Columbia Icefield is still as big as the city of Vancouver.   Because it's dangerous for a novice hiker to walk on a glacier, we were smart and took a tour, riding on a bus designed for use in the Arctic.  Each bus has six massive wheels that are designed to navigate ice as well as steep moraines, which is the fancy word for the pile of rocks left over when a glacier recedes.

Tasting pure glacial water 

We got a chance to step out on the ice, which can be a thousand feet thick.  It was a bit slushy.  Water poured from the edges of the clearing and we all took a drink.  I was the freshest, purest water imaginable, but also bitterly cold.

Beautiful Banff, part 2

Downtown Banf

After walking around at the Sulphur Mountain summit and working up a little sweat, we rewarded ourselves with a shopping trip to downtown Banff.  Our first stop was a late lunch at the Banff Brewing Co., which overlooks the main drag of Banff Avenue.

Old fashioned Canadian Poutine (french fries and gravy)

My niece Ann advised me to try the poutine, a distinctly Canadian dish.  What is poutine? It's a bowl of french fries smothered in cheese curds and gravy.  Really, it's a brilliant combination. It pairs well with the local pale ale too.  

After lunch we strolled down Banff Avenue, which is chock-a-block with sweet and gift shops and sporting goods stores.  We did run into a western wear shop, where Ben pretended he was a cowboy.

Ann helps cowboy Ben with a hat fitting.

We concluded the day with dinner for Sherman, who turned a young 78 years old this  July 2nd.  He was the mastermind of this trip.  He said the best gift for him was having his family all together.

Beautiful Banff

Rimrock Resort Hotel, Banff, Alberta

After watching fireworks over the village of Banff last night in celebration of Canada Day, we had a sound night's sleep at the Rimrock Resort Hotel on the edge of Banff.  The Rimrock is nestled on the edge of the Canadian Rockies.  I'm sitting in the lobby of the Rimrock as I write this, looking out toward one of the peaks.  The lobby is on the seventh floor, with all the rooms stepping down the mountainside below me.

Just around the corner from the Rimrock Resort  (and next to some hot springs) is the Banff gondola, built between 1958 and 1959. It's still whisking tourists up to the top of Sulphur Mountain and Sanson Peak, where the air gets considerably thinner at 8,000 feet.  It's an ear popping experience.  Once you arrive, you can ascend to a rocky outpost with even better views and a weather station built in 1903.  Mr. Norman Sanson manned this weather station for nearly thirty years, surviving hail and lightning and lots of cold weather.  He was compensated with great views through the single window of his one room stone cabin.

Steps up to Sanson's weather observatory.

View from McD's in Calgary

Today we roused ourselves at 5 a.m. to journey to Calgary, the largest city in Alberta, Canada.   Cowboy clad volunteers greeted us at the Calgary airport on our way to customs.  We were in a foreign country, but we felt at home.  There was that cowboy theme after all and the freeways had those familiar green signs.   Everyone spoke English and I recognized most of the franchises. But there were some differences.  All the signs were in French and English and the Canadians have sensibly converted to the metric system.  It was a balmy 23 degrees Celsius and we zipped along the freeway at 110 km an hour.   We also arrived on July 1st, Canada Day, otherwise known as "Canada's Birthday" and Canada's equivalent of our Fourth of July.  A lot of Canadian flags were in evidence. 

Quel est le secret? 

We were on our way to the town of Banff, so we did not dally in Calgary, which is getting ready for their famous Calgary stampede and rodeo.  Instead we headed west on the TransCanada highway, stopping briefly at McDonald's on the way.  Now, we inevitably visit McDonald's in every foreign country we go to and why not?  McDonald's always adjusts its offerings for the locals.  We consider it a good cultural education.  This time, all the packaging was in French and English (pictured).  That was all good.  But more interesting was that our McDonald's was just across the street from the 1988 Winter Olympics venue.  We had a few french fries while viewing massive ski jumps across the street.   

It's not everyday you see an Olympic venue. 

Massive ski jumps used in 1988 Winter Olympics.