Banff-Day1

Yesterday morning we awoke in Waterton Townsite (National Park) to a break in the weather and sunrise on the mountains encircling our RV park. We were going to be heading up to Banff and this was a good sign.

 

So off we went...for a few blocks anyway. We made about three sudden stops,and then pulled over to the side of the road to take care of an oil issue with the motorhome that developed a propensity to spray oil all over the engine and the front of the tow car.

Don finally convinced it to behave itself, and the rest of the trip was uneventful, at least as far as the RV goes. We breathed a sigh of relief. Such issues are not fun when driving a big rig.

Again the scenery is spectacular to begin with and only becomes more so as we travel further north. Sometimes I wonder if there is any end to the beauty we are seeing, and at the same time, I hope not. I am so thankful to be seeing all of this!

Many of these pictures I am posting today are 'through the windshield,' so please excuse the bug spots and rain drops.

The scenery leaving Waterton Lakes is mostly farm land, beautiful, but farm land. Rolling hills, mountains in the background, wheat fields, livestock, streams...Really pretty.

 

One of the things we have found in Canada, is that the road signs leave a lot to be desired. Highways are often not numbered at the intersections where you are supposed to turn, and street signs sometimes just don't exist. 

As a result, we got lost. Even our GPS, 'Roxanne', got confused. (There's a story behind Roxanne's name, but that's for another day.)

So we drove about 40 miles out of the way. 'Roxanne' kept saying, "Turn here and then U-turn." Are you kidding, Girl? This isn't going to happen!

We have to forgive 'Roxanne' as she doesn't know we are driving a 40 foot RV with a tow car that simply doesn't do "U-turns."

At least the 40 miles of 'wilderness driving' was, of course, really beautiful, so we didn't mind taking the long way around all that much...except for the fact that southern Alberta has a TON of windmills that have a tendency to spoil a lot of really pretty scenery with they're constant presence.

As we approached Banff, the Canadian Rockies came closer into view. They are spectacular. The weather was sort of cloudy/rainy/off and on, so many times the tops of the mountains weren't completely visible.

Finally we entered Banff National Park and we were surrounded close up by the mountains.

After we got the RV into the assigned park, we drove into the town of Banff, which turned out to be only a couple of miles from our RV park. Note to all my girlfriends: "IT HAS TONS OF SHOPS!!! WHOO HOO!!!!" To all the guys reading this, "There is nothing special there, just lots of ski runs on the mountains..."

This morning we drove to Lake Louise. It was about 40 miles up the road. Again we endured non-stop beauty from the mountains and forests.

Reaching Lake Louise, there is a huge hotel, a Chalet, at the edge of the lake. The lake was blue and there were red row boats on the lake. We will go up again tomorrow when the weather is better and hike around the lake to get a better view.

The Chalet itself is gorgeous! It is built in the old Swiss Castle style and inside was quite opulent. There was a harpist playing in the main lobby and of course, a view of the lake out through the picture windows.

As we drove back, we noticed that there was a lot of construction on the main highway. There were 8-foot high fences along both sides of the road, and in the places there wasn't any fence, they were in the process of installing it.

Then we noticed the elaborate double arched overpasses that cross the 4-lane highway every so often.

We realized that these are wildlife crossings, to keep the animals from crossing the highway and getting hit by cars. Canada is spending a lot of the taxpayer's money to keep them from getting hurt and the drivers as well.

I hear the forest is full of signs, written in both English and French, instructing the animals the correct way to go. That should do the trick.

At this point, Don's sleep apnea is catching up with him, so he offered to go back to the motorhome and nap while I suffered through the shops of Banff. I decided it was my wifely duty to oblige him.

By the way, back at the RV park, we once again are parked where we have great views around us here. This is what we see around us. Not too bad, huh?

So tomorrow we are going back to Lake Louise to hike around the lake and to ride the gondola up the mountain...and suffer through more non-stop beauty! If you haven't noticed, we are sort of enjoying all of this!!