Lake Louise-Day 1 & Lake Moraine

I was going to combine Day 1 and Day 2 at Lake Louise, but decided there were so many pictures that I want to post that I would be better off breaking it into two. So depending on how long it takes me to do this tonight, I may do two posts. We will see how this goes.

To begin with, I was delighted to wake up to a blue-sky day after so many cloudy days. It was really chilly here, but other than that, beautiful. We planned to take the gondola to the top of the mountain at Lake Louise and this was a great day to do it.

If I show you pictures of mountains that I have already photographed before, it's because I was so excited to see them without clouds on the tops that I may have doubled up on them. Regardless, they are still beautiful.

 

 

We were pleased when we arrived at the Lake Louise Gondola and Ski Mountain.

There was a beautiful, very large log lodge where we bought tickets for the gondola ride.

Then it was on to the ski lift. We opted for an open chair in order to take pictures more easily. Besides, they advertised that this was the best place to see grizzly bears. Didn't want to miss that! So up we went. It was about a 15 minute ride to the top where you can see almost to the end of the earth.

 

From the top we could see across the valley up into the mountains on the other side and could see Lake Louise and the hotel. Note the aqua colored spot in the middle. That is the lake. There is a large glacier in the background. The hotel is pretty hard to see in this picture.

From up here, Don commented that this was the most beautiful view he had ever seen. And it is. Unfortunately, there is no way the camera can do it justice.

For one thing, it would take an extremely wide lens to get the width of the view up there. However, I will attempt to show you some of what we saw from the 'top of the world'.

Then it was time to start back down. That is when we realized how steep the mountain really was. We discussed our favorite daughter-in-law, and how she would have reacted to this ride down. It is possible that it may have been the scream heard 'round the world... But maybe not.

As we rode down, we kept our eyes peeled for grizzlies. They are supposed to be so all over the place, that the parking lot and lodge is surrounded with electric fencing to protect guests from big furry surprises.

So we arrived at the bottom with no sign of bears. When mentioning it to the lift operator, he offered to tie a steak around Don's neck and send him into the woods. He seemed to think that would guarantee seeing bears. We'll take a rain check on that.

After our ride on the gondola, we went up to Moraine Lake, about a seven mile drive that goes out near Lake Louise. It is an amazingly gorgeous drive, ending up in a crowded parking lot and a small lake at the top. This lake doesn't get much press, but with the exception of the big fancy hotel, rivals Lake Louise for beauty.

Then we saw the lake....

After hanging out there for a while we started back toward camp, catching one more quick shot on the way down.

One of the things I have forgotten to mention, is that a lot of the snow you see in the mountains is actually glaciers. When glaciers melt, the water is a beautiful turquoise blue and we see this color is both lakes and streams. The color stands out more when the water is deeper, as in the lakes. As if it wasn't beautiful enough here, we also get turquoise water everywhere. This is an amazing place!

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!!