May 19
May 20-21
May 22
May 23
May 24
May 25-26
May 27
May 28
May 29
May 30
May 31-June 1
June 2-3
June 4
June 5
June 6-8
We both slept in this morning. It sure felt nice! We had breakfast at the motel. Then we got on the road a little after nine.
It's still a little drizzly, but the clouds aren't as low, so we were finally able to see some of the scenery. We stopped a couple of times to shoot photos.
The photo on the left is Shuswap Lake, one of the largest in the province. We drove along its shoreline for quite a while. The center photo is a large lodge on the far side of Three Valleys Lake. The photo on the right is another view of Three Valleys Lake, pivoting about 90 degrees from the center photo.
Lunch was at Golden, BC, at the Boston Pizza. That was the weirdest salad I've ever seen. It was not mixed together at all. All the ingredients were in little piles plopped over and around a central bed of greens.
After lunch, we continued on over the pass to Alberta, buying our Parks Pass along the way. That makes it legal to stop in the various Canadian national parks for the two full days we'll be here.
We stopped for a while at Lake Louise. The last time we were there, Carl went ice skating on the lake! It's all liquid today, however.
The photo on the left shows the canoe dock at Lake Louise. The center photo is Victoria Glacier, which feeds directly into Lake Louise. The photo on the right is a view of Lake Louise with Victoria Glacier rising behind it.
The photo on the left above is another view of Victoria Glacier. The center photo shows Lake Louise with Victoria Glacier rising behind it. The photo on the right was taken in February 2003 and has Carl posing with a hockey stick in front of an ice castle. The ice castle was built on Lake Louise about 50 feet from shore...
Then to Moraine Lake. The water was really low this visit. The last time I was here was 15 years ago - the road to this lake is closed to vehicles in winter!
The photo on the left shows some of the mountains surrounding Moraine Lake. The center photo shows Moraine Lake and some more of its mountains. The last time I was here (July 2000), if I had stood here, I'd have very wet feet! The photo on the right is from that earlier trip and shows close to the same view as the center photo, but with much higher water.
The valley Moraine Lake sits in is known as the Valley of the Ten Peaks. If you look carefully when there, you will be able to identify ten mountain peaks surrounding the lake. The original explorer who named these peaks called them One, Two, Three, etc. Of course, he used the language of the local tribe to name them, so it's not obvious at first. Some of them have retained these original names...
As we drove up the road to Moraine Lake, we got stopped for a while. One of those oversized pickup truck had gotten too close to the edge of the road and had fallen partially off the road. His axles were caught on the shoulder... He wouldn't have gone far if he'd fallen farther - he was on the uphill side of the road, fortunately.
Then, it was on to Banff. It has really changed over the years. It's now more like Gatlinburg, complete with fudge shops.... I really don't like the hotels here in town any more. They all seem to have their parking lots underground in really cramped areas. And figuring out how the door worked to even access the parking lot was complicated. If we ever return to this area, I think we'll stay closer to Lake Louise, perhaps Lake Louise Village itself. Banff used to be a very easy town to walk. Even a bit sleepy. No more.
We had dinner at the Rose and Crown. It used to be a quiet pub with really great fish and chips when I ate there before (15 years ago). No more. It's a noisy place with live music and the fish and chips are just so-so.
We walked back to the hotel, stopping at several shops along the way to laugh at the junk in the windows.
Oh, and this was the only hotel with hard beds the whole trip! And the clerk at the check-in desk had an attitude. She even talked faster than Kelly!!!!