Banff * Lake Louise * Canmore

Canmore

We stayed in Canmore for 4 nights. Canmore is about 15 minutes from Banff National Park. There are more accommodations available because there aren't National Park restriction. We had a brand new two bedroom condo that we loved.

This is the Bow River that runs though Canmore. We strolled along it after dinner. What a beautiful place.

This is the view outside our window in Canmore. The first picture was taken the day we arrived. The second one is after we had a bit of snowfall. Most of our weather was beautiful. It was even pretty fun to have snow in July. The weather in the Canadian Rockies can change very quickly.

Our scenic drive near Canmore

We saw a number of bears on this trip, but this one was the most interesting. He/she was trying to get down a steep hill. He kept trying to find a way down. You can see him sliding at one point and finally he figured out how to do it. It was great fun to watch and I got to use my telephoto lense.

We were excited to see this long horned sheep crossing the rode. Then we continued to see them all over the place. We saw babies and complete families. Needless to say, it was wild life.

I really wanted to see a moose on this trip. The picture below is of an elk with a rack. I was sure when I took this picture that it was a moose. I was really excited. When I downloaded it onto the computer, Don said, "That's not a moose, it's an elk." I had already seen the elk without the rack, so I just assummed that this was something different. We city girls just can't identify our wildlife very easily. Down below is the only moose I saw on the trip. They are very shy animals. The one I saw at the Banff Hotel was very friendly.

Here is a picture of the four of us at Spray lake. We had lunch along this lake. Did I mention that we encounter an attack chipmunk during our lunch? We managed to protect our food from that nasty creature.

Kananaskis Valley is a beautiful and not very crowded place. We stopped here for a strolled.

Mistaya River

We hiked about a quarter mile to see this amazing river. It was fast moving water through narrow walled canyon. It was like being on a beautiful river without having to hall all of our gear there.

Johnston Falls

This was another short hike (about 1/2 mile) . More beautiful water. We hiked to lower Johnston Falls. We did encounter a little bit of hail on this hike. It made our trip interesting.

Banff Hotel

I had to include these two pictures because the setting for photographs at the Banff Hotel was so perfect. I didn't remember (from 32 years ago) how beautiful this place was. I think this might be our Christmas card picture. I think the Choys will need to do that too. I bet we both would end up picking the same costco from for the card. We do travel well together because we have the same taste.

Banff Gondola

The trip to the top of the Mountain was well worth it. The views from up there were outstanding. The pictures speak for the beauty of the area.

Lake Louise

We spent one night at Paradise Lodge in Lake Louise. Once again, the pictures tell it all. God's beauty is everywhere!

Columbia Ice Fields

Columbia Ice Fields are just inside of Jasper National Park. They are an interesting and beautiful part of nature, but I have seen more spectaular ice fields in Alaska, so I wasn't really that impress. When you go to Jasper, I think you have to go here, but for $38 per person, I thought it was just OK. But, I did get some nice pictures. The picture below is of the bus with oversized tires that takes you up to the icefield.

Here are a few of the quiet times we had on our trip. It's not like Chet took naps all the time. Sometimes Paula joined him too. I think DB would have taken more naps too, but he was our offical driver. There is a picture of him resting his eyes at the Banff Hotel.

What a wonderful trip!