July 7
This morning we had a Banff & Surrounding area tour with
Dsicover Banff Tours. It included Bow Falls, Banff Springs Hotel, Tunnel
Mountain drive - Surprise Corner to Hodoos Trail, Johnson Lake with Mount
Inglismaldie, Lake Minnewanka, and lots of stops at various sites. The fuide
explained history and animal behavior as we went. Maple Leaf cookies were
passed out at one of our stops. Not a big maple fan, but they were really good.
You see the size of the cinnamon roll (which was the cost of
a lunch) and not knowing much about it just that they were known for their
cinnamon rolls, I told Greg to pick up a couple for our breakfast that morning.
Luckily, they weren’t open before we needed to have breakfast, so he got
pastries again from the café. Could you imagine two of those? One would have
been too much. (Roy & Rondi took part of theirs back to the hotel)
Before we knew it, it was time to catch the transport to Lake Louise. The tour was through Sundog Tours. Unfortunately, the bathroom on the bus wasn’t working and the guide said it would have been nice to know that before she loaded it up with people and was already on her way. She made some additional stops to accommodate. (of course, someone had to go as soon as she boarded)
It was a scenic drive from Banff to Lake Louise along the
Bow Valley Parkway. We made quite a few stops along the way for photos.
As we went deeper into the Rockies, we finally came to one of the most famous views in the Canadian Rockies; the turquoise water of Lake Louise, surrounded by glaciers tumbling down from the high peaks.
We had some time before we could check in, so we had a snack before checking in. Great cinnamon rolls and a cold drink. (normal size…LOL)
We had one night at the Fairmont Château Lake Louise. The
hotel is surrounded by soaring mountain peaks, the majestic Victoria Glacier,
and a glistening Emerald Lake.
After dinner we explored the area and then did the walk to the end of the lake and back. We saw two Mountain Goats and the cutest Golden-mantled Ground Squirrels. About half-way through the walk, we herd the unmistakable sound of a glacier calving. We didn’t see anything, so it must have been behind where we could see. Everyone we passed asked “did you hear that?”. Two ladies pointed out what she thought were Bighorn Sheep, but they were Mountain Goats. They were high up, but Greg got a few photos. As we walked back the lighting changed and so the views seemed different. It really is a postcard everywhere we looked. We were lucky to have good weather. There were many hiking trails here, but we weren’t there long enough to do any of them other than the Lake Walk, which was awesome!
I did my best to label the photos of the morning tour, but
not sure of some at the end. (they all kind of ran together and I didn’t take
notes.
Tomorrow, we take the scenic drive on the Icefields Parkway
to Jasper. It’s rated one of the top 4 most scenic drives in the world.
For larger photos: Banff Day 2 https://photos.app.goo.gl/TX2qsGC3pru1QkAc8
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