First off, we want to apologize for all the pictures today. Be thankful, however, because we are only showing about 1/100th of all that we took.
We left our “home” around 9:00 AM and headed for Jasper National Park and Lake Louise.
Sunrise in the Canadian Rockies.Just outside the parking lot of the Worldmark.Today is supposed to be the best of the week for blue sky.
The drive to Jasper was about 150 miles. The weather held between 30-45 degrees. Not too bad. At times the snow was falling and the road was covered in snow. The sun did come out for most of the day. We got as far as the ice fields (glaciers) in Jasper National Park and decided to head back to Lake Louise. On the way back to Lake Louise we stopped at Bridal Veil Falls. What can I say? Unbelievable, fantastic, stupendous, wonderful!!!!!
There was still a little snow on the Toyota.Our elevation at the resort.The rugged, stark beauty is captivating.Every where I look…On both sides of the road…Entrance into the park, $19.80 for the two of us, forgot to tell them I was old.So many peaks.
Animal overpass.Truck load of snow.So grand.The waters here have the most beautiful green color.Edie was driving. I was nervous. She has never spun out or rolled, I have managed both.She has great confidence in the Prius.The road was mostly clear, but going up to the summits and down, it was white with packed snow.Occasional dramatic skies.
Love the sentinels standing tall.Glaciers grind the rocks into boulders and every smaller size down to and including a very fine silt. It is called “rock silt” and it stays suspended in the water. This is what creates the color.Everywhere.We hit sensory overload after a couple hours of driving through this beauty.Vast wilderness beauty leaves us lacking adjectives.The dynamic interaction of mountain, cloud, light and snow is so beautiful.
I can see the massive glacier grinding against this mountain, forming the steep wall.
Felt like we saw a twin of the Matterhorn at least 20 times today.
A squirrel at a rest stop with a wonderful trail for us to walk.
Trees growing on rocks always fascinate me.
We want to come back in the spring and see the floodplain full of water.
Looking back down the canyon we drove up.Is that the Matterhorn?
Flocked trees in the shaded valley.
Lots of signs warning it is avalanche country and I believe them.Really big ice machine.
The glacier in the background.Edie gives me such a bad time about imagining the countryside and how it was shaped by glaciers thousands of years of ago. And here we are at one!In fairness to Edie I should point out that I am usually driving when I get lost in the countryside and my imaginings and sometimes don’t completely stay in the very narrow lines of the roadway.
Disappointed the Ice Center is closed. Always so informative in these places.Life size grizzly statue.Mountain goat.Golden Eagle statue.This guy unabashedly wanted food, right now!A second nearby glacier.Zoomed in and it looks rough and dangerous.Rock silt captured in the glacier ice. We turned around at this point and headed to Lake Louise.Bridal Veil Falls.Nice falls.
The drive was so beautiful, almost spiritual with all of God’s glory all around you. Michael and I both had sensory overload it was so grand. I think unless you experience it, you can’t imagine it. The Canadian Rockies are just stunning. Michael got to stand in front of a glacier. I think that was something on his bucket list because he seemed quite excited about it. I thought it was extremely cold because of the wind blowing off the glaciers. When we were at the Ice Fields Center (which was closed) parking lot, we did meet a little crow friend who was quite determined to get us to feed him. Too cute.
When we got to Lake Louise, lots of different type birds greeted us in the parking lot. Beautiful and friendly birds. When we walked down the path to the lake, the beauty of the turquoise lake, and the setting it is in, almost took my breath away. All I can say is it was stunning.
In front and behind, just everywhere, we could not stop looking.
I think Lake Hector.The village; the lake is another 4 kilometers.The tragedies have the flags at half mast.Surprised at the development around the lake.Some very nice development – the Fairmont.Friendly birds, I think folks feed them.A beautiful Stellar Jay. The photo does not capture his full colors. Vivid blue tail and yellow thin stripes above his eyes.This magpie was just showing off for Edie and the camera.
Our first glimpse of the lake.So beautiful.
We both had to go to the bathroom so we walked over to the Fairmont Hotel. After we went to the bathroom, we decided to have linner in their restaurant (especially since it overlooked the lake). We got a perfect window seat and ate a leisurely lunch. Michael got a chicken sandwich and I got a mushroom ravioli dish. Very, very good. A bit pricey but very good and it was so worth it to be warm and comfortable but still enjoy the gorgeous scenery around you. Also, our server, Aurora, was excellent.
Our window.Pretty woman.Spendy for lunch but really good.There will be no Louis XIII cognac this afternoon.As good as it looks.Window view.Window view.Pretty woman, I love her so.Trying to catch the color; a little too overcast to properly catch it a nice young man explained.Trying to use the tree as contrast to capture the color.Edie’s mushroom ravioli.Our excellent waitress, Aurora.My chicken ciabatta sandwich and fries. Edie and I really enjoyed the fries, they were good.I noticed the toothpick holding the sandwich together. It is like a bamboo splinter tied in a great knot on the end…really cool.
While we were sitting having lunch, we got to talking to a nice young man sitting at the bar. I think we just found Lexi’s husband. Such a nice young man from the Calgary area. We showed him a picture of Lexi. We’ll let you know if anything comes out of it. She laughed when we told her, but she went looking for him on Facebook.
Sean.
Our original plan was to go to Jasper, Lake Louise, then Banff to walk around, look, and have dinner. Since we had had the perfect meal at Lake Louise, and since we were both so overwhelmed with the grandeur of it all, we decided to just head back home. We’ll head to Banff tomorrow since we have a two day pass into the parks.
Gift shop at the hotel.Nice stuff.
Statue to Swiss mountain guides.Edie is now looking for a bargain at this hotel.
The arched window in the center was our lunch window.Lake out flow.Rock silt water.Pretty woman telling Lex about Sean.Time to head home.
Fisherman.Night is falling fast.
That was our spectacular day. Hope yours was great!
