Awesome day at Lake Louise

June 27 - What a day!  We had instructions to be ready to roll at 8 this morning.  I got my little backpack ready and we had a quick breakfast of cranberry nut bread.  We got Molly’s water and food refilled and I made sure I had a couple of emergency food bars in my bag and a bottle of water.  Because the parking is a problem as some of the places we were going they asked up to double up and cut back on the number of cars.  Bill offered to drive and take the couple behind us, Mike and Barb.  Super fun and nice people.  We did have a great day with them.

We started in Banff National Park in Alberta Province.  The mountains surrounded us and still have a lot of snow on them.  The mountains are so beautiful.  We did an uphill hike to the lower waterfalls there.  It was a brisk morning to start with but by the time we got up to the top it was cold!  There’s a cave opening with a smaller opening on the back side and you can stoop and walk thru and see the top of the falls.  The spray was cold in addition to the air and my hands were frozen by the time we got our turn to pass thru. It was awesome.  So much power and misting!  Maybe in late June it would be warmer!

Bill and I were the first ones back to the bottom where we sat and rested while we waited for the rest of the group.  Once we all were back we headed back to our perspective vehicles and lined up again to follow our Trip Guides – Vickie and Richard.

Back on the road we headed to Lake Louise.  It’s a famous resort with a beautiful lake and a forceful river pushing thru.  We had a meet time for lunch so in the meantime we headed to the lake.  The glacier above the lake had receded a lot since we were here 20 years ago.  It was a beautiful sunny day and there were canoes and kayaks on the lake.  We took a lot of pictures and just walked around for a while.  Then we headed back to the gift shops and perused until it was time to meet for lunch. 

Vickie and Richard had preordered lunch at one of the restaurant at one of the restaurants at the huge hotel at Lake Louise.  We had a choice of chicken or braised beef.  It came with a salad, mashed potatoes, rolls, peas and a delicious dessert of a lemon bar with whipped cream.  You could have tea or any kind of soda.  Service was good and the food was delicious.  We think the meal was $40 each but that was included in our trip.

From Lake Louise we drove to another part of the park to see one of the tallest waterfalls ever.  It starts at almost the top of the mountain and is rushing water the way down the side into the river.  I think it might be Horsetail Falls, at least that is what it looked like!

On the way back to the campground we spotted 2 young elk along the side of the road and we checked out a fuel station to fill up in the morning.

I was glad I had a chicken pasta salad ready for dinner as I was pooped and didn’t feel like starting from scratch with no oven or microwave! 

Looking forward to another exciting day!!