Summer 09 Road Trip - Part One ...

Friday 7th August Chris, Tegan and Fraser met me at Calgary airport from my trip to New York. We then jumped into the car and headed off to Canmore for the next part of our holiday. We stayed at the Windtower Hotel which has an agreement with BATUS whereby you can get rooms/suites at a discount price. We had a one bedroom suite which in UK could easily be sold as a flat, there was everything in there from dishwasher, full kitchen, washing machine & dryer and balcony. We enjoyed a typical Canadian dinner - steak, pizzas, fajitas at the Iron Goat where we ate on the deck with stunning views of the mountains including the three sisters.

Saturday we were up, rather slowly as we all lay in until 9am, and eventually set off to Banff to go up the gondola taking us to the summit of Sulphur Mountain, 7486 feet. At the top we walked along the summit ridge which was easy under foot as a boardwalk had been constructed. This took us to a small hut which Norman Sanson has walked every week for over 30 years to record weather data. The view was stunning as we were above most of the mountains in the region and had a good view of everything. Following lunch in Banff town we went to Lake Minnewanka (say that without smiling) and decided to go on the lake cruise. Lake Minnewanka is the largest lake in the Banff National Park and is home to a large population of rocky mountain wildlife we managed to see a bald eagle, mountain sheep and deer. The cruise lasted an hour and the guide on the boat was very informative showing Tegan and Fraser all sorts of pictures of the wildlife, including a cougar which had recently been in the area - Tegan was very interested in the big cat.

Sunday was a trip to Lake Louise, north of Canmore and Banff. Driving through the Banff National Park is breathtaking with amazing scenary at every turn. First stop was the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, a grand luxury hotel situated on Lake Louise. We decided that as we were on holiday and in such a palatial setting afternoon tea was in order. So we ate accompanied by a harpist which Tegan thought was wonderful, with a view overlooking the lake and glacier. So after eating our tiered tray of food, glass of prosecco (unfortunately only the one glass) and tea, apple and cinnamon, we were off for a walk to the lake and a quick dip in, too cold so only feet.

We then drove to Lake Louise Gondola which is the ski resort and took a chair lift up the mountain - this proved to be one of the highlights of our trip as we saw 3 bears. There are people who have lived in BATUS for 2 years and never saw a bear and we managed 3 in one afternoon, sorry Clare M if you read this. Again the scenery was spectacular and made Chris and I want to go skiing as we could see all the slopes. At the top there was also a wildlife interpretation centre which Tegan and Fraser found interesting as they could touch different animal skins, claws, teeth etc. After a long and very exciting day it was takeaway chinese and back to the Windtowers.

Next part of the journey takes us from Canmore up to Jasper and then over to Edmonton - more to follow....