From the Passenger Seat

Despite my best efforts to hint without pushing, Sal likes to take pictures vertically. Here is a selection of pictures from her perspective.

Swinging at the Red Park

Desert @ Cleaver

Cullen's grad

sorry AJ, no peeking

Bubble blowing

Grade 1 math

Icefields Parkway

Looking for that shot

Peyto Lake

Icefields Parkway

Icefields Parkway

Gaucho Brazilian

Coast Hotel flowers 

Bighorns in Kananaskis

Post bath time

Approaching Moraine Lake

Day 15, Back to Our Home Away from Home on Canada Day

I started the morning early again, reading and listening to some jazz while trying the hotel supplied coffee. Not bad but it left me wanting something a little more. Weather was perfect for a walk so I dressed and went towards the main street. At 6:20 the sun was just coming over the mountains on the east side of the valley and bringing the details of the Three Sisters on the western side into view. They are visible from almost anywhere in Canmore. I strolled along passing over a small creek before entering the town center. I stopped and took a few pictures with my phone. I had passed a few businesses that would have had coffee, had they been open. I passed another early morning walker and asked if everything was closed. We walked for a bit with his dog close by. He suggested the Rocky Mountain Bagel Co. a few blocks up. If I hurried my coffee would only be $1.50. We went our separate ways and I got my large coffee and sat at a table outside, just sipping real coffee and watching the sun moving on the sisters. I really can't understand how anyone gets any work done in Canmore or Banff. I'd be caught staring at the mountains a dozen times a day.

I refilled my cup for another buck and a half and returned to the hotel down the main street that was all set for the Canada Day Parade. There were lawn chairs, folding chairs, restaurant chairs and blankets lining the street even though it didn't begin for another 5 hours. Small towns, must be nice to be able to leave something outside overnight and not have it grow legs.

We decided on a light breakfast after the large meal the evening before. I had overheard the owner of the bagel place tell a customer that there was another location on the 1A so went there, grabbed another coffee and a bagel. We each picked a muffin for later. Then it was up the Three Sisters Parkway, where oddly enough we couldn't really see the sisters. The parkway wound its way up over Canmore and we got a quick glimpse down to the valley from elevation before the parkway intersected with the TC and we were off to Kananaskis.

We made this 150 km drive last summer from the south without stopping except for Bighorn sheep. This time we took a much more leisurely pace from the north and stopped often for pictures and just to pause and look at some of the mountains, the last we will see of them for at least another year. This area is home to several provincial parks and since only the national parks are offering free admission the road was not very busy. The TC heading towards Banff looked like rush hour on the 401.  

About 100 km in I saw a dark brown shape on a slope along the far side of the road and quickly pulled onto the shoulder. Scrambling for my camera, I told Sal 'Grizzly'. It was a young bear about the size of the black bears we had seen the previous day, slowly roaming the hillside nibbling at plants. I changed to my longer zoom lens, put the drivers window down and snapped away for 5 minutes. It was something I never expected so see on the side of the road. We had almost counted on seeing bighorn sheep again as they were on the road right after all the warning signs last year, but not a grizzly. He paid no attention at all to us or the other 2 cars that stopped. Earlier in the week it was reported that someone had walked right up to a grizzly to get a picture. Park officials are getting more and more upset as they have to react when one dummy causes a bear to get a taste of the easy life on the side of the road. Feeding them causes the bears far more trouble. 'Our' grizzly put on a good show, stopping to pose so that we could snap away and then we left him, totally amazed at what we had just witnessed.

At the southern end of the road just as were were dropping into the foothills, we came around a corner after another ad for wildlife and a group of bighorns were standing in the middle of our lane. 2 adults and 3 smaller, scraggly looking young sheep. They had no fear of the cars that stopped to check them out. Our day was complete and it was barely lunch time.

Some may look forward to Canada Day for the partying and fireworks. For us, this was a special Canada Day. Being able to drive through such beauty without crossing a border is a blessing we should all learn to appreciate. Our country has so much to offer. Why the crowds are flocking to the national parks simply because they save the $20 entry fee is beyond my comprehension. If I lived here I would gladly spend $20 any time I could to further explore.

We're going to start buying lottery tickets in the hopes that someday we might move a little closer to the part of the country we share a love for.

Surprise visitor

Three Sisters

Bighorn sheep at the end of the drive

Day 14, Vacation from Vacation

I was awake at 5. Restless and eager to get on the road, undecided about where I even wanted to go first. At 6:30 we were heading west on the Stony Trail with the sun lighting up the mountains straight ahead. A cloud bank was clearing as we moved into the foothills. The Trans Canada is under construction in north east Calgary so I used 22, the Cowboy Trail. This avoids lots of the traffic until it connects back to the TC, 100km from Banff. By this time we had seen 1 deer and the mountains had doubled in size. Traffic had tripled.

A plan was forming in my head. We had a room booked in Canmore and I wanted to take the drive up the Icefields Parkway just past Lake Louise. But I couldn't drive past Moraine Lake with the sun in the most favourable spot I've ever witnessed. I lead a convoy of about 9 vehicles up the twisting narrow 11km. The rule is get to the lake before 9 or after 6. We arrived at 8:55 and the parking lot was already overflowing. We lucked out and nabbed one of the few spots left by the 3 cars we passed on the way in.

I'll never get over how the peaks that surround the lake come into view as you descend the last kilometre. It feels like you can reach out and touch them they are so close. The lake was still partially in shadow, the haze that normally flattens the detail of the peaks had yet to form. It was breath taking, and I've been here for the last 6 years. I raced up the rock pile to try and capture the moment.

Racing up the rock pile is difficult when no one is around, almost impossible when hundreds of selfie stick wielding folks are wandering all over the path. I made the lower level and there was only 1 couple in this small corner. I offered to take their picture as much to get the spot to myself as I was being helpful. I snapped a few shots then tried to go higher. The higher I went the more selfie sticks I found. I had left my tripod at the lower level so after a few more quick shots I went back down, found the tripod and took my own selfie. People kept pouring in by the bus load. I climbed to the higher level again but only snapped a few pictures before getting frustrated by the number of people with no regard for the signs asking them not to climb past the retaining wall. Every one that does this ends up in someone else's picture.

Next time I'd love to get here earlier or just come without a camera at all. I cannot capture how I feel here. With a camera I'm overwhelmed by the pressure to get 'that' picture. Without that pressure I might just enjoy it more.

I went back to the parking lot and found Sal sitting on a bench talking to a tour bus driver. Very nice guy with lots of stories.

We drove back to the village and had lunch. We decided not to try and go to Lake Louise, parking was full and they were bussing folks in from overflow 5km away. Traffic continued to pour in.

The Icefields Parkway travels about 250km to Jasper. We took in about one third, turning back at the Saskatchewan River Crossing.

Along the way we saw numerous hanging glaciers, turquoise lakes and endless jagged peaks. The highway is known as one of the most beautiful drives in the world and it definitely gets our vote. Highlights for us were Bow Lake, where we walked along the shore and looked out over the clear water to the slopes of the mountains that drop straight down to the far shore. The other we paid for with a steep 1km walk. Peyto Lake has the deepest colour of the lakes probably because you view it from a very high angle. We're already thinking we should book a room in Jasper and take in the rest of the view.

We ended our driving with a surprisingly quiet drive down the Bow Valley Parkway. We got up close and personal with 2 black bears. The lack of traffic was a definite surprise.

Our hotel room in Canmore was great and after a shower and a bit of the Jay's game we went for supper at Gaucho Brazilian Barbeque. It was an experience. You pick your sides from an extensive array and then the gauchos carve 11 different meats tableside. Several kinds of beef, lamb, roast pork tenderloin, chicken hearts, ribs... I can't remember them all. It was good but we both found that it was all too fast. We would have preferred they allowed more time between visits as we both ended up with side plates piled with 5 different slices and couldn't keep track of what was what. After a short walk we returned to our room and crashed.

Moraine Lake

Bow Lake