Epic trip!
Preparation: I packed my stuff!
Thursday, May 31st 1. Getting There Off to YVR!
Friday, June 1st #2. Vancouver and kidlets!
Saturday, June 2nd #3. Queen Elizabeth Park
Sunday, June 3rd #4. YVR, splashing, sushi
Monday, June 4th
Jesse and Cluny picked us up to take us to the airport, where we said our goodbyes, and then JB and I had breakfast.
Two stories...
The kids noticed their cat had been gaining weight. Poor Dorah cat, she is 12, and she is fed with an automatic feeder. She sits in front of it around 5 p.m., waiting for the food to drop. Stacie told me that it happened around the time they knew a neighbour was feeding dog food to the crows... Dorah disappears from time-to-time. They are deeply suspicious.
We were talking about hair. Grampa mentioned he might need to comb his.
Cluny snorted, "Gampa, you have no hair. You bald!"
"I am?" He felt his head. "Where did it go?"
"Dorah ate it," Cluny replied quite confidently. She is a busy, happy, adorable wee girl!
I remain fascinated with this city.
In we go through security. It's a crazy time, with long line-ups. EVERY TIME I get stopped and the machine buzzes. It's my underwire bra. The girls need their support!
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| Vancouver airport, Blue Jays! |
Next stop, breakfast.
The kids behind JB were a hoot, they were showing each other loud videos on the smartphones, while the maitre d' had shown us to a 'quiet table', as I had requested.
We were off to Calgary, where JB had lived for 12 years. (That was before I met him!) We rented a car. Such beautiful territory.
Just outside Canmore, a big, new development.
Banff Park
Signage: You are in avalanche country!
These are wild animal crossings. Sturdy gates, with steps at appropriate points. What a brilliant idea.
But, those mountains!
Castle Mountain is a mountain located within Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies, approximately halfway between Banff and Lake Louise. It is the easternmost mountain of the Main Ranges in the Bow Valley and sits astride the Castle Mountain Fault which has thrust older sedimentary and metamorphic rocks forming the upper part of the mountain over the younger rocks forming its base. The mountain's castellated, or castle-like, appearance is a result of erosive processes acting at different rates on the peak's alternating layers of softer shale and harder limestone, dolomite and quartzite.
The high peak on the right is called Eisenhower Tower.
Lots of critters grazing on large farm fields.
Then, there is Canadian Olympic Park
I drove us to Canmore for lunch
There are mountains everywhere!
Deer Lodge
This is where we stayed. You can see the glacier from the property! It dates from 1923, and it's a 10 minute walk to Lake Louise itself.
It's a pretty basic room: two beds, clothes hanger, table and chair, and a small bathroom. (No TV! We were anxious for news about the upcoming election, from Ontario.) As we were unpacking, another entered our room with a key. It was a bit of a shock. Someone made a mistake. There was Wifi, however.
There was a hot tub on the roof of the building. It's so incongruous watching a glacier from there.
Lady Agnes Room
The bar and dining room. It was rather pricey... My glass of wine was $12.
For $296 a night, we decided to only stay one day, visit Lake Louise itself in the morning, and toodle back to Calgary. We were happy to close our eyes and rest.
