July 29, 2014 Canmore, AB

Today was another laid back day. We drove the 12 miles to Banff for a day of sightseeing and shopping. We arrived in Banff at about 11:00.

We were early enough that parking was not a problem. We visited several shops along the main business area for a couple of hours and then had a late lunch/early dinner at Chili's.

We then drove the Tunnel Mountain circle and got back to the RV park at about 4:00 PM. We had a great day.

Although we are a bit anxious to get home, we are somewhat sad that this is the last day of our journey through Canada to Alaska and back. This was absolutely a trip that was everything we had anticipated, plus a bit more. We were able to see amazing scenery and wildlife throughout the trip. We have favorite places that we would like to see again and a couple of places to which we likely would not return. But overall, it was a great adventure.

A special thank you to Jeremy for creating and updating our blog. We will download the blog to allow us to visit Canada and Alaska anytime we wish.

July 28, 2014 Canmore, AB Canada

Today we drove approximately 50 miles north to Lake Louise. The drive was easy and we arrived at the lake at about 10:30 only to find a parking space extremely difficult to locate – particularly in an extended cab, long box ¾ T pickup.

Once we got parked, we only had a short distance to walk to a boardwalk at the lake. I mentioned parking was difficult??? It was nearly elbow to elbow on the boardwalk. However, we were able to get photos of the lake and the Fairmont Lake Louise resort.

This lake is fed directly from glaciers and ice fields directly west of the lake. The ice grinds and pulverizes the smaller rocks. These small particles are suspended in the water and refract the light to make the water appear to be aqua marine in color. Absolutley beautiful!!

A person we talked with at Lake Louise recommended we visit Lake Moraine which is only a short distance from Lake Louise. When we arrived at Lake Moraine, we encountered cars parked on the edge of the narrow road at least ½ mile from the lake. We drove on, meeting cars and driving very slow. Well...the parking lot was full. Cars were stopped, waiting for people leaving to vacate their parking spot. The park service has an attendant directing traffic in the parking lot. We quickly decided we didn't really need to see this lake. We fired our tour guide.

On the way back to Canmore, we could see a very large building in the town of Banff with spires that rose far above the trees. We drove through Banff to the original Banff Springs Hotel which is still in business. The hotel appears to hav had an addition built on in recent years as the stones are a bit different in color. This is truly a magnificent structure!!!

The Bow River falls lie directly behind the Banff Springs Hotel. We drove to the viewing point and spent about an hour watching the river and people.

We got back to the RV Park about 6:00.