Canadian Rockies... Pure Beauty!

What trip to Calgary would be complete without a trip out to the Canadian Rockies, home to such gems as Banff, Lake Louise, Moraine Lake and more?  Jenn and I were not about to be stupid and not drive the mere 130kms.  So Saturday morning rolled around and I wasn't feeling so good.  Friday night had been spent at my dear friends the Horons; who graciously hosted Jenn and I for dinner and cocktails, along with our friend Shoush.  Cocktails ended up a plenty, country dancing prevailed (no, not me) and good laughs between friends took place well in the AM hours.   My hangover caused us a little delay in departure on Saturday morning, but shortly after noon, we were checked out of our hotel.  After a quick stop for some much needed fast food, the GPS read 130kms to Banff.  I got through driving about 50kms before I had to hand the wheel over to Jenn.  I was struggling.

The drive into Banff National Park is a just amazing.  Your constantly staring at these mountains in the distance and they are just slowly nearing their majestic size.  Once you enter the park you are surrounded by these gigantic, yet beautiful, rocky mountains that just amaze you.  The drive is fantastic.

We stopped and paid our $20 entrance fee and headed straight to our hotel in Banff.  I have to admit that it was really cool of Jenn to agree to check into the hotel before anything and then decide what we "could" do (based on my condition).  However, with the weather as great as it was (whereas it had been raining all week in Calgary), there was no way I was going to take a nap and ruin such a day (or Jenn's trip).  So I rallied the troops, handed Jenn the keys to the car and asked the GPS to take us to Lake Louise some 50kms further into the park.

Words just don't do Lake Louise justice.  As it was approaching 4pm by the time we arrived to the lake, it wasn't too hard to find a parking spot although there were still plenty of people around.  We filled up the back pack, put on some walking shoes, and headed off to the lake.  We stopped in the Chateau Lake Louise (the Fairmont hotel on the lake) to pick some water and snacks and were soon at water's edge.  The water was a beautiful turquoise (maybe not as evident in the pictures).  We decided to walk to the other side of the lake; a nice 2km walk each way.  It was a nice flat walk and we just had to stop and take many pictures along the way:

As we arrived at the other side of the lake, we noticed several rock climbers scaling the rocks there.  The rocks seemed nicely lined up for their climbing, but it was still impressive to see these gutsy people climb.

By the time we returned to the Fairmont, it was nearing 7pm.  So we made our way back to Banff.  On the drive back we were fortunate to see an Elk having dinner along the side of the road.  We made a pit stop at our hotel and went out to what now appears to be our Banff culinary favorite, The Grizzly House (we had eaten here the last time in March too).  Without reservations we were told that it would be closer to 10pm until we could eat.  Oh well, we'd wait and maybe some outdoor seating would open up sooner.  Afterall, it gets dark around 10:30pm here.  Luckily, someone canceled and we were soon seated at the same table as our last meal there.  Anyways, we enjoyed a traditional cheese fondue followed by a meat fondue (beef and chicken) and then complained about how full our bellies were.  We struggled to walk back to the hotel, but eventually it was lights out.

I woke up Sunday a rejuvenated man (of course Jenn was fine like the day before).  The plan today was another lake that a few people from work had recommended.  Like Lake Louise, Moraine is glacially fed.  Because of this, apparently, it only recently crested (late June) and reflects a gorgeous shade of blue.  I mean WOW!  Fact: this lake used to be on the back side of the Canadian twenty dollar bill (1969 and 1979 issues).  It also is a background option on several smartphones: Pre, Android and Pearl.

Again, Jenn and I decided a nice easy walk to the other side of the lake was the way to go.  Afterall we were here for the lake.  The walk was 1.6 km each way.  Like the day before, we took numerous pictures around the lake as we enjoyed its shear beauty:

We returned to our starting point and decided to eat lunch at the lodge along the lake.  After lunch, our time in the Canadian Rockies was coming to an end.  We wanted to get back to Calgary at a decent time, so around 3pm we drove away. 

The nature behind us we can both honestly say that Banff National Park, with it's majestic mountains and turquoise lakes, is one of the most gorgeous places on the earth...... quite simply.... PURE BEAUTY!