Lake Louise, AB 2014

Day 3, Sunday, July 13:  We left Canmore this morning on our way to Lake Louise.  Such a beautiful drive from Canmore and an hour's drive.

We arrived and got set up and ready to go for a drive up to the Lake.  It is so beautiful!  Being a Sunday afternoon, we found no parking and decided to go to the village shops.  We had seen Amolite Fossils at the Glenbow Museum in Calgary and one of the shops had pairs of them.  We decided they would look very nice in our coach.  The fossils are approximately 16 million years old!  If they are broken when they are found, then they use those for jewelry and they are so colorful and beautiful.  We found a few other things there and then went to the Train Station restaurant where we were having dinner.  It was about 4 pm (5 o'clock somewhere!) so we had a glass of wine and talked to the manager.  It was a cool place and we were looking forward to dinner!

We had a great dinner at the Train Station and each room was set up as a dining room but filled with original memorabilia!  Very fun.

Day 4, Monday, July 14:  This morning the bus was picking us up at 9:00 to explore the Lake Louise area.  We were going on a Rocky Mountain Tour with lunch at Lake Louise.  We had a great tour guide and we started at Moraine Lake.  It was so peaceful and beautiful there.

From Lake Moraine our next stop was Johnson River.  It is a good hiking area but Ted and I just checked out the river, the gift shop and enjoyed the beauty!

Next stop, lunch at Chateau Lake Louise, a beautiful view from the dining room!  Since the hotel was close to the campground, they ran a bunch of us back so we could walk our doggies!  I hated to eat and run and not enjoy the beautiful view, but Sophie needed me!

After we got back from walking the pups, the bus took off for Takakkaw Falls.  The road to the falls is very interesting!  There are only a couple of the bus drivers certified to go up there in the 45' buses!  Ours was one of them!  The bus driver pulled all the way to the corner at the wall and then backed up the next part of the road, backing all the way to that corner wall, then going forward.  He had to do the same going down.  There was a car in his way that had two young ladies in it, that he couldn't get to back up out of his way until the big bus started coming toward them...she backed up in a hurry!

Takakkaw in Cree means "it is magnificent" and that is correct!  The waterfall is 254 meters or 838 feet.  The waterfall is fed by the Daly Glacier which in turn is fed by the Waputik Icefield.  The waterfall roars in the summer but by winter is a ribbon of ice!

From there we were going to the "Kicking Horse River Valley" to the "Natural Bridge".  The limestone, sand and gravel carried by the water formed the bridge.

This was our last stop for the day and the bus headed back to our Lake Louise Campground.  Our driver sure earned some extra tips today with his knowledge and his driving skills!

When we got back to the campground we had a brief travel meeting because we were headed to Jasper on Day 5!

Loving Lake Louise area..."Ain't Life Grand!"