Oh Canada! Part 2: Wildlife Tour, Spa Day & the Lakes

Hi Everyone! 

To recap, when you last left us, we had just inadvertantly taken one of the hardest hike of our lives.

Let's resume.

DAY 4: Saturday, July 13^th

Saturday, I could barely walk due to our stupid hike. Well, I could walk if it was flat or uphill, but the slightest downhill grade…NOPE. We took a slow gentle walk to town for breakfast (bagels at the Rocky Mountain Bagel shop - apparently the most popular place in town) and later went back to watch the very small, sweet/sad miners’ parade (which took about 5 minutes) and then had lunch  (again) on the Rose and Crown patio.

The bagel shop actually had gluten free bagels! 

Antique open top tourist bus

Later, Glenn went to explore more while I took a nap. He saw this pretty lake and hiked to a waterfall.

We then drove into Banff. While Banff is beautiful, it is way more touristy and crowded than Canmore…I am glad we are not staying there. It is only like a 20-minute drive away.

Us on the bridge in downtown Banff.

Downtown Banff

We had a fabulous dinner at a place called Farm & Fire and then met up with our wildlife tour. We got on a small bus and from 6:30-9:30 pm drove to numerous spots around Banff. On our very first stop we saw big horn sheep (one that was just hanging out on the side of the road, and others in a nearby field where there was also a wedding taking place). We also saw a coyote that was  eyeing up some of the babies, and a mama and baby Columbian ground squirrel (they look like little prairie dogs).

This dude was not afraid of anything.

Here you can see the wedding on the left - the big horn sheep are down towards the treeline.

Look at the baby!

Glenn captured this coyote stalking the group above

But this guy chased the coyote away.

Columbian ground squirrel

So cool - we've never seen big horn sheep so close before. Also, we learned that they found a dead grizzly in the park and after an investigation, determined that it had been killed by a mama big horn sheep that apparently was protecting her baby. So, they are pretty bad ass. 

We went to Tunnel Mountain (which has no tunnel – it is soon to be renamed Sleeping Buffalo Mountain), Two Jac Lake (named after the two founders - both named Jack), Lake Minnewanka, some Hoodoos, the Bow River Falls (gorgeous), and more!

Two Jac Lake

Lake Minnewanka

These white stone things are called Hoodoos. Some natural rock formation.

Here's the Banff Fairmont in the distance.

And here you can see the gondola going up Sulphur Mountain. Can you believe we walked down that thing? So dumb.

Here is Bow River Falls - you'll recall we took a float trip down the Bow River earlier in the trip.

Also during the drive, we saw another scruffy group of big horned sheep on the side of the road (and more babies). 

It was a fun and informative tour. They said they had never seen a bear on the tour, and that there were only like 65 bears in the whole park (which is enormous).

On the ride home, we saw a huge herd of elk (we couldn’t stop and take pics since we were on the highway), and then, like a miracle, we saw a bear! We got a very good look at it on the side of the road as it walked across the bike path, got to the edge of the road and then decided to go the other way. It was brown, but not huge…we learned that black bears and grizzly bears come in all different colors, so we’re pretty sure it was a black bear. Again, unfortunately, no picture, but it happened!

DAY 5: Sunday, July 14^th

So Glenn has continued his tradition of getting up super early and hiking (he was STILL hiking! I still could barely walk!) and taking pics in the morning. Here's the evidence.

He walked to the top of Tunnel Mountain - the most popular mountain in Banff apparently - and was rewarded with a couple congratulations sign. Apparently, during one month of the year, the residents have a challenge to do this hike every day. Glenn thought he was going to die. 

This was a wonderful day—our 31^st anniversary celebration day (celebrated a few days early). In the afternoon, we drove over to the Banff Fairmont. It is a gorgeous castle of a hotel.

We went early so we could use the spa, soaked in their warm mineral pool and hot tub, and then got arguably the best massages ever in the history of the world. Afterwards, we had a drink at one of their gorgeous bars and then went to the 1800 Chop House where we had Wagu Beef Tenderloin, bernaise sauce, mashed potatoes and a bottle of Canadian wine. They had gluten free bread for me and rolls for Glenn (he took the leftovers with him because they were so amazing). The steak literally melted in your mouth it was so tender. Oh my. Neither of us could think of a better dinner ever.

DAY 6: Monday, July 15^th

This was our busiest day of the trip and it was fun, but exhausting and probably not worth all the effort we put in. We packed up, checked out of Canmore, and drove to Banff and had lunch (again at the Farm & Fire…so good!). Then we waited about 20 minutes and got on a shuttle that drove us 45 minutes to Lake Louise. The bus ride was hot and crowded, and as we went up in the mountains, we were feeling some altitude sickness again.

We got to the Lake Louise shore, which is gorgeous as you know, so we took lots of pics. But there were a zillion noisy obnoxious tourists there and tour groups. We thought we would be able to go and sit on the porch at the Lake Louise Fairmont, but they no longer let anyone who is not a guest into (or anywhere near) the hotel. Since we didn’t feel like hiking, and no place to eat or drink anything, we left after a short visit.

Lake Louise

We then took shuttle #2 to Lake Moraine, which is even more vibrant in color than Lake Louise and considered by locals to be superior and that shuttle went even higher into the mountains (about a 20-minute trip).

Lake Morraine

The color of the water is unreal

Again though, nothing much to do there after you’ve seen the lake and taken pictures if you aren't going to hike, so then we had to take shuttle #3 back to Lake Louise (20 minutes), and then Glenn had booked us a private shuttle/taxi to drive us back to Banff (another 45 minutes)– we got back around 5. We then had a yucky dinner (I sent mine back and didn’t eat) and then drove close to 2 hours over to our next destination – near the Kicking Horse Ski Resort in Golden, British Columbia.

OK - that seems like a good place to stop for today. Stay tuned for more exciting installments from Canada.