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Published: June 18th 2010
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Adam's Blog:
It was Sunday so we took the opportunity to head back to Banff and the famous Castle-like Banff Springs Hotel for Brunch....The hotel is olde worlde with stunning setting over the Bow Valley....as you could imagine also very popular with tourists. Interesting fact - people would stay at the castle for 3 months at a time back in the 1920's and 30's for $50,000! Afterwards we went for a drive along the Bow Valley, stopping at the falls, then along the golf course. We found an interesting drive that took you along the golf course then into the national park....it was open park and we got to see a female moose closeup and then a coyote run behind our car - pretty impressive.
On Tuesday we headed to Calgary for some retail therapy - a nice city - similar to Brisbane - with friendly people. We called in to David and Maureen's (Invermere exchange) for dinner and a chat about their thoughts on the area and trip to Australia. We headed home at midnight.
The weather started to close in again dropping to 5 degrees and snowing on the mountains so we stayed at home, watched
some dvd's and read some books. The kids have enjoyed playing in the bedroom with bunk beds and view out to parklands. That night the Chicago Blackhawks clinched the Stanley Cup over Philly Flyers......so the NHL is done and time for the World Cup to begin.
We wrapped up our stay in Canmore with a sight see around town taking in the Silvertip golf course and dinner at the Iron Goat pub - a gorgeous stone and timber pub overlooking the valley....we had a good stay in Canmore - getting to see many things along the way and the Rockies are a definite highlight.
On the Saturday we took the Icefields Parkway to Jasper (one of the great drives - 230km)....and they weren't kidding.....too many highlights to mention here but will try on the best ones (using a different superlative):
* Stopping at Bow Lake - another ice covered lake with tourquoise blue water - gorgeous
* Walking to Peyto Lake and Bow Summit - 20 min hike over snow trail to a lookout overlooking magnificent lake and mountain views.
* Bridal Falls - Stunning 60 metre high falls just off the main highway in 3 tiers.
I climbed to the middle tier and got some great shots.
* Columbia Glacier - Gave the Ice tractor / bus a miss and walked to the foot of the glacier with Gracie....quite cold....quite steep but once you got there amazing.
* Athabasca Falls - Late in the day a a quick walk to see powerful falls where they converge into a steep ravine - Awesome.
And then there was the wild life ANNNDDDD............A BEAR.......we drove around a corner and up ahead on the highway a car was off to side of the road...as we got closer we could see a medium size black bear. We stopped and took photos...as it started to wander off....I got out of the car and took some closer video and photo...it was calm, but I wasn't getting too close....pretty spectacular. A little further on we spotted a Big Horn Sheep on a hill top - just watching the cars go by. Further along we saw a group of mountain goats and their kids walk across the road. The trip was a deserved highlight and all up took 7hrs with the many stops, many RV's to take in....By the time we got to Jasper
we were tuckered out.
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