Blogs from Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada, North America

Wednesday July 6, 2011 Planning and Equipment I now have 3 kick stands on my bike. That is 2 on the bike and 1 for the trailer. The initial kick stand was not holding the weight so well. The bike has not fallen over yet but has come very close a few times. Today has been largely uneventful and restful so I feel I should mention my good fortunes. While I did some research on bike touring at Christmas time I went into all of this with no real experience. That being said, knock on wood (as the saying goes) I don’t think I could have planned, timed or equipped myself much better than I have. I feel my timing has worked perfectly when making my decisions. I could not have started earlier in the year ... read more

When: 23rd Jan 2011 Where: Lake Louise, Banff National Park Highlights: First Ice sculpture celebration & sleigh ride It has been a while we had been outdoors. If it was not our laziness, it was the weather. All it took was one mention that an Ice Carving competition was happening in Lake Louise to get us moving. Grateful. The festival happened for 3 days & we were watching the weather closely to decide when to go. But, really! What were we thinking. The place is in the middle of the Rockies. It creates its own weather, ALL the time. Still, logistically Sunday proved to be better. I was surprised that after not being outdoors for a good 3 months, we still had it in us to get up early & get going, in spite of our ... read more

We were very fortunate Sunday afternoon. As we drove along the Bow Valley Parkway (the more scenic alternative to Hwy. 1) the sky began to clear. We passed a few interesting points along the way. Among them, a memorial for Germans and Austrians held in the internment camps during the first world war and used as slave labour to build the roads in Canada's first national park and, the Great Divide - the path that marks the Continental divide that separates the watersheds that drain into the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. All along this highway are lookout points where tourists can pull over and photograph the mountains. When the ten peaks appeared in the distance, we watched for an opportunity to stop and take a picture of these huge, snow-covered peaks. Our first view of Lake ... read more

Woke up looking forward to another awesome day in Canada - we are white water rafting the Kicking Horse route and then going to Lake Louise to stay at the famous Fairmont Chateau, the hotel that is always used in the postcards. So we got up early (6am, way too early for Tim) to check out of our hotel and then drive to the rafting place. Because it was so early we had a really good run (so much for the roadworks holding us up as and could have slept in for another hour - sorry Tim! Went to the very exotic McDonalds for breaky on the run, I think it was too early for the guy working there too, because he was none too please when I asked for a Bacon and Egg McMuffin minus ... read more