Banff National Park, Canada

North America » Canada
August 11th 2014

Published: September 9th 2014

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ThroughMyEyes

Paddles Up

Canoeing in Lake Morraine

When I woke up I saw Ania, my dad's girlfriend. The first thing we did was took a long drive from Montana to Canada. When we got there, we went up a gondola to to get to the top of a mountain. It was cool. When we got off the gondola, we went to see the view of the mountains. They were really pretty. Next we went shopping for food because we were going to have a BBQ at our campsite. We were going to make salmon and pepper kabobs and smores. When we got to the camp site, Vitor and my dad put up the tents while Ania and I made the food. Everything tasted awesome. I had a great time teaching Ania how to make smores because she never ate them before. She loved them. Finally we went to bed.

The next day we went canoeing on this beautiful clear lake and I paddled a lot. After that we hiked up a really big mountain of rocks that was really fun. Then my dad and Ania went out so my brother babysat me. All we did was play cards and that's it really. Finally, Ania and my dad

Sofia and Ania

Lake Morraine

came back and we all went to sleep.

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Daddy's Comments:

Yes, Ania finally arrived at about 130 am (only 9 hours late) but she made it. Ania had never met Sofia, nor Vitor before, so why not have the first time be a 6 hour drive followed by camping. Everyone hit it off great right from the start. The 6 hour drive went very fast. While the first 4 hours was a really boring drive when it came to scenery, we had fun. The first thing we did when we arrived at Banff was head straight for the Banff Gondola. After a quick jolt from Starbuck, we were whisked away to the top of Sulfur Mountain on the Banff Gondola. Wow, what an incredible view of the valley below. We took tons of pics, and had a blast. Going down the Gondola was just as fun.

Time to cook and we decided on Salmon Kebabs. As Sofia stated, she helped Ania make them. It was all delicious even the potatoes that Ania threw into the fire to cook as they do in Poland. We all thought that it was a "weird"

Vitor

Lake Morraine

idea, but they were really, really good. Ania finally experienced one of the few foods that is truly American - Smores. She thought that she was not going to like them, but actually loved 'em.

The next day was incredible as we headed straight to Morraine Lake. Wow, the intense blue color was something I had never seen in a lake and spending an hour canoeing with Sofia and Ania was magical. So much fun to paddle around in such a beautiful location. The hike up the rock pile, which now Vitor had done a few times, was awesome. The views were simply mesmerizing. Sofia for some reason gets a little scared of the pics that I pose as if I am falling. It started when she took a picture of me in Meteora, Greece doing something similar. She did not get scared until she looked at the picture after taking it. I was not "permitted" to post that one on her blog.

We then headed off to Lake Louise and checked into our Hostel. We had a room with 2 bunkbeds for us which while small, was sufficient. The hostel had a decent restaurant and a lot of

Me and Vitor

Banff

common rooms. Yes, this was the one night that Ania and I had dinner on our own( (Thanks Vitor!) at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise (WOW!).

Drive - Great Falls, Montana to Banff, Alberta, Canada about 400 miles

Accomodation:

Camping (night 1) - Banff Tunnel Mountain Village 1

Hostel (night 2) - HI Lake Louise Alpine Center

Sites - Lake Morraine

Hike - Morraine Lake Rockpile - short hike ( < 30 min) with amazing views of lake

Additional photos below

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