Back to the holiday blogging, but don't worry after today's post there will only be one more post about Canada......lol!
After leaving Banff, we headed up in to the mountains to visit the beautiful frozen Lake Louise. It is the first time that I have ever seen a frozen lake, and it was quite spectacular.
Although I was quite amused when one of our fellow passengers 'complained' that the lake was frozen and not it's beautiful crystal blue colour that it is renowned for. Umm....der....it's still Spring. Come in Summer if you don't want to see it frozen....or as Hannah suggested......google a photo......lol!
The lake was starting to thaw around the edges, and the sun warming these rocks was helping to melt the snow.
The snow/ice on this roof was pretty cool too.
Our next stop was the Columbia Icefields. We climbed aboard our bus and headed up the valley to the Glacier.
There was a cordoned off area of the glacier that we were able to walk on.
I wore my sensible footwear........Hannah high heal boots. I had jeans with no rips.......Hannah.....well......
On our way back down from the Icefields, we spied our first Grizzly in the wild......woohoo! We finally saw one and were able to get a few photos. He didn't seem all that worried about us, more content with filling his belly with dandelions and the like.
While most of the bus headed straight into Jasper, we decided to raft down the Athabasca River and arrive about 1.5 hours later. The rapids were only small as it was a little early in the season, and that didn't worry me in the least. The scenery was beautiful and we even got to see some Bighorn Sheep and some Elk. The Elk were a little scary as they were in the river and the herd was split, so we had to wait patiently for them to make their way out of the water together.
The next day we took an optional tour up to Lake Maligne.......another frozen lake.
During the Summer months this lake is a popular boating lake, but not when we were there. Hannah said that I should jump up and down and test how thick the ice was.......bahahahaha!
It was all good.......although there were 4 on our tour that wouldn't walk out on the ice.
On our way back in to Jasper, we spied several cars pulled over on the side of the road. We had learnt that this usually means wildlife......and we were correct. In fact it was a mother Black Bear and her two 2 year old cubs.
While the cubs were playing down over an embankment, the mother bear was happily foraging for food. Our tour guide, Wes, asked our bus driver to open the door, which we were very surprised about. Wes then started to tell off a couple who were standing on the side of the road taking photos of the bear. He explained that there were two cubs just over the mound and that if one of them gave a squeak, the mother would be at them in three bounds.
Another beautiful day in Canada as we left Jasper and headed to Sun Peaks. A morning break at Mount Robson, the highest mountain in the Canadian Rockies. The cloud cover just wasn't going to shift before we had to get back on the bus, but a beautiful sight none the less.
We caught some sunshine at during our lunch stop at this little lake.
It was such a beautiful day that we decided to spend our free afternoon by going for a walk around the nearby Golf Course.
It will be fun Hannah said.......let's get some steps up.
That was until we ended up not knowing where we were and having to climb up an embankment to get on to this road....surely this will lead back in to town?
Well I'm telling you mud, snow and thongs are not a good combination. The thongs suctioned on to the muddy ground, and we had to stop and rinse the mud off our feet and footwear in melted puddles of icy water.
Hannah decided that it might be easier to walk on the left hand side of the track, but when it turned out to be a snow filled drain, she ended up knee deep in snow. I, like the good mother I am, laughed and took a photo......lol!
Then we saw this sign.....lol!
We did agree though that if a black bear came running out of the bush at us, Hannah was to run for it and I was going to be the sacrificial lamb so to speak. The reasoning was that a. I have lived over half my life and b. she can run faster than me!
Well, as you've probably guessed, we got back in to town safely....although it took me half an hour to scrub the mud from my feet!
A few days later was Mothers Day and we were in the touristy town of Whistler, where half of the workers are Aussies and half of the tourists are Aussies.....lol! So what did I do for Mothers Day........Ziplining of course. I have never been before and thought why not. Hannah has been a few times so we picked the Eagle course, which was the step above the Bear course.....it was go hard or go home!
I must admit my heart rate did elevate when I was waiting at the first step of point, but after that it was so much fun.
It was a great way to spend Mothers Day.....it's actually the fourth one that I have spent when traveling overseas......three in the US and one in Canada.
Well I think that is enough for this post.......thanks for staying until the end. My last Canadian post involves a bucket list tick and a some more wildlife photos.
Linda :)