Grace, Sophie, and teddies.
It was June, and summer wasn't quite sure yet.
Mountains sighted and photographed.
Mt Robson is in the background, but we're already seen mountains!
(From the same position). "If you like it Daddy, you photograph it."
At last we got to Jasper, and for some reason sought out an Irish
restaurant.
There was a hot tub at the hotel of course.
The next day we went up to Maligne (rhymes with scene, and indeed it was)
Lake
The above boatshed from inside
While waiting for a tour of the lake we took a little hike.
On board the tour boat.
Spirit Island
... and the view from its dock.
All together now...
The scenery was exhausting.
On the way back, a small black bear was strolling 100' from the road. Like
the other idiots, we got out to photograph. A ranger arrived and fired a
loud gun in its direction to keep it away from the road.
Only hours before Grace had bought her own bear at the Maligne Lake gift
shop. Chockomoloko soon learned to fly.
That afternoon it was up the cable car to a spectacular lookout.
It was bright and cold at the top.
"You call this summer?"
Choko enjoyed the view
Steve shows the Rockies what for.
That evening we stumbled into a little
bit of serenity at Jasper Park Lodge. We went for dinner, but got some
magical canoeing in first.
The Gedyes headed out to Pyramid lake before Breakfast the next morning for
wildlife, and...
postcard quality reflections of Pyramid Mountain.
Driving down towards Banff later that morning, we chanced upon Leech Lake.
Athabascar Falls, I think.
The Icefields Parkway
Yep. Icefields.
And cute mountain goats by the road.
More bloody gorgeous scenery.
The Athabascar glacier. Note the
ant-sized people climbing it.
More stunning parkway
We had been told to visit Peyto Lake, which in June required a short hike
through the snow.
They say it's the bluest lake in the Rockies. We weren't going to argue.
This little fellow got very friendly with Belinda. She screamed 0.1s after
this photo was taken.
Lake Louise in the afternoon
Arriving at Emerald Lake Lodge
Grace took this one.
The evening was still and twilight went on forever.
I stumbled upon a display for the famous Burgess shale, which was the first
bed of Cambrian fossils ever discovered.
The shale itself is under the snow on the
facing ridge.
The next morning Chris got up early and walked around Emerald Lake
The main lodge
We all got exercise in our own ways..
David and Steve hiked did a short hike to a waterfall, and a comparatively
underwhelming view.
Then back to the boats for a second round of canoeing.
And finally an undeservedly hearty lunch.
The girls finished first, and moved on to other projects.
That afternoon, on the way to Banff we stopped off at the Moraine Lake in
the Valley of the Ten
Peaks...
And checked out the cubby holes in the rocks.
The girls decided that we all needed to do something with these logs.
Let's make a table.
Let's cover it with snow and do an Andy Goldsworthy.
View on leaving the valley
At Banff we stayed in a great little holiday apartment.
Braid-sisters and shadow-sisters the next morning.
On route to Johnston Canyon, near Banff
I'll keep this grass in my mouth to ruin
your shot, OK?
The canyon itself had about a mile of
steel catwalks. Very exciting!
At a lunch stop we all balanced on this log.
We got as far as this rainbow-shrouded waterfall
A quick visit to the Banff Springs hotel
And the springs themselves.
But the highlight of the trip (for two of us at least) was the water slide at our
apartment. We all had a go.
Wildlife crosses over the freeway here.
The next day the Harrisons left for Whistler, and we took one more visit to Lake Louise.
Photo by Grace
On the long drive back towards home we ran across the charmingly amateur
Enchanted Village park. Well worth a stop on a hot summer's afternoon.
This little pig built her house from straw.
This one, sticks. Not much smarter.
But this little pig was very clever indeed.
And so on...
It was the best of trips. The scenery was tremendous, and our traveling
companions were even better!