A 3-lake kind of day

Banff, Canada

Friday morning, we headed out to Lake Louise, about 60km Northwest of Banff. Lake Louise was beautiful and the Fairmont Hotel there is amazing. But we were surprised at the crowds. We kind of felt like we were at Disney World. We hiked up and down the side of the Lake and had fun talking to some Purdue alumni (who had noticed Tom's hat). We then took a stroll in the Fairmont lobby. There was a harpist playing in the corner, and in the crowd we bumped into some Notre Dame alumni. After leaving Lake Louise, we drove to Moraine Lake which we heard was much quieter. Not so. The parking was a mess, and there were people everywhere. But once we got on the path around the side of the lake the crowds really disappeared. And it is an amazing lake...the most beautiful color!

Well, since we hadn't yet had our fill of lakes, we decided to make it a 3-lake day. We headed west on Hwy 1 to Yoho National Park in British Columbia. We didn't realize how close we were to BC! We saw cars pulling off at some viewpoint, so we pulled off too, and saw the coolest thing. There are these train tunnels going around through the mountain, called the "Spiral Tunnels." We got there just a few minutes before a train came through, and it was really neat! We could see 3 sections of the train (one above the other) as it spiraled down the mountain.

We went on to Emerald Lake, and finally found ourselves a beautiful, QUIET lake. No crowds, although there was a wedding party there. We looked at some really nice cabins there (maybe we'll go back someday and stay in them). By total coincidence we ran into an older couple from North Carolina who we had had breakfast with the 2 previous mornings in Banff at our B&B. They were staying at Emerald that night, and invited us up to their balcony for a glass of wine. (Funny, because we had just spent $12 on 2 diet cokes at the main lodge, because we were too cheap to buy the wine!) Our new friend (Carol) and I also realized we both loved shopping at Eddie Bauer, as we were wearing identical tank tops! :) On our way back, we took in one more sight...Takakkaw Falls. The spray and the breeze from the force of this very tall waterfall was powerful! Standing near the base of the falls was a lot of fun!

From there we headed back to Banff and had a delicious meal at "Earl's Kitchen and Bar," a very modern restaurant with a very young crowd and loud music...it was about the only place that was still open!