The Canadian Rockies - Lake Louise and Banff

Saturday was a travelling day. We made our way from north Washington State into Canada. The dog made it through with flying colors and they didn't even look at her papers(insert angry emoji). We stopped at an A&W for lunch because 2 of the girls have come to really like root beer lately, and wouldn't you know, Saturday July 14 was free root beer day!  This made up for the fact that we missed free slurpee day on the 11th! So we all enjoyed a burger and root beer, some even splurged and had a float:)

We continued on deeper into Canada. We had a nice KOA booked that would put us about 2 hours outside of Banff. We arrived around 2:30 which is the earliest we've ever gotten to a campground. It was nice to have a more relaxing day. The girls swam for a couple hours while I tried to catch some rays and relax. Baba helped me fix some bbq chicken for dinner and we had a nice picnic. The girls watched movies on the outside tv and then we roasted some marshmallows and had s'mores. We haven't had too many downtimes like this, so it was a welcome change.

Of course, yesterday morning it was back to the grind with an early wake up(for the adults) to get on the road. Our destination was Lake Louise, but the Canadian Rockies gave us a show the whole way in to town. Wow, every turn, around every corner, massive and grand mountains topped with snow and waterfalls running down. Alongside the interstate rushing rivers and babbling creeks. The mountains do not disappoint. They stand so grand, secure and spectacular. They make you feel so small, and remember your place in this world.  We crossed over the Continental Divide and saw how the water started flowing the opposite way. What a great history/science lesson for us! I took over 100 pictures yesterday, but I won't upload them all here:)

Our main destination was Lake Louise. It's a beautiful Alpine Lake in the heart of the Canadian Rockies. The bright blue hues combined with the backdrop of Victoria Glacier makes for a picture perfect scene. Of course we had to take some single shots of Anna Louise in front of Lake Louise. We had a delicious lunch at Poppies Brasserie overlooking Lake Louise.

Following lunch we walked/hiked a trail back down to the Visitor Center. This was quite a trek, but everyone did great. The alternative was a substandard transit bus that would have taken twice as long to get down. It was good for us to get some exercise and the trail followed along a rushing creek flowing down beside us. So the view and the sounds were spectacular. A bonus factor was that we didn't see any bears along the way.

We headed on to Banff to visit downtown. We had a fun time walking down the "roam zone" as they call it. We stopped in several shops and some indulged in frozen yogurt. Keegan got to walk alongside us and she did not behave well. She was barking at every dog that walked past her. Dogs are very welcomed in Banff though, lots of places had bowls of water out on the sidewalk for dogs to take a sip as they pass by.  Leaving Banff, we were treated to more spectacular views of the Canadian Rockies. As we traveled on, the sun began to set and illuminated the mountains. The Colombia River was beautiful too. Flowing alongside the mountains, painting beautiful reflections of their majesty.