Our Trip to the Canadian Rockies - Part 2

I'm continuing to share some pictures out of the hundreds that I took while on this trip!

On the second day of our trip, we woke up early in Golden, BC, and had a good breakfast before leaving.  The sun was playing peek-a-boo all day, and we mostly had heavy cloud cover, but the views were still spectacular!

We stopped at an overlook to enjoy the magnificent views, and spotted the Canadian Pacific train in the distance.

Our son wanted to test out the waters on the beautiful beach.  COLD was the verdict, lol!

Right where we parked to get out, we found a large patch of wild strawberries growing.

The mountain peaks continued to grow around us, and our heads were craning in every direction to see the views.

Our route took us to Lake Louise as our first stop in Banff National park.

The day was a bit chilly and somewhat overcast, but the views magnificent!

Chateau Louise nestled magnificently in the mountains.

We walked along this creek that was flowing out of Lake Louise as it took us closer to the view of Lake Louise and the mountains.

Lake Louise!  It was majestic to see the snow covered mountains overlooking the lake.  The weather was quite temperamental and moody, but the view was incredible to behold, regardless.

 

Flowers abloom everywhere!

Inside Chateau Lake Louise, an incredibly beautiful building.

Another view of Lake Louise.

This was an incredibly beautiful and serene place to visit.  We didn't have a lot of time to spend here.  There were kayaks that could be rented at a hefty price, but we opted to keep things simple and enjoy the view from the bank.

After leaving Lake Louise, we drove down the Bow Valley Parkway, where we were told there was lots of wildlife, and views to see.  We did see incredible views!

We stopped at one of the log resorts and these lovely red chairs caught my eye.

We already had reservations for the night, but had we not, this gorgeous log cabin resort with vacancy may have been our resting spot for the night!

Lots of water, rushing, rushing, rushing! The sound of the water is always so relaxing to hear.

Magnificent views of the Rockies abounded around every bend in the road.

Warning signs were posted at every scenic stop along this highway - for wolves!

We kept a close out out for the wolves, but this was the closest thing we found to "wildlife" of any kind on this parkway - a beautiful husky mix.  Her owners told us that they were from California, on their way to visit Alaska, and this sweet girl was having a great trip, enjoying the cooler weather!

This particular rock formation was called "Castle Rock", quite aptly named!

Beautiful views of the snow capped mountains, and glacier lakes.

This beautiful mountain overlooks the scenic town of Banff.

We stayed in Canmore, AB for the night in a lovely condo that had two separate bedrooms, a fully equipped kitchen, and washer and dryer!  We enjoyed the balcony with lovely views as well.

Enjoying the views of the Three Sisters mountains just outside our balcony window.

After dinner, we went for a little drive.  Storm clouds were building off to the east, and then we saw this beautiful rainbow dip down out of the sky.

Another view of the Three Sisters.

Fog and light created beautiful scenes across the mountains as we drove.

A picture of the Fire Mountain Lodge where we enjoyed a very comfortable stay.  

The storm had rolled in the night before, bringing cold rain with it.  We had planned to walk around Banff, but with the rain pouring down, we opted to just do a "drive-by" tour instead, lol!

Stopping to get gas in Banff before leaving to drive the Icefield Parkway up to Jasper.  Gas prices in Canada are for a liter of gas, and there are approximately 4 liters in a gallon, so the cost of a gallon of gas here was $4.756, which was not too bad, considering the exchange rate was approximately 25%, which brought the cost of gas for us down to $3.57 a gallon. We only had to buy gas twice in Canada, as our vehicle gets great gas mileage.

As we started out on the Icefield Parkway, it was a chilly morning to drive, and the weather was overcast, cold, foggy, and with spots of rain showers.

We like to visit out of the way places, and happened to stop here at this little hostel/campground area.
We were surprised to see a large supply of split wood available to whomever needed it.

This large crow kept a close eye on us as we pulled in.  He was perched near the trash can, lol!

The mountain stream nearby was calling out to us.  We didn't resist!  We all put our hands in the water to see how cold it was.... brrr is all I can say!

The clouds lifted and parted for a bit so we could see the mountains beyond, and then the clouds filled back in again.

Inside the 3-walled building there was an old wood cook stove, with some coals still in it.  Dad and my husband got the fire going for us, and we decided it was a good place to have a picnic lunch, around the warm fire.

We could see the clouds moving in on us as we sat and soaked up the warmth, and enjoyed our picnic lunch inside the cozy building.

No picnic lunch is complete without one of our favorite Canadian treats - Ah Carmel! Ahh!

Back on the road, we ran into bad weather.  First it was raining, then we watched the temperature drop, and the rain turned to sleet.

And as we continued to drive... the sleet turned into snow!

My parents were so excited to be able to see some snow!

We stopped at another scenic route and it wasn't long before a few large snowballs began flying around as a snowball fight ensued!

Even Mr. Crow seemed to be enjoying the view, cold as it was!

The rain/snow mix continued for quite a while, but finally tapered off.

We stopped to visit Bow Lake, normally an incredibly awesome view to see.  Today however... due to the weather, it was rather obscured.

The lake was quite appropriately named, it indeed resembled a beautiful turquoise bow!

Continuing on, the storm abated, and we enjoyed seeing the rushing mountain streams with quaint bridges and amazing views along the way.

We had reached "The Bend" where the road curves sharply with a steep incline.  At the scenic pull out, we enjoyed the incredible vistas in every direction.

Rocky mountain tops covered with snow.

This spectacular waterfall was amazing to see.

We stopped to look at Parker Ridge, but did not have time to make the hike up to the glacier itself.

Incredible views of this mountain, as the clouds parted just enough for me to get some blue sky in the picture!

In my part-3 post, I will finish up sharing about our trip with some pictures of wildlife that we were able to see and the remainder of the highlighted pictures taken during our trip.  I am having to break down my sharing of the pictures into several different posts since I took so many pictures.  It was certainly a trip that made memories which will last a lifetime!!  

Lastly, this post would not be complete today without a "Happy Canada Day!" wish to my fellow Canadians today!  :)