Banff National Park

At Lake Louise, Banff National Pk.

At 7450 Feet on Sulphur Mountain

We arrived in Canmore, about 14 miles from the gate to the Banff National Park under rainy skies on Monday morning.   We set up in the campground, and ate lunch and then since it was rainy, decided to go in to the Canmore Visitor's Center to get the scoop on visiting the National Park.  
We drove up to Banff and spent at least 20 minutes trying to find a parking space, since it was raining, all the tourists were shopping!   Finally got a space on the top of a parking ramp, and set out to shop.    We wanted Banff sweatshirts and magnets, post cards, etc.   VERY few sweatshirts in Banff that did not have a hood.    GRRRR not our style.   Got the magnet and a fistful of postcards and headed back to Canmore to plan our touring for Tuesday.  

Since Tuesday was beautiful, we took the Lake Minnewanka boat cruise.   The scenery was nice, but the guide was not very interesting....unless you liked to hear about the wild animals in the park.   We were hoping for more information on the lake.   Oh well, the ride was fun.    Drove back into Banff for lunch and then headed up scenic highway 1A to Lake Louise.   Seeing Lake Louise has been a dream since I saw the brochure when we were on our Alaska cruise in 1995.   I was not disappointed.   It was beautiful with the glacier across the lake and the Chateau Fairmont on the end of the lake.   We took loads of pictures and stayed about two hours wandering through the Chateau.  

Wednesday dawned cloudy and iffy, so we had to decide whether to spend the $16 to go back into the park, and would we be able to see anything from the Banff Gondola, which was our destination.   After breakfast we decided this was a once in a lifetime deal, so off we went to Banff!   Found the museum and enjoyed two guided tours -- one of two houses on the site, and the other an introduction to 10 women who had contributed much to the area -- and lived in pretty rugged areas, sometimes not being able to get out for months.   By lunch the sky had cleared so we ate and then headed up to the Gondola.  I'm very uncomfortable at heights, so I was a nervous wreck all the way to the ticket counter.   It was all I could do to marshall the nerve to get in that tiny capsule for the 8 minute ride to the summit.   However, the trip was a delight, and I'm glad I went.  

Thursday we left Canmore and headed south to Lethbridge.