Saturday and Sunday

So we went on our first international trip as a couple, to celebrate our 10th anniversary (which isn't actually till Sept. 10th). We are extremely grateful to God for this trip, as we feel completely undeserving of both the extravagance of the trip, and the simple yet amazing events that occurred along the way.
As many of you know, Ben is going through school right now and working in-between, so money is scarce. However, thanks to much advice and planning assistance from Charity's sister Faith, we were able to cover the entire trip using points and miles from credit card offers, and without accruing any debt along the way.
We have been completely inundated with literally several requests for pictures and stories, so here are the highlights from each of the eight days.


Starting with our 2:30 a.m. Saturday arrival at a timeshare resort in the little tourist town of Canmore Alberta, just outside Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies.




First priority: sleep.















Eventually, we took a look around at our spacious digs for the week












































Then we cracked open the blinds! Here some shots from throughout the week, all taken from the window!



It was a wide mixture of weather, with at least one rain shower every day, but it was always between 60 and 80 degrees. The high moisture made for some epic "misty mountains", we know some fellow J.R.R.Tolkien fans that would have loved it. Then the sun would pop out and make an incredible contrast between the puffy, pure white clouds and the popping blue sky. All framing these amazing peaks, super thick forests, incredibly green lakes and streams, and even glaciers (none of which our cameras really convey).



We spent Saturday catching up on sleep and stocking up on groceries, (and bear spray, thanks Dad C!) and got to check out the town of Canmore. Here's some shots from Main Street:

Most all the waterways here were an amazing green color, which we tried our best to capture on film. As you browse, you may see some pics that show the color, just be aware that all the rest of the water we saw was actually the same way. The color comes from the rocks being pulverized into powder ("rock flour")  under the paths of glaciers, resulting in minerals suspended in the melting water.


On Sunday we went on our first big tour, beginning by driving almost 3 hours through Banff National Park to the "Icefields Parkway", a highway with views of glaciers, peaks and lakes that completely defy description. We are far from professional photographers, and using cheap cameras to boot, but we feel even the most amazing photography in the world couldn't convey the grandeur of these sights and the emotions they conjure.

We finally reached our destination, the Athabasca Glacier in the Columbia Icefield. We were herded onto a giant custom built Mercedes "Ice Exploration Vehicle", which we rode over the rugged path of the retreating glacier and up onto the ice itself for some photo ops, and some of the worst film making in history.

Glacier water, straight from the source!

Also on this highway was the "skywalk", a viewing platform cantilevered over a 1000' canyon, with a glass floor! We saw a few mountain goats crossing underneath us, though the shots aren't very clear because they were taken on max zoom. We also wanted some pictures of us laying on the glass with the drop beneath us, but the recent rain made the glass too reflective.

 

 

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Monday

Then came Monday, and the greatly anticipated first hiking excursion. We picked a good trail, challenging enough that we saw only a handful of people. We climbed 4 or 5 miles from an old coal mining operation up to a "cirque" on Cascade Mountain (elev. 9,836'). A cirque is a French word describing a bowl like amphitheater, cut into the top of the mountain by a glacier.
We climbed through lush, thick forest, with occasional views out into the beautiful valleys. As we stopped for a snack and to catch our breath upon reaching the cirque, we spied a little used trail climbing right up the loose scrabble side of the cirque, and we were intrigued enough to try. It turned out to be one of the best decisions of the trip! First, as we climbed higher, we turned and saw down below that there was a hidden pool of beautiful green water, but none of the hikers were even aware of it back in the trees.
But then, as soon as we reached the top of the ridge, we began to spot wildlife. First just some squirrels and chipmunks, with beautiful brown and gold colors, but then we saw the marmots! We were able to get very close to one who was protecting her young, and we even got a glimpse of the little ones down in the rocks. It was a surreal experience, even if they are just rodents. We were totally isolated from civilization in the Rockies, with views as far as our eyes could see of epic mountains and rivers.
We begrudgingly headed back down the sketchy trail and left the marmots to themselves, convinced it was only a matter of time before some larger wildlife made an appearance. Charity managed to scramble down safely on all fours, while Ben used a unique approach that began with two legs, and ended with his butt.

 

 

Tuesday

We went horseback riding for over 4 hours. We started at picturesque (despite the crowds) Lake Louise, up to the Plain of Six Glaciers Tea House. Lake Louise is tinted a beautiful green from the glacier water, although it is anchored on one side by the enormous Hotel Fairmont.
It took over 2 hours to ride past Lake Louise and up to the Tea House. The Tea House is a little tiny restaurant with no electricity, completely isolated at the top of the mountains, where the staff stay for a week at a time in a cabin. Our guide was dragging along a pack horse with a week's worth of mayo. The Tea House was built when mountaineering was in its heyday, sometime in the 1800's. Many nearby peaks can be reached from the formerly glacier filled plain, and many are named for mountaineers who fell off of them. The views were amazing the entire trip, and the riding was a blast. We stopped and had some berry pie at the tea house, then headed back down. Along the way, we got to practice our one-handed-moving-target photography, and had great success at capturing horse's rear-ends.

 


That night for dinner, we embarked on a mission to search Canada for Canadian Bacon. After carefully researching a restaurant featuring Hawaiian pizza on the menu, we headed out. The listed ingredients mentioned ham, but no Canadian Bacon. When the waiter came to take our order, we asked him about getting Canadian Bacon on our pizza, but he had no idea what that was and had never been asked about it before. After we informed him that the little round slices of ham were called Canadian Bacon in America, he was just as curious as we were and he suggested we "Google it". We did Google it, while enjoying some regular ham on our Hawaiian, and the other pizza, featuring Elk! According to Google, Americans are the only ones who refer to any cut of ham as Canadian Bacon. The moniker may have originated during a pork shortage suffered sometime in the 20th century by America and the U.K., when Canadian pork was imported.