I woke up this morning and when I looked out the window, I saw very large snowflakes. I did not think that we would actually see snow on this trip. Lucky the rental car came with a snow brush. We had a delicious (and free) breakfast at the Chili’s restaurant in the lobby of the hotel, Before leaving Banff, we stopped at Cascade Gardens to get a few pictures of downtown Banff.
We decided to take the scenic Bow Valley Parkway to Lake Louise. It is a much slower drive than Highway 1 but that gives you much more chance to see wildlife. We drove the 54 kilometers in about 2-1/2 hours and we did not see any wildlife. We got to the end of The Parkway and what did we see, a grizzly bear. He was laying on a ridge and we were able to park basically right beside him. He got up shortly after we stopped and started heading behind us. Karen turned the car around and we followed him on the other side of the road. He started to cross the highway just ahead of us when a Parks Canada employee passed us and started honking his horn to scare the bear quickly across the highway. What a thrill.
We drove through the village of Lake Louise to Moraine Lake. This is the lake that is on the back of the old $20 bill. The weather was not cooperating today but we did manage to get great pictures. This lake is beautiful, and we would like to come back here some day, and canoe on it. We want back to the village and had lunch at Laggan’s Mountain Bakery and Deli before heading to Lake Louise. It is as beautiful as I remember it. The last time we were there was 1999. We walked around got some pictures and then headed inside to check out Chateau Lake Louise. What a fancy hotel.
Along the way we stopped at the Spiral Tunnels. Two tunnels were dug into the mountains in 1909, to reduce the grade for the trains to travel. On the Trans Canada highway, you can see the tunnels, and if you’re very lucky, you might see a train enter one tunnel, and come out the other end, while the end of the train is still going into the tunnel. We were extremely lucky. We got there just as a train over 1 km long entered the tunnel. We saw it come out the first tunnel, and then wind it’s way down in front of us. We could actually see the front, middle, and end of the train, all at the same time, as it was winding through the tunnels. Amazing site to see.
We got back in the car and drove three hours to get to Revelstoke, BC, our stop for tonight. We checked into the Swiss Chalet Motel ($89 CAD) and then headed out for dinner at Zalas Steak & Pizza Bar & Grill. There is not much to do in Revelstoke so we took a quick drive around town and ended back at the hotel by 7:00pm.
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