Birthday Eve

Sunday mid-morning we left Edmonton for Jasper. It was a lovely drive in, even though we did encounter basketball sized raindrops. Here is the view that we had from our cabin window:

And here is our cabin--the middle and to the right:

We had dinner that night in the Emerald Lounge, looking out at Mt. Edith Cavell and the rain. The only really distinguishing thing about dinner was that we both hoped that our waiter had not found his chosen career. He was the timidest little mouse we ever saw. You shouldn't be afraid of people if you are a waiter.

Monday morning, we were signed up for The Valley of the Five Lakes hike. The park service was working on the trail, so instead our guide suggested The Path of the Glacier. Fine with us. We bundled our hiking gear into the van, and off we were. These next are hiking pictures. They start with Monica's shoulder and Mt. Edith Cavell--there are, in fact, several of Mt. Edith Cavell, Angel Glacier, the glacial pond, Monica and Trevor, our guide, the glacial valley, and the two of us. You get to guess which is which.

The hike wasn't enough to keep us entertained. In the afternoon, we drove to Maligne Lake and took the boat cruise to Spirit Island. The first picture is of the lake, in the rain, then us in front of Spirit Island, then two shots of the island.

We had dinner Monday night in the Moose's Nook--not bad, but it took well over an hour to get out entrees. There was a really good trio that was playing--they had two breaks between our first course and our second. Grandma was NOT a happy camper.

Tuesday was our float trip down the Athabasca. Here we are ready to go:

There are no pictures of or from the raft--I was too scared. Monica loved it, and that was all that mattered. We had mostly dry weather on the float trip--from the top down, that is. We were soaked through to the skin from the river. It was really raining when we got back to the Lodge. When we got to our cabin, we changed everything and hung our wet clothes up over the bath to start the drying process. We were too tired and it was raining too hard--we had room service for dinner. It was much faster than the Mooses' Nook and quite good.

Woke up this morning to a beautiful day. The canoers and Canada Geese thought so too:

Breakfast, check-out, then a last picture of reception and of some of the provincial flags:


Stopped in town for some gift shopping. I found the Masonic Lodge!

And then we were on the road again. We stopped for pictures at Athabasca Pass:

And here is a picture of some of the millions of wildflowers we have seen:

Next stop was Athabasca Falls. We spent a while there and took lots of pictures.

Onward and southward, here we are, approaching the Columbia Icefields:

And a lovely waterfall by the side of the road:

We made it to Lake Louise around 4, checked in, looked around, then went out for the obligatory walk beside the lake. Here's Victoria Glacier--this picture wasn't taken from our room, but this is what we view:

We didn't walk quite to the end of the lake, but probably about a mile out. Here's a picture of the hotel on the walk back:

Just before you get back to the hotel, where the road forks to the Lake Agnes trail, there is a statue of Tom Wilson. Tom Wilson was the first mountaineer to explore this part of the Rockies. You rub his toe for good luck, a good hike, and to come back again:

Dinner in the Glacier Saloon, some shopping, then back up to the room to blog. Now I'd best get my bath and to bed or it will no longer be my birthday eve.

xxooxx