O, Canada!

In August, we took our 4th trip to Alberta to Banff and Jasper National Parks.  The kids beg to go back, and although there are surely many beautiful places within a day's drive of here, we always end up back in Alberta.  And I sing "Alberta Bound" nearly the whole way there.

Some pictures from our trip:

Our first stop is always in Canmore.  It's a cheaper and much less touristy place than Banff town, but only about 10 miles away.

Canmore is surrounded by mountains, and is just beautiful.  There is an Olympic venue there for cross country and biathlon.  It is a public park with miles of paved trails.  We were the cool family and took our scooters with us (they fit much more easily in a car than bikes).  We went twice a day up to the Olympic park and rode our scooters on the trials.  It was a good workout, and so super fun to go down the hills fast.

These photos were taken at Bow Falls.  Cold glacier water from the Bow River and an excellent area for kids to splash and throw rocks.

 Another stop we always make in Banff is to the tram that goes up Sulpher Mountain.  You can see forever up there.  Some people go up, walk to the top and then head back down.  If you ever go, pack a lunch and take the trail that goes down the back of the mountain for a half mile or so.  The best views are there, and the crowd is nowhere to be seen.

After staying in Canmore, we stay in Lake Louise for a night or two.  My favorite place in the world is there--Moraine Lake and The Valley of the Ten Peaks.  Some people stop at Lake Moraine, snap a picture of the blue water and then leave.  The most beautiful spot is up the trail just to the right of the lake shore.

I had never seen this spot on a cloudy day.  At first I was kind of bummed out about the clouds (even though I adore clouds).  But then I realized it was actually quite beautiful to see the ten peaks jumping in and out of clouds all day long on our hike to Eiffel Lake.

 Mark took this picture of me standing at the end of the Valley of the Ten Peaks.

 Zack is a happy hiker.

We met a grizzly bear on our hike that day.  It was huge, and stopped right in our trail for quite a while.

 We stopped at Lake Louise on our last morning to try to see the view, but it was still pretty cloudy.  That didn't stop the swarms of people going there.  It is a crazy mess.

 A new adventure we did this year was a hike at Parker Ridge.  It is halfway between Lake Louise and Jasper, and we have always seen throngs of people hiking up the switchbacks whenever we have driven on the Icefields Parkway.  But we could never figure out what was so spectacular to make the hike worthwhile.  Well, we found out.  Turns out the most spectacular view of Saskatchewan Glacier and river head is just over the hill, surrounded by green mountain meadows and wild phlox and far as you can see.  Plus, a stunning view of Mt. Saskatchewan in the background!

 And look how much fun your kids can have if you stop here!  Sheep horns, and then a death-defying stop at the cliff's edge.  As an added bonus, there are millions of fossils all along the trail and everywhere you look.  Sea fossils on every rock!

 Isn't this so beautiful?

 It's also worth stopping at the base of Athabasca glacier.  There are so many fossils here, and the view of the glacier and the mountain is awesome.

We stayed at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge for the last week of our trip.  It is 50's glam in the most beautiful setting on the shores of Lac Beauvert.  I loved our stay here.  Although the hotel itself could use an update, the pool itself is worth staying for, and the service is spectacular.  The town of Jasper is my favorite with so many great restaurants and shops. 

 We loved staying on the lake. Savvy (our bird nerd) loved the loons.

 S'mores on the lake every night at 8:30 was a bonus!  I think my favorite quote of the trip was Zachary who at one point said, "Why would anyone take their kids to Disneyland?"

On the way home, we stopped at Mt. Robson viewpoint.  I had never seen the top of this beautiful peak.  It's the highest point in the Canadian Rockies, and when we have driven through before, it was obscured by clouds.  It really is a beautiful vista.