Jasper? I hardly know her.

We continued our mini-vacation with a day trip up to Jasper today. We woke up to a dusting of snow in Lake Louise, but had high hopes from the forecast things would improve as we moved towards Jasper. The drive is a couple hours, but there are lots of things to see and do on the way so Jill lined up our itinerary and we headed out.

Weather wasn't looking great, with low clouds and dark skies but we kept going. We made our first stop to hike down to a secluded lake off the highway. Cooper was glad to be out of the car, and skipped most of the way down to the lake.


Little boy, big mountains

From Jasper

Flurries starting to fly

From Jasper

A make-shift golf club

From Jasper

Then it was time to throw some rocks in the lake

From Jasper

The weather kept getting worse, so we just made fast tracks up to Jasper as it was getting close to lunch time. We grabbed some good pizza, then walked up and down the tourist trap area with Cooper darting into every open store door he could find. As we walked around town, the weather starting to break so we were optimistic that our afternoon might be saved.

We headed out to a "must hike" according to the guide book and thus our adventure started. This was to be a pretty simple hike, at least so the guide book thought, but the guide book doesn't know our propensity to bite off more than we expected to.


Cooper getting some more tee time

From Jasper

From Jasper

Cooper following Jill down the trail

From Jasper

Cooper running across the bridge

From Jasper

Then he had to get a closer look at the water below

From Jasper

From Jasper

Cooper got tired and decided it was time for a ride

From Jasper

It all happened innocently enough. I misread the map and went left when we should have gone straight. What was supposed to be a 2km hike to a lake suddenly seemed long. When I asked Jill about it she told me I had messed up, but she thought that was my intention. Already somewhat committed to our route, we pressed on.


All you have to do is press the key

From Jasper

Finally, we reached the end of the "big" lake out of the 5 lakes and started our way back around. Thankfully, we were treated to some incredible views of a lake with that beautiful turquoise hue that just doesn't seem real. We hiked along the ridge towards the next lake, and the weather held.


This picture in no way does justice to the gorgeous color of this lake

From Jasper

Just a couple kids out for a hike

From Jasper

It wasn't too long before we hit the fourth and fifth lakes, which again had a color that looks like a special effect. We took some pics, and kept pressing on. Wasn't far from this next picture that it went downhill. We missed a trail junction and ended up bushwacking on a tiny trail that went straight up several fall lines. I can't even count the numbers of fallen trees we had to get over or around.

From Jasper

We pressed on as the skies threatened. Thankfully Cooper had a great time and just giggled as we made our way around the last of the lakes. When we got back to the real trail, we realized there wasn't even a "real" trail that went around the lake we had just made our way around. Tired, but glad to have gotten out especially given the fact we were under weather watch all day.


No worse for the wear, Cooper tries his pacifier the other way

From Jasper

Back in the car, we made a couple more stops along our way home. The first was another gorgeous blue lake that once again didn't really show up in the pics due to the angle and wind. The next was Athabasca Falls, which was really cool. You could just feel the force of the water as you stood near it.

From Jasper

Athabasca Falls

From Jasper

Cooper and Jill posing at the Falls

From Jasper

Other side of the Falls

From Jasper

The run-off below the falls. This canyon had such incredible shape from the water's erosive force of thousands of years.

From Jasper

From Jasper

Then on the way home, we started seeing the wildlife. Jill had been disappointed at the lack of "critters", but then the parade started. We saw a big pack of mountain goats (or bighorn sheep). Then slightly down the road we saw our first bear. A beautiful black bear munching on some grass. Then another 30km down the road we got to see another, and the finally a third bear close to home.


The first bear

From Jasper

The second bear

From Jasper

We had another big highlight of the trip courtesy of a very sleep Super Cooper on the ride home. I'll save that for another post, but it had Jill and I both jaw dropped then in stitches for quite some time.

Weekend Retreat

Well Summer is almost officially here. We've been hearing reports from friends and family in Colorado and Oklahoma about the 90 degree temps and general heat wave they've been having. Seems we went from Winter to Summer. Meanwhile, Jill, Cooper and I are up in Calgary for a couple weeks where we've gone from Winter to 2nd Winter. The good weather has passed and today as we drove out of Calgary headed up to Banff National Park it was 1 degree Celsius, dumping snow and starting to accumulate. Yep, that is Calgary weather for you, where Summer just means more Winter.

Not to be deterred, we headed west and things started looking better. Temperatures started slowly rising as we made our way, and looked generally better than it did in Calgary. Not perfect weather, but certainly workable. As we sit in our nice accommodations looking up towards the peaks that encompass Lake Louise, a light snow is falling and creates a pretty peaceful environment for a much needed weekend mini-vacation.

We did get out enough to explore the area around Lake Moraine today, and I have to agree with some other's opinions that I've heard and say I think Lake Moraine is just a beautiful as Lake Louise. The nice part about the less than perfect weather was the crowds were very light, making it easy to park and get around. Cooper was quite anxious to get out of the car and run around, so we hiked around for a bit.


Cooper storming up the stairs to the overlook

From Lake Louise Weekend

We got the wild child to stop long enough for a picture with Momma

From Lake Louise Weekend

Cooper makes friends with everyone on the trail, calling out "Hi!" repeatedly until they acknowledge him.

From Lake Louise Weekend

Not thawed, but still gorgeous

From Lake Louise Weekend

From Lake Louise Weekend

Family picture

From Lake Louise Weekend

Suited up and ready to hit the trails (Dad's hat is a bit big but it kept him warm)

From Lake Louise Weekend

We found some cute huskies at Lake Louise that Cooper got to play with

From Lake Louise Weekend

Happy to be out of the car and free to roam

From Lake Louise Weekend

The canoes on Lake Louise will get a late start this year. As we walked around Lake Loise, a light snow started to fall.

From Lake Louise Weekend

After walking around Lake Louise for a bit, we went into the super fancy Fairmont ($500 and up per night) hotel on the banks to walk around. The employees there showed Cooper up to the desk where they had steps and a "Kid's checkin". He promptly made his way up the stairs and socialized for a bit. Then they led him around behind the desk, opened up a big chest full of toys and told him to pick one out. Jill told them we weren't staying at the hotel just looking around, but they insisted he pick one out anyway. Of course, he picked out a wind up puppy dog toy. He carried it around proudly. Certainly a very nice gesture from their staff.

From Lake Louise Weekend

Tomorrow we continue our journey westward, heading another couple hours up to Jasper. Lots of things to see on the way there plus the weather looks better the further west you go, so we're hoping for some warmer temps and blue skies tomorrow.

We've got a really nice place with two rooms and a big, soft bed that Jill appreciates so things are good. After a long work week, feels great to be somewhat unplugged from everything and just enjoying hanging out with Super Cooper and Jill. Despite the cool temps, we're off to a good start.

Not our normal Rocky Mountains.

As best as I can count, Canucks get about 34 - 36 holidays a year and Monday was one of those days. "May Long Weekend" means nothing to us in the states, but to the people in Calgary its a Monday off and when in Calgary take the day off like the locals. Despite a less than optimal looking weather forecast for the mountains, we loaded up and headed up with a first stop of Banff.

I had been to Banff a couple of times, and it doesn't disappoint. Sure its a bit over-touristed and kitschy, but step a block off the main through-way and the serene setting makes you feel a long way removed from all that. We walked around Banff along the main drag, stepping into the traps that caught our touristy eye or the one's that Cooper ran into yelling "Yah. Yah. Yah".

From Banff & Lake Louise

It didn't take us long to shed the touristed areas and find a nice park for Cooper to run and play in. It didn't take him long to find some other kids about his age to play with. We were talking to one of the kid's parents, who was asking us if we lived around the area when he told us he lived in Banff. That prompted me to ask "How does one afford to live in Banff?" His response, which I think range quite true was "It is really a lifestyle choice." which I interpreted to mean "We may not be able to retire at 60, but man its cool living here".

From Banff & Lake Louise

From Banff & Lake Louise

From Banff & Lake Louise

From Banff & Lake Louise

From Banff & Lake Louise

We took a short drive to a scenic overlook of the Bow River and Bow Valley Falls. We stopped took in the views, snapped some pics and Cooper proceeded to roll around in some dirt and get himself filthy. Pretty much standard issue stuff.

From Banff & Lake Louise

Mandatory "Big Arms"

From Banff & Lake Louise

From Banff & Lake Louise

From Banff & Lake Louise

From Banff, its a pretty quick 30km up to Lake Loise so we decided that since the weather had turned out gorgeous that we'd take advantage and head further West. We found a still frozen Lake Loise not ready to show its incredibly turquoise hues quite yet this season, but it won't be long.

We did a nice little 5 mile hike around the lake, taking in the views as we went. Cooper got a free ride in the backpack and was a big hit. I think he likes being up high where he can see everyone and he exchanged loads of hi's with the passers. I bet we heard "Oh isn't that cute" in about 10 different languages. Living in Boulder County, we sometimes forget that not everyone totes their toddlers around all over in a backpack.

From Banff & Lake Louise

From Banff & Lake Louise

Self portrait

From Banff & Lake Louise

Looking back at the Fairmont. Lake has a lot of filling to do with the impending meltoff

From Banff & Lake Louise

From Banff & Lake Louise

Some color starting to peak through

From Banff & Lake Louise

Jill at the southern end of Lake Loise

From Banff & Lake Louise

A couple of days of work in Calgary, and then a couple more days off and some more time up in the mountains. Hoping for warm temps all week to give us some melt on Lake Loise so we can get a glimpse of the colors I've always seen and been envious of in countless pictures.