Puget Sound

The original plan was to take the ferry from Victoria to Seattle. Unwisely, I booked my flight before I had checked the ferry schedules properly. Much to my chagrin, I discovered that none of the ferries would arrive in time for my flight. My only option was the first flight on the seaplane (or floatplane, as they call it). If the weather had been fine the views would have been spectacular. Unfortunately it was overcast with the threat of rain. It was an interesting experience to be in a nine-seater that took off and landed in the drink. I got one shot through the window. It's not too exciting, but the best I could do. Still, it was nice to see the islands from a fairly low altitude.
I look back at our journey and am so grateful for the experiences we enjoyed. Our impressions of Canada and Canadians were wholly positive. I look forward to returning to the majestic Rockies sometime soon.

Reflections, Lake Louise

The day was cloudy with a few intervals of sun, but it made the reflections in the water all the more intense.

Hotel Lake Louise

Taken from the far end of the lake, the fabled hotel.

Victoria Harbor and Legislative Building

Another landmark in the center of the city. I wish I had had the chance to visit the famed Butchart Gardens but time didn't allow it. The memory of the Botanical Gardens I visited yesterday in Vancouver will continue to nourish my spirit.

The Empress Hotel

One of the major landmarks in Victoria is the Empress Hotel named, of course, for Queen Victoria of Great Britain and Empress of India. I arrived here by ferry from Vancouver. It was a lovely ride through the many islands that separate the US from Canada. The Pacific Coach Company picked me up at my hotel, drove the coach on the ferry and brought me to within blocks of my hotel. Now that's service! Victoria is on Vancouver Island (the city of Vancouver is on the mainland). Victoria, despite its splendid setting -- views of mountains and ocean -- is crawling with tourists. And it isn't even season yet. It has become too popular for its own good. Tomorrow I leave via seaplane for Seattle, then on to KC.

A walk in downtown Vancouver

Vancouver is just wonderful. There is ocean and mountains, a salubrious climate, a relaxed, tolerant lifestyle, lots of parks with opulent vegetation. I could live here!

Van Duren Botanical Gardens

Finally, a day of sunshine! The climate is so wet and mild that just about anything grows here, including palm trees!

Bow Lake

If it still looks like winter that is because it was. Note the ice still on the lake in the middle of June!

Banff Springs Hotel

According to my guide book, "Standing north of the Bow River Falls like an amazing Scottish baronial fortress, the Banff Springs is one of the most beautiful and famous hotels in North America". Here! Here!

Vancouver at Dusk

View from Stanley Park of the harbor entrance.

Westward Ho

The little town of Hope turned out to be a delight. We loved our quiet 50's style motel, immaculately kept, and the huge trees that shade the town. Where does the forest end and the town begin? We had time for a decent hike and headed out of town for the Kettle Creek trail. This is the path of the railroad tracks, long since removed, that led to the mines. Apparently the tunnels are still accessible with the original hand carts still standing there. It might have been interesting to see but we didn't get that far. But we did enjoy the lush vegetation of the northern rain forest. Moss dripped from the trees, ferns grew to enormous size. It looked at times as if we were in Hawai'i, not Canada. There were a few foot prints of creatures unknown to us, large ones, so we were a bit wary of meeting bears along the way -- an unwanted rendez-vous. Bears are everywhere and in every town we have seen there are bear-proof trash containers. You don't want to encourage them. (There was an amusing video in the Banff Museum of a bear trying to get into one of these containers, yowling with frustration when it couldn't.)
Our last leg of the trip west was to Vancouver itself. The downtown is really quite small but the city itself sprawls in every direction, right down to the US border to the south.

Westward Ho

We left Lake Louise late morning headed west. Unfortunately, it was a rainy day. But still, the majestic mountains, crashing waterfalls and wildness of the scenery were awesome. We stopped for lunch in Revelstoke, a former mining town. There were three Chinese restaurants in two blocks. Only the third was open for business (it was a Sunday). When we walked in we saw that the place was packed -- and every single person was Chinese. This town must have a sizeable Chinese population and this must be the best place to eat. It is definitely a good sign, we thought. We enjoyed a delicious lunch of crispy fried tofu and vegetables. Only later did we realize that the clientele were passengers on a tour bus that had stopped for lunch. No matter, lunch was very good. We turned south just before the intruigingly named town of Kamloops and headed for Kelowna, leaving the Rockies for the gentle farm land, vineyards and orchards of the Okanogan Valley. This area produces Canada's best wines and we can attest to the fact that they are very good indeed. Kelowna is one of the biggest towns in the area. The surroundings are magnificent. Unfortunately, as in the States, there is endless urban sprawl. The march of ugly strip malls goes on forever. The center of the town was very nice and we enjoyed a walk along the lakeside and a fine dinner there. There are several ways to get to Vancouver. It doesn't matter which one you take because, as Canadians say, they are all beautiful. We took a smaller road in the direction of Princeton, a pleasant little town. Once again guided by good fortune, we found a superb café that served home baked goods and fabulous teas. We ascended into the Cascade Range, crossing a mountain pass, and ended up in Hope, British Columbia. Somehow I thought that the town, being near to Vancouver, would be an urban sprawl nightmare, but it is nothing of the sort. It is a charming small town entirely surrounded by mountains, lush and green from the opulent rainfall. The local gardens are exploding with spring growth. We found a lovely bistro and enjoyed another superb meal washed down by local wine. We are counting our many blessings.

View from the terrace

The view from the terrace of the Fairmont Spring Hotel in Banff.

On the road to Banff

Banff

Banff is an odd name. There is a Banff somewhere in Scotland that loaned its name to this place in Canada.
Well, it needs to be said: we love Canada and the Canadians. The people are genuinely friendly. There is a very positive attitude here. Maybe we should move up north? Today we drove south about an hour to Banff, the town we missed on our way here. As it turned out, it was a fortuitous arrangement. The town itself is a typical tourist trap. If you like shopping this is the place to visit, otherwise not. But the setting is spectacular. We went for tea at the fabled Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel, an enormous baronial chateau. The views all around are breathtaking. Later we went to a very fine restaurant for a memorable meal. Again, the scenery is just out of this world (photos to come later). To top off our day of delights there happened to be a concert at the Banff Arts Center. This is an internationally renowned program that offers hundreds of concerts throughout the year. We heard a chamber music concert, the resident string quartet playing Beethoven and the Schubert String Quintet. The second cellist was from the Juilliard Quartet, if you please. It was an evening of exhilarating music making. The Schubert quintet is one of the most sublime works ever written. We were so fortunate to hear this program. As we drove back through the mountains in the long twilight it was still light out at 10:30 PM. We are about seven hundred miles north of KC.

Bears!

We saw three different bears at the side of the road during our travels. This one was happily munching dandelions and totally oblivious to the cars pulled over to watch it. It is strictly forbidden to feed the wild animals -- and for good reason. Once they associate people with food there will be trouble. Bears know how to smash in car windows.

Lake Moraine

Lake Moraine and the ten peaks.

Peyto Lake

The fabulous Peyto Lake and the vast Canadian wilderness.

Bow Lake

John and Jason

Lake Louise

Lake Louise

Peyto Lake

Compliments of Jason's photgraphic skills, the dazzling Peyto Lake.

Rocky Mountain Lakes

I have a ton of great photos to upload but gmail (a thousand curses upon it) will not allow me to do so. Until I get that sorted out I can only upload text here. Stay tuned.
We enjoyed a suberb breakfast at the chic hotel across the road, the Post Hotel. The dining room had a European look to it. As it turns out, the place is owned by Swiss and many of the help are Swiss too. We are delighted to run across so many young people from abroad working in the area. We have met delightful citizens of every continent, including a guy from Tamil Nadu, several Swiss, Germans and Aussies. The weather looked promising this morning so we headed north on the Icefields Parkway. This is the road that goes up to Jasper, 240 km further on, a bit too far to drive and return in one day. The name of the road stems from the many glaciers that wind their way down the mountains, draining into various lakes. The scenery defies description. Spectacular is the word that comes to mind, again and again. Being in the Canadian Rockies is really humbling when one considers the forces that pushed these massive formations up towards the sky. Our first stop was at Bow Lake with a view of the Crowfoot Glacier. The interestingly named Num-Ti-Jah Lodge is the only structure on the shores of the lake. (We thought the name sounded vaguely Hindu and should be chanted as Om Num Ti Jah Namaha -- what spirits might that evoke?) Further along was Peyto Lake. We had a short walk on a nice trail then packed snow to get to it. The sight was breathtaking -- the most intense shade of turquiose we have ever seen. The hue is created by the mineral deposits in the water, of course. For those who deny global warming, here is a shocking fact: the glacier that feeds this lake is already two thirds gone, the rest will disappear in a few decades. The snow deposits melt too fast for the glacier to replenish itself. The land is covered by endless conifer forests, utterly wild and nearly unihabited. We were at an altitude of 7,000 feet here, the highest point on the road. It was quite chilly with plenty of snow around but warmed up nicely when the sun came out. We even had the joy of a light snow with sunshine! We headed back south for our third lake, one just south of Lake Louise, Lake Moraine. Despite its awesome setting, with ten different peaks in a row, it made a gloomy impression. There are monumental rock faces that have been sheared off and tumbled into huge piles of rubble below. Impressive, but not pretty. We enjoyed an afternoon snack on the terrace of what should be called the Lake Gloom and Doom Lodge. There are visitors from all over the world here (and we enjoy deciphering their languages), many Japanese, Germans, Swiss, Chinese, British, etc. It is perhaps a bit early in the season (it is barely spring), but we are avoiding the hordes of tourists that come through here in the high season.

Lake Louise

Jason's host family graciously put me up for a night. We got to see a bit of Calgary which is a real boom town due to the oil industry. Who knew? We left the Albertan metropolis late the next morning heading due west. We stopped first in the little town of Canmore, a former mining town now thriving on tourism. The setting of the town is very impressive with snow capped mountains rising in every direction. It reminded me a bit of towns in the South Tyrol, only without the European charm. Our plan was to stop in Banff, just about 20 km down the road. The deeper we got into the mountains the more magnificent the scenery became. Because of all our ooh-ing and ah-ing we somehow missed the turnoff into the town. As we didn't notice for about 25 km we decided to continue on to Lake Louise (we will take care of Banff later). Lake Louise is one of the most famous natural spots in the world. The setting of the lake is stunning, a turquoise gem nestled in majestic moutains. Our jaws dropped when we turned a corner and saw the lake for the first time. There was still plenty of snow in the higher elevations; the flora here is just beginning to show signs of spring. On one end there is the famed Fairmont Chateau, a luxurious inn. We may splurge and have high tea or dinner there tomorrow. Otherwise, the joint is out of our price range. The rain had stopped (lucky for us) so we decided to embark on a walk along the lakeside trail. With the changing light, the intense colors of the water, the amazing geological formations, we were awed for two an a half hours. This place is truly special.