Since I’m only now able to post, I’ll be posting my descriptions the first two days’ worth of events. We’ve just arrived in Jasper and I have to blog from the inn’s lobby, so I’l try write up today’s journey after dinner and post it then. For now, occupy yourselves reading these two LONG entries. –dan

Holy crap. Ye gods. Sweet baby jesus in a birchbark canoe. I’m in the Rockies. It’s been a long & eventful day, and I can’t possibly keep up in my usual verbose way, so I shall have to work in point form on this trip. Here goes:

We spring from our beds at 5 AM, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed to ready ourselves for our flight. Energy lasts until about College Street when we both begin to yawn. Good thing we did the web check-in; that saved us a good 15 minutes of sleep-in time.

Our flight is reasonably uneventful. Only thing that freaks us out is the woman one row ahead of us, sitting by the emergency exit, who proceeds to get good and hammered during the flight. And remember, the sun is barely up. The flight arrives at 9 AM Calgary time and this woman’s half in the bag. She can’t even get off the plane without falling over. Good thing there was no emergency.

I have a conversation with the car rental guy that goes something like this: CRG: “OK, you’re in the Chevy Cobalt.” Dan: “And how’s that on leg room?” CRG: “Lacking. But for $5 a day you can upgrade to the Pontiac G6. Lots of leg room and it has cruise control.” Dan & Nellie: “Done!” Nailed on the upsell.

It’s drizzling in Calgary. Lots of fog, very grey. This does not bode well. We drive out of Western Calgary (ugly!), past the ski jumps at Olympic Park and into farmland. That farmland becomes foothills, and suddenly the foothills are disappearing above the clouds. Now we’re talkin’.

Around the time we pull into Canmore we’re surrounded by some pretty substantial mountains and I can’t stop staring at them. We get some groceries for the rest of the week and head into the (ahem) downtown to get some lunch. The best we can do is a pub, but we’re so hungry by that point we’re ready to eat the maps they gave us at the car rental counter. As we sit and eat, all I want to do is point at the giant mountain looming over the town and scream, “People, do you not SEE THAT FREAKING THING!!?!?!?” I manage not to.

Back on the road, we enter Banff national park, buying an annual pass. It’s only $10 more than the daily passes would have been, and we can use it at any national park for the next year. Bargain. I’m still gawping at the mountains, so I don’t even notice that we’ve driven by Banff.
I’m admiring the Bow River, which we drive along for the next little while. I also admire Castle Mountain, which is huge and you can see for miles heading north from Banff. I am growing ever more freaked out.

We arrive at the (ahem) town of Lake Louise, drive through it and find the Moraine Lake road. It’s a twisting, winding, climbing road with a few views to die for. After about 15 minutes we hit the Moraine Lake Lodge.

Our room…zowie. Perfect combination of luxurious (fancy bathroom, Aveda products for Nellie, fireplace, comfy bed) and rustic (everything made from rough wood, night tables made from stumps, etc.), but it’s not kitschy or campy. The view is unreal; it’s hard to believe Moraine Lake is the colour it is, but from our little patio you can see it (and several looming mountains, some snow-capped) clearly.

Hard as it is, we tear ourselves away. We have much to do. We change, get back in the car and head for Yoho national park. We make a wrong turn and end up at the Chateau Lake Louise. We make another wrong turn and end up heading for Banff. One u-turn later and we’re headed west, into BC.

We stop to have a look at the spiral tunnel, which you can’t really see much of from the highway, so while the concept is cool — a tunnel they built that spirals around the inside of a mountain to keep trains from crashing on the steep grade — it’s a little underwhelming from afar.

Our next attempt was Takkekaw Falls, but the road was closed. Pity; it’s supposed to be quite something.

A few miles down the road, after passing the town of Field, we took a side road toward Emerald Lake. Stopping briefly at a very cool natural land bridge (where the river carved through the rock), where we got a taste of how colourful the river’s water was, we continued on to the lake. It’s an amazing place, and you really can’t believe the colour of the water until you see it. We took tons of pictures, but we don’t think any of them will do the colour justice. The surrounding peaks are impressive too. We walked nearly half way around the lake before turning back; our schedule was getting a bit tight.

We drove back to Field and sat down for dinner at a place we’d heard much about indeed. Truffle Pigs was recommended by quite a few people online, and I can see why: the food was amazing. Field is a tiny, tiny place, but this restaurant would do well in Toronto or Vancouver (if the chefs/owners only wanted to live there). My spring roll appetizers were very yummy, and Nellie near cried when hers — fresh chanterelle mushrooms in a philo pastry with three cheeses w/ merlot reduction — was done. Our mains — malaysian salad w/ caramalized chicken for me, freshly made pasta w/ tomato sauce for Nellie — were excellent as well, and the dessert was both delicious and unnecessary. We left very full, and very happy.

We then drove the 40km or so back to the lodge, in the dark this time, but without fear of marauding tour buses. We’ve had time to settle into the room, start a crackling (though short-lived) fire and type up this nonsense. Next up: download some of the pictures to the laptop and see how they turned out. Then sleep! Tomorrow’s a big day, and the weather promises to be nippy, so we’ll need our strength. And possibly some gore-tex.

By the way, we’ll probably be in Jasper by the time I can post this, which means you’ll get three days’ worth. Sorry!

[tags]calgary, canmore, banff, lake louise, moraine lake lodge, emerald lake, yoho, field, truffle pigs[/tags]