Good morning Everyone!!!

Well we both had a much better nights sleep last night and were up at 06:00 this morning.  Having sorted a couple of bits out we’ve already been out at sunrise up to the road to Lake Louise and also up the road to Lake Moraine again to see if there was any wildlife around….  Funnily enough I think you can all work out the answer to that one  :0)

This morning, after breakfast, we are heading on up to Jasper via the Columbia Icefield.  From Lake Louise to Jasper is 232km or 140 miles in English money….

It’s overcast and certainly very chilly this morning, but we are both looking forward to going and actually standing and walking around on a Glacier…..  :0)  We’ll let you know how we get on.

Bye for now…

Lewis & Kim

P.S.  We are finding it difficult trying to edit and get video up on the blog.  In fact to be honest we are not sure what the photos look like seeing they are un-edited and have come straight off the camera.  We will get some more photos sorted out this evening as there is Wi-Fi at our lodge in Jasper :0)

We’re back, although it is the next day strangely enough…

Well they say the road to the Icefields is the most beautiful in Canada – and it certainly is stunning – the journey to the Columbia Icefields, up highway 93 (Icefields Parkway) from Lake Louise should take about 1 1/2 hours …. We took about twice that !!! So would you have if you’d kept stopping at the view points to look at the scenery and take yet more pictures.

After about 10 mins on the Parkway we saw an awful lot of cars and RVs just pulled over, so knew that there had to be some sort of Wildlife upfront.  At long last… Hallelujah!!!   We finally get to see a bear from ground level….  He was a pretty good-sized black bear and we got some video footage and we think some wonderful photos of him.  Humans are strange you know; just because Mr Bear was wearing a collar, people obviously decided that he must be tame and so the 100m rule set by the Parks Authorities went straight out of the window!!!  Believe me when we tell you he was most certainly wild….  As so many people decided that they could get within 20 feet of Mr Bear, Lewis decided he’d get closer to get some lovely photos and he just hoped if bear fancied a snack then he’d choose someone else.  There was only one problem with this theory as was demonstrated when Mr Bear come quite quickly out of the bushes to the roadside and everyone else just ran, whilst my dear husband was standing there with camera to his face getting photos!!!  Well maybe hubby had “gone off” seeing the bear didn’t eat him……

Eventually we got to the Columbia Icefield Centre and booked our tickets for the Glacier tour. We got on a coach that took us up the mountain to the start of the glacier where we transferred to the glacier bus for the next part. Out on the glacier we went, with an entertaining guide giving us commentary on the way, we were allowed to get out at the top of the glacier for 20 minutes to take pictures and sample the glacier water which was very pure but cold….brrrrrrrrrr!!!!!

After that experience of a lifetime, we drove on and thought we would make time up on the way to Jasper but the landscape kept getting in the way! And then the mountain sheep got in the way…..and then the magnificent stag on the road……

Eventually we found our home for the night – Pocahontas Cabins, about 30 minutes outside of Jasper.

Even with the delights of a king size bed, Lewis had a bad night; he is
feeling the effects of altitude sickness and was really suffering last night!
He eventually got to sleep in the early hours and we rose at about 10am to
shower and get ready for the day.

We headed to Lake Louise Gondola – this is a ride up the mountain in either
an enclosed gondola or a ski bench and apparently is one of the best places to
see a bear – which is what we want to do so much!!

We chose an enclosed gondola for the journey up which takes about 15 minutes
and the views were outstanding- we scanned the area below us and the tree line
each side so we could say those immortal words “Hey bear, it’s only me
bear” …. But to no avail…sigh. When we arrived at the mid-point where
we got off, we were greeted by one of the guides who informed us that a grizzly
had been spotted within 100 metre of the platform so for safety, we were not
allowed to get off but were sent round to do the descent and climb again…..
we looked long and hard for this pesky bear who was stopping us from getting
off to take his picture but not a claw or tooth could be seen…grrr!! We descended,
continued scanning the woods and open land below us, and went round and climbed
again….and the same guide very apologetically told us that the bear still
hadn’t moved so we were being sent back down again – and still not a whisker to
be seen!

On this descent, we decided to get off, go get a coffee and come back up in
a short while when hopefully we would be luckier and catch sight of the pesky
varmint who had thwarted our intent to take his picture!

Up we went, on the open bench seat this time – Kim loved it but Lewis felt a
little queasy. We had our eyes peeled all the way up but nothing, not a rustle
in the trees. We got to the top ….and yes! We could get off! We were told that
the bear had moved up the mountain and over a hill. We hoped he would put in an
appearance but it was not to be – so we carried up two cameras, three lenses,
one tripod and one tripod head to take a few pictures of landscapes from the
top of the mountain!

Some news came up via some tourists who had come up recently, they had seen
a black bear between poles 10 and 11 so we packed up our stuff and got an open
bench ride down, and counted the poles …….13, 12, 11….eyes peeled ….looking
left and right…..and there in the trees was a small black bear …so cute, not
sure if we managed to get any pictures of him, and no video as we were so
awestruck – we saw our first bear ….and were finally able to say “ Hey bear!!!”

We went back to the hotel to have something to eat as we hadn’t eaten all
day, then went back to our room for a little rest and then near sunset we got
back in the SUV and drove to Lake Moraine which is up a 14km small windy
road.  Apparently it’s one of the places where there was a good chance of seeing wildlife…..  What did we see?  Absolutely nothing!!!  Having said that we think we got some lovely photos of the lake and the Fay Glacier that feeds the lake.

By 10:00pm we were both knackered and so off to sleep we go…..

Have been awake since about 2:00am (ish) with those wonderful “Jet Lag blues”. So Lewis decided to get up and go and use the hotel’s public computer to be greeted by the night receptionist with the most annoying question: “Jet Lag?”  Should have answered “No I just normally get up at this time of the day, but was too knackered and could just about answer yes… ”

7:00am arrived and all packed, dressed and video blog done and the car is packed and ready to go….  So where to?  Well we decide to head to Revelstoke, a railway town and jesus are their goods trains long!!!  Must be talking of 1 mile in length and they travel very slowly that’s for sure.

Along the journey we begin to enter the actually Canadian Rockies and National Parks.  All we keep saying to each other is “Oh wow, look at this” and “Oh my god look at that…”

Having been on the road for a good few hours, we decide to stop in Sorrento which is on a tiny part of the massive Shuswap Lake.  We found a nice little diner place where breakfast was served and oh jesus what a feast!!!  bizarrely the cook’s family originated from the UK and her father was in fact stationed at Biggin Hill !!!  There is one thing that you realise when you travel nowadays and that is just how small a place this planet has become, especially with the use of modern technology… :0)

Feeling rather full from our breakfast, we got back to the vehicle and saw the only Grizzly bear in town…..  Sadly he was an 8ft wooden carving!!!

Onwards to Revelstoke and when we arrived there it was a little bit too industrial for our liking so we stopped for coffee and ice cream and to make a new plan of where we were going and where we were going to stop and spend the night.  We managed to book a log cabin in Golden, British Columbia and when we eventually got there we found this place to be absolutely stunning… Cedar Restaurant and Cabins is certainly well worth stopping at when you have a log burning stove, a large sleigh bed and your very own hot tub out on the porch!!!!  Mmmmmm luxury indeed.

So after getting settled in for the night we needed to eat and so made our way into Golden where we found a bar that served food so stopped and ate.  After that it was back to the cabin and off to bed for another exciting day….