Canmore

One of my absolute favourite things about being here is the coffee.  I don't mean flat whites and lattes, because they don't make flat whites and sadly I haven't found a latte the same as Stevie Jeans in St. George!  I mean the filter coffee.  Every motel room we have been in has a little coffee machine and we can have real coffee.  Currently, the place we are in has a coffee pot, so I'm sitting in the living room, looking out at the mountains, drinking coffee as I type (Not at the same time), but more on the current lodgings later...

So anyway after our night in Golden, recovering from near death, acclimatising to mountain time (up very late, struggling to get up early) we took off towards Lake Louise.

Part of the view whilst driving.  I wasn't driving, just so you know.  I may drive on the wrong side of the road BUT  I draw the line at taking photographs from behind the wheel.

This is our first view of Lake Louise.

It was a very COLD and drizzly morning, and the kids were more than a little whingy, let's say, not appreciating the natural beauty of the place.  That situation improved, and we spent quite a while just exploring around the lake front and looking at it from different angles.  It was prettiest from the front of the hotel.

We went into the hotel and had some morning tea.  We couldn't afford to eat with a view, so we were delegated to the hotel deli, but it was nice.  It looked over the front entrance and the people arriving to check in.

Yes that is a porter.  Dressed in knickerbockers and a funny hat....

The hotel is very grand inside and the view out to the lake is breathtaking (but not from the deli) and we had a walk through the lobby and out to the front on our way back to the car.

Of course there are a trillion more photos, but I'll leave it there.  We left from there to head towards Banff, where we intended to do a gondola trip and have some lunch.  It is a gorgeous, busy place and we had a fun walk down the main street, looking in all the souvenir shops at the same souvenirs we've seen EVERYWHERE!  Just with a different name printed on them...

Anyway, after some lunch at MACCA's  (I know!!!! But it gets expensive buying every meal!!!  And Canadian McDonald's is actually okay) we set the GPS to head towards the gondola.  

I did not enjoy the gondola.  It was frankly terrifying and I could not look down for very long.  Of course the view was amazing and I could appreciate it, but was very glad to land at the top and even more so at the bottom.

There were squirrels and Thomas got very close to one, there was also snow on the ground quite close to us.  COLD!  

From Banff we headed down the road (only 15km or so) to where we are now at Canmore.  It is beautiful and our suite is GORGEOUS!!!  It's 3 bedrooms, two bathrooms, full kitchen and LAUNDRY!!!! (who would have thought I would get so excited about a washing machine!!  Ellen is disgusted!) and beautiful view.  There are four tvs, so everyone is catered for!

I'll finish now, but write more tonight before we leave here.  The internet is really good.  Love to everyone xxxx