bobanddenisewanderlust

We left the Moose Lodge at 8:45, right behind Wayne and Margie. We turned north on Hwy. 2 to the TransCanada Highway, west, directly through the city of Calgary. Here is the Calgary skyline.

We passed by the Olympic Park, continuing out of town.

Once we were out of town, we could see the mountains in the distance.

We entered Baniff National Park at about 11:00. We continued past the town of Baniff, to the Lake Louise Trailer Campground. We have been to Baniff before, and decided not to spend time there this trip. Entering the Park cost us $58 for three nights. That does not include the campground. They charge $19.50 per vehicle. per day! So we are not spending a lot of time here. The campground is also expensive, $39 per night for 30 amp. electric.

Margie had called to make reservations, but they were not helpful, so we just showed up at the park. We were lucky, as we were able to get 2 sites next to each other. We both stopped at the dump and took on water, since we had unexpectedly been boon-docking at the Moose Lodge.

On the way from Baniff to Lake Louise, I was able to spot an Elk and a deer, but we were travelling at 60 mph, so I was not able to get pictures.

We set up and Wayne drove us up to the Chateau Lake Louise. The hotel has expanded, with a new area next to the shops. They also have a large parking lot for us to use while visiting the lake. As we left the truck, we were walking towards the hotel and lake when we heard a loud bang. It was an avalanche! First one we have ever seen like that!  It was off to the left, about a mile away, high up on the mountain.

After closing our mouths, along with everyone else in the parking lot, we continued up to the lake. Since it was looking cloudy, we took quick pictures.

We went to the Alpine Room for lunch. It was now about 1:20 PM, so we were really hungry. Bob and Wayne had a Bison Ruben, Margie had a salad, and I had a lobster and shrimp salad on a croissant. Expensive lunch, but the view was nice!

We went back outside and took more pictures.

Above were chandeliers and this is the view of the hotel from the lake. Bob and I stayed here in 2002, while on a ski trip to the area, in one of these rooms, overlooking the lake. This is the first time that we have been here in the summer. It looks a lot different!

We returned to the truck and went to

The view we were looking at is on the Canadian $20 bill.

There were a lot of people visiting. In the parking lot there were a lot of small class C RV’s. We think some of them were with a group of artists. There were also two idiots who stripped down to their BVD’s and went swimming, next to the floating ice!  BRRR!

We returned to the motor home. Bob walked the dogs and then wanted to take a nap. Wayne, Margie and I went to the gas station/coffee shop to use the internet. I had a lot of trouble getting online and finally gave up. Wayne, was able to get online to make reservations for us for the next two nights. The problem was, when he went to check out, they would not accept his American credit card. So he had to call. Of course, the two sites were now on hold for us, and they could not complete the reservation. So we had to sit and wait for the computer system to time out. What a pain! They do not make it easy to make reservations! We returned  to the RV’s and sat outside having a glass of wine. One thing we have noticed, it is staying light later. Sunrise is at 5:30 AM and sunset is at 9:50 PM. At least that was what it was in Calgary. We will have to see what it is tonight.  We have also had a lot of bear warnings. The bears are out and about, but we have not seen any.  The Texas gates are electrified and there is an electric fence all around the campground.

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