Canada This year there was none of the messing about of last year, where we pretended that we weren't going to go to Canada right up until the day before our holiday started. The flights were booked months ago and we'd even booked most of our hotels in advance, which we hadn't done for years.
Leaving Friday - We had a Friday afternoon flight from Heathrow. This was the view shortly after take-off.
Nearly Sunrise As usual, it got dark for a couple of hours, then the rest of the flight was in this almost sunrise as we chased the sun west.
Flight Path This is a photo of the in-flight information screen, which shows the flight path. We skirted the southern tip of Iceland, cut right across Grennland and travelled across very northern Canada, well north of Hudson Bay (the large "lake"-like expanse of water just to the left of centre).
Sheraton View We arrived in Calgary on time and picked up our hire car. We'd booked a Chevrolet Suburban-or-similar (a "full-sized" SUV), but it turned out that the only car they had with full winter tyres on (required for driving up the Icefields Parkway) was a Nissan Rogue from several classes lower ("compact" SUV). Initially this resulted in a substantial refund, however, once Avis had finished screwing us for the cost of winter tyres and all of the extra insurance, it ended up costing as much as the Suburban. I hate dealing with hire car companies.Anyway, we got the car and headed into downtown Calgary to check in to our first hotel - the Sheraton Eau Claire. This was the nice view from our window.
Dinner Even though we were really tired by this point (it was about 8pm in Canada so our UK-time brains thought it was 3am the next day), we headed out for a bite to eat before turning in.Being Friday night, Joey's was completely rammed and we would have had to wait around half-an-hour for a table, so we headed to the nearby Barley Mill.
Nachos We thought we'd have something light so we just ordered a plate of nachos to share. Here's Judith with that the menu calls "a foot of nachos". This is the smallest portion of nachos they had. It is apparently possible to order "five feet of nachos". I would have quite liked to see that.Time for bed.Lovely beers consumed today - just a Wild Rose Red Wheat Ale.
Swimming Saturday - We were up quite early courtesy of our jet lag, so popped down to the hotel's nice pool for a splash about before we checked out.
Splash! You'll have to take my word for it, but Judith's in there somewhere.
Splash!!! And this is me.
Jacuzzi While I was relaxing in the jacuzzi, staring off into space, I noticed these interesting reflections in the glass roof.
And we're off! We checked out of the hotel and headed off into the mountains. For the entertainment value, rather than take the highway straight there, we first headed into the grid of roads to the south of Calgary. For quite a while there wasn't much to see at all.
Sunny Then we literally emerged from the fog/clouds and into the sunshine.
Frosty Impressively, this is not snow. This is all frost. But it looked super in the early morning sunshine.
Frosty More frosty scenery.
Frosty Last one.
Oil Derrick There are oil derricks all over the place in this area. So I thought I'd take a photo of one set against our first good view of the approaching mountains.
Bridge Finally they'd got round to replacing the bridge on highway 40 that was washed away a few years ago. So I thought I'd best take a photo of it.
Highwood Pass At the Highwood Pass (the highest paved road in Canada) it was getting quite snowy.
Rogue Here's a picture of our smaller-than-expected Nissan Rogue on the Smith-Dorrien Trail. 2.5L four cylinder petrol with a whopping 170bhp and CVT transmission. Not the 300bhp+ 5.4L V8 I was anticipating, but it was sporting those all important full winter tyres.
Smith-Dorrien Trail It was snowing quite heavily on most of the Smith-Dorrien Trail.
Morrant's Curve We left the Smith-Dorrien Trail, where there was quite a lot of snow, and drove into Canmore, where there was no snow at all. From there we went to Banff, where there was also no snow at all, to try to get some tickets for next weekend's beer festival. But Banff was so rammed that we drove around for 15 mins unsuccessfully looking for a parking space before giving up and leaving.We stopped at Morrant's Curve on highway 1a to check for trains, but there were none.
Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise A short while later we checked in to the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise. Here's a photo of their lobby.
Room View We had booked the cheapest room available (which was still hilariously expensive), but because Judith is a member of the Fairmont Presidents Club we received an upgrade to a lake view room. This was the view from our room. Despite the absence of snow in Canmore and Banff, there was plenty here.
Lunch As it was now mid-afternoon and we'd not eaten since breakfast, we thought we'd have a light lunch in the hotel's lounge.
Lunch View It's a very nice view to have with your lunch.
Beer Beer and a view. Awesome.
Later As it was getting dark I popped out to take a few photos around the hotel.
Hotel View I was out for the best part of an hour and took quite a few photos, almost all of which were out of focus because I'd messed up the manual focus settings on my camera (it was dark so I just guessed). Doh!Lovely beers sampled today:- Grizzly Paw Rutting Elk Red- Grizzly Paw Beavertail Raspberry Ale- Parallel 49 West Coast Wheat Ale (which cost CAD14 - about £8.75!!!)
Room View Sunday - Well it was a bit clearer than yesterday, but still a long way from the clear blue skies that we'd often seen here :o(
Hiking We had decided to walk from the hotel to Lake Louise Village down a combination of the Tram Line and Creek Trails. Judith found this acceptable as it was all downhill.Here's Judith shortly after we set off.
Winter Wonderland It was definitely well snowy around here.
Nice View We were treated to the occasional nice view when the trees cleared.
Train The Tram Line Trail goes to the old railway station (which is now a restaurant) and we arrived just in time to see our first giant Canadian train of the week turn up.
Train Five minutes later (according to the timestamps on the photos) we watched the back of the train disappear into the distance. Awesome.
Car Park View Having arrived in Lake Louise Village, Judith decided she definitely didn't want to walk back up the hill, so she popped in to Laggan's Bakery for a "rest" while I walked back up the hill to the hotel to fetch the car. Which is how I discovered that there is a rather impressive view from the roof of the car park.
Lookout View Having returned Judith to the warmth of the hotel, I decided to have a quick walk up the Lookout Trail to (can you guess?) the Lookout.This was the excellent view of the hotel from the Lookout. They had chopped down a few trees since the last time I was up there, which had improved the view very significantly.
Lookout This is a super-zoomed photo that Judith took from the hotel of me at the Lookout. It's really hard to see me because I'm in a dark coloured jacket, but I'm definitely in there.
Lookout Zoomed out, you can just about make out the Lookout right in the middle of this photo.
Trees and Sky Here's a nice view of the trees and the sky that I took on my way back to the hotel.
Lake Louise View Back at the hotel I took a few black and white photos of the mountains at the other end of the lake.
Lake Louise View
Lake Louise View Last one.
Beer Time for a beer in the lounge.
Boat House When it started to get dark I went back out to have another go at the photos I'd mucked up the previous evening.Here's the Boat House set against Fairview Mountain.
Christmas Tree The hotel and one of their many Christmas trees. The streaks in the sky are snow.Lovely beers drunk today:- Grizzly Paw IPA- Grizzly Paw Grumpy Bear Honey Wheat Ale- Grizzly Paw Rutting Elk Red
Lake Shore Walk Monday - We thought we had best go for the almost mandatory walk down the lake shore before we checked out.
Hotel and Mountains It was still pretty overcast, but just for a few seconds the clouds cleared and we got a lovely view of the hotel set against the mountains on the other side of the valley. Seconds later the mountains had faded back into the clouds again.
Stones Some snow covered stones by the lake.
Highway 1a As is often the case, we headed south on the quieter and more scenic highway 1a.
Deer A deer on highway 1a.
Deer There were actually two deer. The other one is just visible in the background (above the head of the one in the foreground).
Beer Festival After our failed attempt to park in Banff when we were passing through on Saturday, we thought we'd have another go now the weekend hoards had departed. We parked easily just outside tourist information, where a very helpful lady phoned around to see how non-locals could get their hands on tickets before directing us to Banff Ave Brewing, where we bought a pair of tickets from a very nice man. Yay!
Elk and Oarsman As it was lunchtime we thought we'd be as well to pop into the Elk and Oarsman for a bite to eat (and my first poutine of the week. Mmmm, poutine).(Judith is staring out of the window at the awesome view of Mount Rundle.)
Canmore After lunch we continued south to Canmore. This was the view of Canmore from the dam high above the town. Barely a hint of snow here.
Sheep And yet a few miles further south still on the Smith-Dorrien trail, here's a Bighorn sheep posing very nicely in plenty of snow.
Favourite Spot I photograph all of our hire cars in this spot now.
Favourite Spot Although I can't decide if I like this close-up angle better than the slightly further back angle in the previous photo. So I've included both.
Mount Engadine Lodge So it turned out that my favourite photo spot is about half a mile from the next place we'd decided to stay - the Mount Engadine Lodge. We'd driven past the signs for the Mount Engadine Lodge many times over the years, but just assumed it must be closed for the winter because pretty much everywhere that's not in a town closes for the winter.
Room The Mount Engadine Lodge only has eight rooms. This was the living room bit of our room. Very nice and comfortable.
Balcony View This was the view from our balcony.
Terrace View This was the view from the lodge's terrace.
Terrace And this was the lodge's terrace. I can imagine this is a very nice place to sit on a warm evening.
Lodge Lounge This was one of the lodge's lounge areas.
Lodge beer This was the Tool Shed People Skills Cream Ale that I had in front of the fire in the other lounge area. Yes, that's really what it was called.
Lodge Tuesday - I was up and about to take a few photos before breakfast (hence the low light), but didn't really get anything interesting.
Lodge After breakfast I clambered down the snow covered hill to the meadow to get this photo of the lodge.
Walking We had decided to walk to a place called Watridge Lake, which the hotel's trail guide had indicated was a 7.6km (nearly 5 miles) round trip. This was the view a few hundred yards from the lodge, looking down the meadow.It quickly became apparent that the trail guide was measuring from the Mount Shark trailhead, which was about three miles from the lodge. At which point Judith lost interest in the walking and decided to go back to the lodge to get the car.
Walking So I pressed on alone, into the bear-filled wilderness, with no phone signal and no company. Nice views though.
Company About 40 minutes later Judith passed me in the car and fifteen minutes after that I met up with her in the car park at the Mount Shark trailhead and we set off together for Watridge Lake.
Watridge Lake After what seemed like a very long time (Judith walks really slowly) we arrived at the lake, which was frozen and covered with snow.
Watridge Lake Here's Judith at Watridge Lake.
Other People This couple on their fat bikes were the only other people we saw all day. Good plan to bring a dog to distract the bears while you escape. I should have thought of that.
Walking Judith on the trail back to the car.Having walked this far, I decided to also walk the final three miles back to the lodge. Although once Judith had disappeared from view and I was left on my own again with no phone signal and the bears, I did begin to doubt my enthusiasm a bit.
Mountain An interesting mountain I saw on the way back. In black and white.
River An hour later I was crossing the bridge a couple of hundred yards from the lodge. Yay! Survived! Ray Mears would be impressed (probably).
Beer Time for a well deserved Village Blacksmith Alberta Black Ale in front of the fire before dinner.
Stars!!! Finally, after four days, the sky finally cleared and the stars came out. Absolutely stunningly awesome. The photos just don't do it justice.
Stars I drove about a mile from the resort to try to get some more interesting scenery into my photos, but the issue that I had was when I stopped the car and turned the lights off, it was really, really dark. So I left the car's lights on, which is why the trees on the right are illuminated white (from the front lights) and the trees on the left are illuminated red (from the back lights).
Meadow View Nearby there was a lovely view with the lights from the lodge spilling onto the meadow.
Star Trails I couldn't not do a star trails photo with this many stars out. This is 60 stacked 30 second exposures. The temperature was down to -8C by this time and my camera was covered in frost by the time I'd finished, which probably isn't good for it. Still, it was a great way to end the day.
Licked? Wednesday - We checked out and went out to the car park to discover that our car appeared to have been extensively licked down both sides during the night! No idea what it might have been, but whatever it was, it had a big tongue!
Icefields Parkway As the weather conditions were still pretty good, we decided to head up the Icefields Parkway to Jasper. The road was a bit icy for the first twenty miles or so, but then it cleared up nicely.
Big Hill This was the view looking south from the top of Big Hill (which is just after Big Bend).
Bighorn Sheep Near the top of Big Hill these Bighorn sheep were disrupting the traffic as they apparently watched me taking photos.
Athabasca Glacier Our hotel had made us a packed lunch and as we arrived at the Athabasca Glacier at around lunchtime, we decided to stop and eat there. Nice view.
Jasper As we arrived in Jasper, one of the first things we saw was this small herd of elk crossing the main road into town to graze on someone's front lawn.
Elk Elk are ever so big when you see them from close up. It's a good job it didn't know I'd had some elk poutine on Monday!
Room View This was the view from our room in the Crimson Hotel. Pretty good by normal standards, but a bit of a come down from the views we'd been spoiled with for the last few days.Coincidentally, this was the same hotel that we stayed in the first time we visited Jasper in 2003, although it had been renamed and very extensively refurbished since then.
Connaught Drive We went for a walk down Connaught Drive, which is the main street in Jasper.
Totem Pole. We had a look at the Two Brothers Totem Pole. I don't know anything more about it than that as that's all the information that was on the plaque at its base.
Jasper Brewing Not entirely surprisingly, we ended up in the Jasper Brewing Co.
Beer Here's the pint of Sunwapta Nitro Brown that I had. I also had a Blackeye Blueberry Vanilla Ale, which was probably the nicest beer I had all week, so I should have maybe included a photo of that instead.
Sunrise Thursday - I'm not sure if it's just because I happened to be looking out of the window at the right time, but this was the nicest sunrise that I saw all week.
Highway 93a We were heading south again today. For a bit of variety we left Jasper on highway 93a, which was really nice until after about ten miles when we reached this barrier only a couple of miles from where highway 93a met back up with highway 93. So we had to backtrack for about 15 minutes to rejoin highway 93. Doh!
Athabasca Falls We popped in for a look at the Athabasca Falls, which were still decidedly unfrozen in the positively mild weather.
Squirrel This was as close as I got to a squirrel all week.
Water Channel Judith in an old water channel.
Gorge This is where the water flows from the falls. The bridge bit at the top is the road (highway 93a as a matter of fact).
Lake And from the gorge the water flows into this pretty lake. Anyway that was enough of the Athabasca Falls. Time to crack on.
Sunwapta Falls Just up the road from the Athabasca Falls is the Sunwapta Falls, which is pretty much more of the same thing really. We couldn't explore far at Sunwapta because the paths were very icy and the opportunities for injuring oneself were significant.
Athabasca Glacier Passing the Athabasca Glacier again.
Rogue Our Nissan Rogue.
Road As on the way up yesterday, the driving conditions were mostly excellent.
Narrow Bit This is the narrowest bit of the valley, were you can comfortably get both sides into one photo without the need to resort to a panorama of some sort.
Moose Lodge A few hours later we arrived at our next hotel, the brand new Moose Lodge in Banff. This is their lobby.
Beer Having dropped our bags in our room, we popped down to Banff Ave Brewing for a couple of beers...
Park ...before heading to Park for some dinner. Park is a distillery as well as a restaurant, so they have an extensive range of spirits available at their bars.
Burger I ordered the "twenty five dollar burger", which was determined to escalate the ludicrous burger arms race to the next level. For a long time now diners all over the world have been presented with ridiculous six inch tall burgers that in no way can be consumed as a burger, i.e. by picking them up. Park had taken what they presumably considered to be the next logical step and skewered a small rack of ribs to the top of my burger.Lovely beers sampled today:- Banff Ave Brewer's Oar Cream Ale- Banff Ave Saskatoon Blonde Berry Ale- Half Hitch Brewing Shotgun Wedding Brown Ale
Rooftop Pools Friday - We got up especially early today to make the most of the Moose Lodge's rooftop pools before the hoards descended on them later.
Indoor Pool Judith in the indoor rooftop pool. As you can see, our cunning plan of turning up early worked a treat.
House The Moose Lodge has been build around this old house. Strictly speaking, the house was removed while the lodge was built and then replaced afterwards.
Lake Minnewanka We went for a drive up to Lake Minnewanka, where for a while it was snowing heavily.
Trees Snow covered trees at Lake Minnewanka. If you squint, this photo looks a bit like a barcode.
Two Jack Lake The nearby Two Jack Lake was also looking decidedly unfrozen.
Bow Falls We popped down to Bow Falls. Also comprehensively unfrozen.
Shopping I took this photo of the Cascade Shopping Arcade to remind me that this was the now infamous Black Friday, so everyone was going bonkers for the (allegedly) amazing shopping deals that were available everywhere.
Beer Festival Finally it was time for the beer festival. We got the free bus from Banff Ave Brewing to the Cave and Basin, where the festival was being held.This big ice sculpture at the entrance must have been clinging on for dear life in the unexpectedly mild conditions.
Hall There were a lot of people in the hall
Tent There were even more people in the tent, which is where most of the beer was.
Fireplaces Back at the hotel a few hours later we sat in front of the fireplace and watched the fireplace TV channel.Exceptional beer consumption today due to the beer festival:- Blindman Brewing Longshadows IPA ***, Half Hitch Fire 'n' Fury Red Ale ***- Ribstone Creek Lone Bison Pale Ale ***, Fat Unicorn Brewery Amber Ale ***- Wild Rose Wraspberry Ale *****, Village Brewing Wit ****- Big Rock Winter Spice Ale ****, Common Crown Brewing Brown Ale ***- Dandy Brewing Dandy Sour ****, Something Brewing Gimmie That Nutt Brown Ale ***
Bow Valley View Saturday - Out and about on our last full day in Canada, we decided to head to the Hoodoos. There was a nice view along the Bow Valley to the Fairmont Banff Springs from the start of the trail.
Hoodoos And here are the Hoodoos themselves. I sort of expected them to be more. More bigger or more numerous. Just more.
Bow Valley View Still, the view was excellent.
"That's not a knife. This is a knife" This GMC Sierra that Judith is standing in front of is presumably the pickup truck version of the classic Crocodile Dundee line "That's not a knife. This is a knife".
Christmas Trees We went to the cinema in Banff to see the newly arrived Arrival (which I quite enjoyed) before heading for a late lunch/early dinner in the Elk and Oarsman (elk poutine for me again I'm afraid).We saw these pretty Christmas trees outside the Elk + Avenue Hotel on our way "home".Lovely beers drunk today:- Sleeman Honey Brown- Kitsilano Maple Cream (although it's possible the waitress may have actually brought me something else!)
Rest Stop Sunday - Finally, on the day we were going home, the sun had decided to come out! Our flight wasn't until the evening so we had a leisurely drive back to Calgary.This photo was taken in a rest area on highway 1 just east of Banff.
Rest Stop Absolutely stunning view for a highway/motorway rest stop.
Smith-Dorrien Trail View We diverted from highway 1 at Canmore up the Smith-Dorrien Trail, where the views are always magnificent whatever the weather. It was a bit too windy to get any good reflections off the water, but the reflections from the icy bits were still pretty good.We popped into the Delta Lodge at Kananaskis for a light lunch and were delighted to see that they were starting what looked like a significant redevelopment exercise. This lovely hotel has been in need of one of those for a while.Then we headed for the airport.
Airport This was the view of the terminal from the new business class lounge, where we spent a very pleasant and relaxing couple of hours before boarding our flight home.Total distance driven this week - 1,520km (944 miles)Average fuel consumption - 13.7km/l (38.7mpg, which wasn't bad from a 2.5L petrol SUV I thought)