Friday, July 28- 5:45 am flight to Atlanta and then to Calgary. Due to the long amount of daylight we had a chance to walk around a little bit. There was a folk festival going on on an island in the Bow River and on Saturday a Pupapalooza festival, all for the dogs.
The next day we met the group in the hotel. Our Tauck director for the tour, Melisa Colibella, was our director for the B&C Tauck Tuscany tour in 2008. I showed her a picture of herself and our driver from that tour.
On the way to Lake Louise we stopped at Moraine Lake which was beautiful except C rolled her ankle getting down off a boulder she had climbed to get The Photo.
At the Welcome Dinner all the kids sat at one table but couldn't break the ice and talk to each other. They all were looking at their phones. This night at Chateau Lake Louise at 4:15 am the hotel wide fire alarm went off. We three stayed in the room awaiting instructions and eventually they determined it was a false alarm.
On Sunday the 30th we had a short morning hike up one side of Lake Louise with a naturalist. The naturalist told us about bear cubs being born in the den and living for months on the fatty mother bear's milk. How fatty? The naturalist pulled out some Cool Whip to illustrate which Ravenna really enjoyed.
Then we all went via the bus to Jasper Park Lodge, the place I never got to enjoy fully in 1996. On the way we passed many glaciers-Crowfoot, Bow, and Snowbird Glaciers. For dinner we ate with another couple of grandparents and their granddaughter Paige, one year older than R but sharing the same birthday. Dinner took so long we played some cards which was new to Paige who did not know the different suits.
We were supposed to have our bags ready to go for the morning. R told us her bag would not zip closed anymore. At this time she would not let me buy another suitcase so we "borrowed" a roll of tape from the Concierge for her to tape her bag closed.
On Monday July 31 R and I did a long hike at Maligne canyon with another naturalist. In the afternoon we went paddle boarding and kayaking on Lac Beauvert with Whistler and Pyramid Mountains behind us. Saw a pair of loons. Dinner that night was a BBQ at Trefoil Lake- R was a star at making Smores for everyone.
The next day was the day for whitewater rafting down the Bow River (Class 2). We had a great guide. The water was 44 degrees and R went fully in. Afterwards we walked around the town of Jasper and had lunch at a good sandwich place. C and I tried a hike later to get to three lakes in hopes of fishing. But the mosquitoes drew first blood so we bailed out.
R celebrated her birthday on Tuesday on the Athabasca Glacier.
Then the coach continued on to Banff Springs. I think I liked this hotel the best.
On the next day C and I took a short hike along the river and among the riverside art display. I saw this wonderful quote-
We 3 walked in to explore Banff and its great shopping. R and C got bold and took a bus to Canmore for some more practical shopping. We all met up with the group for Canadian bowling- small balls, 5 pins with each pin worth different points. R was the star for her team and got 3 or 4 strikes in a row. This, the last night, was the night the kids bonded.
After bowling and meeting an RCMP (Kids- what's that?) we went up the gondola to Sulphur Mountain for a dinner and a look at the Mountain Bighorn sheep that live up top. All we saw were small horn females.
Maybe a little smoky from wildfires.
A few days after we went up this gondola I saw in the Canadian TV news that the gondola stopped and people were stranded in the gondola and on the mountain and had to be evacuated after spending an uncomfortable night up there.
On August 4 the Tauck part ended. Parting shot of Melisa and Steven for 16 years from now:
We got on a bus with others doing the Rocky Mountaineer Train trip and went back to Chateau Lake Louise for one night before the train. R and I did a hike to Mirror Lake in the afternoon (shrinking lake).
R let me buy a suitcase for her to use. We had a great meal at Louiza that night.
This was a photo in our room-
On August 5 we 3 walked down to see the tiny town of Lake Louise. It was much farther than I thought and we took a bus back.
On the 6th we rode a bus to the train station (used in the film Dr. Zhivago) and started for Kamloops and then Vancouver. I think the train must have been boring for R. For a while our views were obscured by smoke from wildfires.
In Kamloops we had ice cream for dinner and a peaceful after dinner walk. More train ride the whole next day, getting to Vancouver about dark.
For the free day in Vancouver we went to Capilano Park to see the spillway and fish hatchery and then to Stanley Park.
R left for Portland earlier than we did to come home on the 9th, so I went early and C met me after R left. Clearing US Customs in Vancouver was really easy. I had a lot of time to walk around but I had an audio book to progress on so all was fine. C and I arrived home about 15 minutes early, which amazed me.
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