EVEN MCDONALD’S WIFI WAS NOT STRONG ENOUGH FOR PICTURE DOWNLOAD. WE MOVE TOMORROW AND WILL ADD PICTURES IF WE CAN.
After having our own church service, we headed straight to the gondola at Lake Louise which was the recommendation of the guard at Banff Gondola.
Base of Gondola at Lake Louise
He was absolutely right about getting there early because we were almost the only one’s there for a while. We decided we would take the gondola up to the top and the open chair lift back down when it had warmed up some. What a beautiful ride up only imagining what it looked like covered in snow during the winter months.
Lake Louise from Gondola
We explored the campus at the top with all the ski oriented amenities and then headed for our lunch on the deck of the Whitehorn Bistro at this extraordinary elevation. On the way, a couple asked us if we wanted to join them on a short hike into the woods and since there are signs posted everywhere to only hike in groups of four or more because of the bears, we understood the question except I can’t imagine we looked like hikers.
Check out this view from the deck.
View from Whitehorn Lodge
Hotel at Lake Louise from Top of Gondola
If you look carefully you can see Lake Louise in the distance with the Fairmont Chateau Louise in the foreground. We were mesmerized by the turquoise color of the lake even from this distance. The snow was still fairly deep on the top of these mountains and provided such a beautiful view. These mountain ranges have to be much higher than we saw yesterday in Banff. Our lunch was wonderful and lots of other people started to appear at the restaurant. Here are the pictures of our food.
Seafood Risotto at Whitehorn Lodge
Cod wrapped in Proscuitto
On the way back down, we had to keep Carol’s attention on the horizon. The first few yards off the platform can be a bit scary.
The crowds were arriving now because every car we passed going up was filled with people and they was quite a line waiting at the base. There were a minimum of 10 tour buses now parked in the parking lot. Onward to Lake Louise and the hotel.
Once we got close to the village we found that all the parking at the hotel was full and they had set up a free shuttle service from an overflow lot off of Trans Canada Hwy that arrived every 15 minutes. We were told that last year was such a disaster that this was a new experiment and it was really working. Once we arrived at the lake and hotel it was obvious there were more tour buses. This place was crawling with tourists from everywhere but it seemed that many were Asian decent. The crowd was almost four deep trying to take a picture in front of Lake Louise’s beautiful backdrop.
Lake Louise by Hotel
We walked into the hotel and found a cafe with outdoor seating facing the lake and had some coffee and snacks. How peaceful and elegant.
One last thing to see before our trip to Lake Louise is over. Seeing a glacier was high on the list. The tours were expensive and another 1 1/2 hours away, we decided to strike out on our own. Driving north the mountain ranges were so high there were still glaciers, thick patches of ice, high on the mountain tops showing signs of receding but certainly not disappearing.
Bow Lake north of Lake Louise
Glacier along highway north of Lake Louise
We drove for about 45 minutes and turned around to head back to Cochrane, our home base. We were now a minimum of 2 to 3 hours away but oh how worth the trip.
Tomorrow, we are staying close to home and exploring Calgary. The Stampede starts the end of this week and we are hoping we can sneak a peek at some things without having to endure the crowds. We plan on making a stop at McDonalds first so we can publish these posts. WiFi is not the best even if you pay for it. Boy are we spoiled!
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