Good time to visit Japan! . . .

Friday, July 5, 2013 Banff! Well, we’re actually staying in Canmore, but who the heck knows what or where Canmore is? (It’s about 15km south of Banff and is just as pretty.)

These are the goats that make the wonderful cheeses at Carmelis, outside of Kelowna AB

And this is where the goats live.

Mt. Lemmon has nothing on Kelowna in terms of confusing street names!

And so we get to Canmore. What a welcome!

Before we arrived we got a message that we would have to boil water at the timeshare where we were staying because of the flooding. Flooding? What flooding? We had heard NOTHING in the US news about flooding in Alberta but they have had nothing short of a disaster because of the heavy rain. The Calgary Stampede, even, was almost a no-go because of the water damage of the rodeo grounds. The news here (Alberta station) said that the water in a stadium that was going to be used for concerts was flooded to the 14^th row! They did not get that cleaned up but they did get the water damage in the arena (over two meters deep in water two weeks ago) cleaned up and they expect the Stampede will go on mostly as usual.

Canmore has a lot of damage also. Several feet of debris around the pillars supporting the TransCanada Highway. Lots of mud coating everything. And the reason for the “Boil Water” edict? E coli levels in the Bow River are at 8000 times allowable levels. Aside from the ick factor of there being ANY allowable level of E coli, that is an astounding level of bacteria!

However, the day we arrived the “Boil Water” edict had been lifted. Color me skeptical. With that 8000 times bacteria level, I’m not sure I want to drink the water from the tap. And just think, that is a way of life in many countries of the world!

The drive here from Kelowna was beautiful. Our days of blue skies and puffy clouds are ending, but we’re enjoying it while we can!

Sunday, July 07, 2013 Yesterday rained and rained so we stayed in and rested Randy’s knee, which is still swollen and painful. But today dawned (oh so early at 5:36; somewhat made up for by sunset [why don’t we say “sunsetted”?] being at 21:58) absolutely beautiful and cloudless so we decided to drive the Icefields Parkway (http://www.icefieldsparkway.ca/; Pay attention, Donna and Steve, we think you could—should!— do all this when you have the rental car in Vancouver!).

Pam, doing her photography thing.

And this is what she was photographing.

Well, the Icefields Parkway WAS the plan. The nice thing about having a car is that you can change your mind. And we did. Partway, just past Lake Louise, we thought spending time in Banff and Lake Louise would be better today and plan the Icefields Parkway for maybe tomorrow (depending on the weather).

As an aside, we checked four different weather forecasting websites about weather. Now, I know that weathermen can differ a bit on minor parts of a forecast, but complete opposite forecasts? Two websites said Monday and Tuesday will be overcast and rainy, but sunny by Wednesday and Thursday; two others said sunny and warm on Monday and Tuesday, but rainy on Wednesday and Thursday!

One of the apps I have to recommend are the Smart Phone guides that you can get if you are in an area served by GyPSy Guides; in our case, Banff–Lake Louise and Icefields Parkway. They are especially fabulous if you have the ability to hook your phone to the car’s audio system. It’s a GPS-based system so it knows exactly where you are and it tells you what you are seeing on the road you are on. Trip Advisor rates it pretty highly and so do we! 

The beautiful old hotel right on the shores of Lake Louise, the Fairmont Banff Springs. This is the place to stay if you want to avoid quite so many tourists! However, high season rates start at $469!

Got to have the tourist photo at Lake Louise!

We canoed on Lake Louise several years ago, but not this time.

Moraine Lake

So, what did we see today? Moraine Lake and Lake Louise. An unnamed lake with a beautiful mirror image of the mountain. And about a gazillion Japanese tourists. I really don’t want to tar a wonderful nation, and I will probably hear about this from lots of people, but the Japanese tourists that we saw today were a disgrace to their country. They crowded others off pathways, they refused to move so others could take pictures, they ignored the unspoken rules of tourism (allow others to take pictures, don’t walk in front of those taking pictures, don’t jump the queues; in short, Be nice). They were not nice and they spoiled lots of other people’s enjoyment of whatever sight they were trying to see. There were so many Japanese tourists that there can’t be many left in Japan! Must be a good time to visit Japan!

What a beautiful geologic feature. I'm no geologist (as my docent friends can attest!) but this (just outside Banff) looks like something just pushed up one edge of a rocky plain.

Lake Louise was overrun with Japanese tourists. It was difficult to find a tourist who spoke English. Moraine Lake was also. The birthplace of the Canadian National Parks, the Cave and Basin Historical Site http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/lhn-nhs/ab/caveandbasin/index.aspx, was not. We did not see a single Japanese tourist there. Why? I have no idea. The site of the origin of Canadian National Parks is beautiful, interesting, and extremely well done with “a massive 4 screen HD visual experience that takes you across Canada’s network of protected places.” 

The "Basin" part of the Cave & Basin Historic Site

One of the exhibits at the Cave & Basin Historic Site

More of the exhibit at the Cave & Basin; we used to have a VW bug of this vintage, white, even! Looked just like this one. Don't you hate it when stuff you u sed to use is in a museum? No way they'll fit all that stuff in the trunk!

The view while travelling

Although this is more likely to be your closeup view, at least in summer!

The growing season in the Canadian Rockies is very short; these small trees are actually over 16 years old, it just takes them a long time to get as big as the ones behind the new growth. The bigger ones are over a hundred years old.

An example, to me, of very poor exhibit design. That is actually a large, VERY sturdy ring binder with five pages. But it means that only one or two people can look at the exhibit at a time.

This is for Randy's cousin, Sherry, for remembering visits with their grandparents to the Saguenay River, 3272km away.