On day one upon arrival we were shocked by large crowd huddled around the car rental place. With Ian in one arm it was easier to get attention from the Hertz people, and eventually we got a good SUV and a short wait :)
The drive from Calgary to Banff was uneventful, however the sceneries were indeed breath taking. We spent more than CAD100 at the Safeway topping up adult's and baby's food, and diapers. No wonder the Canadian are rushing to the US for their purchase now that the currencies are equal in value, the Canadian goods are quite expensive in comparison to the state's.
On our first four days we stayed at the YWCA at Banff. It cost about CAD110 a night to stay at the private room of the hostel, and it was already the cheapest accommodation in Banff. Banff was full of international tourists, especially the Japanese. There was even shops and maps specially catered to the Japanese. The room was pretty basic and quite old, the good thing is that it had a private bath. Ian was quite afraid of the bath because it was small and dim, he was probably a little claustrophobic.
On the second day we went to the bow river falls in the morning, followed by the beautiful and grand Fairmont Banff Springs hotel. We also took the gondola to the top of Sulfur mountain, where the view took our breaths away. After that we went to the Cave and Basin, which was nothing more than a hot spring.
On Monday 9/3, we went to the beautiful Lake Minnewanka (meaning "Water of the Spirits" in Nakota - the Stoney Indian language), where we hiked to the Stewart Canyon with Ian enjoying the "ride" in the baby carrier. We had picnic lunch at yet another beautiful Lake Johnson, which reminded Pearl of the "Salem High Country" advertisement. Our last destination of the day was a hike to the two waterfalls at the Johston Canyon, which reminded us of the Watson Glen in the New York state.
On the next day we took the Highway 1 to Lake Louise, along the scenic highway there were many beautiful lakes and mountains, however the only wild life were birds and squirrels. We had a very expensive brunch at the famous Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise. The $60 brunch was probably my most expensive brunch ever, however the view of the emerald lake surrounded by mountains and glaciers was priceless. We went to Lake Moraine after that, which was even more scenic with a little less tourists.
On the following day, we ventured into Yoho national park, visiting the Kicking Horse pass (where some pioneer, Dr. James Hector was kicked by his horse and thus the name, how creative right?), the Great Divide and the lower spiral tunnel. We had yet another "tuna sandwich lunch" at Lake Emerald, where the water was truly emerald in color, reflecting the snow capped mountains and glaciers. We also visited the Takakkaw Falls (meaning very magnificent, in local Cree language), which was a powerful sight to see. We had to give some other points of interest a miss due to the inconvenience of carrying a one year old around. We stayed for two days at another "youth" hostel in Lake Louise, where there were more retired tourists than young people.
The next day we continued our journey northward, and visited the Columbia Icefield en route. We took the expensive yet interesting "Glacier tour" on the million dollar icefield explorer. With the wheels taller than me, we were able to travel all the way into the Athabasca Glacier. The wind chill at the ice field was bone crushing, however like typical Asian tourists, we kept taking pictures even though Ian was feeling too cold from the icy wind. So as a result of the careless parents, the pitiful baby fell sick after that. Ian was having runny nose, cough and developed his very first ear infection a few weeks later, and he had finally just been better today. From Lake Louise to Jasper, we visited many other beautiful look-outs, lakes and falls such as Herbert Lake, Crowfoot Glacier, Bow Lake, Num Ti Jah lodge, Peyto Lake (a must for all visitor!) and Bridal Veil fall, to name a few. Pearl and I agreed that the visit to the Lake Peyto was probably the highlight of the trip.
Jasper was a lovely and quaint little town, yet to be heavily contaminated by tourism, unlike Banff at the South. We stayed at a "home stay", which was a converted basement of an elderly couple, Mr. & Mrs. Crayston. It was the cheapest yet the most comfortable accommodation of the entire trip! We love Jasper so much that we regretted not planning to stay there longer. In Jasper we found a pharmacy where we could get some cold medicine for poor little Ian. We visited a few lakes nearby - Lake Pyramid, Patricia, Annette etc. Interestingly a lot of lakes here were named after women. By this time we were almost too saturated with lakes and mountains already.
From Jasper we visited Maligne lake, where we took yet another expensive boat tour to the "world famous" (apparently a lot of the "world famous" stuffs here were unknown to us prior to this trip) Spirit Island, and the view was absolutely stunning. After that we took a spiral, hilly and almost nauseating route to the top of the Edith Covell Mountain. The magnificent view of the glaciers at the top of the mountain was well worth the strenuous journey.
On our second last day we traveled South on the Icefield parkway, visiting Athabasca, Sunwapta and Tangle falls. After that we were almost blotted with the sight of water falls as well! Returning to the hustle and bustle of Banff was like returning to civilization. We had a good, decent meal at the Old Spaghetti Factory before heading to the rundown Bow Valley motel in Canmore.
On our very last day, we decided to have a good meal in Calgary before going back to Houston. Since we were so typically Chinese, we had to chose to go to the Chinatown out of so many other better choices! The "Chinatown" in Calgary was actually just a few blocks of Chinese restaurants , groceries and shops. Again we made the wrong choice of eating at a "sushi buffet" place, which made us missed Houston's food even more.
All in all, it was a very good trip with many good pictures taken. It was quite an experience for us since this was the first time we took Ian on a flight, and on a hiking trip! Too bad Ian was too young to remember all this...thank God for blogs and digital pictures!
Side note on photos: 2 bodies - Canon 350D and Nikon Coolpix 8400 (mostly at 24mm wide angle, and for the convenient short video clips), lenses: CZ 28mm f2.8, 35-70mm f3.4 and 80-200mm f4.0. I have been using the manual CZ lenses on digital Canon body for a while, and the results are superb. Too bad the Canon 5D is not quite affordable to me yet, as the full frame sensor will truly show the supreme quality of the German designed lenses!
Here comes the bunch of pictures:
Breathtaking view taken between Calgary and Canmore
Bow river, near Banff
Bow River Falls
Cascade Mountain, Banff
Banff Fairmont Hotel
Bow Lake
Bow River
View along Highway 1
Ian caught "吃脚脚"
Ford Edge, not a bad SUV at all...
In Banff, this is known as "Gondola", which is actually cable car
Finally some "mountain goats" on top of Sulfur Mount...Yay! "Wild" life!
View on top of Sulfur Mountain
You can see the town of Banff from here
An0ther view on top of Sulfur Mountain
The serene Lake Herbert, only in the morning you will get a perfect reflection
A still Lake Herbert
Ian at a picnic bench in "Salem High Country" - Lake Johnson
Lake Minnewanka
Stewart Canyon, a short hike from Lake Minnewanka
Ian in his baby carrier, hunky dad at background (Johnston Canyon)
Ian's first encounter with the Dragon Fly...
Eee...怕怕...
This was our "picnic lunch" - tuna sandwich for many days...when you are hungry, even this taste heavenly!
The view of Lake Peyto from top, absolutely stunning!
Ian trying to pick a flower at Lake Louie, while me trying to pose like a stylish photographer in the background...
Chateau Lake Louise, the unforgettable, most expensive $60 brunch I ever had...
It was a little chilly at Lake Louise, so Ian was dressed like little Jay Chow...yo...
Lake Louise is surrounded by snow capped mountain, and you can even see a glacier from here.
Ian was very friendly towards strangers throughout the entire trip, and he especially liked older people, probably he found their wrinkled face funny.
Lake Moraine from the top of a hill
Lake Moraine from the shoreline
Lake Moraine is surrounded by the "ten peaks"
Tourists canoing on Lake Moraine
Another beautiful lake in the National Park
A cafe at Lake Emerald, Yoho National Park
Feeding Ian at Lake Emerald
Ian crawling on a table at Lake Emerald, where the water is truly Emerald in color.
A view of Athabasca Glacier
Apparently in 1992 the foot of the Glacier was here, and now it has retreated quite a distance away in just 9 years time.
A view of Edith Mountain from Lake Pyramid, Jasper town
Ice at the Edith pond, which is actually the puddle of water left by the glacier on Edith Mountain
Glacier at the foot of Edith Mountain
Waterfalls at Johnston Canyon
Another falls at Johston Canyon
After a while all the falls start to look the same...
Sunwapta Waterfalls
Another view of Sunwapta Falls
Tangle Falls
Athabasca Falls
Takakkaw Falls, meaning "Walau eh, si peh tok kong ah" in Singlish...
These are the set of four favourite pictures of Ian we like very much
Maligne Lake
Maligne Lake cruise boat
Maligne Lake was known as the "lake of little fishes" by the local Indians
You can also rent a canoe on this beautiful lake
The "world famous" Spirit Island
The mystical Spirit Island...
We spent $43 per person for the expensive cruise just to see this world famous Spirit Island, of course I must take more photos to make the money worth!
This is just another typical scenic view along the highway in the Canadian Rockies national parks
Finally we saw a wild life, the moose at one souvenir shop in Banff, Ian loved it so much he had to "kiss kiss" the moose.
One of the inexpensive yet excellent restaurant in the expensive, touristy town of Banff
Ian enjoying his Gerber baby food
The children playground at the Calgary airport, we found this airport to be the most children friendly airport we have ever been.
