The last three days have been great, and we’ve taken a break from things like blogging and exercising. Overarching thoughts about Banff and Jasper national parks is that they are absolutely beautiful, stunning, awe-inspiring, etc. And the town of Banff itself is super cute.
On our first full day in Canada, we woke in Pincher Creek to a steady rain and the forecast showed it was just going to get worse as the day wore on, so we sucked it up and set out for the 4-hour ride to Banff. We got rained on pretty much the whole way and never stopped once. Once we got to Banff and checked into our gorgeous hotel, we found some lunch and spent the afternoon relaxing. Our hotel has an amazing rooftop hot tub and fire pit, and we enjoyed spending some time up there in the evening.
The next day was the 4th of July and was planned as a rest day. We puttered around in the morning and had an AMAZING breakfast at a Creole place in town. Yum! And because we had really had half of the previous day as a rest day, we decided to ride up to check out Lake Louise and Lake Moraine, two famous lakes just about 40 minutes north of Banff. Our verdict? Um, they’re lakes. And they’re certainly pretty. But we’re not entirely sure what all the fuss is about. Still, it was a nice day and a pretty ride. More hot tubbing on that gorgeous roof.
Today we rode up and back down Canada’s number one motorcycle road – the Icefield Parkway. It’s a gorgeous drive, with mountains, glaciers and glacier-fed lakes the entire 8-hour round trip. We saw some wildlife – a moose (finally!), doll sheep, bighorn sheep, a deer and a coyote. And we came up to a place where a rock avalanche had just happened; they were cleaning the rocks off the road and checking the wall to pull down any loose rock when we drove by. After a number of chilly-to-downright-cold days, today it got up to 90 degrees! We were like, “hey Canada, Texas called, and it wants its heat back!” And still more hot tubbing and fire pit enjoyment.
Maps:
The Biker's Wife 