We wanted to make the most of our last day at Lake Louise, we woke to a cold morning of 3 degrees but we still made our way to breakfast at the Lodge of Ten Peaks, where the home of Lake Louise Ski Park is in the winter.  

The log lodge is huge, apparently 2nd largest in Canada, it was nice to have breakfast close to the warm fire with views of the mountains.

We then took the Gondola to Mt Whitehorn, we had the choice of a closed cabin or open, we took the open in hope that the clouds would lift by the time we reached the top for clearer views. Very proud of Mum as she is not so keen on heights. As we got closer to where we were to disembark it got colder but guess what?? The clouds lifted and we had the best view overlooking Lake Louise valley, all the way to our Chateau at Lake Louise.

On our return to Lake Louise Chateau, knowing our checkout was later, we took a half hour paddle in a canoe on Lake Louise, again the sun came out at times and made our adventure so much more enjoyable floating on the emerald lake.   Whilst on the lake, it snowed for just a few minutes, we noticed the staff all excited, eagerly waiting for winter for snowboarding and skiing.

A quick pack up and check out, and who do we see whilst awaiting our transfer to Calgary - Marcus the Chateau yellow Labrador for a pat,  he has his own big pillow for a nap in the front foyer, we heard about him but had not seen him, until now. It was a nice finale for our goodbye to grand Lake Louise Chateau.

Arriving in Calgary at 5pm just in time to get ready for a short taxi ride to the Calgary Stampede Stadium from our inner city hotel to experience a Pre-season Ice Hockey game.

Wow what a great game, fast, furious and fun for the audience! And Calgary won - 4 to 1 against New York Rangers.   We had great seats, could see everything going on.   When the puk went in for a goal, to Calgary, real fire flames rose from the scoreboard.   The stadium is huge and you can't tell that it only just re-opened after the devastating June floods having the famous Calgary Stampede to be relocated because of it.   We did see a few punch ups, with the boys having to go to the naughty corner, and there was even a few hockey sticks that got broken whilst the game was just being played.    They have nets very high so the puk can't go into the audience/supporters, so we felt safe where we were.   We'd go again but we'd probably learn a bit more about the rules of the game if there was a next time.