Well try again... I just did a full page and bam!! Off exploring closes ...Dame now to do over. So after a short touring Calgary is pretty cool. Only public schools and health so no private schools or hospitals. We visited Fort Calgary, stampede park, Canada Olympic park where all the athletes train. The stampede is on around July with over 1 million visitors. Our tour director Mel is great and knows his stuff .
We head west through the foothills of the Rockies into Banff Nat park . first stop we go on a gondola up and up to the start of a huge amount of stairs to reach the peak where we are rewarded with 360 views just wow. What a great start to Banff :-) rest of the day we explore this quaint rustic town.
Day 2 and Banff weather has changed from sunny and 22 to low cloud and 11 with rain all day. We have a free morning then onto the bus to visit Johnson Falls. Some good walking and more fresh air.

We leave beautiful Banff and hit the Canada Pacific hwy. First stop on this busy day is Lake Louise whose cold waters reflect the surrounding mountains and glaciers. We pick up crystal clear shards of ice from the edge and eat some. The size and colour of the lake is amazing...a place we will never forget. Oh hey guess what...got to see a grizzly bear in a field off the side of the road..couldn't get the best picture but she he was just huge and beautiful. ...
After many snow capped mountains and gorges we pass we go to a huge highlight the Columbia Icefield to walk on the ice glacier after being bused by a mammoth ice explorer. These buses are worth over 1.2 million and amaze. Then we are on the ice. It's about 300 mtrs thick. We drink some perfectly clear ice water from around the edge of the glacier and our guide opens some Canadian rye whiskey to go with for a celebration!
Last stop before heading to our hotel in downtown Jasper is a rafting ride along the Athabasca river. A perfect way to end another great day .

The weather yesterday was another sunny clear day and about 22. Here in Jasper again today it's a warm day at 25. We start off today with a trip to Maligne lake and canyons. Then the afternoon is all ours. We set off with new friends along a hike trail behind our hotel that goes to the end of the main street. Up and down..today my legs are heavy with a bit of swelling and all I want to do is sit .

Well that's the short version...lol. Nice dinner tonight and tomorrow we leave Jasper and go on the via train over note into Vancouver. So until then cheers and hope all mothers had a wonderful mothers day!!!! Happy mother's day mum love you xxxx