We woke up this morning to clear and sunny skies, and although it was only 46 degrees when we left the hotel at 8:15, the day looked very promising. As a matter of fact, by the time we got to our hotel, it was over 90 degrees and a wardrobe change was required mid-way through. After our usual morning routine, we headed north to Lake Louise for another try at seeing a place I had heard of from my parents, who visited there in 1954. And it certainly did not disappoint. We had to climb in altitude to find this treasure nestled in the palms of the surrounding mountains. Clear aqua blue in color, it is fed in part by the glacier that hovers above it which, under the rays of the sun, creates a mirror image of itself on the surface of the lake. It was still very cold when we got there and Steve slipped and almost fell on the ice that had formed on the boardwalk by the lake.

After taking photos and admiring the views, we were on our way west to Kamloops, British Columbia. We drove through Yoho National Park, Mt Revelstoke NP, and yet another Glacier National Park, which confuses me, because Glacier in the US extends up into Alberta and is also called Glacier NP in Canada.  Well, after driving for days and days through flat prairie lands and farms, there are no crops, here. These lands give back in a very different way…they are food for the senses. And how satiated we did become with the beauty that is the Canadian Rockies.

For 14 km we drove a winding road that hugged the canyon walls of yellow stone, cut away to give way to the highway. I was happy to be on the wall side of this road. And on we went, up and down, weaving between the peaks and valleys of these tall mountain ranges, by weeping walls, walls with netting to protect passing cars from the falling rocks, and cement tunnels with slanted roofs, designed for that same purpose and perhaps for cascading water in the spring time.

We saw rocky mountains with their angular gray faces looking down upon us and tree covered mountains, where some areas were dark green with pine and spruce, some areas were light green with newly planted trees, and tan areas where the trees had just been harvested. Clearly, tree-growth management is taken seriously here in Canada.

Eventually we came face to face with Shuswap Lake and it kept us company for the rest of the drive into Kamloops. This lake is made up of fingers and it extends for miles and miles, reaching through what had now become a desert-like environment…hills and mesas covered in yellow grass and dotted with silver sage. And this took us all the way into the city and to our hotel.

Tomorrow we return to the USA through Washington and down to Tacoma. No telling what interesting things we will see along the way.