My Mini Vacation

This is Castle Mountain. Impressive isn't it?

I had some family come up and whisk me away last Thursday for a few days. Spent some great time with relatives including a beef (read top sirloin steak) and bun dinner. Mmmmmm!

Then on to Heritage Park. I forgot to bring my camera so I'm sorry I don't have any pictures. It has buildings from the 1890s, 1910s, etc. I didn't get to see everything but my favourite part was this old barn called "Gasoline Alley". The hay loft had been converted to hold old vehicles as well as gas company signs and about restored old gas pumps. I didn't know that gas pumps could be so aesthetically pleasing.

The collection was donated by a private collector who did all of the restoring. It's only 20% of his collection and a new building is going up by the parking lots to house the rest of his pieces.

You wouldn't believe the hotel room we stayed in. The price was very reasonable, the breakfast amazing, the room was huge and it had two, two! televisions. Talk about deluxe.

Then back to Banff, dinner at my place with a yummy burger dinner and out to the movies. I went to see Harry Potter 5 and I quite liked it. I didn't feel that it was too long and I really liked the soundtrack. I'd even recommend seeing it.

The next day we went to Lake Louise and I didn't forget my camera. I'd never been there before and was surprised at how far the glacier has retreated. If you're going to go, get there early. We arrived at 10 am and it was already hot and crowded.

Lake Louise. Look how high up the glacier is.

This is the canoe rental place. The lake doesn't look big but the canoes looked so small the closer they got to the other side.

I didn't know there were fish in the lake but look.

We took the long way back, also considered the scenic route. The Bow Valley Parkway. We checked out a map and stopped at nearly all the viewpoints along the way. We stopped at Coral Creek, saw Morant's curve, ate lunch at Baker Creek, stopped at Storm Mountain, and Castle Cliffs.

From what I understand this is Morant's Curve.

This funny little flat topped mountain is called Saddle Mountain.

This is a memorial to Ukranians who were interred here in World War I.

I didn't even know they had internment camps here in WWI. It's tucked away by the side of the road and we almost missed stopping at it but the feet of the statue are covered in colourful flowers.

This is a close up of Eisenhower Peak at Castle Mountain.

It turns out that at the end of the war, the government decided to rename the mountain in honour of Eisenhower. There was such an uproar by the public that they ended up changing the name back and just naming this part of the mountain after the American president. I did think it was a bit strange that we were naming mountains after Americans when I first heard the story. I mean, how many geographical areas are named after Canadians in the US? But it was done to honour Eisenhower for what he did in WWII.