Checking Lake Louise off our bucket list

Denisa's Mother, Betty, has traveled all over the world and to all 50 states, so it is hard to find some place that she hasn't already been. But she has never seen Lake Louise in Banff National Park, so that was a location on her bucket list. We have plotted and planned ways to get her to Canada to see this special lake. In 2017 we had the trip planned, but she came down with shingles three days before she was supposed to fly to meet us at an airport in Montana. So we are happy to announce that 2019 is definitely the year of Lake Louise and Banff National Park!

We posted the picture above on Facebook, and several people commented that it doesn't look real. We thought the same thing when we saw the picture. It looks like we are standing in front of a back drop of a picture of the lake. Does this picture taken from a different angle look more real?

When we started planning this trip for Betty, we suddenly had the idea that this could be our annual Girls' Trip if Denisa's sisters, Connie and Debra, flew to Canada as well. But this year's trip has a special guest--Mark, who is our official driver and wheel chair pusher (and overall handsome body guard and good guy).

At 89, Betty doesn't walk as fast and as far as she used to. So we decided to use the wheelchair most of the time. Mark was great at pushing that chair even over muddy hiking trails. In fact, he pushed her in that chair the entire length of Lake Louise. That's more than a mile each way!

The only reason he quit is because the trail turned even rockier and steeper, and it really was impossible to go any further. So we got a picture of Mark without a chair in front of him at the end of the lake.

The lighting was perfect as the sun was just peeking over the Chateau at the end of Lake Louise. We were up before the sun this morning, as we had heard that the parking lot fills up early in the morning. 

Since seeing Lake Louise was our priority, we picked everyone up at the hotel in Cochrane at 5:00 this morning! The drive to Lake Louise takes almost two hours, but the parking lot was already filling up when we arrived by 7:00. This is a crazy busy place in the summer as it must be on everyone's bucket list. Staying at the Lake Louise Chateau would have made seeing the lake much easier, but amazingly more expensive.

Some people like this place so much they even want their wedding pictures taken in front of the lake.

By the time we came back from our wheel chair hike, the dock was crowded and we wouldn't have been able to get the great pictures with just our group.

Denisa wanted to take the group to neighboring Moraine Lake, but it was already 9:00 when we were driving there. The smaller parking lot was full, but Betty's handicap parking pass allowed us entry to the reserved spots. Sometimes traveling with an 89-year-old has its advantages. We got a picture of the group at the edge of this bright turquoise lake.

The best views of the color of the water can be taken from above the water. So some of us made the climb to get some elevation.

We were heading up the short Rock Pile trail--to get to the top of the pile of rocks at the edge of Moraine Lake.

We love the deep turquoise color of this lake in the early morning sunshine!

Some of us thought that Moraine Lake was prettier than the more celebrated Lake Louise.

After all this beautiful scenery, we had worked up an appetite. It was only 11:00, but we got up at 4:00 this morning. So we had lunch in Lake Louise Village, and then headed out of town on Highway 93.

This highway is most known as "The Icefield Parkway." A three hour drive from here would take us to Jasper National Park. But today we are only driving the first 30 kilometers, and making a few stops. Our first stop is at Crowfoot Glacier.

Its name described the three "toes" of ice that used to be permanent fixtures over Bow Lake. But now the crow only has two toes on this glacier.

Next stop is Peyto Lake--known for its beautiful glacier blue-green coloring. It's also known for its signature shape. Can you see what it is shaped like?

If you didn't figure it out, don't feel bad. The rest of our group didn't either. It's shaped like a dog or wolf. The muzzle is on the upper right, while the two ears can be seen on the top of his watery head.

Mother was content to sit in the car, as the viewpoint for Peyto Lake is a very steep climb down (and then back up) to the parking lot. But Mark wouldn't allow her to miss anything. Somehow he managed to get that wheelchair down the long and steep trail, and more importantly he got her back up. What a man! Denisa didn't take any pictures because she was holding her breath the entire time, worried at what would happen if this wasn't successful. But we did get a picture of all four of us in front of Peyto Lake because of Mark's valiant effort.

Our last stop on the Ice Field Parkway was Bow Lake--part of the Bow River that we followed for over two hours all the way from Cochrane this morning. It's cloudy and starting to rain so we're glad that we got all our lake sight-seeing accomplished early today.

As we're making the long drive back to Cochrane, we're taking the scenic route. Instead of the faster Highway 1 (the Trans-Canadian Highway), we're taking Highway 1-A. This two lane road doesn't have the tall fences that keep the wildlife off the road. So the speed limits are slower and you're supposed to see wild life. We were almost skunked today, if it wasn't for this big bull elk. 

We could see his impressive rack of horns, which must make walking in the forest very difficult.

It was a late night by the time we dropped off our guests and got back to the campground. It had been hard to wake up at 4:00 this morning, but we can all sleep good tonight knowing that we checked Lake Louise (and several other beautiful lakes in Banff National Park) off all of our bucket lists!