Jan 20, 2013

Saturday in the mountains...

We definitely picked the right weekend to go to the mountains - it was warm and sunny there all weekend - and yet in Edmonton it was like -30c windchill and nasty weather/ snow!!

It was also one of the main weekends of the 'Banff Snow Days' festival - and included the Ice Magic festival at Lake Louise :)  

Cascade Mountain was looking stunning as always - my favourite mountain in the world :)  


While waiting for the shuttle bus at Lake Louise (upper parking lots were full so they provided a free shuttle - which we were so glad we took as the driver was soooo interesting and gave lots of advice about what to do at the festival - and what to go and see in the hotel) - anyway, while waiting for the bus, Park wardens were passing round horns and antlers etc for us to see and asking questions...as you can see, Susie wasn't too keen about holding this Big Horn Sheep horn :)  lol!!!


It was day two of the three day ice carving contest - and the sculptures were starting to look amazing:


We went out onto the frozen lake to the ice castle - beautiful as always:


There were amazing icicles everywhere:




The ice chair was very cold and VERY slippery - I couldn't even sit on it without slipping off, but Susie managed to sit long enough for a picture:


There ws a chilly breeze out on the lake - but the amazing hot chocolate kept our hands warm:






The ice bar - you could have an Irish coffee served there:



We had supper in Banff overlooking the main street - Banff Ave:



Susannah playing the grand piano in the Chateau Lake Louise:


There is free ice climbing in Banff on the ice wall during Banff Snow Days:



We ended our day with a soak in the waters at the Upper Hot Springs -
 a wonderful way to end the day.  My skin is still sooooo soft from being in the water:  


Weekend away...


My parents kindly gave us some Christmas/ birthday money, and so Susannah and I decided to use ours for a weekend away in Canmore.  We left Friday afternoon and got into Canmore just as the sun was setting.  We checked in to the hotel, and then had a stroll around town before getting some food for supper and heading back to the hotel to relax for the evening.  

There was no snow between Calgary and the mountains!  

I got to drive on the Stoney Trail again - I think that is my favourite stretch of road in Canada :)  Such a joy to drive on :)  Love it!!!  Love how it has shortened our journey sooo much and made it so simple!!







Scenes from last week...







Pub quiz....


We lost again...but it's amazing how much fun you can have even when you're a loser, lol!!!










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