Dave has a morning off this morning and had coffee and caught up with some emails in Jasper whilst the kids and I headed to Edith and Annette lake. Not without a great snow dome coffee stop first. A bit of a grey morning but very quiet at the lakes. We played shop at the park, swung and did writing and digging in the sand at Annette lake beach before heading back into Jasper to collect Dave.
We collected Dave and headed to Miette hot springs for midday when it opened-had a car picnic on the way! Beautiful surroundings in the mountains and lovely and warm-40 degrees. The kids loved it and Orla slept on the way back to Canmore whilst we listened to audio books.
On arrival back to Canmore the sun had decided to come out slightly so we stopped off for done beer tasting on our way back to Patricia lakes-a sports style Jasper brewing pub and the kids enjoyed their ‘finger dips!’
Although sunny still very windy but perfect weather for a rowing boat 😬 we managed to get about 200m into the lake, after Dave started rowing forwards! A fun slightly choppy experience! On Patricia lake.
We packed up and left Patricia lakes this morning! Had a lovely stay but the sun was shining and we had a long drive to Banff, around 4 hours. We managed a 5km walk around the galley of the 5 lakes which was beautiful. Freddie managed it all himself despite it being pretty hilly.
After another bear spot we stopped at Athabaskan falls for some lunch before our long drive back along the ice field parkway with views, audio books and a sleep for Orla!
We made it to Peyto lake where we parked at the ….mountain viewpoint car park and walked up the icy km to the lookout. Worth the stroll in inappropriate footwear.
We finally made it to Banff and a meal at Eddies burger to try their elk burger. Just off the main drag and very touristy Avenue with a nice feel. We drive from here to the end of the avenue to the Dorothy motel, our home for tte night.
We had a lovely but slightly hot or noisy room at the dorothy motel. Just a one night stay so only our overnight bags and a lazy morning dancing and playing in the room.
We headed to the park down tte road once we’d checked out and then on into Banff town. We grabbed a coffee, went into done shops, visited another play park and walked along the river. Orla had a buggy nap and we walked to now falls. Once she woke we headed to Canmore.
We checked into our air bnb apartment in the Grande Rockies resort in Canmore at 5 and the kids had a pasta dinner straight away. (Dave and I had delicious tuna steaks later 😋). Freddie and Daddy managed to sneak in early to use the pool as Freddie couldn’t contain his excitement about the water slide. Orla and I went to ‘Save-on-foods’ to get some shopping. Orla loved fitting in the trolley and helping-but mostly loved the free taste of pina colada popcorn and a satsuma!
The apartment is beautiful and Dave and I have have a lovely en-suite bedroom with mountain views. The kids have a lovely room too and as it’s ground floor we have a lovely area outside with bbq. Lovely sunset on the mountains with a glass of wine.
A patchy day weather wise so this morning we took the scenic drive to lake Minewannka (Freddie’s new occasional nickname!)
We stopped off at 2 jack lake which was a beautiful lake with a campground and island and some big horned sheep and Caribou.
We headed back to the apartment and Dave and Freddie squeezed in another swim whilst Orla slept.
It got sunnier in the afternoon so we had a walk around Canmore. Along the policeman’s creek boardwalk and for a run around on the pedestrianised 8th avenue. We enjoyed an ice cream (tiger and rainbow sherbet!) and headed back home for a sunny BBQ in our outdoor area.
Another fry day and we booked onto a floating raft tour along the Bow river. We walked to the boat launch in Canmore-Freddie was very excited for us to both wear our Jasper bear twinning tops 😍 we stopped off for an eclipse coffee.
We spent an hour floating down the fast flowing river with the boat all to ourselves. It was beautiful, Elsa was our guide and let Freddie have a go at paddling. Beautiful views of the 3 sisters mountain range and even full pine trees floating alongside us!!
We wandered back to our apartment And whilst Orla slept we showered and played then headed up the road to Blake for some cocktails whilst the kids enjoyed apples! A great chilli margarita! After a play in the dandelions and a bit of rabbit spotting we headed on to…..
The grizzly paw tap room for some beer tasting and dinner-chicken wings, mushroom houmous and pizza, we explored the brewery and views of the 3 sisters upstairs (charity, faith and hope!)