Posted by David Porter on June 22, 2011 · 1 Comment
Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel – As you drive through the town of Banff, in the Alberta Canadian Rockies, there will come a moment when you round a corner and are presented with this jaw-dropping view of the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel.
This amazing structure first opened in 1888, and at the time was the largest hotel in North America outside of New York City.
We have much to share with you about our stay in this hotel, but first and foremost, these baby boomer travelers were weary from two-weeks of travel, the skies were cloudy and rainy, so we did what any self-respecting baby boomer traveler would do — we spent nearly the whole day in the Fairmont Banff Springs Willow Stream Spa.
This particular Willow Stream Spa is rate by Conde Nasté Traveler as the third best spa in all of Canada, and features three waterfall treatment whirlpools as well as a European mineral pool. We spent the whole day “taking waters”, as they say, and chillin’ with a good book.
We’ll share more about this fabulous destination in another post. Stay tuned!
Posted by David Porter on June 21, 2011 · Leave a Comment
Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise – Unbelievably, we have again awakened to another rain soaked day here in the Canadian Rockies. Even the poor bellmen were beginning to show signs of wear as they attempted to keep everyone under an umbrella.
Even the locals have commented about the rarity of this amount of rain during this time of year. Evidently, sunny skies are more the norm for early summer in the Canadian Rockies.
After breakfast the rain had slowed to a very small trickle, so we decided to make a hike around stunningly beautiful Lake Louise.
As you can see from my photograph above, you shouldn’t waste any pity on us as our surroundings were absolutely stunning in spite of the rain and clouds.
We were not alone in our thinking that a hike was the order of the day. Our roughly two-mile jaunt found perhaps one hundred others out taking the very same walk. I think the sheer number of hello’s, hi’s, and good morning’s were more strenuous than the hike. We encountered unusual accents and people from all over the world. Big fun!
In the distance, behind my photograph of the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, you can see the Lake Louise ski area. We had heard other hotels guests mention that they had seen grizzly bears from the safety of a ski lift so we decided to pack our bags a little early and take the Lake Louise gondola ride before we headed off to our next stop: Banff.
We opted for an open chair lift so that I might get the best photographs possible on the ride up.
The fourteen-minute ride took us above the tree line. The cloud layer had thankfully risen nearly to the tops of the mountains and we were privileged to gaze upon God’s stunning creation.
Here is a glimpse of our view aboard the chair lift of the Canadian Rockies. In the distance, you can see Lake Louise with the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise sitting upon its turquoise shores.
We’re now off to Banff. Stay tuned!
Posted by David Porter on June 20, 2011 · 3 Comments
Columbia Icefields Glacier Adventure – One of the baby boomer adventures that will long stick in our minds was our walk upon the Athabasca Glacier in Alberta Canada’s Columbia Icefields.
Our driving tour of the Canadian Rockies has been plagued by lingering rain. However, when we made our way to ride upon the massive “terra buses” at the Columbia Icefields Glacier Adventures we were blessed with a short window of sunshine.
I shot a fair amount of video upon the glacier that I will include in our feature post when we get back to Arizona.
Stay tuned for more exciting adventures from these roaming baby boomers!
Posted by David Porter on June 19, 2011 · Leave a Comment
Columbia Icefields Parkway – The tenth day of our baby boomer tour of western Canada brought us to the Columbia Icefields Parkway in the Canadian Rockies.
This stunningly beautiful scenic drive is 230 km (140 mi) long and stretches from Jasper down near the city of Banff.
The well maintained two-lane road provides seemingly infinite mountain panoramas and will take you alongside countless glaciers, including the namesake Columbia Icefields.
As you can see from our photograph, we encountered a day of rain and this particular photograph was one of the best we could muster.
However, another wonderful feature of this parkway is the great likelihood that you will encounter wildlife along the way. Here is a photograph of a grizzly bear that we came upon during our drive
I had to fiddle with this photograph a bit to make him stand out from the background on our rainy day, but imagine this behemoth coming upon you during a hike. YIKES!
When bear sightings occur along the Icefields Parkway, you wouldn’t believe the traffic jams that occur with people wildly grabbing for their cameras.
Well, there’s much more to tell, but I will save it for our feature article when we get home.
Stay tuned, tomorrow is a walk upon the massive Athabasca Glacier. We can’t wait!
Posted by David Porter on June 17, 2011 · Leave a Comment
Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge ~ Jasper, Alberta, Canada – Well, I suppose a baby boomer traveler needs to expect some inclement weather when traveling. Right?
For a good part of the day, we were so socked in with clouds that you couldn’t even see the beautiful, snow-covered Rocky Mountain peaks standing majestically behind the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge’s Lac Beavart.
After a little (actually a lot) of thumb sucking on my (David’s) part, we decided to not let the weather affect our ability to explore and set off to experience Jasper, the Canadian Rockies, and Maligne Lake.
After a little breakfast, and some work in our room, we set off for the Alberta town of Jasper to grab some fish and chips at the local Jasper Brewing Company. While I am the one with a sweet tooth, Carol loves her occasional “grease” fix and these fish and chips were right up her alley.
Here’s a shot I captured as we crossed the street to the pub…
As we made our way to Maligne Lake, in the Canadian Rockies, we noticed consistent road signs warning us of crossing Carib0u and we caught this guy munching on wet ground cover…
There is so much more to share, but Carol has just given me the ten-minute-warning (she’s nearly done doing the shower, hair, make-up thing). Therefore, I must pack up the computer and make our way off to Lake Louise.
Stay tuned!
The Roaming Boomers
Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel – As you drive through the town of Banff, in the Alberta Canadian Rockies, there will come a moment when you round a corner and are presented with this jaw-dropping view of the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel.
