Tag: Lake louise

Day 8 – Calgary

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This morning was probably one of the most beautiful of the trip. The sky was bright blue, the air was crisp and the snow was glistening in the sun. We stocked up on a super posh buffet breakfast before our last walk around Lake Louise.

We stopped at the Olympic Park on our way into Calgary and were lucky enough to see some gold medalists practicing for the ski and snowboard world cup. The local school kids come here as part of their school curriculum; how lucky are they!! Knowing our PE teachers they would make us do it in cycling shorts and a tshirt….

Calgary itself is very built up, which after a week in the mountains means I wasnt overly fussed on the place. So we treated ourselves to a badly packed Taco Bell and a Starbucks.

We are currently sat in the airport (Steve you’ll be pleased to know we are 3 hours early) waiting for the flight home. Another adventure over far too quickly. Canada; you have been totally amazing. We have been treated so some wonderful food, wonderful views and shared the trip with a bunch of fabulous people. More memories made and a lot more memory taken up on the phone!

Day 7 – Lake Louise

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We started the day with the poshest breakfast on our trip – I was in pastry heaven! So it was only right that I had rather a lot of them, with a cheeky Eggs Benedict on the side.

This morning we went out with a guide snowshoeing around Lake Louise. He kept saying how young and fit I was (clearly needs his eyes testing, I think he should have changed the i for an a…) and suggested I went ‘off piste’ to properly experience the shoes on deep snow. It was all going fine whilst I was mooching around in the trees. Then I got onto the lake.. it all went downhill from here as the snow was rather a lot deeper than I had anticipated and ended up with a very very cold minky.

We headed back to the room to get ready for an afternoon at the ski resort and discovered the lovely housekeeper had left us not 2, but 10 Lindt chocolates!! Obviously these lasted 2 minutes. Went down a right treat!

This afternoon we boarded the shuttle to Lake Louise Ski Resort where I finally got to ski in Canada. Yes it was only for a few hours but was totally worth it. I basically had the mountain to myself! The views (even with relatively poor visability) were amazing and the runs were perfect.

Momma had a go on the tubing – her face was an absolute picture 😂 although a lot of our group decided to have a go so by the end the run had become that slippery they nearly shot off the end into the car park!

This evening we had farewell drinks around a log fire. Cant beat a free glass of wine! We had dinner with a couple who’s children went to the same primary, secondary and college as me – such a small world!

The white stuff is coming down rather heavy tonight so will be interesting to see the surroundings in the morning. Definitely going to stock up on posh breakfast before our final stop in Calgary.

Day 6 – Lake Louise

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A relatively short one today due to a day on the bus! This morning we left Jasper behind and travelled to Lake Louise along the beautiful Icefields Parkway again. It really is one of the most scenic drives I have ever done. We had a few photo stops along the way which were made even more spectacular by the bright blue sky behind.

We arrived in Lake Louise village centre for some lunch and a stock up on snacks. We paid 4 quid for a very small box of shortbread in Jasper; madness! There was some cute little shops here and I accidentally treated myself to some Canadian gin.

Before heading to the hotel we took a detour to Emerald Lake, located in Yoho National Park in British Columbia. Another province to tick off the list! I think this has got to be one of the prettiest places we have been so far. I did however get a bit cocky trying to get down to the lake and fell straight on my arse. Thank God for decent padding. I feel I need to give a special shout out to the toilets. I have recently got back from India and I can honestly say the ones in Delhi train station smelt 10x nicer. This toilet gave off a stench that I wont ever forget…..

We’re now at our final hotel for the next 2 nights – the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise. The hotel is essentially a mini (but super expensive) village and I’m looking forwards to properly exploring the grounds tomorrow as we start the day with some snowshoeing. We managed to have a little mooch earlier, but underestimated the real feel temperature (a scorching-16) and was therefore not appropriately dressed. Yay for the big thighs to keep me slightly warm.