Canadian Rockies Aug 2005

Spouse and I bought the painting above because it reminded us of Emerald Lake in the Canadian Rockies. In August 2005 we took one of our most memorable family vacations... 22 family members ages 2 - 72. We saw and did so many things, including an overnight train trip which was so fun. I will have to upload pictures on another post as I can not access these files from my computer. In relation to our adoption journey at this time, spouse and I had just completed 2 add day parenting classes @ LSS in August before this trip. In other words we had just started our adoption process. At this time we probably thought we would be parents within a year at this point. Anyhow here was our itinerary for this trip: August 12, 2005 Calgary We arrived in Calgary, Alberta Canada. 2 of my nieces on the trip thought I planned this part of our trip b/c it rhymed with my real name which amused me but was not true. The first night we arrived we stayed at the Douglas Fir (in the Banff Springs area). The Douglas Fir had the most amazing water slides of any hotel. For a lot of the kids this was so great ... even the 2 year old loved it. August 13, 2005 Banff This was a free day to explore Banff and there were many options. The Banff Village was a bit crowded but still interesting. Lots of Japanese tourist too. Other things to see and do included Bow Falls, Hoodoos, gondola ride up the mountains, hiking, Lake Louise is nearby, fishing and on and on. Spouse, myself and one of my brothers saw some amazing views from the gondola ride up Sulpher Mountain. Another brother and his family went on a fishing trip and I believe caught some fish. We each had our own kitchen @ Douglas Fir so we each family ate meals independently this night. August 14 & 15, 2005 Yoho National Park / Emerald Lake Lodge We left Banff and headed to Emerald Lake Lodge. Ok, I seriously loved this place. So did spouse. Emerald Lake is aptly named. This restored family owned lodge is spectacular. The origins of this lodge go back to 1902, one of the west's earliest, and involves their railroads. Spouse and I also liked the the restaurant, Cilantro's at the lodge. The next 1 1/2 days in Yoho National Park (where ELL is located) were free days. This is not enough time to really see Yoho. Another bonus about this area is I felt Yoho was off the beaten path relative to crowds as Banff. Some of the choices of things to see included: Takakkaw Falls, Lake O'Hara, Natural Bridge and Spiral Tunnels (the CPR train track inside a mountain)or hiking or canoeing around Emerald Lake. My sister and her family went to see the CPR spirals tunnels. One of the things spouse and I did was hike to the Tea House of the Six Glaciers for lunch. Oh my gosh this was a long hike. Even longer for us because we took a detour. But the view was amazing. Anyhow, I just googled this place to find out the history and found out they did major work to the trails and separated horse and human trails in 2006. Tea House History: The Plain of Six Glaciers tea house was built in 1924 by CPR (Canadian Pacific Railway) and 2 Swiss guides. It is 6800 feet above sea level and a major day of hiking. The food was good. We had soup, scones and tea. In the 1920's it became known as "the highest situated tea room in Canada". August 16, 2005 Lake Louise to Jasper. We took a tour of the Athabasca Glacier. Spouse and I, along with our charges, missed the reserved time for the Glacier trip (arghh we did not judge time well). Our next stop was Jasper where we had a rafting trip on the Athabasca River . August 17, 2005 Jasper at Leisure / Rafting Trip / Jasper Heritage Rodeo Just after noon most of the group was picked up at the Tonqoin Inn to take our raft trip. It was rainy and cold. Not a lot of fun, just scenery and really cold. My sister quite possibly was the only one who had fun or maybe she was just trying to cheer the rest of us up, I don't know. Anyhow, we all did our own thing for dinner that night. So after dinner spouse and I decided to go to the Jasper Heritage Rodeo. We got there late but ran into my brother and his family. It was surprisingly fun. August 18, 2005 Jasper to Vancouver aboard the Train. We had long delays boarding the train as well getting off it in Vancouver ... but man was the train fun. I remember thinking this would be good practice for the kids if they eventually travel in Europe. Well this was not the best way to picture train travel in Europe as we each had our own rooms, turn down service, cloth napkins and sit down meals for dinner and breakfast. My brothers boys took showers just because of the novelty of doing that on a train. Several people stayed up all night on the train, several had a hard time getting to sleep because of the train movement, but I think everyone loved the train. August 19, 2005 Vancouver Arrived in Vancouver late which caused some wait at the train station to get our luggage. We stayed downtown and everyone had a 1/2 day to explore Vancouver. One family went to the aquarium. Several rode the hop-on hop off Vancouver trolley. Spouse and I took an extra day in Vancouver which still was not enough time.