A Final Day in Canada – Can we really do better than we already have? I think so!!

Out and about by 8:00 a.m. Left Banff to head toward Lake Louise – both Banff and Lake Louise have been almost universally touted as the “best of the best”, “awesome”, “beautiful” etc. etc. In fact, everyone I spoke with before this trip had the same reaction so the bar had been set pretty high. I checked with a lot of my fellow travelers and we are in agreement. Banff is beautiful, quaint, the setting can’t be beat as far as spectacular scenery but…. it doesn’t quite live up to the hype we all heard before the trip. Am I disappointed? Not in the least!!! Today we find out what may be true about Lake Louise.

So we make it to Lake Louise and Daniel recommends the Fairview Lookout Trail to get a fantastic view of the Lake and the Fairmount Chateau Lake Louise. Rach and the boys start up the trail and I start to make my way up along with some others in our group. The incline is reminiscent of the trail we hiked in Hawaii only worse! About halfway up, myself and most of the other “older” generation chose to return to the land of the living especially when the mosquitoes were being extremely unfriendly. I reached the bottom just in time to get a phone call from a huffing/puffing Rachel who’s words were “It doesn’t get any easier!” I was somewhat gratified with that and proceeded to walk to the other side of the Lake and take some fantastic pictures!

Despite what Daniel says about the next thing being even better, we all agreed that in this case, he was sooo right. I’m not talking about Lake Louise but Moraine Lake – we had a “rockpile” to climb to get the view but it WAS more than worth it. The pictures only come close to capturing the spectacular color of this lake – we all thought Peyto was the winner but Moraine wins by both color and setting – it was wonderful and worth the mountain goat climb!

Our final stop was lunch at the Lake Louise Ski Resort and then riding the Gondola. Lunch was a very nice buffet and then we rode open chair lifts to the top of the mountain. The best part of the ride was how incredibly quiet it was traveling up the mountain – it was the best time of the day – embodied serenity. The view from the top wasn’t too bad either!!

And so our journey comes to an end. Our farewell dinner was held at a 1920’s era museum-like restaurant. Great meal, great company and so many good people! Daniel provided everyone with a list of travelers and their email addresses so we might exchange pix and/or just stay in touch. I know for myself, Rachel and the boys – we met a group of fine, gracious and friendly people that made the trip all the more enjoyable.

And so the adventure comes to a close. Tomorrow it’s the trip back to reality and America! We saw great things, met great people, ate mostly great food and best of all, made forever memories. All because two young men graduated from High School!!!