Flashback to Lake Louise and Banff

These photos are from our time in Lake Louise and Banff. Since we aren't going to have any new pictures today, we figured we could send some pictures from Lake Louise and Banff. We are being like "Lost" with our playing around with flashbacks!

We had breakfast at the Lodge of Ten Peaks before we took the Lake Louise chairlift for a 14 minute ride up to an elevation of 6,850 ft. The inside of the lodge is just as beautiful as the outside. We especially enjoyed their fireplace. ( Well, Steve probably enjoyed his breakfast the best!)

We "climbed" Whitehorn Mountain and looked over Victoria Glacier and Lake Louise and the mountains of the Continental Divide. We could have taken a gondola, but we thought the view might be even better from the chairlift. I think we were right.

While we were up there, we saw a grizzly bear!

The picture with few trees shows the part of the mountain above our chairlift. In the winter the gondola goes up there for the craziest skiers. We met a really nice young woman who is in charge of looking out for the bears. She keeps them safe by closing trails to protect them from people as she put it. She skis here. I was interested that she says they offer many blue and green trails so even novice or intermediate skiers can ski here.

Bow Falls is between the cliffs and is just a half mile from downtown Banff. At the bottom of these falls, we saw rafts, but we aren't sure if they raft over these falls or just start here.

The town is beautiful. Many of the homes are logsided or are "real " log homes. Flowers cascade from every window boxand at every intersection -- everwhere! This is the perfect town nestled in the Bow Valley protected by the forrest and the Fairholme Mountin range. It isn't authentic the way Bridgton is; this town has serious zoning and is themed, but, boy is it beautiful. ( Istill love the way Bridgton is!)