Bus Driver Frank and Tour Guide Luke picked us up at the Chateau Lake Louise where we had spent the last night. We joined a large tour bus full of people for some stops around Lake Louise and Banff and we would eventually finish the day at our Hotel – The RimRock Resort in Banff.
Our first stop was Moraine Lake – this is one of the most photographed lakes and even though it was an overcast and very grey day the color of the water was still spectacular. We just made a stop for pictures.
Moraine Lake
Moraine Lake
Moraine Lake
Moraine Lake
After Moraine Lake we stopped at a park where there was a waterfall that had cut it’s way through the rocks.
Emerald Lake – we stopped at Emerald Lake for lunch and to take some pictures. Lunch was served in a large building at the back of the property, it was buffet style with just our tour bus. The meal consisted of some vegetarian options and Elk Meatballs and Rice. They were very good. We sat with a Mom and two young kids from China who have been living in Canada for a while, and also a Mother and Daughter from Thailand. They were all very nice. The older son of the family from China was into cameras and he had a nice Canon camera. We talked about the pictures that we were getting, and he was really good at finding good views. The mom and daughter from Thailand had just flown in and had been up for a very long time. They were also very nice.
We had quite a bit of time to take pictures after lunch so we walked around a trail around the lake.
Emerald Lake
Emerald Lake
Emerald Lake
Emerald Lake
Emerald Lake
Emerald Lake
Emerald Lake
Emerald Lake
Emerald Lake
Takakkaw Falls is a waterfall located in Yoho National Park. In order to get there we had to go up a steep set of switchbacks and because we were in a tour bus the only way to do that was to back partway up, and then partway down one of the switchbacks. Our driver Frank was expert at it. He reminded us of Rosario the driver that we had in Rome years ago. He also stopped along the road to look at a Marmot sitting on a rock sunning and the car behind us came up and yelled at the bus driver.
We also noticed a set of Adirondack chairs by the falls, we took a picture there. It turns out that Parks Canada has these chairs around at the different tourist locations for people to take pictures of and put in social media so we took a few pictures along the way.
Us sitting the the red chairs by the falls.
Marmot on the way to the falls
Takakkaw Falls
Takakkaw Falls
Takakkaw Falls
Takakkaw Falls
After the falls we headed to our hotel in Banff – it was called the Rinrock resort. It is built into the side of a cliff and you enter to the lobby on the 7th floor. We checked in and took the elevator down to our room on the 3rd floor. We had a beautiful view of the mountains but it was very foggy and cloudy most of the time that we were there.
Rimrock Resort
We checked into our room and went to the lobby bar for a quick dinner. Conrad ordered a hamburger and when he asked if he could get it Medium Rare the waiter said Of course. We told him what we had experienced at Lake Louise where the waitress had told is that it was illegal to server them anything less than well done. We asked if we were maybe in a different province, but he said no and he thought that it was very strange.
We had a nice dinner and listened to the piano player for a little while and then headed to bed.