We arrived in Revelstoke in the late afternoon. We stayed in a Best Western on the outskirts of town which had, to me, a bit of a typical North American motel style to it. The breakfast room was diner style with these really cool stained glass windows.
We had dinner in the town centre, which was surprisingly bustling for the mid week. There was live music being played in the square and lots of people around and about. We had a nice dinner and then, as was becoming traditional on this group trip, we had ice cream for dessert.
The next morning we set off to Lake Louise. Still very smoky, and if I’m completely honest, I was slightly underwhelmed when we got there. As expected, it was very busy on the lake front with lots of people trying to get photos, and trying not to get other people in their photos. And the lake didn’t look as blue as I’d expected it to be.
We all did a hike to Lake Agnes teahouse, which was a more strenuous walk than I was strictly prepared for, and the most strenuous hiking I’ve done since hiking in the Grand Canyon and Zion in 2019. It was quite a humid day and certainly the first part of the hike, up through the wooded sides of the lake, was quite hard work. Eventually I got into a rhythm. One of the best things about this hike was the glimpse of the lake from above, which showed it to be very blue, turquoise really, so I’m really glad I ended up doing this hike. This was much more like I’d imagined the colour of the lake to be.
It probably took me about an hour and a half to reach the teahouse, which had an enormous queue that I didn’t bother joining. I sat by the lake and ate my snacks and watched the chipmunks darting around. A few in the group carried on to do the ‘Big Beehive’ hike, which I decided against as I was almost out of water and couldn’t face any more uphills!! After a short rest I headed back down with the rest of the group and as it was late afternoon by now, the crowds had thinned so it was a good opportunity to take more photos while we waited for the others.
Our overnight stop in Banff was only a 45 minute drive away and we arrived in the early evening. We had dinner at a Japanese karaoke bar where, for once on my travels this year, I did not subject my fellow travellers to my terrible singing voice!! Though I did join in from the sidelines sans microphone! This restaurant served food and drinks in the karaoke rooms which made for a very enjoyable evening.
We had a free morning in Banff the next day so I had a leisurely breakfast and enjoyed wandering around the small town of Banff. It is surrounded by peaks, and has amazing views from almost every angle. I walked all the way down the main street, to the Cascades of Time gardens just over the river. There are some lovely views of Banff and its surroundings from here as it’s slightly elevated. After buying some more unnecessary souvenirs, I headed back to the hotel and we set off for Calgary in the early afternoon.
We made a stop at Canmore, about 40 minutes from Banff. Another very pretty Rockies town with lots of independent gift and souvenir shops where I bought yet more things I don’t really need! It had got really hot by the mid afternoon, which was quite a contrast from the morning when it was raining and cool in Banff as I went for breakfast!!
We continued our way to Calgary and suddenly the mountains gave way to fields with neat hay bales dotted around. And then in the distance, the tall buildings of the city. We arrived late afternoon and had our final dinner together in a lovely Italian restaurant. I had just about enough time the next morning for a quick walk around the downtown area before getting an Uber to the airport. I’m sure Calgary is nice but it just felt like a built up city centre, and so I didn’t feel too bad about spending less than 24 hours there…
Home time, and no issues from Westjet this time. A couple of weeks rest in my own bed before the final leg of this year of travelling kicks off…
catsgreatadventure 