Canadian Rockies

It’s been one whole week! I can’t believe it’s only been 7 days, we’ve already done and seen so much. It also feels like we’ve been doing this forever, the transitions have been running so smoothly. Camp gets set up in record time (Sophia prefers to make dinner while Isabelle and I set up the tent and roll out the thermarests), driving shifts have been fair and evenly doled out, the tunes have been good and we’re all getting along amazingly well. In fact, this week saw the coming of three periods without a single tear. (I’d be lying if I said I haven’t gotten stressed out at least once a day, but that’s my prerogative. Is and Soph have been absolutely super).

So, the news. We just spent a night in Banff and a night in Jasper, 2 national parks in Alberta. Both are incredibly beautiful. And we’ve been getting active! (no push-ups/training for sea kayaking has occurred yet, however). In Banff, after marveling at the turquoise Lake Louise, we set off on a 11 km hike around and above the lake, the Plain of Six Glaciers. The hike provides stunning views of the lake and surrounding Rockies, and ends with a teahouse. We scurried up boulders, through snow and mud, and loved every moment. But we ARE Clarks and Tkacs, so naturally we looked forward to homemade scones at the top (for those who don’t know…my dad used to literally bribe me with chocolate to get me up hikes. He’d hide it all along the trail and I’d follow the scent like a puppy). Unfortunately, after taking in the adorable teahouse (almost 100 years old and decorated with Tibetan prayer flags) and reading the delicious-looking menu (everything is baked fresh daily without any electricity), we realized that not one of us had thought to bring a cent, Canadian, American, or otherwise. And in an electricity-free building, Visa wasn’t going to be much help. Dejected and starving, we turned around and hurried back down the mountain, obsessed with thoughts of dinner. Poor Isabelle has blisters the size of half-dollars on her feet, but she doesn’t deserve too much pity: she opted to take mom’s too-small hiking boots instead of investing in new ones. And now she’s paying the price! IN PAIN.

The upside of missing tea? Dinner was insanely delicious as a result. We made chili mac (Kraft mixed with spicy chili) and washed it down with ice cold Molson Canadiens (rapidly becoming the official beer of the trip—if you’re reading, Molson, we may be willing to work out an endorsement deal). We all slept easy, too. Banff’s Lake Louiose site has a bear fence! To protect us AND them.

Bear note: There are only 12 in the Lake Louise area, and at least 1 a year is killed due to human-related causes. As the park pamphlet points out, we only go there to recreate, they LIVE there. From that point of view, it seems ridiculous that we fear them, when we pose a much greater threat to them than they us. They’re still scary, though.

Banff was followed by a long, beautiful drive to Jasper up the Icefields Parkway. The drive winds through the Canadian Rockies and provides views of several glaciers. The first, Crowfoot, was the first glacier I’ve ever seen!! (Another note: the glacier was named for its three “toes”—like a crowfoot. Now there are only two and one of them is receding rapidly. It makes me wonder if my children will ever get to see a glacier.)

We also did a great hike, though Sound of Music-like hills (we did some twirling) and muddy rivers, about 8 km, that brought us to an amazing view of the Columbia Icefield—the mama of all the little glaciers, and the 2nd largest visible to the public eye (the only one larger is in Siberia). It was pretty incredible, but I wish we could fly over it and see more—you could see a little bit over the mountains, but I’d imagine it just goes on forever.

We stayed at a nice campground in Jasper (after also seeing a black bear VERY close up on the drive there) and were so worn out that we splurged on pizza and ice cream in town. Yum! Jasper is pretty cute, but bizarre—a sizeable town in the middle of a HUGE national park, which itself is in the middle of nowhere.

Our last adventure in Jasper was horseback riding. We went out on a 1 ½ hour ride around Annette Lake, and I LOVED it. Not only was it beautiful, but I felt like a badass cowboy, even if my horse (Sally) kept a glacial pace throughout. Our guide WAS a cowboy, which..if you know me at all, you’ll know that was pretty exciting. Plus, at it turns out, Canadian cowboys are even better than American ones, because they have incredible Canadian accents! All three of us are now obsessed with Canadian accents and plan to marry our northern neighbors—if only so we have offspring with adorable Canadian accents, too (the kids are almost as cute as the men).

So, in sum? Canada=A plus. Today means more driving: BC and the Yukon are next.