Day 1: Oh Canada! Road Trip

Calgary to Banff to Athabasca Glacier via Icefields Parkway

We have arrived for the start of our first summer adventure of 2018.  I am so excited to finally be visiting so many new places!  When my summer plans changed, I decided to add this trip as I have been trying to get here for several years!  Our starting point is Calgary, Canada and from there we will head west.  We picked up our rental car and it is a really huge SUV which I am so not used to driving.  I feel like I am driving a tank . . . it is just B-I-G!  The mountains are calling us and the closer we get the more beautiful and excited I get . . . 

As we pulled into the town of Banff the traffic was stopped for this . . .

We made a quick stop to pick up our Parks Canada Pass for the week and grab a yummy lunch at Bear Street Tavern. 

The pizza (The Godfather) and salad (Beet Me Up!) were both yummy but what was really surprisingly good was the rosemary infused oil and honey mixture (top left of plate) they suggest to eat on the pizza.  We just dipped our crust in it to not spoil the taste of the pizza.  I wasn’t so sure but we all agreed it was tasty . . . even Colin ate it.  It was back on the road and the views did not disappoint.  We stopped often . . .

. . . at this rate we might make it before dark!  We detoured to the Icefields Parkway and it just keeps getting more and more beautiful.  It is a bit rainy and hardly any cars are on the road which is great.  I am constantly scanning for animals as I don’t want to have an accident.  Of course we all want to see them but from a safe distance!  Bow Lake at Crowfoot Glacier; the water is just so blue . . .

Saskatchewan River Crossing . . .

As we were driving we saw a black bear on the side of the road so we pulled over to watch it.  

The bear was just going along the side of the road but decided to cross.  We noticed a truck approaching very fast.

I closed my eyes not wanting to watch what I thought was going to happen.  I opened my eyes just as the truck grazed the bear and it bounced in front of us and ran off down the road.  The truck was going way over the speed limit but thankfully the bear was fine.  We watched the bear head back in the field, and we continued down the road. 

We arrived at our stop for the night at the base of the Athabasca Glacier where we would spend the night at the Glacier View Inn.  We are just inside Jasper National Park.  The hotel is located on the top floor of the Visitor Center where all the glacier tours begin.  It is busy during tour hours but dead in the evening.  It is nothing fancy but clean and convenient so that we are set up to catch the first glacier tour in the morning.  Thankfully I read that the food services were limited so we stopped on our way out of Calgary for sandwiches and snacks.  A view of the glacier from our room . . .

It is going to be cold tomorrow morning as there is snow in the forecast!

Wildlife Today:  elk, deer, raven, black bear, big horn sheep