Rocky Mountain Road Trip Day 12

 A dozen days in and we left Kelowna in good spirits. I had been hogging all of the driving, so today Chris got his turn behind the wheel. As a result, I got a couple shots of the car interior so you can see how well we could fit inside the Nissan Rogue after almost 2 weeks.

Leaving Kelowna

Lucas had sufficient room, but still managed to whack his head a couple times

Lucky Michael had the coveted middle seat most of the time

A return to the snow capped peaks on the eastern side of the rockies

I loved seeing the transition from snow at the top of the mountain to raging waterfalls by the bottom of the mountain

We drove three hours into Glacier National Park. We pulled off at the Illecillewaet Valley trails to do the "Great Glacier Trail". I chose this one as it was supposed to have a great view of a glacier as well as some pretty spectacular waterfalls. David had been obsessed with waterfalls. We had a leftovers lunch out of the trunk of the car. We started the hike and soon came to a Parks Canada tent set up with info about various bear sightings in the area. We then walked by the ruins of  the iconic luxury railway hotel "Glacier house". This was the original Banff Springs Hotel and Chateau Lake Louise. Alas, some tragic avalanches and the retreating glacier spelled oblivion for this hotel while the sister hotels continue on in greatness. Cool history stuff about the initial mountain guides enticed over from Switzerland.

We continued on, hearing and then finally seeing the glacier fed mountain "stream". There were many large rocks along the trail, likely brought down by those ferocious avalanches. We took a LOT of photos. I've done my best to edit the number down, but this will be a rather photo heavy post! 

The view was already gorgeous from the parking lot. And yes, I am talking about my gorgeous Tilley hat!

Mountain flowers

Bug spray application is important!

Three rock climbers

White water

So many rocks to climb

How Lucas was feeling at this point in the hike

Fording the mountain stream

Lucas the mountain goat

Michael the mountain goat

Panorama mushed Chris a bit

Michael listening to Taylor Swift and soaking in the moment

At the end of our 3 hour, 9km hike we were reading for a rest! We drove the final hour to Golden where we stopped for the night. The hotel had a pool and hot tub that David, Michael, and I enjoyed. Unfortunately the hotel internet conked out and took the tv with it. Possibly for the best, so that we all got a good night's sleep.

Rocky Mountain Road Trip Day 11

 Day 11 started with mixed emotions. As we travel eastward, it is more clear than just the dates on the calendar that our trip is coming to a close. We still have some more adventures, so we will not dwell on the future. Before leaving Vancouver, I really wanted to go to the Capilano suspension bridge. We got there bright and early and even so, the crowds were larger than I had anticipated. We crossed the bridge and it was unexpectedly bouncy and swing-y! On the other side we did several interpretive trails, starting with a raptor one. We sat for a show with two raptors. The tourism talks are their side hustle. Their main job is protecting agriculture fields from "pest" birds. They have saved millions of dollars worth of food loss where they work compared to historical yields and comparisons to similar fields without the winged protection. Super interesting talk. 

The crowds at ~10am

We are really high up

Lots of informative panels

The falcon show

We did a treetop walk where suspension bridges and platforms had been constructed high in the trees (with conservation and tree friendly techniques, no trees were harmed in the making of this adventure). Think "Ewok village" and that is what it was like. It was neat, but again, more crowded than I expected. Luckily distancing was pretty much built in to the set up.

Yub-nub

Grandma Capilano tree. Oldest and tallest in this park!

Took this photo for Popeye!

Back on the other side of the bridge was a cliff walk. Great views. We listened to an interpretive guide talk about the differences between grizzlies and black bears and then went and spent some money on some souvenirs at the gift shop. We had mostly been avoiding the gift shops, but perhaps that feeling of impending finality of the trip had an effect on us. After 2.5 hours of exploration, the crowds at the entrance were incredible. We really had made a good choice coming at the opening hour. 

Cliffwalk

Wildlife!

We hopped in the car and headed to Langley. This town just East of Vancouver had a toy store which had been the only request of Lucas. His friend has a large Funko Pop collection and told him of a store, Toy Traders, with the largest selection. Lucas has a phobia of large figurines, taxidermy, and statues. This store was FULL of them! By drawing on years of coping mechanisms and keeping his eyes downcast most of the time, Lucas was able to find his target Lucario Funko Pop and explore some of the store. 

As we continued on our way, I lamented that we couldn't stop at the myriad of fresh fruit stands, but we had a mountain range to drive halfway across! We had some more evidence of last year's forest fires on the way. By evening we had found our hotel in Kelowna. After dinner, the kids went to the hotel pool while I booked our hotel for the next night and tried desperately to find tickets on the Lake Louise shuttle for Day 13. After switching from my phone to Michael's laptop, I was able to find a time slot at noon for the Lake Moraine shuttle. Success!