Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Canadian Rockies - Day 4

Amy tried to get the Old Man some skates in Spokane, but the only hockey skates they had in his size were $800. Since he hasn't skated in the dozen years she has known him, buying was out of the question. So we asked locals where to purchase ice skates, and the universal answer (even from the rental place) is Canadian Tire in Canmore. Huh? What is this Canadian secret? Hiding behind a tire facade, is a store akin to Farm and Fleet, a wide variety of auto and outdoor accessories, but not quite Tri State. There were 2 giant aisles of skates, sticks, pads, and pucks; but it had been picked clean after the holiday. The mister is shut out again. However, now that we are in on the secret, we can revisit the wonder of Canadian Tire another day.

Canmore is about 15 miles down the valley from Banff towards Calgary.  This little side trip gave us a good lesson in Canadian weather . . . it was 40 degrees in Banff, 50 degrees in Canmore, and 60 degrees in Calgary.  We were in the throes of a Chinook Wind.  We headed back up the valley in search of freezing temps for skating and skiing and were rewarded with snowfall just as we arrived in Lake Louise.

Today's adventure is nordic skiing on the Great Divide Trail, which follows an old rail road grade from Lake Louise up to and over the Continental Divide.  We ventured out from the trail head and set our sights on catching the group that left a few minutes before us.  After a few miles, we gained sight of them, yes! we cracked them.  Oh wait, why are they skiing backwards?  Alas, it was the same group returning to the trail head.  We had been channeling Lance (minus the HGH) and thought we had finally caught them.  Oh well . . . we found some nice trees to block the falling snow and settled in for lunch.
After another quality meal of Italian meats and aged cheddar (really, we like this stuff), we hit the trail for the return trip to the FJ.  The journey back was flat with slight grades, after a while we developed a rhythm and enjoyed the hush of falling snow in symphony with our own breathing.  Thankfully, we knew these guys might be on the trail, otherwise, it would have scared the hell out of us.  They were perfectly silent.

Several dog sled teams passed us by.  We actually saw one of the teams crash into the snowbank.  Apparently, there is some skill necessary for success (not to guide the dogs, but to steer the sled properly).  

After returning to FJ,  we headed back to Lake Louise for more ice skating.  With heavy snow falling, only one of us was foolish enough to put on his skates.  Meanwhile, the other one of us managed the fire pit for tourists who acted they had never seen something so rustic as an outdoor fire. 

Once again, Bobby Orr was rescued from having to prove his worth by claiming he was forced to follow the rules.

We explored the village of Lake Louise before heading back to Banff, and decided the term village was being used loosely.  The village consists of a couple of gas stations, a mini mall, and some spread out condo buildings within walking distance.  If choosing to stay here, we recommend opening the wallet to stay at the Chateau up at the lake or at the Post Hotel in the valley.  Don't come to Lake Louise and think you'll spend the many hours of darkness going bar hopping.  But do bring your ice skates, the ice rink in the village has lights and encourages hockey.  Also worth noting is the snowed in camp ground with plowed spots for those brave enough to bring their trailer this far north.

The return to Banff brought a steady rainfall, and thus, the Hot Springs would wait another night.  After a bottle of illegally imported Washington wine at the Rundlestone Lodge, either the rain stopped or we didn't notice it, so we headed out again for the one mile trek to downtown Banff.  Dinner found us in the Bear Street Tavern on street level below the Bison Restaraunt.  After a tasty dinner, Wilson needed the Canucks, and Amy sought a hoppy ale, so, we headed for the Banff Ave Brewing Company at the south end of the main drag on the second floor.  Success, Canucks on every screen and a delicious hoppy brew for the senorita.

We met several locals in the brewery and discussed the complete lack of accurate weather forecasts.  The universal response was, ignore the Weather Office, look out your window.  We left as one of the locals was griping that it wouldn't be cold enough to freeze the ice for the big hockey game the following weekend in Banff.

On the way back to the lodge, we both noted the crunchiness under our feet.  Since when does slush crunch?

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Candian Rockies - Day 3

Amy awoke with the familiar Cougar feeling in her gut on Tuesday in Banff.  Nope, not a distasturous hangover. . . it was that familiar "how did we screw up that game" feeling.  Okay.  Thats's the last Rose Bowl reference, we (sort of ) promise.  Thankfully, the only Ducks we've seen up here are those on the menu.

First item on the agenda, get some skates for Wilson.   Backtrax is a local ski shop on Bear Street in Banff, and it's the quintisential "away from home" ski shop.  They answer our mindless and continuous questions, quickly outfit CW with skates and charge us a whopping 14 bucks for two days.  I'm guessing skates run you about 14 bucks an hour at the Chateau Lake Louise. 

Banff is certainly in the mountains, but it feels like a big place . . . you've got dozens of choices for hotels, lodging, fine dining, cold beers and just about anything you might need.  In reality, it feels much bigger than Whistler (the town, not the ski area).

Lake Louise is much smaller and hardly passes for a "village".  It's about 30 miles north along the TransCanada Highway, a nice 4 lane road with few inclines or declines.  The Bow River valley starts to narrow this far north, with the Lake Louise Ski Area on the east side and the famous lake and namesake Chateau on the west side, about five miles apart.

Many of us outsdoorsy Americans like to scoff at such development within the confines of a pristine national park.  Maybe we're right, maybe we are wrong.  One thing we do know, the Canadians make it work with Lake Louise.  The Chateau certainly dominates the scene, but also enhances the experience.

Heated bathrooms in the parking lot for "non-guests", a short 200 yard walk to the lake, cross country trails right from the shoreline, and of course a section of the lake reserved for ice skating, along with a Zamboni to smooth the surface for "family skaters" and a scaled down hockey rink.  This guy thinks he can play hockey, but Amy doubts it. Have you ever seen a more stiff person on skates?
Meanwhile, Amy was all smiles and ready to hit the ice.

Wilson eventually found his legs and managed to actually skate around a bit, after about an hour he decided to pick up our latest gadget, the GoPro, and shot some video of Amy gliding about the ice.

The Mister had some fun there, but he'll get his later when he attempts to go sledding without a sled.

It didn't take either of us long to finally understand why hockey players have such short stints of ice time.  Its tiring, we would skate a lap or two before taking a rest.  After skating, we retired to the FJ in the parking lot for snacks.  We hadn't quite worked up the courage to crash the Chateau just yet, plus we didn't want to peel off all the winter clothes.  We had more outdoor activities.  Next up . . . cross country skiing.  Our goal,the end of the lake.
Skiing on the Lake has its advantages, no hills and it's disadvantages, even though you know its frozen, there are puddles of standing water all over the place, thus one thinks they could crash through at any given moment.  The lake is less than 2 miles in length, and eventually we ran into a stream that was crossing on top of the ice.  No thanks. That was the end of the road for skiing, but not for hiking. In the summer of 2006, we hiked the Lake Agnes trail to a picturesque tea house with Jared and Tyler.  We didn't make it that far on this day, but were rewarded with a view of an uniquie ice fall.
Later, Wilson saw an 8 year kid slide down a makeshift sled track from the ice fall towards the lake, the kid tumbled left, then right, and nearly ended up in the standing water by the stream.  Why would Wilson think this would be fun?
                               
Hmmm, he claimed he was really flying down that hill like the Hermantor.  Ha, I was there, it was more like an elephant walking in deep mud, with a constant flow of snow going up his pant legs as he dugs his heels into the snow.

We finished the day with snacks inside the Chateau Lake Louise, a maze of it's own with grand staircases and hallways leading every which way.  We found a deli and were quite astonished at the fabulous selection and reasonable prices.  One of us failed to note the changing temps, 20's outside, 70's inside, and the 90's when seated next to a forced air heater.  While the heater caused quite an undressing, it was very convenient for drying off soggy gloves and hats.

We set off for Banff just before it got dark and hurriedly made our way up to the Banff Hot Springs for a soak to celebrate our day on skates and skis.  The hot springs are above the Banff Springs Hotel on Sulphur Mountain, about a 5 minute drive from downtown and a 10 minute drive from our hotel, which just so happened to be further than we wanted to drive (again) after discovering in the parking lot that one of us (the same "us" as before) failed to bring his/her handy bag of swim gear that was packed that morning.

Alas, cold beers at our room in the Rundlestone livened the mood and gave us the desire to venture out for dinner.  While we both claim to shy away from chain restaurants, we both seem to have an affection for Earl's.  We refuse to go anywhere near the one in Bellevue, but we're quite happy to partake in Canadian ski towns.

The highlight of the night was the hockey game, did i say hockey? as in NHL?  One might have thought that, but this was Junior Hockey, that's right, teenagers playing for national pride.  When we walked into Earl's, there was nary a murmur to be heard, except for the obnoxious Russian trio in the corner.  It was midway through the 3rd period, and score was 5-1, Russia over Canada in the Semi-finals.  Soon, Russia scored again, and the Russians were even more giddy.  Then finally, the home team scored and the masses at Earl's sounded like it was a tie game, they had hope.  They only needed 4 more goals in 7 minutes to force overtime.  Well, as you can guess, the first 3 came in rapid fashion, and with every passing minutes, the smugness on that Russian trio evaporated into patriotic pride for the rest of the bar. The final minutes were a frenzy of shots hitting the cross bar with everyone in the bar hanging on every movement. 

Final tally . . . 3 celebratory vodka shots for the table in the corner.  We saw Canucks, Canadians, Jets, Oilers, and Flames games on various TV's this week, and all of that combined did not match the passion we witnessed that night in Earl's.




Sunday, January 8, 2012

Canadian Rockies - Day 2


The Arctic air vacated just as quickly as it arrived.  With an early afternoon deadline, we chose to spend Day 2 in the Rockies exploring the Banff area on foot.  Sunny skies made for a comfortable temps in the 20's, but apparently did not encourage the Old Man to bring his camera.  "We'll be back in an hour", he chimed.

Off we went . . . walking to downtown Banff, stopping for coffee, locating the outdoor ice rink (a converted playfield at the high school), and a place to rent skates (Backtrax on Bear Street).  With plenty of time to kill before kickoff in Pasadena, Wilson suggested we hike along the Bow River.  This waterway seperates the famous Banff Springs Hotel from the center of town.  The waterfalls were frozen, framed by snowcapped peaks, the river flowing with minature ice bergs.

Taken from Amy's phone, since "you know who" left his camera and new fancy lense at the hotel on what would turn out to be the only sunny day of the our trip.

We headed further upstream to check out the xc trails at the golf course and discovered another outdoor ice rink below the famous lodge.  With Ansel now playing the role of camera assistant, does it surprise anyone that one of Amy's gloves had gone awol?  We retraced our steps back to the center of town and suddenly realized that 3:00pm was quickly approaching and we had yet to locate an establishment with a TV tuned to TSN2.  The Winter Classic was dominating all screens in Canada this afternoon.

Amy suggested the Chili's only a short distance from our hotel and was rewarded with a TV already tuned to the Rose Bowl.  Needless to say, the game did not go as planned.  The Old Goat always said, there are two things in life you just don't drop . . .and one of those is the football.

Why didn't they just run the play?!?    Even the Cougar was sickened by this lapse of judgment, for he had seen it before.  Neither of us had the stomach to watch more football, so we bypassed the Fiesta Bowl and thereby gave up the only TV in Banff with college football.

Back we slogged to the towncenter, past the treacherous ice in front of the Shell station.  Despite the afternoon beers, we are adjusting nicely and getting our sea legs back for walking on ice.  Tonight's dinner destination was the Elk and Oarsman on the south end Banff Avenue. The ice was safely navigated back to the Rundlestone Lodge where a good night of sleep awaited.  Maybe when we wake up, we'll read about how the Badgers got a second chance.

Day 3 in the Canadian Rockies took us to Lake Louise, for ice skating and xc skiing along with pics and video. Amy is much closer to Dorothy Hamill than Wilson is to Bobby Orr.

Canadian Rockies - Day 1

We're happy to report that the Rebel, FJ and the two occupants returned to Seattle in one piece following four weeks in Utah last October.  Our first trip of 2012 would not feature the Rebel, but does commence with a new launch site, Spokane, home to a Root Sports telecast of WSU  Men's Basketball and a rather large First Night gathering.

For those that followed our stories last October, you know that we are forever up against darkness and/or weather in the pursuit of our little adventures, as we never seem to get an early start.  Somehow, that wasn't the case on the initial day of 2012.  We were out of the Doubletree with fresh coffee in hand and a fully loaded FJ at precisely 9am.  With the Rose Bowl pushed backed to January 2 due to their agreement with God, January 1 became a travel day for us. 

We both agreed that we would let the weather guide us on this trip.  If the Northern Rockies were in the throes of Arctic air, then we'd head south to McCall, Bend, or some other place.  We dutifully checked the Canadian Weather Office each and every day leading up to our departure.  All systems go, the Arctic air was still in the Arctic, thus we headed north on Jan. 1.

Our intended destination was Banff, Alberta, the gateway town to many of Canada's most spectacular National Parks.  The route would take us north from Coeur d' Alene on US 95 to a border crossing reminiscent of the one of Bill Murray and company used to gain entry to Czechoslovakia in Stripes.

With the Canadian Rockies in view, we hustled through Cranbrook to the Columbia River valley, where it's namesake river looks just like any other mountain stream.  We checked out Invermere for future reference.  It's a small resort town on Lake Windermere, where pond hockey passes the time until summer emerges.  Then, a stunning transformation in a short distance . . . just a few miles from the valley floor, lies Radium Hot Springs.  It's like being transported from Ellensburg to Switzerland in 10 minutes.  The town sits on a mountain side, while a narrow chasm allows the highway to sneak through the cliffs to Alberta. We spotted many people welcoming the new year bathing in the natural hot springs near the road.  With dinner plans in Banff with Terry & Nicole, Radium would also wait.

The route through the Candian Rockies was spectacular.  Passages through the mountains in the Pacific Northwest tend to be tedious uphills, downhills and narrow canyons.  Not the case in this part of the Rockies, broad valleys and gentle climbs with towering peaks just far enough away greeted us in Kootenay National Park.  Finally we reached the Continental Divide and Banff National Park, almost there . . . oh wait, how did our FJ thermometer know to switch to Celsius ?  It says 9 degrees, that's about 50 F, right ?  Ha, nice try.  We hadn't been out of the car since Cranbrook, we were not prepared for the unexpected Arctic Air that wasn't any where near the forecast we checked just a few hours ago.

We arrive in Banff just after sunset, a "not so bad at all" 7 hour drive from Spokane and easily located the Rundlestone Lodge on the main drag.  We decided to walk to the main area of Banff for dinner. After about 30 seconds of arctic blast, we texted Terry and implored him to keep an eye out for two cold Seattlites walking down Banff Avenue.  Thankfuly, Terry checks his messages while driving,  he retrived us minutes later while we tried to negoiate the sheer ice sidewalk in front of the Shell Station.

The Rose & Crown was the closest eatery to our parking spot, thus our business went there.  The Old Man and Terry quickly chose a table and positioned themselves with a clear view of the NFL game. We all enjoyed dinner and beverages, and those of us without a 2 hour drive back to Calgary might have enjoyed some extras.  After dinner, the men suggested we go for a walk around town, that lasted about half a block before the aforementioned "men" decided it was too cold.  Many thanks to Terry & Nicole for coming up to Banff for supper. We exchanged a few laughs, stories, books, and some contraband chew that the Old Man snuck past border patrol.

Tomorrow brings the Rose Bowl and our first day to play.