Downloading the Camera

Last week sometime I downloaded the good camera, as opposed to the cell phone camera or the kidlet's Nikon "Snap-n-Go" Camera.

This is the camera that we usually forget to take with us because it's big, bulky, and it makes it hard to ride rides camera.

And I discovered some interesting pictures on it.

My kidlet's 12th Birthday--ready to eat out at Flemings Steakhouse.

Thanksgiving

Kidlet reading to her second cousin, Olivia

In my traditional location, making gravy

My nephew Matthieu who made the desserts under my watchful eye.



Christmas





 Just down the stairs

I had bought these fuzzy penguin jammies for the kidlet, unbeknownst to me, she also bought a set for me!

 

 

The kidlet in her favorite location!

 

 

And now we fast forward eight months . . . to CANADA

 

 Canada's highway from Calgary into Banff National Park

 

 Lake Louise.

Lake Louise, chilly mornings warm afternoons

 

Moraine Lake

The crowd level in Banff National Park was HUGE. Gorgeous weather plus a three-day Canadian weekend, plus the last weekend before school started equaled monstrous crowds. The previous day they had Moraine Lake road blocked off and people were parking on both sides of the little two-lane road that led from Canada's highway up to Chateau Lake Louise. 

 This picture doesn't do justice to the crowds. A very nice man took our picture.

 Because everyone should have a picture of a yellow mushroom

and moss growing on a tree stump.

 

A pretty little creek

 

 

Johnston Canyon

 I think this was the lower falls, though we hiked to the upper falls, their were a few inconsiderate people taking photo after photo after photo of the falls . . . while a HUGE line (20+ people) built up on the narrow catwalk

Walking down from the Upper Falls in Johnston Canyon

 

Banff

We stayed here. Not my picture, but the sun was better than the one I took. The angle of the sun washed everything out. 

 Waldhaus Restaurant and Pub. We ate our first poutine at this pub. Yummy! Poutine is French fries, cheese curds with gravy. We also had bratwurst on ours.

 Climbing Tunnel Mountain. This mountain is right in the middle of the town of Banff. It's a relatively quick climb with some amazing views.

Tunnel mountain view of Banff Springs Hotel

 

 See? I actually got the hubs to climb up to the top with me!

 

View of the golf course and I think this is Spray River.

 

Hoodoos--A side trip

 

 These next few pictures are from the marsh trail near the Cave and Basin National Park.

We took only a couple of pictures because every time you stopped mosquitos attacked . . . marsh, yanno.

 The 'basin' in the Cave and Basin Park. People used to come up here for the medicinal heated water.

 Let's just say that it's very aromatic, reminding you of what Hell would smell like, very sulfuric.

While hubs was at his meetings, I hiked a few places alone. I did hike the Spray River Trail, but it was very flat, very boring, and very secluded. I didn't have a bear bell or bear spray, so I cut my hike short when I started to feel a little too isolated. That day I only hiked six miles.

The day I hiked Sulfur Mountain, I managed 10 miles. My Weight Watchers ActivLink didn't award me very many points because I wasn't walking fast enough . . . stupid thing can't calculate VERTICAL miles. Yeah, I was walking slow because I was walking up 2300 feet!

 

Sulfur Mountain

 Info and warning about elk and bears

 

 

 

 

 

 

Proof that I actually WALKED up the mountain as opposed to riding the gondola

 Gondola coming up the mountain. Light tannish building is the gondola station.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Pretty changing colors the higher I climbed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interesting gnarled tree roots, and deer chewed tree trunk. 

 

 

A typical cut-back in the trail. It doesn't show how loose and uneven the trail really is. Easy to climb, but I slipped about four times on the way down.  

 At the top. Bow River Valley

 Proof that I was there. To the left of Bow River is Tunnel Mountain with the Banff Springs Hotel near the base. That was the starting point of my walk up Sulfur Mountain. Tunnel Mountain seemed like a tough climb, but this vantage point makes it seem like a pimple of a hill!

Wildest animal in the wilderness . . . a chipmunk.

Gorgeous waterfall. I took a picture of a really nice couple at this point.

 

 

And that's about it for today!

 

Later, Peeps!