I’ve Breathed the Mountain Air, Man

….and it made me a bit woozy. I don’t adjust to the thin air of high elevation very easily. The breathtaking sights of the Canadian Rockies didn’t help!

June 14

Banff day! I decided to give Annie the day off and ride around with Mom and Dad. This also allowed my soaked gear from the previous day’s ride to dry off. It was a wonderful day with my parents. We had our first encounter with wildlife before we even made our first stop.


We then headed off to Lake Louise and ate lunch with a nice view

Since the weather was drizzly and overcast, we decided to postpone a hike along the bank of Lake Louise and instead take the drive over to check out Lake Moraine. Mom and I took the path up the “rockpile” to get a better view


The sun was trying to peek out every once in awhile. When it did, the color of the lake sang.


By this point, the sun was beginning to shine. We returned to Lake Louise, which was now even more brilliant. The hike along the coast was awesome. I could tell that my glute muscles were appreciating being used for propulsion rather than shock absorbtion.

We saw our second type of Bear shortly thereafter


We made a couple of picturesque stops on the way back.

We had a filling supper at a Chinese restaurant in Canmore, then we went on a mission to try to find some suitable waterproof gloves for my next wet ride. There is a store we found called Canadian Tire. Despite the auto-centric name, it is more of a mix of Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Cabella’s. A wild place. I found some gloves meant for handling chemicals for about $5 US. They should work.

It was a great day with my family. There are not many things better than seeing beautiful sights with people that you love.

June 14

The plan for the day was to drive up Highway 93 which runs between Banff and Jasper national parks. This drive is commonly called “The most beautiful highway in the world”. I know what you’re thinking: Is there any way it can be better than the thrill-a-minute experience of driving I-80 between Kearney and Grand Island? Well, you’ll just have to decide for yourself. 🙂

We hiked up to the viewpoint overlooking Bow Lake. It was maybe my favorite view of the day. We were just a touch under 7,000 ft. elevation at this point. I was ready to go back downhill. 🙂

No picture will ever capture the true color.

Big horned sheep. I kept yelling at Sonic to get out of the shot but he wouldn’t listen.

Stopped beneath the Columbia Icefields. Who says you can’t take a bike to a glacier? It takes more than a death march up steep rocks to wipe the smile from my Mom’s face.

I love this picture of my Dad. That look of wonder has been plastered on his face for the last few days. 🙂

Sunwapta Falls:

Our destination for the night was a hostel just outside of Jasper. My mom, being the travel whiz she is, booked ahead so we had a private three person room. There was a real interesting mix of languages being spoken and food being eaten.

Just a tip, guys. If you catch another guy taking a picture of your lady’s backside, don’t get mad. Take it as a compliment.

It was the last day together for my parents and I. Accordingly, they seemed intent on filling me with as much food as possible before sending me on my way. We had a really nice supper in Jasper.

My mind was racing a bit as I laid in bed, knowing that the vacation portion of the trip would be ending in the morning. From here on it will be pain, suffering, despair and overly-dramatic blog posts. 🙂

BA