Rocky Mountain Tour Day 3

Started off the morning by going to see Moraine Lake. 

 

Followed by the Chateau Lake Louise and Lake Louise

And then Lake Louise Ski Resort. It was cloudy and cold so we decided not to go up the gondola

Kicking Horse River, Yoho National Park

Emerald Lake was definitely my favourite lake on the tour!!! I could stare at it for hours! It was also home of the cutest gift shop (although the shot glass I bought there was the most expensive of all the shot glasses I've ever bought- $10!!!!!).

We drove all the way to Three Valley Gap in BC. Stayed at the quaintest little hotel with a lovely garden!

Rocky Mountain Tour Day 2

Day Two was so much better than Day One! Our tour guide kept pushing us to leave Valemount as quickly as possible so we could, in his own words, "beat the other tour buses."

Our first stop was Mount Robson Provincial Park which is the highest mountain peak in BC. Still covered in snow!

Good morning! As soon as we entered Jasper National Park, we saw a few elk.

Next stop was Maligne Canyon. Cool rock formations.

We stopped in Jasper for an hour. This is the only picture I was able to take before it started pouring down!

We had a yummy breakfast skillet. I'm going to have to go back to that restaurant.

The tour guide, Edwin, encouraged Yukari and I to book the snow coach tour  of the Columbia Glacier because "if you come to the Rockies and don't go on the snow coach tour, why bother going to the Rockies? Such a pity. " How could we not book the tour after that persuasive speech???? Anyway, I'm glad we listened to him!


Snow in July????

The snowcoach

The glacier

Glacier water!

After leaving the glacier we went to Peyto Lake, which I had been looking forward to seeing since I booked the trip. It was freezing up there because of the high elevation.

Even prettier than Peyto Lake was Bow Lake. It honestly felt like I'd stepped into a postcard.

 

This is the river which was featured in a Marilyn Monroe movie, according to our guide. I think the name of the movie was River of no Return. 

The world-famous Banff Spring Hotel 

 

Downtown Banff! 

Rocky Mountain Tour Day 1

It's about time! After living in Vancouver for over 8 years, I finally decided to visit the Rockies. Day One started off very slowly with a visit to the ginseng factory in Kamloops where we were shown around by a man named Whisky. 

We were treated to some ginseng tea and ginseng mints. The staff were really nice and informative.

A few hours later we found ourselves at Wells Gray Provincial Park where we admired a waterfall.

We spent the night in a small town called Valemount, home of possibly the worst motel in BC.

Picture of the aforementioned motel. Thank God we only stayed there for one night! While we were watching a replay of the World Cup final (congrats Spain:)), the power went out and stayed out until almost midnight.

At least we had beautiful scenery to look at!

Pork Coconut Curry with Plantains and Vegetables

In celebration of Yukari's long-awaited return to Vancouver, I tried a new recipe. Actually, this was a mix of three recipes I found on the internet.

Welcome, Yukari!

My friend from Japan is staying with me for a week. I got a lot of cool stuff from her.

It's been six years since we last saw each other. We have a lot of catching up to do!

Happy Canada Day!

Happy 143rd birthday,Canada! It was exciting to see the Olympic Cauldron lit up again:)

I don't have any red clothes so I wore red earrings instead!

This was my first time attending the Canada Day parade. It was pretty short, only an hour or so, but really fun all the same! I could feel the patriotism welling up!