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Who's that girl?

So I recently cut my hair to a length shorter than I have ever had my hair in my life! It is taking some time to get use to... I keep reaching back thinking that I am going to pull my hair up, but there is nothing to pull up! But with all of the positive affirmations and compliments that I have been getting, I am warming up to my new hairdo very quickly. A world of hair clips, products, and hairbands are ahead of me!

Our Honeymoon: Day 3

We headed northwest towards Lake Louise and decided to stop along the way to hike Johnston Canyon. It's an easy shaded meandering trail along a raging river.

On the way up to the Upper Falls we passed many secondary falls in this limestone canyon.

A rail designated the trail and provided some safety from the sometimes steep canyon walls. As you might find in any highly trafficked natural area, people had carved their initials in the rail and on the trees. We noticed that part of the rail was covered in names and were touched when we realized that it was the same couple. It says "Mike V. + Michelle C. 4EVER 97." Then to the left of that it says "Mike V. and Michelle C. 1 YEAR 98." To the left of that it says "MV + MC 2 1/2 years 99." To the far left of the picture it reads "M+M 6,15,02 5 years." Finally at the far right of the picture it says "Michelle C. Will U MARRY ME" and underneath that it says "YES 08."

Finally we made it out to the Upper Falls. The walkway narrowed and turned into a metal grating as we got out on the water. The falls were hidden and could only be seen from the very end of the walkway. There was a line of people waiting to take pictures and to see the falls so we waited our turn until we could get a good look at the falls.

We hiked out of Johnston Canyon and headed further northwest towards Lake Louise. Our rental car came with a Gypsy GPS Guide, which doesn't provide GPS directions but uses GPS coordinates to automatically play commentary about your immediate surroundings. It was a pretty cool addition to the trip because it pointed out interesting sites and educated us on the history of the areas we passed by. Plus there were entertaining voices for the guides. One site that the Gypsy alerted us to is the scene in the picture below, which has been the subject of many photos. It also turns out that we will traveling along these tracks later in our trip.

When we finally made it to Lake Louise we were surprised to find it still frozen over. To Eric's right you can see the Upper and Lower Victoria Glaciers just above Lake Louise.

The melt waters from the glacier bring rock flour to the bed of Lake Louise, which gives the Lake its signature emerald color. Eric and I took a short hike around half of the Lake. We are hoping to come back in warmer weather to hike up to the Lake Agnes Teahouse when it is open.

The view of Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise from the other end of the Lake was gorgeous. We spent some time exploring, checking out some rock climbers who were on nearby cliffs, and then decided to have lunch at the Chateau.

We brought our lunch out to the Lake to enjoy the amazing view and the beautiful weather. We were joined by a very curious Whiskey Jack Bird aka Gray Jay (well at least we think it was a gray jay). He later joined us on the bench.

Our next stop was Lake Moraine, which we heard had an even deeper emerald color. It was also still mostly frozen and so the water line was pretty low. The next two pictures are from on top of the Rockpile, which is at one end of the Lake and gave us a better view of the surrounds.

The water line usually comes up to the treeline but it has receded significantly during the winter months. Eric and I were able to hike down to the waters edge. In the background behind Eric, there is a fantastic mountain-scape. Not surprisingly we are in the Valley of the Ten Peaks.

Eric made a friend when we were walking along the shore. They literally stood that way for several minutes. It was really adorable.

At this point you can imagine we were tired from our busy day. So we headed back to the town of Banff for a late night dinner. On the way home we managed to see more wildlife. This elk was eating on the side of the road.

Wow! What a busy day full of amazing sites. Can't wait to see what tomorrow holds.

Our Honeymoon: Day 2

We slept in late the next day in our lovely hotel room overlooking the mountains. We were pretty tired from the wedding planning, our wedding day, and traveling. So we thought we earned it.

Considering the weather from the day before we didn't know what to expect but to our pleasant surprise it was a beautiful and clear day. Lucky us! So we decided to start the day off by taking the Banff Gondola to the top of Sulphur Mountain, which has a fantastic view of the town of Banff and the surrounding mountain ranges.

We took the boardwalk and stairs up Sanson's Peak, the location of a historical weather observatory. Imagine having to hike to up to this meteorological station in the winter! It's a three mile trail with an elevation gain of more than 7,400 ft! Park meteorologist Norman Sanson did it over 1,000 times during the early 1900s. Amazing.

We hiked around a bit to look for wildlife and play in the snow. I was pretty excited when we came across a Hoary marmot running along a trail so I sent Eric after it. No luck in catching it though. They are fast little suckers. But the marmot would be only the beginning of a trip filled with wildlife! Heading back to the gondola we saw this Rocky Mountain goat hanging out on the side of the mountain. Sweet!
On the way back to the town of Banff we stopped by Canada Place, which is an exhibit about Canada's culture, land, and accomplishments (Do you know that the electric light bulb was invented by a Canadian who sold the patent to Edison?!). There was a gorgeous (and classic) view of the town of Banff from the Canada Place property.

After lunch we decided to explore Lake Minnewanka, which we could see from the top of Sulphur Mountain. It is the longest lake of the mountain lakes in the Canadian Rockies. As we drove towards the lake, there was something in the road walking towards us. I really thought it was just two people walking in the middle of the road, but as we got close, it turned out to be two female Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep! We slowed down to let them pass safely next to us as I took some pictures.

But then as we got further down the road, we ran into two male Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep! They were licking the salt out of the road. Eric rolled down his window to take some pictures. Then all of sudden they charged each other. Eric managed to take this picture before he freaked out and rightfully so... they were really close to our car and a bit pissed off. Not the best combination. But thankfully we left unscathed.

There were some hiking trails by Lake Minnewanka that went into the surrounding forest. It was very peaceful. We came across an old beautiful wooden bridge. Since it was starting to get late, we wrapped up our hike and headed back to Banff for some dinner.


Tomorrow we are off to Lake Louise!