We headed off bright and early for some more amazing Canadian mountain driving.  We stopped off at the odd frozen lake for David to throw rocks at the lake (one of his favourite past times), and finally we arrived at Jasper National Park, where you pay a visitors fee to enter.  It is well worth it!

In Jasper, we stayed at the Athabasca Hotel which is an absolutely beautiful period hotel. Unfortunately they have a nightclub downstairs that went to all hours of the morning causing some serious complaining to the front desk (I have never heard David so angry, I think we were still both a bit jet lagged).  Jasper is beautiful albeit quiet town and we managed to track down some locally made goodies there which made the stop even more enjoyable.  We also met an artist in the middle of a painting at Athabasca Falls, so that was a real treat. 

On the way out of Jasper we saw a live bear crossing the highway and entering the bush.  Following that incident, and various people warning us not to get out of the car if we saw a bear (duh) David played a trick on me when we were walking around the car to swap the driving.  He yelled out "F*ck there's a bear!" and I sprinted yelping and panicking into the car.  He got the whole thing on video which he laughs hysterically over every now and then, I'm sure he'll post it on the blog at some stage so other people can also enjoy a laugh at my expense.

The flight from Tokyo to Vancouver was a bit of a killer. Because of time zones we were completely exhausted by the time we arrived in Vancouver and because we arrived in the morning, we decided it would be sensible to stay awake for the rest of the day and get an early night.

That sounds like a great idea in theory but by about 3pm, David was so over my tired, cranky attitude that he insisted we take a nap.  After a few hours of napping I awoke a much nicer person.

On our first walk through Vancouver we checked out some shops and visited the port.  We were staying in a 19th Century Hotel near the port which had lots of character, but unfortunately also lots of stairs that we had to negotiate with our bags.  It had secure parking though and a lovely big bed.

We drove out to Stanley Park that evening, feeling refreshed and decidedly less cranky after our nap.  We spent time driving around, exploring and stopping to check out the beautiful gardens and beautiful views of the bay. 

The next morning we drove out to the busy Granville Island Markets where we discovered a whole pile of local art including a fantastic wood co-op, with the most fantastic artistic wooded artworks.  There was also a fantastic market selling heaps of local fresh produce.  We took a bay tour on a cute boat and spent some time just sitting around soaking in the sun and admiring the views of the city.

We then drove over Lions Gate Bridge, and up to Grouse Mountain where we took the Skyride to the top of the mountain and went for a walk over some snow to check out the bears, and the amazing view from up there.

We were a bit sad to say goodbye to Vancouver, it was like experiencing a bit of Melbourne in the middle of our trip, as it really reminded us of home in lots of ways.

Lake Louise is an emerald lake set against the backdrop of Victoria Glaciear.  It is a few hours drive from Jasper, and the drive is just spectacular, one of the world's great mountain drives.  The Lake itself is stunning, even though it was still frozen over when we were there in May.  The only problem with Lake Louise is that it kept reminding me of a saying that my dad used to say "Sharon Louise has fat knees" (my middle name is Louise).  Other than that I really enjoyed our time there.

Lake Louise is named after Princess Louise Caroline Alberta (1848-1939), the fourth daughter of Queen Victoria and the wife of the Marquess of Lorne, who was the Governor General of Canada from 1878 to 1883. The emerald colour of the water comes from rock flour carried into the lake by melted water from the glaciers that overlook the lake. The eastern shore of the lake is dominated by Chateau Lake Louise, one of Canada's grand railway hotels, a luxury resort hotel built in the early decades of the 20th century by the Canadian Pacific Railway.

We stayed at the Deer Lodge next to the lake. This was a delightful lodge and somewhere we can highly recommend.  It is a beautiful old Hotel with all of its original features.  While visiting the lake, we met an amazingly extroverted little squirrel that insisted on climbing up on people so that it could share in whatever it was they were eating.

Banff is the largest town in Banff National Park, in the Rockies and is one of Canada's most popular tourist destinations.  It is known for its mountainous surrounding and hot springs.  It is a major destination for outdoor sports and features extensive hiking, biking, scrambling and skiing areas within the region. Two ski resorts are located in close proximity, Sunshine Village and Ski Norquay.

Imagine an alpine town with crowded sidewalks, lots of gift shops to browse through and heaps of restaurants to choose from, all with those gorgeous mountains as a backdrop. 

We felt like a hearty meal so we found a steakhouse and I ate an enormous steak while David feasted on juicy ribs, and we washed our meals down with beer.