Saturday, December 16, 2006

Rockies

Now Playing: Winter Wonderland - Diana Krall



Sitting at a window seat in the rustic Num-Ti-Jah Lodge, looking out to a winter storm, giant flakes falling on a snow-covered frozen lake…

This is an unplanned detour in our Canadian Rockies trip… we were going to head straight to Jasper via the Icefield Highway, but the bad weather and increasingly large snowflakes changed our mind and we decided to stay the night at the only available lodge on the highway next to Bow Lake and Glaciers… a rustic lodge meant as a retreat, it has no tv and no cellphone reception. However, it do have wireless internet! Well, at least P isn’t going to be bored out of his mind and make noises.

This is a lovely place though, filled with antique furniture made out of deer antlers and comfy sofas and window seats… the view outside is amazing… mountains and lakes all covered with several feet of snow… Christmas pines everywhere… it is the perfect place to curl up with a book and a journal (or a laptop computer with wireless access)… I don’t really mind this detour which is going to set us back a day… P can make one more day anyway for his leave. It just means a longer vacation!

It’s so tranquil here… the snow makes it impossible for us to do anything outside and for anything to get to us… a place to truly just stop…

We had a fun four days before at Banff and Lake Louise… Banff was just exciting, with trail walks up snowy pathways and catwalks to frozen waterfalls and dog-sledding in the snow. The several drives down Lake Minnewaka and Lake Vermillion were simply breathtaking, especially amidst the salmon pink sunrise… The town was sweet, an avenue all lit in Christmas lights and a different sushi place every night… Lake Louise was simply stunning and gorgeous, a vast expense of ice edged with glaciers and mountains… we couldn’t see the emerald of Emerald Lake, but it did glitter with ice…Natural Bridge and Kicking Horse Creek was striking, it’s a scene we often saw before during our summer vacations, but to see the creek and stones all covered with snow… the rushing of water amidst the ice… its simply amazing…

And the drives from place to place… ranged with the mountains and pines and lakes… all frosted and iced, silver and white vistas… its like a black and white photo at some points…. the views are so dramatic… its so unbelievable and nothing like we ever experienced…

And we still have three more days in Jasper to look forward to before we start our drive home…

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