Wednesday, last day in Banff area

Luke "I refuse to smile"; Lake Louise in background

Did I mention it's been cloudy and/or rainy every day we've been here?  Definitely affected today's activities.  We headed back up the Bow Valley Parkway (I-1, the Trans-Canada Highway would have been faster, but the BVP is so gorgeous) to Lake Louise.

Visited the ski area first for a trip up the mountain on the ski lift to beat the rainy weather obviously heading that way.  We had a choice of closed cabin gondola or open chair - guess who chose the open chair (hint: not Luke).  Good thing we brought along the sweatshirts!  It started sprinkling lightly en route, but just enough to tease. Despite the weather, the vistas were worth the $26 per person fee.  And we were treated to views of a helicopter ferrying supplies via a long rope and net basket from the ski area parking lot to somewhere down (up?) the valley.

Arrived at the top (not the summit, just the top of the ride) in time to find that a grizzly bear had meandered behind a building just down the slope (sorry, we never saw the bear, although park staff were quite focused on keeping aware of its whereabouts!)

From the ski lodge, we drove to Lake Louise.  The area on the eastern of the lake is much more developed than when I visited in 1990 - paved walkways, shopping boutiques, a bridge over the outlet stream and landscaping.  The highest level of visual impact (visual assault!) is from a large canoe rental boathouse and docks.  The rental canoes are bright red, highly visible against the beautiful glacial blue water - so much for the pristine views of the mountains and glaciers visitors once enjoyed!

For pristine mountain and glacier views, one must go to Moraine Lake, easily reached from a side road near Lake Louise.  It also has some development, but it's limited to the northern end of the lake (where the access road ends) and far enough back from the shore that the buildings aren't intrusive in the viewshed.  Luke and I had lunch on the patio - easily the most expensive sandwiches and chips I've ever eaten - and a particularly bold chipmunk actually jumped up onto my lap in search of food.

Once back in Banff, we went back to the cinema to see the third Transformers movie, released today.  Leonard Nimoy provides the voice of the head Transformer!

FYI:  The sun doesn't go down until 11:30 pm or so, according to Ashley, our very nice hostess here in Jasper.