Northwest USA/Southwest Canada tour

Spent a week traveling from Seattle,WA to Lake Louise, AB, Canada.  Back across BC to Whistler and south through Vancouver to Seattle.  Had an amazing time.  The scenery unbelievable.  Wasn't possible to take a bad photo.  Every direction you looked was beautiful, from Mtns, turquoise waters, glaciers.   Started off the trip by flying into Seattle.  Have a few friends that live in WA state and was fortunate to meet up with some. 

Pike Place Market, Seattle and sun in the Northwest

After a quick catching up and some sightseeing we headed north to Bellingham, WA.  Hard to believe that it has been 14yrs since I lived here.  Was great to see Melissa my old college roommate.

Her kids are adorable.

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My cousin Peter recently moved to B'ham and were fortunately able to meet up with him as we went through town. I do miss summer time in WA.

Would have loved to had more time, but places to go things to see

From Bellingham we headed north to Canada and made our way over to Lake Louise, Alberta CAN.  The red in the photo in salmon spawning.  Interesting how they return to the exact spot they were hatched

A gorgeous day for a drive thru Canada



 Arrived at Lake Louise and spent the next 2 days touring around Louise, Lake Moraine, the Ice Fields hwy, Jasper and Banff.  Every part of this area is breathtaking.  We lucked out with beautiful weather.  Saw a couple of deer, but no moose or grizzlies.  I'm ok with the latter, but would have liked to see some moose. Are bears already starting to hibernate?

In front of our hotel at Lake Louise.  Having a travel agent for a mom definitely has its perks

 The mountains, lakes and glaciers were an amazing sight

Lake Moraine.  It is hard to tell in some of these photos, but all the lakes are this beautiful green color.  The lakes get this color from silt, from the rocks, that is washed into the lakes.  The glacial water mixed with the silt gives the turquoise color

Banff, Canada.  Great town with amazing views.  Will have to come and spend some more time here

Jasper, CAN another great town in the Canadian Rockies.  I'm tempted to pack my bags and move

Only had a couple of days to spend in this area.  Needed to get on to Whistler and see some of other sights in BC.  Was about 910km or 565mi from Lake Louise to Whistler. The entire drive was scenic. Took approx. 10hrs, but that of course included some photo ops, DQ, and A&W stops.    Here are a couple of the sights along the way

Jaffray Lake

We arrived in Whistler and went to the Beacon Pub for some dinner.  The food was delicious.  Highly recommend the ribs appetizer (not on the menu).

 I guess Whistler can be very busy during the ski season.  This time of year there were people on mtn bikes.  It was fun to watch some of them come down the mtn on their bikes. Looks fun, but I know I'd be white knuckling it the entire way.  Whistler Village has a lot of shops and restaurants. My mom and Will have been living here part of the year so it was fun to check out.

 Whistler Village.  I was told that this place is insane during the ski season.

 One of the lakes right in Whistler.  Love that they have the water and the mountains together

 Rode the Gondola to the top of the mountain and the Peak to Peak over to Black Comb Mtn.  The Peak to peak has the longest span between towers on a Gondola in the world.  We lucked out with clear skies and had great views all around.

The colors of fall are already starting

 Just a little windy
Had to leave Whistler and start making our way back down to Seattle.  Once again a very scenic drive.  The Sea to Sky highway did not disappoint.  Here are just a few shots from the drive

Took one amazing photo after another on this trip.  Was hard to decide which to post, but realized it didn't matter cause they area all great.  I hope to be able to do more exploring in this area.