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| Horse thief canyon |
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| He couldn't help himself, notice the sign on the bottom left corner.... |
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| T-Rex skeleton, i'd never seen one before in person |
We then headed up to the Rocky Mountains and a night in each Jasper and Banff. Unfortunately the weather decided t play up and a view of the mountains that can usually be seen from Airdrie could hardly even be seen from the Icefields Parkway which winds directly through them from Banff up into Jasper. Despite the less than perfect weather mum seemed to enjoy the drive and we stopped at the Columbia Icefield for a look at the glaciers in the area (which we hated because it was a circus full of tourists) and then at a couple of waterfalls on our way into Jasper.
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| Sunwapta Falls |
We stayed on Patricia Lake in a lovely little lodge and after a morning of looking around the gift stores for a souvenir for mum we headed back down the parkway for Lake Louise and Moraine Lake. The weather became worse as we drove further south and by the time we reached Banff it was pouring rain. We checked into our loft apartment and after grabbing a cheap and easy dinner from Safeway and a wander around some stores hit the sack.
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| Patricia Lake Lodge, Jasper |
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| Wild rose - Alberta's state flower |
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| Moraine Lake, Banff |
We woke the next morning to mum telling us to turn on the news, and honestly we didn't really believe what we were seeing. All roads out of Banff had been cut off and highway 2 (the main highway that cuts parallel across Canada had been washed away in Canmore. We didn't quite know what to do so we checked out and headed for McDonald's to use the wifi and hopefully make it out that afternoon. Mums flight was leaving on Friday so we were really hoping for something to open up so we could get through. Unfortunately this dragged on for another 2 nights. Banff was completely cut off and most of Southern Alberta was inundated with floods from a mix of heavy rain and melted snow from the mountains - Calgary was also evacuated during this event. It was unprecedented and one of the worst disasters the province had ever seen. 2 nights later, 2 hotel rooms later, 2 flight changes later and a lot unplanned emergency spending later we FINALLY pulled out of Banff headed for Airdrie. What was usually a 1.5 hour drive turned into 11 hours via the crowsnest pass 3 hours south west of Calgary due to all other roads still being closed but we made it. I was so glad to be home and luckily for us Airdrie hadn't been affected by the floods at all.
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| Bow falls just about to break the banks of the Bow River |
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| D totally happy to still be stuck in Banff on day 3 |
After all of that mum made her flight back to Australia and I was so glad she had come to visit but looking forward to getting back to normal after all the excitement and drama over the previous month. Our troubles had been nothing though in comparison though to the people who lost their homes and belongings, or even lives in this terrible natural disaster. We are used to summer floods in SE Queensland and certainly had more damage and lives lost there over the years but we expect them wheras Albertans were totally unprepared for the event.
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