Hi, everyone!
We spent the last three nights of the tour at Cathedral Mountain Lodge in Yoho National Park. We had a nice porch on our cabin, but it was too wet and chilly to stay out there for long! I liked the inside, with a loft just for me! I made friends with the wildlife around the bathtub, too!
The last two days of our trip, it got even colder! The rain turned to snow and up in the high country it stuck! On Thursday we went to Emerald Lake. It was raining and snowing, so Rosemary-san showed Grandma how to attach an umbrella to her backpack straps. Grandma had her hands free and we both stayed dry, mostly! Emerald Lake lies just below the Burgess Shale seam. Rosemary-san explained how important the fossils in the Burgess Shale are for understanding earth’s history. We tried to look at the shale shelf but it was behind a low cloud! Even though it was raining, we walked all the way around Emerald Lake. There’s a marsh halfway around and a bridge over the glacial melt inlet stream. Beyond that, the trail got muddier because the mountains on that side trap the rain clouds!
On the wet side of the Emerald Lake trail, Rosemary-san showed us a tree where a bear had marked its territory. The bear clawed the bark as high up as he could reach. Rosemary-san said other bears can tell from the height of the marks whether they are bigger than the bear claiming the territory or whether they should just go away! While we ate lunch at Emerald Lake, Rosemary-san told us more about the Burgess Shale fossils. After lunch, we had a little bit of sunshine on the lake and very pretty reflections. I had a good time but ended up with a wet paw! Grandma put me on the shelf above the furnace in our cabin so I could dry out.
Friday was the last day of our tour. Rosemary-san took us to two places I had visited before! First, we drove up the road from our lodge to Takakkaw Falls. When I was there with Papa Dick-san and LaVache, it was a warm summer day. This time was winter! The water making the falls is melting glacier, so there’s less flow when it’s cold. There were red chairs, but they were facing away from the best view, not toward it! The bridge over the river was covered with slush, but I made a new snowman friend on the railing!
While we were still in Yoho valley, we stopped to see the Spiral Tunnels on the train line. The route of the original rail line was so steep that it couldn’t be used for long trains. Workers dug two spiral tunnels into the mountains, so that trains could go up and down at a more gradual incline. We wanted to see a train go through the tunnels, but no trains came along while we were there!
Next, we drove back past Lake Louise and up to Moraine Lake. It was summer the last time I was there, too! This time there was snow — the trees reminded me of when I visited Mount Fuji after the snowstorm in Tokyo. The lodge at Moraine Lake is partner to the one where we stayed at Cathedral Mountain, so we got to have lunch in front of the fireplace in the lounge. After I warmed up, I visited another old bear friend! Then we walked along the shore of the lake so Grandma could get photos of the pretty reflections on the water.
Then it was time to drive back to Banff for the end of the tour. Rosemary-san chose the back road for the trip. She hoped the snow would have pushed some wildlife down where we could see them, but we didn’t see any. We stopped at a pretty view of the Bow River at Backswamp. Rosemary-san wanted to show me another set of red chairs, but they were gone! When we got back to Banff, I made sure to thank Rosemary-san for our tour. Grandma found me a nice warm hoodie at the store right next to where we were staying overnight!
It was cold and foggy on Saturday morning when we took the bus back to Calgary airport. I made friends with a herd of bison in the International Terminal. When we got to Chicago, we learned that our final flight to Rochester would be delayed. After that delay, there was another delay while something on the plane had to be fixed! It was after my bedtime before we even left Chicago! It was already Sunday when we finally got home from the airport!
Sunday was still summery weather in Rochester! Grandma and Grandpa went to one picnic, and Uncle Steven’s family went to a different one. When Thomas got home from his picnic, we played with another GI Joe toy on the back porch. Then we helped Uncle Steven made pizza for supper. It was yummy! James came home with his wiggly tooth in a plastic bag — it came out at his picnic! He put it in an envelope under his pillow so the tooth fairy could collect it.
On Monday, it was Grandpa Jim’s birthday. He was Aunt Kara’s father and he liked to serve his daughters ice cream for breakfast. So Aunt Kara remembers him by serving ice cream for breakfast every September 17. Yum!
Love,
Lion-san
How did you get your paw wet? We think the red chairs are backward is so people can take pictures of others like you for instance along with the falls. At least you got to see the model of the spiral
Tunnel even thou you didn’t see a train go through. We were glad Grandma bought you a sweatshirt from Canada and you can wear it to Uncle David’s. What a nice way to remember Grandpa Jim ice cream for breakfast.