There are plenty of other incredible sights along Highway 93. Here’s something that made me happy as a designer and a lover of not seeing dead animals along roads.
And the lovely Lake Louise, which comes well before the Columbian Icefield. It’s not that far out of Banff.
One more thing about Banff before I discuss Lake Louise – it’s lousy with Aussies. I was married to a Kiwi once, and I’m still a proud New Zealander by association, but even if I wasn’t, there seemed to be an absurd number of Australians in the area. This is what you get, Commonwealth!
I joke, but that was about the ratio, 1 to 3. The other two kids shown above were vacationing Quebecois. They were my first hitchhikers. I don’t normally pick up hitchhikers because I have no seats, but when they’re just trying to get up from the highway to the lake, it’s not that big a deal, like jumping in the back of a pickup truck. Solomon likes the company too.
Well he would if he’d have noticed.
Lake Louise is stunning. The icy water makes everything else glow a little blue.
There was a fancy hotel (not much to look at on the outside), that framed magnificent views of the lake from every vantage point.
But by far that most exciting thing that happened here was after reading this placard about Georgia Engelhard Cromwell. Her exploits in the mountains of this region make my little glacier excursion look like a drunken stumble to the corner store. She’s the first female mentioned on one of these explorers of interest signs in my whole journey. I tried googling her and ludicrously, there’s a mountain named after her which shows up in wikipedia, but there is no wikipedia entry for her!
Georgia was awesome, but she just got me talking to these two kind people.
Turns out they are long lost siblings meeting for the first time on this trip! Their story is incredible, including going to school in the same English village briefly without knowing they were brother and sister. He’d moved to from England to Canada as an adult and was at last hanging out with his sis. They were adorable and it was a great joy talking to them.
When traveling alone, don’t forget to talk to people. They are always amazing.
HOBOXIA 