Banff part II

got up early and did a walk on my own up to bow valley falls. I was a bit worried to hike on my own because of the bears but decided it didnt' really matter if someone was with me. The bear would still win. When I got up I ran to the window to see if the sun was out. The morning was gorgeous with blue skies and fluffy clouds, a pleasant change from the two days of rain. I quickly donned my hiking gear and headed out, leaving Mom and Asha sleeping.
I returned at 8 to let everyone know that today was "tea house" day. We were goign to hike up to five glacier tea house in Lake Louise. Asha could not motivate herself to get out of bed, so we set off. We took the highway to get there knowing we'd take the local Bow Valley drive on the way home (the more scenic route). We did see a moose on the side of the highway however, attempting to navigate the road construction.
The trail was phenomenal. I would love to do this hike again. First, the scenery is incredible. You start behind the Fairmont lake Louise which is an eight story hotel of the old style (something like The Lodge in The Shining) and it towers over lake Louise. Japanese tourists literally surrounded the patio but we quickly moved through them and onto the path. Most people did not venture past the beginning of the path, even though it starts out paved and we were soon on our own. Towards our left were multiple towering moutains, jagged as if their other half had abruptly plunged into the lake leaving raw mountain face. Waterfalls tumbled down from the glaciers and clouds and fog moved in and out leaving moments of sun and clouds that provided a variety of scenic opportunities. Behind us we could watch the Hotel recede and ahead of us a ginormous glacier towered above us (we were later told that the ice on the top of that glacier was 300-500 meters thick (and that the 8 story hotel was about 100 meters thick). It was incredible.
The walk itself started on a paved walkway and then after about 2.2 km it started to climb over glacier moraine so lots of rocks to maneuver over. Immediately to our right was more of the jagged rock face. Little was growing on these mountains. I don't know if that was a result of the rocks themselves or their age or some other factor but the trail was mostly open with few trees as we continued to climb for a total of 1000 feet. We crossed large snow fields and encountered rain on and off, mostly on as we approached our final destination.
When we arrived at the tea house we were hungry and ready for something to eat. The tea house has a limited menu of tuna, cheese and hummus, rice krispie treats, scones and jam, carrot cake, tea and a soup of the day. It all sounded good but we had the tuna and cheese. The cheese was simply cheddar cheese with a piece of iceberg lettuce and butter, but it was fantastic. The food is brought in through a combination of helicopter, backpack and mule. At the beginning of the season, one helicopter load is brought in of all the non perishable stuff. then mule trains bring in scheduled loads and workers haul up other stuff (of course, stuff also has to be hauled out). They did request you take your garbage or leftovers with you (which we stuffed in the fanny pack). The workers stay up there for four to five days in small cabins on the premises (without electricity or running water) and then they spend three days down the mountain and come back. the tea house itself is kind of perched on wooden stilts with a ladder leading up to a small wraparound deck with a kitchen inside. The deck is covered so you don't get rained on and the views are unbeatable. A ranger happened to be up there when we were and he talked about the calving of the glaciers and some local friendly bears that hang out on the hotel's lawn.

Some things to keep in mind when traveling to canada (or what I've learned so far from my own mistakes):
Some cell phones do not work in Canada (buying a Canadian cell phone is an expensive substitute)
Canadian stores will gladly take American money but they do a 1/1 exchange and give you change back in Canadian coin
Canadians do not seem to care if their pillows are hard as rocks or soft as cotton balls.
Beds may not have blankets only bedspreads and the bedspreads may weight as much as a 12 year old (imagine your 12 year old lying on top of you all night . . .)