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| The mountains were collecting snow as we were there. |
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| Downtown Banff |
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| Norman drawing a crowd! |
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| Norman and His younger brother Someday |
Our stay in Banff was late in the season, so we got the pick of the litter when came to a camping spot. We settled on a place in downtown Canmore, Alberta. The kids spotted rabbits running throughout the campground when we pulled in so they were happy! It turns out, after speaking with a local man in town, that the rabbits were descendants from a dozen or so domestic rabbits let go into the wild back in the 1980s and now they have bred with the wild rabbits and multiplied like crazy. The markings on the rabbits are domestic like, in which they are bright white or brown with white spots which is definitely not good for camouflage! After getting settled in, we headed in to Banff to check out Lake Louise. The lake is at the base of a mountain range that has a glacier that melts and fills this lake. The water color was close to an aquamarine color which they say is due to the glacier grinding away at the rocks underneath it and the powder gets washed down into the lake. We decided to take a canoe trip out on the lake, but Norman was with us so I took the kids and Karen stayed back with Norman. The kids had fun paddling the canoe and looking at the water!
The next morning we were up and at it, heading to the Columbia Ice Fields, which were 130 miles from our campground. After driving through some very scenic terrain, we ended up in a town called Jasper. The ice field is on top of the mountain range and sits roughly in a 100 kilometer long bowl of glacial ice that runs down the mountainside in Jasper, as well as other areas. We took the tour in which we boarded a souped up monster truck-like bus and drove out onto the glacier. The kids really got a kick out of this and frankly so did we. Being able to get that close to something that big, that has been around for 1000's of years is very humbling. We took pictures and even drank freshly melted glacier water from a stream on the glacier. The next morning we headed into Calgary to let Norman do his thing! It turns out they did a whole interview on the family, the trip and the superstar Norman! After the interview Karen met up with a facebook friend and her Briard (Norman's brother Someday) for a little family reunion. The dogs played together and the kids played together and I took nice break on a park bench in the sun for a little while. Lunch time found us in a little brewery and burger joint right downtown with Norman sitting with us just outside the fence. After lunch, we headed home for some down time and school work! The next morning we woke to cooler temps and some drizzle. We braved the weather and headed to downtown Banff for some window shopping and to just stretch our legs. Norman was a hit! He was recognized by several people and others just wanted to have there picture taken with him. While heading back to the truck after walking the streets of Banff, Norman was recognized again by a couple of people, so we did an impromptu scooter run for them on the parking lot roof! We headed back to the campground to clean up for dinner plans with Karen's new found friend and her family. Dinner was great and the company even better, unfortunately time had run out for us in Banff! The next morning we packed up the RV and headed west to Vancouver!
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