Hello dear imaginary reader, I apologize for the little break in posting. During the remainder of our time in Canmore I decided that if time alone did not present itself, that I would be present - not taking time out to post but to enjoy our location and time together. I am very happy with my choice, a big thank you to our friends Sweet Thing and her husband Bondman for sharing their beautiful condo with us. Xoxo! That said, there is nothing like being home...ahhhh...your own bed and pillow, puppy snuggles and routine. I love a good routine! I had mentioned in an earlier post that our family had been on a western adventure over a decade ago, this trip, some of that adventure was revisited. As our time in the Banff/Canmore area began to count down we decided to head to the Lake Louise area. To us, as beautiful as Lake Louise is, Moraine Lake takes the cake, You may remember dear imaginary reader that Lake Moraine and her Seven Peaks were the image on the back of the old paper Twenty Dollar Canadian Bill. From Moraine we headed to Lake Louise where the parking gods shined upon us! We were able to snag a spot on site, no shuttle for us....it was decision time. My hip had been a little sore from the stairs at Moraine (I forgot to mention we witnessed an engagement there, so fun!), I wasn’t sure that it would allow me to do the Tea House Hike. Our last visit here oh so very long ago found my young gazelles running up the trail while TLOMIL took his time and I am sure all of his patience to coax me up the trail. Ya see, I have a wee bit of a thing with heights. Makes no sense to me, throw me in a hot air balloon, a helicopter no biggie. Put me in a car doing switchbacks or walking near the edge of a trail and I am a big scaredy cat. With a prod from LLB, and the help of the lovely walking sticks I had received as a Christmas gift from Teach and AI, I decided to give it a go. The hike begins at the beautiful Fairmont Lake Louise and slowly but surely switchbacks (YIKES) its way up to the Agnes Lake Tea House. The Tea House itself was built in 1901 by the Canadian Pacific Railway as shelter for hikers. The elevation gain of the hike is 400 m (1,312 ft), when you get to the Tea House you are at an altitude of 2135 m (7005 ft). What the heck was I thinking? Thin air, 11 years after the first painful hike with a bad hip and wonky ankle! WTF!?!? With a “come on Ma, you got this” from LLB, we - LLB her Scott and I headed further up the trail. My love took position on the patio of the Fairmont to work the phone and not stress his knee. Did I mention that the volume of people on the trail was crazy? There were very few times when you weren’t having someone pass you, some were three abreast (promise not to rant!) which would push us over to the side, err edge! I am very sure that there were multiple times when the poor Scot could hear me shake I was so nervous. LLB and Scot were gentle and supportive of me, encouraging breaks and allowing others to pass so I didnt have to stay close to the edge. I wont say that I was a speed merchant but together - we got ‘er done! We met Scooter and KnowMe at the Tea House. LLB and I hung around for a bit, I was dehydrated and experiencing low sugars by the time we made it to the Tea House, so had to hydrate and eat a bit before we could head down. The others took off like the gazelles they are and headed to the Bee Hive before working their way back to the Fairmont patio. LLB and I stopped along the way down to take some pics and marvel in the beauty of where we were. Somehow while looking out on the vista we were able to tune out the parade of people behind us. We chatted our way back stopping now and then for messages from TLOMIL “when will you be back, this flight of scotch is tasteing like another!” Or the next one “You are driving home”, the odd one from Teach asking questions. We debated answering but in a weird way were able to share when they weren’t with us. In the end, I now know that I very much enjoyed using the walking sticks. I did not enjoy wearing the Boys old back pack, too big, too hot. I need to pick up a breathable day pack. I learned that pushing my hip, within reason is worth it (thanks be for ibuprofen). The very best thing - any one on one time I can get with any of my kids is worth what ever it takes to get it ( I may regret stating this in black and white)
At the end of the hike we took our position on the patio with TLOMIL while waiting for Scotter, KnowMe and the Scot. Lovely duck confit wraps shared with LLB and a wee glass of processo and I was ready for our next adventure! Cheers, dear imaginary reader
1 Comment
Judy
7/25/2018 08:55:19 pm
Awesome!!!!!
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