Banff, Alberta- Part III

April and Elin went for "tea time" at a very luxurious hotel. Nate and I weren't as interested, we bummed around downtown Banff.

These are the Banff hotsprings (didn't get a picture of the actual pool, sorry). They actually have to cool down the water for the pool, and it's still at 104 deg F.

"I am too cool."

Some very cool big-horned sheep by the roadside... one was looking straight at me as if to say "Leave me now in peace, and I will spare you." That's when I walked back to my car.

The Continental Divide! the line that splits water flowing eastward to the Atlantic or westward to the Pacific. Fun learning point for the kiddos.

This particular hike is in an area almost completely burned by forest fire 40 yrs ago... you could still see the blackened fallen trees.

Another beautiful area for playing/hiking by the river.

Unfortunately we had to skip the hike due to these warnings.

A very deep/narrow canyon that we could hike into on a boardwalk.

A pristine pool at the bottom of a waterfall in the back of the canyon... it was very inviting!

The Columbia Icefields- a glacier that we got to walk around on. This shot is from a couple miles away... it is enormous, but sadly is shrinking.

You might ask why we wanted to do this on our summer vacation. Well, I was thinking the same thing. The kids loved it, though, they thought is was soooo cool to walk around on a huge slab of ice.

This was the tire of the monstrous truck that drove us onto the icefield.

Our guide warned us not to step into any "puddles" as they can be deeper than they appear. Well, Nate must have missed that warning and could resist one of the puddles. Down he went, up to his thigh. Who knows how deep he would have gone if he hadn't caught himself. Check out his soaked pants...

Our last day, just bumming around a lake area, throwing rocks, picnicking, just taking it easy. We'd deserved a take-it-easy day after a week of hiking and site-seeing. Such a cool trip, I hope someday we can return.