Lowes Travels

Aug 1-8

When you love a place with stunning scenery that brings unforgettable memories, you may wish to revisit and experience that joy again. We don’t normally do “repeats” because there’s so much more of the world for us to see. But we recently made exceptions by traveling around Vancouver Island, then boarding the Rocky Mountaineer train. Finally, we repeated a drive of the Icefields Parkway in the Canadian Rockies. These stunning travels allowed us to relive awe-inspiring scenery, this time with good friends!

As before, we boarded the Rocky Mountaineer for a breathtaking 2-day trip from Vancouver City all the way across British Columbia to Banff, with an overnight stop at Kamloops. And like before we experienced first class service, gourmet meals, flowing drinks and efficient hosts who doubled as knowledgeable tour narrators:

All of this was complimented with extraordinary Canadian landscapes and scenery, as we learned the history of the areas we passed through:

At Banff we rented a car to check out the area for a couple of days. Unfortunately it was swamped with people and traffic, unlike our first stay here nine years ago. Next began the road trip – 100 miles of spectacular scenery along the Icefields Parkway with friends!

We’re glad we did this again since we had driven the parkway north-to-south last time and were now going the opposite direction. It meant we’d experience the spectacular scenery from a different perspective, and stop to enjoy some viewpoints we had missed the first time.

Check out my blog post from our first visit here if you’d like to compare the differences between the trips. While the natural beauty remains largely the same, the huge increase in tourists has obviously changed the experience.

Banff

Click here to check out our first visit to Banff.

We drove in the Banff area to explore points of interest, sometimes spending significant time just trying to find a parking spot. But we did locate a great place to enjoy our lunches with a view:

Lake Louise and Moraine Lake

These places strongly recommend using a private tour bus because of parking issues. We did, and just as we arrived at Lake Louise a thunderstorm marred our visit. We had only minutes for a photo op here 🙁

Fortunately the rain had ceased as we arrived at our second stop, Lake Moraine. It sported another world-famous view:

To see why tourists flock to these lakes, click here to view the many pictures I took during our first visit.

The Icefields Parkway

To view our first drive over the Icefields Parkway north to south, click here. That trip was during the Fall season.

Traveling the Icefields Parkway between Banff and Jasper is like being in a postcard. This stunning drive was made even better as we experienced it with friends:

We didn’t want to rush this drive so we took extra time, staying overnight at a midpoint nothing-fancy hotel called “The Crossing”. Dave and Steve took turns with the driving, while Sue and I took turns yelling at them to stop so we could take pictures or simply be captivated by what was in front of us. On a side note, be sure to visit their blog site Belugas Excellent Adventures for their perspectives on the trip.

The photos I took during our breathtaking road trip cannot do justice to the diverse landscapes and sweeping vistas. Each turn and stop we made revealed spectacular scenery, so be prepared for lots of pictures coming your way!

My camera was busy, making it hard to choose which pictures to use for the slideshow below. Click on the slideshow to see more amazing landscapes:

To give you even more “I wish I were there”, I took some short clips to bring the scenery to life so you can feel as though you’re experiencing these sights:

The Icefields Parkway is hands down the most stunning drive we’ve ever taken, you have to do it!

Jasper National Park, Alberta

A horrific fire in 2024 burned approximately 96,000 acres in this area, including a third of Jasper townsite. The scars were evident and very sad as we drove along. Several hiking trails and large areas remained closed. We were glad to be a part of the recovery process by simply being there to support the local businesses as they struggle to come back.

To see what the area and the trails we hiked were like on our first trip, review my post here.

While the devastation was heartbreaking, new plant life like flowers and shrubs were already beginning to come back. It will obviously take much more time for the trees to recover:

Some places have reopened:

These bears escaped the fire and had returned to give us a show, We spotted them in the distance as they caused a traffic jam on the narrow road:

Town of Jasper

While strolling through town here we observed that about a third of Jasper, including many homes, had been gutted by the fire. But tourist dollars are helping with the recovery:

Thankfully these mural art works and several others were spared from the fire:

I know I’m bombarding you with many pictures, but the Canadian Rockies are among the most impressive and stunning places we’ve been. I encourage you, my dear readers, to take a road trip in the Canadian Rockies. You will be amazed!

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Next Up: Cruising through the British Isles