Making a run for the Canadian border…

Up at 5:45am to shower and finish packing. Plus the hairdryer takes a long time to dry anything. Since our cabin is so far away from the hotel, we got smart this morning and decided we would take our carry-ons with us to breakfast rather than having to head all the way back to the cabin to pick them up. It was a good plan!

Beautiful cool, fall-like morning - around 50 degrees. So quiet and peaceful. Hard to believe we’re eating again but we have a long day of bus riding to get to Lake Louise. Breakfasts are buffet style and the eggs are quite good. Lots of fresh fruit available as well. One more trip to the gift shop before boarding the bus.

We were out of Glacier National Park fairly quickly from this west side of the park. We will continue to be on the west side of the mountains until sometime this afternoon when we cross back over to the east side in Canada.

Once we had cell service again we were excited to get a text from Kate that our A/C part has finally come in and will be installed on Wednesday. Had to ask daughter, Kate, to deal with the company since we were without cell service for the past two days. So when we saw her text to our neighbor Cheryl and Kip (who will let them in the house) that the part was in and scheduled for install on Wednesday, we were quite happy.

Today is a lot of time on the bus but we do get rest stops and a stop for lunch. Typical Tauck, our first rest stop at a local supermarket, we were treated to coffee or tea along with a donut or two (just what we need) as well as restrooms. 

The second stop was lunch at the St. Eugene Mission Resort; formerly a residential school from 1890 to 1970, run by the church to educate the “indigenous” and ‘assimilate’ them into the Canadian way. Some parents willingly sent their children here - others were taken by force. The truth about these schools has now come out as they’ve found unmarked graves at some of these schools, including this one. Of course this happened all across Canada just as this was done in other countries. Our shameful past. The Canadian government has been working towards truth and reconciliation and now has “Orange Shirt Day” held in September as a way to remember what had happened - remember so it doesn’t happen again. The First Nation people have torn down many of these schools around the country; however, this one remains and they turned it into something positive. All profits from this Resort and Golf Course go towards the First Nation peoples.

Lunch today included Minestrone soup and salad with ice cream sandwiches for dessert. I’m full again and back on the bus.

More later…

I’m back, but two days later so I will try to remember. I believe it was just a continued long drive to Lake Louise with amazing scenery (including the devastation from previous wild fires) along the way. Even an area with “hoodoos” - like they have at Bryce Canyon, but much different looking. And we did see some Elk.

Finally arrived at Fairmont Lake Louise - so beautiful - just like the pictures. Our room looked straight out onto Lake Louise. After a quick shower to freshen up we were ready for a dinner of Fish and Chips for Betsy and Steak for Ed. We sat outside overlooking the lake with travelers Brad and Becky. A lovely evening but we are sooooo…. tired. Off to bed for what turned out to be a great night of sleep.

Tomorrow - a day at Lake Louise,

Betsy