The Icefields

Our time in Jasper did come to an end & we had to pack our bags and head on toward a new adventure.  A couple of elk showed up to send us off.

We rolled south again on the Icefields Parkway and soaked in the amazing views.

Then after a couple hours we stopped at the Athabasca Glacier for a snowcoach tour.

The snowcoach tour is something Kevin & I had done before & remember it being pretty amazing.  Yes, you can walk out onto the glacier as far as you would like (for free), but the snowcoach take you well out onto a section of the glacier without hiking across the ice & potential ice bridges/crevasses.

And it's like one giant roller coaster.

So we rolled out onto the glacier & had a few minutes to walk out onto it & take in the views.

And the brisk wind while standing on ice.

Then after a quick selfie, the boys went off to explore.

I preferred staying close to the snowcoach....until I started to notice the crunching of the ice.

Then I was praying the boys all come back sooner since the sun was rapidly warming the ice.

 Thankfully no one fell into a crevasse or through a collapsed ice bridge & we got a picture by the snowcoach...

 Then the boys headed off to the Glacier Skywalk while I went directly back to the Visitor Center.
The Skywalk is just what it sounds like... a walkway jutting out over a deep valley that made me queasy just to look at from the road.

 The boys all enjoyed it & were even more excited about spotting some mountain goats perched along the slopes nearby.

 Then we ate some lunch, hopped back into the car and headed to our next stop-Lake Louise.
It is the most iconic, photographed lake in the Canadian Rockies (and easily the most crowded).  This time we did manage to find a parking space, then braved the crowds lakeside to snap a quick picture.  Almost all of the trails around the lake were still snowed under, or extremely muddy, so we knew we would not be hiking.  We did enjoy watching the helicopter fly by for supply drops for one of the alpine tea houses higher up the mountain.
One day we will hike up for tea...

 Then it was back in the car to our overnight stop in Radium, Alberta.
Easily the most lack-luster spot we stayed at but it was (thankfully) only for one night.
We did enjoy a wonderful German meal that night & said a "cheers" to Grandpa Ray.