Same Spot, Same People, 28 Years Later!

While in Banff we recreated one of the photos from our honeymoon, this time with Jack as the photographer. At Bow Falls in Banff we stood by the (now frozen!) falls for a after-and-before shot!

Mary Jo & John @ Bow Falls, October 1990

Mary Jo & John @ Bow Falls, February 2019

Return to Emerald Lake Lodge!

More than 28 years after visiting for our honeymoon, John and Mary Jo spent an afternoon at Emerald Lake Lodge while on the Banff ski trip. We started out with a cup of coffee in the main lodge, which we barely remembered. After that we went on a snowshoeing hike around the lake. We had hiked around the lake when we visited on our honeymoon, though there wasn't snow on the ground then! We also included a walk across the frozen lake in our hike; fortunately the ice held up! Then we had a nice lunch in the lounge area before walking around a bit (we're pretty sure we were in cottage #26) and then returning. All in all it was a great stroll down memory lane!!

Ski Trip to Banff

For February break, we left snowy Seattle behind and headed to the Canadian Rockies for lots more snow and skiing. We flew into Calgary and drove west from there into the mountains; we stayed in Banff for six nights. The scenery was amazing - Mary Jo and John hadn't been back in 28+ years since their honeymoon in the area, and while we've visited lots of mountainous scenic areas since then, this still ranks among the most scenic. The sharp mountains all around, with lots of snow and rock, made for amazing views, and seeing it from the ski slopes made it all the more dramatic.

The town of Banff is a classic, quaint tourist town, very walkable (though the entire week was VERY cold). We stopped in the Christmas Shop we had bought our tree topper and a few ornaments back on our honeymoon (they said they'd been in business 32 years in that same spot!) and we bought a new tree topper and some decorations. The hotel we stayed at was relatively new and very nice.

The skiing was great. There are three resorts in the immediate area (within a 40 minute drive): Mt Norquay, Sunshine Village, and Lake Louise. We spent a half-day at Norquay (a fairly small resort), 1.5 days at Sunshine, and the boys spend 2 days at Lake Louise (parents spent 1 day there and the other day returning to Emerald Lake Lodge). We also ventured two hours west to Kicking Horse, which is a more hard core ski area, a bit off the beaten track of the others, and some really great skiing. All in all an amazing trip!!

Banff Avenue in Banff

View from top of Wawa Lift at Sunshine

Ridge at Sunshine

Mountains

Full Moon over the Mountains

Bighorn Sheep by Side of the Road

Jack at top of Sunshine

Across the Valley at Kicking Horse

Jack Going up Stairway to Heaven at Kicking Horse

Henry Outside Restaurant at top of Kicking Horse

More Mountains

Going Into Mt Norquay

Lift at Mt Norquay

Moose Hotel in Banff

Lake Louise Lodge

Moose Hotel - interior hallways were outside!

Lots of Snow!!

February, 2019 will be remembered in Seattle as one of the snowiest months on record. Another series of storms came through, starting on Friday, Feb 8, when we got about 5". It continued a bit over the weekend, with more snow on Sunday night and on Tuesday. We got 15" of accumulation at our house, and school was closed until Thursday.

Snowbound in the house for most of the time (we did manage to get skiing at Crystal on Sunday, in one open window of the weather), the boys skied down Somerset hill, MJ and John went snowshoeing, and we played a few board games. Jack also got a good taste of driving in the snow, as we all learned that even 4WD can have a hard time getting up hills in the snow.

Snow!!

On Super Bowl Sunday night, snow starts falling! We wind up with about 5" of accumulation overnight. School is canceled for two days (Jack drives Henry to Crystal to go skiing on Tuesday while Mom and Dad go to work!). It's very cold as well, so roads are a bit crusty and icy, but nothing too bad. Overall it's a beautiful winter wonderland.

The city got less snow but it still was a nice view from the office

Lots of accumulation for Seattle!

Beautiful view of the skyline from our deck

We planned to snowshoe to the lake, but the trail was well-trod and we wound up just walking