We're quite probably in love with the Rockies and we needed our fix this year just as we have done on previous trips so Linda and Janet had booked for us to stay in a beautiful guest house just outside of Hinton, at Folding Mountain which is about 40 mins North East of Jasper. Saturday morning we packed up the truck and headed out for the hills in 'Lily', Eamonn and Janets HUGE Ford monster truck or should I say, SUV. As usual the scenery was dreary and the traffic was frustrating and stressful.
Our first stop off was at the Cinnamon Spoon cafe in Bragg Creek at the foothills of the mountains where we stocked up on coffee and snacks. This is a popular filming location and was even used in the BBC series Dinosapien. Our next stop was at one of Eamonn's favourite places, Two Jack Lake.
A popular camping site in Banff National Park the area teams with wildlife. We spotted a couple of Columbian Ground Squirrels who had already woken up from their hibernation. They hibernate for up to 8 months a year from as early as late July, so during their brief awake periods, they never stop eating! The males come out of hibernation first and the females carry on slumbering for another week or two. Hhmmm... sounds familiar!
These lovely little creatures live in colonies so I don't doubt that by the time we reached Banff town for our next coffee and cake, there were many more about. I knelt down for a while with my camera poised and for a change, my patience was rewarded with this curious little guy... gorgeous!
We also spotted a Chipmunk... alas, he then spotted us and disappeared.
We called into Banff just briefly for refreshment and then set off up the Icefields Parkway. It was a beautiful, sunny, fresh morning and then within seconds, my flabber was gasted as we ran into a complete white-out snow storm. I couldn't believe it. It's a good job we had a couple of relaxed Canadians (well.. nearly) to look after us because just for a few moments... I thought our time had come.
Thankfully after a few miles more the snow went just as quickly as it had arrived and so we pulled in for our lunch. We had nothing short of a feast with us including what was left of Linda's birthday cake and no sooner had we pulled up in a fabulous location by the side of the road. mountains, frozen lake, than we were joined by this guy who perched on the bonnet of the car and shouted at us through the window.
As we neared Jasper we started to see more wildlife and it makes such a change being a passenger and being able to look out at it all. There were many White-Tailed Deer looking very cute...
...and of course many well behaved Big-Horn Sheep who adhere to the road signs.
After checking in at our guest house and listening to our hostess for what seemed like hours... bless her, she was only trying to be helpful but surely my body language eventually screamed out "shut the f*** up!! We have stuff to do and we're only here for a few days!!" Anyway.. she kindly recommended somewhere good and local to eat. We had a VERY interesting evening in Hinton at a Greek restaurant where there had just been a local wedding. The food was superb. The unofficial entertainment was fascinating. Why... for example, would you have a stuffed cat on the dinner table in front of the bride? I kid you not!! A stuffed cat was the centre-piece on the wedding table. As for the wedding party... It was like the Jerry Springer Show and the Jeremy Kyle Show all rolled in to one. Best of all was when they all left, drunk as you like, and all climbed into their pick up trucks. The bride even climbed in twice... because she was so blotto that she fell in one door and right out of the other onto the pavement!
We relaxed back at the guest house with a couple of nice glasses and watched the mountains go to sleep. Next morning, this is what we woke up to!
Lower down the stem of the flower was the discarded exoskeleton of the dragonfly nymph which had emerged from its underwater home only moments earlier.
He/She was a bit of a poser and kept me entertained for ages.... 
Meanwhile... Linda saw a very distinctive flash of blue move over the pond and we were lucky enough to sit and watch a Kingfisher perched for some time, before he dived in for a bite to eat. We were quite a distance away but with the binoculars it made a fantastic show. Again, if you click on the pics they show much better.
It was definitely one of those "It's really good being me!" Sundays :-)
