Reunion III: Lake Louise

As we drove to Lake Louise on Tuesday, July 2, 2019, I thought of my mom and dad, who spent their honeymoon in Lake Louise and Banff.  Dad took one suitcase and Mom took four!

 At Lake Louise, Team B  (Jonny’s family, Dave and I, Heidi, and Alyssa) went canoeing.

 We rented the canoes for an hour and paddled all the way to the other end of the lake.

 We looked back at the elegant Lake Louise Hotel, where Mom and Dad stayed on their honeymoon.  "I thought Grant was rich," Mom said.

           

 Heidi was in the back of our canoe, as primary rower, while I was in the middle and Alyssa was in front.  Alyssa and I got talking and slacked off in our rowing.  Heidi brought us back to reality:  “I need some help with the rowing, or this boat isn’t going anywhere!”

 Heidi, Alyssa, and I maneuvered our canoe next to Jonny’s, with the snow-covered peaks in the background, so we could each get photographs.

Team A joined us at the Lake Louise deli for lunch, and we then hiked together to Mirror Lake and Lake Agnes.  “That was the hardest hike we went on all week,” Mike later said.  The trail wound up and up and up, with glimpses through the trees at Lake Louise, far below.  I stopped after each 100 steps to catch my breath and recover.  I told Dave to keep up with the kids, but he waited for me every few hundred yards, until we finally reached Mirror Lake together.  Mike and Naomi later told me that Lake Agnes was only a quarter of a mile further, but I had no reserve left in me to continue on.  I resolved to resume my Zumba lessons when I returned to SLC.

At Lake Agnes.

 Jonny, Jenny, and their boys also walked part of the way up the trail and then returned to flat land.

 Camille’s family hiked Johnston Canyon, near Banff.  They stopped at Lake Louise on their way back to Golden.

         

 Team A's morning hike was around the perimeter of Emerald Lake and to Takakkaw Falls.  

 Lisa went along with Team A, which included Mike,Spencer, Naomi, and Bryce.

Jonny fixed his specialty, shrimp scampi, for dinner.  He served it with a salad and, for dessert, berries and ice cream with amaretto biscotti.  Everyone wanted Jonny’s recipes!

After dinner, we played the candy bar game, using Sam’s brown bags. While he was in SLC, Sam decorated 27 brown bags and sold them to me for $2.  That was a steal!  I pointed out to family members that they each had a custom-designed bag.

 The candy bar game always produces laughs and (sometimes) tears.  It is easy to get so wound up in winning our favorite candy that we forget that we can go to the grocery store and buy any of the bars for $2 or less!  Lisa bought $125 worth of candy bars in Seattle, and Jonny supplemented them with a few premium items, such as a “Piggy Truffle Bar.”  Each of us won a bag full of treats, although we also grieved the bars that we lost.