Glaciers...glaciers everywhere...

We got up today and when we looked out the window, there it was...the sun :-) We said goodbye to Golden after enjoying our stay there. The first part of Hwy 1 was the same as that we travelled yesterday when we visited Lake Louise. On the way, we made a side trip to Emerald Lake. At first we thought this was unexplored territory, but when we got there, we found it very familiar. And with reason, because we were here also 20 years ago with Ron and Tina. This time it didn't rain like the last time though. What a gorgeous lake this is. Look at our picture although it doesn't really do justice to the real scenery it does give you a glimpse of its beauty. On the way back to the highway, we stopped at the "Natural Bridge". This is where the Kicking Horse river has tunnelled through and under the rock formation here. It drops by at least 50ft or so and the resulting falls are spectacular. You're going to read this word "spectacular" or a synonym a lot since the Rockies here are just that in every way. The weather is also cooperating today, a fair bit of clouds, but also sun. This makes everything really stand out even more. About 15 minutes from Golden we saw our first wildlife, a group of bighorn sheep. They were just standing beside the road.

Near Lake Louise, we turned onto Hwy 93, also called the Glacier Highway. We had to stop at the park toll booth and were extorted $17 for the privilege to drive the Glacier Highway. Although it was hard to let go of the money, it proved to be well worth it. This road follows a valley, first along the Bow river and later on along the Athabasca River. On each side are fantastic mountain ranges topped with snow and glaciers. This has been our best day so far as far as scenery is concerned. The views are just magnificent, stupendous, spectacular, etc. Words are inadequate to describe the handiwork of God.

We saw a lot of wildlife along this route as well. We saw bighorn sheep by the dozens at various points. At other points we stopped and photographed a black bear, mule deer and elk. We stopped and enjoyed a few waterfalls as well. One of the main attractions that we re-visited were the Columbia Icefields. This is a massive ice field that has multiple glaciers like an octopus and feeds some of the largest western rivers, i.e. the Athabasca, Columbia and North Saskatchewan Rivers. We travelled to the foot of the Athabasca glacier, which is one of the largest of glaciers coming from the Columbia Icefields. After spending some time in the interpretive centre, we motored on to Jasper. We stopped for gas, a visit to the post office and the bank and then carried on to our final destination of today, Hinton. We soon checked into our motel and got ready to do our usual things such as going for supper, writing this blog and relaxing.

Upon reflection on the day's activities, I can't help but think of how God has created a perfect world for us. Too bad we have spoiled it in so many areas. How anyone can say that this wonderful natural world of ours has come together by chance must be daft. When you see how everything in the natural world works together in harmony and to think of the complexity of everything that is living, I cannot help but marvel at what God has created for us. To say that everything just came by chance, is incomprehensible to me. I would be more likely to find an Ipod and then say, look... I found this interesting artifact, I wonder how long it took to evolve from a single atom to this. Life, plant life as well as animal life, is many orders of magnitude more complex than anything we know about, including man-made (emphasis on made) objects. None of those can replicate themselves for one thing. Macro-biologists compare the complexity of a single cell to the complexity of our space station. I'm reminded of the saying "There are none so blind as those that see, but lack understanding". Anyway, here endeth my sermon.

I hope this blog has been interesting to all my readers. I sure have fun re-capping the day's events and observations by these means. Good night to all!