Alberta    British Columbia   

In June 2008 I flew to Calgary, Alberta for 2 weeks in Alberta and British Columbia (BC). I was going to spend a week around the Banff, Alberta area then drive a loop around southern and central British Columbia before heading north to Jasper, Alberta.

It was 30 years ago since the first time I had gone to Canada, specifically out west to The Canadian Rockies. Back then it was a long drive across the plains to get there with my 2 brothers in a sub-compact car. In the end it was well worth it and definitely memorable, well at least as memorable as 30 years ago can be. After that I had returned a number of times, but only once anytime recently back in 1996. It wasn’t for lack of interest, just check out the other trips on the website to see why.

The Banff town site is nice, but crowded and you can usually do it in a day (pick a rainy day if you have one). But, the area around Banff has a lot of scenic things to see. You can drive off down any road and make any number of stops for a day hike trail and that’s easily a days worth of activities. It does help if you have a map and know where you are going, whether it is a loop, and what the ultimate final destination looks like so you know when you’ve arrived.

After Banff, I drove into BC and headed south toward Cranbrook. Near Cranbrook is Kimberley, a very nice ‘European’ type town that has a downtown made up like a Bavarian Village. There are only a couple ways west into BC from Alberta and the most scenic is along the Canada and U.S. border on the Crowsnest Highway (Hwy 3). There are many small towns along here, but it really is the scenery that makes it worth it. The town of Hope has a number of sites, since this is where the movie Rambo was filmed. The town of Osoyoos has the Nk'Mip Desert Cultural Centre (pronounced in-ka-meep) because of the desert climate there. To head to Jasper, I drove north on the Coquihalla Highway and the Southern Yellowhead Highway (Route 5) through central BC which was also scenic all the way.

The town of Jasper and Jasper National Park is my preferred choice over Banff; less crowded, less touristy, and scenery as good or better. In my opinion even driving there on the Icefields Parkway is half the fun. If you take your time to enjoy Jasper, you find spots that rival anything in Banff and without the crowds. Besides, L&W Pizza is in Jasper. I ate there 30 years ago and thought it was the best pizza anywhere, and that opinion hasn’t changed.




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Canmore, Alberta - This was the view from home the first week.

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Banff, Alberta - Downtown, buildings and roads. Cars and people?

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Banff, Alberta - View of Banff from the top of Sulphur Mountain at 7,500 feet .

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Banff, Alberta - Mount Rundle, just outside of town.

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Banff, Alberta - Two Jack Lake, you had to be there.

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Banff, Alberta - Moraine Lake and the Valley of the 10 Peaks.

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Banff, Alberta - Elk, for those that are interested.

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Jasper, Alberta - Medicine Lake. Funny story, but maybe another time.

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Jasper, Alberta - Leach Lake, just more scenery along the road.

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Jasper, Alberta - Tangle Falls, now this would be a great backyard.

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Jasper, Alberta - Moose, I think they hired Disney to plant this thing here. Too perfect.

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Jasper, Alberta - The tip of the Columbia Icefield, the largest icefield south of Alaska.

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Jasper, Alberta - Athabasca Falls near the Jasper townsite.

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Jasper, Alberta - Me and Jasper the Bear, friendly but still don't feed him.

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Jasper, Alberta - L&W Restaurant, excellent food and phenomenal pizza.

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Jasper, Alberta - L&W pizza, still the best I ever had after 30 years.

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Hinton, Alberta - Scenic route? You mean it gets better?

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Kooteney National Park, British Columbia - Radium Hot Springs at 104°F.

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Kimberley, British Columbia - My hotel, this cute town with a Bavarian theme.

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Cranbrook, British Columbia - The Elizabeth Lake Bird Sactuary on the edge of town.

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Osoyoos, British Columbia - What an interesting rock.

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Valemount, British Columbia - Gateway to Mount Robson.

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Mount Robson Provincial Park, British Columbia - The highest peak in the Canadian Rockies at almost 13,000 feet.

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Hope, British Columbia - Downtown, where they filmed the movie Rambo.

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Hope, British Columbia - I found it. Odd.

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