Monday morning brought a lot of small reminders that we’re due to leave the city. The 5-minute drive from the hotel to our breakfast was stressful, with honking cars. Parking on the streets of Calgary is easy to find. Still, it comes with the expectation that you remember your license plate number by heart, which, when renting a car, is no small thing to do and that you’ll notice the small number on the parking indication telling you in which curb zone it is—ended up paying for parking twice (once for the wrong plate number and once for the right one) before we were able to go for breakfast. Some attentive readers might point out to me that there’s an app for paying for parking in Calgary. They would be right, except they expect you to put a “balance” in your account of a minimum of $25. Even if we paid twice the total cost, the parking cost was about $5 for the duration of our breakfast, so giving them $25 for the privilege of using the app didn’t seem like a good deal.
Today was our entrance to the Rockies. We made our way to the Ha Ling Peak. Well, we made our way to the trailhead and hiked up to the saddle. It was a beautiful hike on a clear fall day (if a little windy). The peak was initially called “Chinaman Peak,” but was renamed in an attempt to be more politically correct. The fact that the plaque at the entrance to the trail says it’s dedicated to the brave men who worked under the mountain and does not explain who Ha Ling is would lead anyone to conclude that the people who worked in the area were very likely of Asian descent.
After our hike with gorgeous viewpoints on the surrounding mountains, we made our way to Lake Louise and our hotel. Amid a pandemic with severely restricted travel worldwide, Lake Louise sees far less traffic than usual. It created an excellent opportunity for us, and Karine secured us a room at the iconic Fairmont Lake Louise hotel (the one you see in all the area's pictures) with only a couple of weeks' notice. We were told, after booking, that typically it’s booked a year or more in advance. We may have to wear masks everywhere, but we get to do it in style, with a view.
We’re in Lake Louise for four nights. Tomorrow will likely be dedicated to exploring around the lake if the weather permits.