7/24/17 Gluttons

July 26, 2017

We rode up to Mother Nature's take-out window today and said fill us up because we're never going to have enough. And yes we asked for all the fixin's.

As if the Jasper Icefield wasn't enough, we rode back to 93 to experience the parkway south into Banff. The trip back from Rocky Mt. House on route 11 refreshed our experience of the day before, but in reverse. Jules always says that if you want to really appreciate a great road, do it both ways. And the appreciation we gained from seeing yesterday's rear view mirror image head on proved him true. The same water still beat out the sky in the blue contest, but it folded differently against the backsides of the mountains. It was a "Déjà-view".

At Saskatchewan crossing we turned toward Banff National Park and entered the southern half of the Icefield Parkway. Here we were served another helping of amazement as we rode by miles of snow covered monoliths in reverence. The storms from the previous night had brought in a cold front and as we climbed in elevation, the temperature plummeted but our spirits did not. We flew with the wind and forgot its bite.

One of the most picturesque picnic stops of our trip saw us huddled together at the edge of Bow Lake. Trying to overlook the stiff wind that blew off the water, we focused on our surroundings as a thieving magpie watched every crumb we dropped. Today we didn't linger over our salami, but shortly retreated to our heated seats to continue our enchanted ride.

Coming out of the clouds, we turned west on Route 1, before battling the tour buses at Lake Louise and the village of Banff. A highway that was fun to ride, the 1 took us past even more exotic scenery, but on four lanes. Then the descent began. Four lanes turned to 2, trucks were warned to check their brakes and run-away ramps began to appear. We were on the Ten Mile Hill, an engineering feat that cut through stone, hugged the mountains and took a major highway through a series of switchbacks over the valley below.

Into the valley, we decompressed in Revelstoke, a quiet little town complete with summer ski bums, residents and a few tourists busily pedaling their bikes back and forth on the main drag. Comfortable in short sleeves, we marveled at the extreme temperature changes of the day. So after a day of devouring even more dazzling sights, we digested it all as we sat over dinner, watched by a circle of mountains. Are we still hungry? Hell yes! We are glad gluttons, feasting on whatever our travels place on our plate and always searching for more.