Honeymoon Roadtrip: Lake Louise

J and I spent two nights at Storm Mountain Lodge near Banff and then moved to Cathedral Mountain Lodge near Field, BC as a base for the second half of our honeymoon. I'll be posting a review of this lodge coming up soon.

We took advantage of a sunny day to drive the Icefields Parkway, a 230 km journey from Banff National Park to Jasper National Park. This drive takes you past beautiful mountain vistas, serene lakes and even a glacier with plenty of opportunities to see wildlife as well.

Even though it was June, winter was alive and well in the high mountain passes. We had no troubles with the road conditions, but many of the beautiful lakes were covered in ice or a dull grey. Until we found Peyto Lake! A short hike from the parking lot and you are rewarded with this stunning view and deep turquoise water.

The scenery along with drive was incredible. It literally felt like being inside a postcard at times.

The Icefields Parkway is known for wildlife, as it runs through moose, bear and wolf habitat. We saw quite a few bears along the way.

Rather than continue all the way to Jasper, we made the Columbia Icefield Glacier our final stop. It was amazing! Pictures can't capture the scale of this natural wonder. A visitor centre gives you lots of info about the glacier's history and the opportunity to take a tour out onto the glacier itself.

This is a geological formation called the Weeping Wall, a massive stone formation with hundreds of small waterfalls along the rock face.

Back in Lake Louise, we visited the iconic Chateau Lake Louise and were pleasantly suprised by the gorgeous Morraine Lake just outside of the main city. J was interested in the 85 year old CP rail station at Lake Louise. The station has been renovated and converted into an excellent restaurant with a historic garden where we had some delicious Alberta beef.

The last stop of our honeymoon was the small BC town of Field. We hit Emerald Lake, the Natural Bridge and took home a beautiful souvenier from an interesting little pottery store.

The Natural Bridge, formed entirely by water erosion!

I'll leave you with one piece of advice if you visit the Rockies. If you see cars on the side of the road, pull over too! We came across this guy out for an evening snack of dandelions :)