Canadian Rockies (加拿大洛基山脉流水帐) II

24 Sep 06

在路上。

开了５００多英里，１２小时，从温哥华，１号,５号,１号高速公路，经过班芙，到CANMORE.

下塌Bear County lodge, $49 一晚，待四个晚上。小旅馆非常干净舒服，两张大床，前台的接待生是好看的加拿大美美。我们的旅馆后面有铁轨，而"三姐妹"雪山也宁静的站在远远的天边。 CANMORE是个小镇，两条街，都是大大小小的旅馆和饭店们。已是在洛基山脉区，大雪山们拥抱着小镇，我们也习已为常，一路高速公路我们已开始饱缆洛基雪山的秀色。雪山和绿头的山交错在一起，延绵不绝，阳光的变化，时时勾画不同的景色气向。

晚饭是"SAGE　BISTRO"，我们的旅行书上推荐的，果然很好。晓楠点的小羊腿好吃极了，加上临窗的座位，吃着好的，看着夕阳将天边染红，很为满足。

On the road

The day was spent on driving, over 500 miles, 12 hours. When we left Vancouver in the early morning, the city was still sleepy. Mist was everywhere, along the highway. I managed to persuade Xiaonan not to stop for the photo since I worried about our 12 hour driving plan. We thought this would be common in the area. But we were wrong, that was the most beautiful morning we saw during our trip. And xiaonan only took very few photos in a hurry. Mornings in Canadian Rockies area turned out to be not that great.

Highways we covered include 99, 1, 3, 5 then 1 again. My complain, mainly, was that Canada government seems not concern about well beings of travelers. There are so FEW restrooms in the highway!! The signs in Canada highway tend to be much smaller, less frequent, unlike US highway, "rest area" or "gas station" signs are everywhere, bigger, and reminded many times before the real exit. Well, in Canada highway, when you see "rest area" sign, you will miss the turn/exit for sure. I missed two precious "rest area" signs, (they are so few in the first place, especially in highway 1 and 5), and started to curse along the way. The other difference we observed while driving is there are so many trucks in the highway. They move all kinds of stuff: logs, steels, pipes. The presence of big truck made the driving fun, when the highway has only one lane in each direction. There would be a passing lane every 10 miles or so. So, our job was to chase all the slow trucks in that direction and try to pass them. It was fun.

Twelve hours later, we arrived to Canmore in time. Bear County Lodge was a nice surprise. The hotel uses old country style. A fire was burning lazily in the lobby. The room was nice, has double queen beds. It's a bargain for $45 per night. We stayed here for 4 nights. When we checking out the railways at the back, the "three sisters" were welcoming us there. Then we were reminded again we were now in Canadian Rockies area. Those glacier mountains are everywhere, they hug the town, the highway and us. We have saw them several hours ago in the highway, now, we were at the heart of it, where we could see some of its best peaks and lakes.

Dinner at Sage Bistro. It's recommend by our moon handbook. The book was quite right. Xiaonan's order Lamb Shank was so good! I ordered meatloaf as it was recommended in the book. We were seated close to window. The sun was busy coloring the sky and the mountains. We were enjoying the food and the view, and thinking this was perfect.