Count-down 44 days until departure for Alaskan Adventure
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| Banff National Park From Wikipedia Commons |
As we make our way toward Alaska, I’m really excited that we are going to make a stop in Banff, Alberta, Canada. I’ve wanted to visit there for a long time, ever since I saw a picture of Lake Louise, which was named after Queen Victoria’s daughter.
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| Lake Louise from Wikipedia Commons |
Its pristine glacier fed waters are an amazing blue-green that mystically draw me in like a luna moth to moonlight.
Established in 1885, Banff National Park is Canada’s oldest national park. It began to be popular in the late 1880’s as a trendy stopover point along the Canadian Pacific Railroad for travelers making their way from Europe to the Far East. At the time this was the quickest route to Asia.
The park today encompasses 6641 square km or 4100 square miles of protected wilderness.
Banff is famous for it’s excellent skiing. I checked the snow conditions for today. They have more than six feet of snow on the ground up there! I hope by the time we drive through in May that at least some of that has melted!
Speaking of the snow and ice, the most visited glacier in North America, the Athabasca Glacier, resides in Banff National Park. It has been measured to be between 90-300 meters (330-980 ft.) thick and covers an area of 6 square km (2.3 sq. mi.). I would love to go on their tour where you can actually walk around on the glacier. So cool!
Other neat facts about Banff:
It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site
Lots of movies have been filmed there, including River of No Return starring Marilyn Monroe
The Town of Banff is the highest in Canada at 4537 ft high
Two other fun Canadian spots I'm excited about are Dawson Creek and Jasper. Dawson Creek is at mile 0 on the Alaskan Highway, which was built during World War II as a way to get lend lease equipment from the U.S. to Russia. Jasper is a national park which was originally a fur trading post.
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| Jasper from Wikipedia Commons |
If you want to read more you can check out these links:
Have a great day!
Kathy :)
