Day 43...Tuesday, August 26, 2008...A Spectacular Drive from Jasper to Banff via the Icefields Highway

You'd think that, after all that great scenery in Alaska and the Yukon, nothing could match up...wrong.
The Icefield Highway is a stretch of about 130 miles running from Jasper south to Banff...weaving between and around the Canadian Rockies. Best of all (for me anyway), it follows the valley floor between the peaks so there's not a lot of steep ascents or descents. In addition to the magnificent peaks, there were also a number of glaciers as well as the Columbia Icefield...all in all as beautiful stretch of road as there is in the world.
You might ask what road hazard I've found to be the most dangerous in my travels...animals, no...steep curvy mountain roads, no...gravel patches and no center line, no...the single greatest hazard has been humans. Yesterday was a good example, I come barreling around a curve and there's some guy stopped in the middle of the road taking pictures...not on a pull-out or on the shoulder...no...right in the middle of the road. It's been that way all over...somebody sees their first moose or their first mountain, and they have to stop for a photo...never mind that there's no place to pull over.
I got into Banff mid-afternoon and headed for the Bow River Lodge...nice place...on the river and conveniently located on the edge of downtown. Banff, regrettably, is like most other "tourist towns"...fast food, souvenir shops, one-hour photos...you get the picture...still...the scenery is beautiful. I scouted around for a place for dinner and, all of a sudden, I was overwhelmed. A month or so "in the wild" and now there's Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Spanish, Indian, Korean...Wow!
I stopped at the Maple Leaf Grille (Contemporary Canadian) for a few glasses of wine (great Shiraz!) before heading to Masala for Indian. It wasn't the greatest Indian I've had, but it was decent. I had all my favorites...butter chicken, saag paneer, nan, and a draft Kingfisher beer. It was a nice change of pace after four weeks of meat...mainly prime rib.
I'm spending another day/night here in Banff. Even in the midst of paradise, however, the more mundane parts of life beckon...so...tomorrow, I'll be doing laundry here.
I got so many great photos driving down here that I'm posting a few "extras".

More later...