Rocky Mountains - OMG!!! And an alpine tea house that you can only get to by hiking

I love the Rockies! OMG He sure knew what He was doing when He made these!

We have just left the Rockies this morning after 5 days there. (I could easily spend another week doing day walks but Joel is not really interested. Might need to go another time)

Here are just a few photos. Words and photos can not do the Rockies justice. The Icefields Parkway is truly one of the worlds great drives. (except for Athabasca Glacier - too over commercialised and having already done a heli-hike on Fox glacier in NZ, we did not bother with this one. I am sure Fox was a much more authentic glacier experience) We drove from Jasper, south to Banff and the mountains just kept on coming and getting bigger and more dramatic. We checked out numerous lakes and waterfalls and saw lots of animals including squirrels and elk with calves playing behind our campsite in Jasper.

 Icefield Parkway drive - well worth allowing plenty of time to stop and admire the views.

 Peyto Lake - It really is this blue!! Even though it was cloudy and spitting, the lake is still a surprising bright blue colour. It is caused by light reflecting off glacial moraine particles suspended in the water.

 Bow Lake - I have never seen a frozen lake before.

 Lake Louise - this is the view from the Fairmont Lake Louise Hotel

Sheryl and Chrissie - you will be interested to know I talked Joel in to walking 3.5km up a mountain side and 3.5km back down, to the Lake Agnes Teahouse. It truly is a 'teahouse' with many types of tea on offer, a few food selections, and only once choice of coffee - 'French press coffee' which is plunger coffee. I did have coffee and apple crumble which was very nice.  Not only is the teahouse charmingly rustic and set on a beautiful mountain lake but it is also at the top of a waterfall and has amazing views of the valley below where the Fairmont Lake Louise hotel sits on the shores of the very beautiful Lake Louise. There are two other alpine tea houses nearby as well - one on the Plain of Six Glaciers - how wonderful does that sound?! Next time...

The things we do for a cuppa - hike 3.5km uphill through snow drifts! Almost there - you can just see the roof in the top right. To be honest there were only a few patches of snow.

 The menu - all of the right hand side lists numerous types of tea on offer.

 You can sit inside -

 Or outside with view over the valley -

 or the view of the lake -

Don't you love the specially designed stainless steel sugar pot and tea pot!