Quist World Tour

Tuesday morning came around and there were a few unspoken understandings in the air. First off, very few of us were interested in returning to our tents as the predictions for our upcoming stay at Glacier National Park showed nights in the 30s again. Also, there was still a wildfire at Glacier, and it was affecting the area just west of St Mary Campground, where we had reservations. The road going across the park was closed from St Mary to the top of the mountain pass, so our movement would be quite restricted. I ended up scouring VRBO, Homeaway and Airbnb for a place to rent somewhere near Glacier. There was one house available in our price range in Whitefish, Montana, about 30 minutes from the West Glacier entrance. We decided to rent it. I called the phone number, the woman who answered was very gracious, and our Wednesday-Saturday itinerary were the only open dates she had. Second, no one wanted to pack sandwiches today. Plus Katy had a bunch of canned goods and mac & che...

So we woke up in Canmore, Alberta. Brian and I had one bedroom, Kurt and Katy had the other, all four girls were sleeping in the den, and the two boys were sprawled in the living room. Not luxury, but oh so sheltered. Canmore is only about 10 minutes from Banff (the town) which is just one small speck in Banff (the national park). It is packed with ski condo complexes that are quite a bit cheaper than the rentals in the actual national park. The financial reward was worth what we were losing in convenience. We decided to start our explorations by heading to Lake Louise, because we’d heard so much about it. Lake Louise (the town) is the home of the gorgeous Lake Louise (the lake), and it’s about an hour from Canmore.  First we had to enter the national park, and there were long, long lines to buy entry tickets. A certain unnamed friend of ours accidentally got in the wrong lane, the lane for people who already have passes. As he cruised forward in the wrong direction, ...