The Travelling Stevens Crew are off!

Our road trip of the rockies began in Kelowna about an hour from Big White. Wayne picked up a Ford Explorer 2008 with all the good bits including a DVD player ( minus any DVD's). With the words " Short right, long left" imprinted into his brain and all of us chanting to him at every intersection we began our venture out into the country.

We took a brief stop to check out the beautiful Okanagan Lake which is 110km long and offers many wealthy Kelownians beautiful vantage spots to build their mansions. Kelowna is big on water sports in the summer and they tell us the lake does eventually warm up enough to be able to swim.

From Kelowna we headed off towards Lake Louise not really expecting to make the full 4 and a bit hour drive. Instead we stayed overnight in Golden, a small town famous for The Kicking Horse Ski Resort. We had not organised any accommodation ahead of schedule for this week as its not peak season and having a car gave us the flexibility to call into a motel as it suited. This decision ended up working a treat as if we had tried to plan where we were going to be it would have added pressure to our "lack of schedule". We were actually quite spontaneous in our plans each day and made daily decisions on where we would end up, sometimes only an hour before!

We left Golden and continued to Lake Louise. The driving distances are deceiving, a lot like driving NZ although roads are not as windy, the speed limits are often only 70kmh on open roads as you are driving through national parks and the speed limits are enforced to protect the wildlife and accidents. All roads were clear of snow and the only wildlife we saw on this patch were a few deer on an embankment.

A cold and cloudy day, we stepped out of the car at Lake Louise to a white wonderland. The chateau stood very dominant against all the white and we took refuge in its warm lobby and marvelled at the opulence. Considering the low season, the chateau seemed to be accommodating mainly skiers and snowboarders, obvioulsy wealthier than the average ones we have met. The chateau rooms beginning at over $500 for just 2 people, we thought we could spend our money better elsewhere. ( the kids probably wouldn't have been too happy sleeping in the car either!)

We did brave the weather to walk out onto Lake Louise in its frozen condition and we even began to walk around the lake until we got about a quarter of the way and decided that we didn't need to say we had walked around Lake Louise in -10. Instead we chose to take a few mandatory photographs in front of the lake and chateau and then retreated inside to the Lakeview Restaurant to warm up.

The desserts on the menu appealed to everyone so we treated the kids to an impressive chocolate and fresh fruit fondue and Wayne and I had some vanilla profiteroles with chocolate, coffee sauce with yummy Mocha coffees. Very decadent and memorable view of a beautiful frozen lake with the sun trying to peak through the clouds.