Day 3

Its just Amanda and I now, we are sad to leave the guys in Calgary, but they have to go to work the next day.
Our original plan was to stay in Banff that day, but we think it thru and agree it makes no sense only driving 1.5 hours and then 9 hours the next, plus we were on the road by 9am so it was plenty of time to "explore" the rockies and the national parks.
It didn't even dawn on me the fact that it was still winter season. Here I am expecting to see green/blue water again and excited to show Amanda, but Moraine Lake wasn't even open because its 10km's up the hill and Lake Louise was most definitely ice locked. It was mild enough though, to walk in just a sweater. We didn't realize that the rockies actually have 8 different weather systems in them, makes it SUPER unpredictable and dangerous, especially in the winter months. We didn't run into any bad weather at all, it was beautiful and clear.

So our contingency plan was to head to Kelowna. Again a different route than what I took last time, so I'm very excited to see a different scene. It was beautiful! So amazing to see the forests and scenery change as you decend the rockies, first its all pines, thick with the smell, and then birch trees flicker in, then its equally birch trees and pines, then wild flowers and ferns and sicamours and red pine. We see a female Elk ( something I didn't see last time), and we were talking about how badly we wanted to see mountain goats when just as we turned a corner, there's a dozen !!! Young ones or females, but not scared at all of the vehicles, we get out and take pictures quite close! Its very entertaining to see them scale down the mountainside! Unbelievable how their hooves work on the rocks. We are literally hysterically laughing with glee as we pull away and even though we were totally spoiled with the sight of so many, we can't help but wish we saw "horns".
Next corner, there they are. Magnificent creatures! 4 males keeping watch of their females like statues on a cliff ! They didn't move, it was very eerie, we were told that's their defense mechanism, to intimidate. I felt it.

We reluctantly leave them and continue on our way. The scenery continues to spoil us, and its hard to believe that it just keeps getting better and better. We arrive in the Okanagan and again, we gasp at the sheer beauty of it. The lakes and mountains, snow capped and lush green all at once, doesn't even seem real.

We check into our hotel and its early yet so we change and treat ourselves to a dinner. I chose steak, naturally, to replenish my protein and I opted for salad and steamed veggies on the side because rockstar and beef jerky seemed to be the norm for the entire trip previous. I also order a glass of red (we are in the Oak, afterall) and it tastes so good. After our meal, our plans to hit the hot tub were squashed by exhaustion again, at this point we have gone thru 3 time changes so exhaustion hits you fast and hard. We were both in bed by 9pm again, but woke up completely refreshed. I haven't had a decent sleep since the Thursday prior (about 5 days before).