Here is our view from our 4th level room. Beautiful. The "registered guests only" pool is right where those trees in the open are. During our first evening, we went down to the Spruce Grove Campground which is a quick trip down the highway from the resort. It's a nice campground with a bit of space between you and your neighbour. That is an Albertan's opinion, our BC friends did not think it was very roomy! Tells you the difference between BC camping and Alberta camping! We are used to packing it in like sardines.
Sadly, we had to say goodbye to our friends as they were only there for the night. :(
However, before they left, we went for lunch at Tony's Greek Grill & Juice Bar, which is located at the base of Fairmont Resort Road. If you have never stopped here, you must! This is authentic Greek cuisine and is made with fresh ingredients, daily, on site, by Tony and his wife, Vivian. The falafels are amazing and the humus is the best I've ever had. Nevermind the decor, you aren't there to eat in a fancy restaurant! The picnic tables and plastic chairs lend to the charm of this place.
During our stay in Fairmont, we would start each day at the pool where our kids perfected their dives and cannonballs. Of course Mark is a former Fairmont Hot Springs cannonball champion (see this blog post for pictures of his impressive tidal waves, earning him top prize at the Saturday competition.)
Each night, we would enjoy a soak in the hot pool at either the public pools or the private, for registered guests only pool that is nestled up to the lodge. The grounds are beautifully landscaped and this pool is surrounded by huge trees and beautiful flowers. It is such a tranquil place.
The Bear's Paw Bar & Grill hosted Dean Ray of the Dean Ray Band each night that we were there so every night we would go hang out and listen to some great live music.
In 2012, Fairmont Hot Springs suffered major damage during a mudslide that took out the road and foot bridge that separates the resort from the campground. Check out the news coverage of it here. While we were at the resort, they had just installed a new, much larger and stronger foot bridge, and it is due to open to the public this week. Check out their Facebook page for pictures of the bridge and it's install.
The mudslide also took out the fencing along the creek, which they put up a few years ago in an attempt to keep people out of the waterfalls down below. We would go anyway :) The waterfalls and pools down by the creek are the result of where the pools empty and are a great place to go visit. Not a lot of people know about this place as it is a little bit of a hike to get there and it is not crowded at all. The pools are formed from the natural minerals in the water and as a result, it is very slippery down there.
While cleaning up from the mudslide, they decided it was time to remove the pools by blasting the stalactite that had formed where the water flowed off the cliff at the second waterfall. We'd heard a few different reasons, one being the resort was afraid that the stalactite would break off and fall, killing or hurting people in the pools below. Another reason was that so many injuries happened down there, when people would slip and fall and they would have to bring in a rescue crew to lift them out as it was not possible to bring in a stretcher.So, the pools are no more :(
During this trip, we spend one afternoon shopping in nearby Invermere. We walked up and down the main street, visiting all the art galleries and little shops. Look! They even named one store after me!
This is Rusty the Moose. He's an 8 foot tall work of art, made out of a various pieces of metal.
We also took a drive out to the hoodoos and hiked around the river to collect some rocks.
Rayden is a fantastic rock hunter! He found beautiful rocks for us to take home for our rock collection. NO! This area is not in a national park! We are not doing anything illegal here! :)
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Zander found this perfect chair shaped rock. It was too big to put in the back of the Explorer :-P
On our way home and just after we had passed Radium Hot Springs, my oldest son made a comment that we had not seen a lot of wildlife on this trip, only a few deer and how cool it would be to see a moose or bear. I have only one time seen a moose and he was so far away, you could barely make out what it was. Not even 1 minute later, we round a corner about 1 km north of Sinclair Canyon and there are cars stopping all over the side of the road. Guess who they were looking at? A moose! She was standing in a turnoff, eating something on the road and was not bothered by these vehicles at all! Some cars seriously drove right up to her, within feet of this humongous animal. I wish people would give the wildlife some space, they were just way too close. We did slow down to gawk at her and I didn't even have enough time to take a picture, but I will remember that thrilling moment forever!
Not far past Radium is a little roadside turnout at Numa Falls which is along the Vermillion River. The mountains surrounding Numa Falls currently have several forest fires burning, so the trails are shut down, but we could still go to the first bridge and take a few pictures of the falls.
Looking east towards the parking lot.
Looking west
On our way home, we took a quick jaunt up to Lake Minnewanka, as neither Mark or myself had been there since we were little children. Mark and his family used to pull their trailer up there but it looks like they do not allow trailer camping anymore, only back-country tenting. Lake Minnewanka has a rich history as the original townsite was flooded after dams were put in. If you scuba dive, you might want to check this place out!
Many of the areas along the highway were closed due to bear sightings and we were surprised to see many of the areas along spillway at Lake Minnewanka were closed due to electrofishing in the area and its risk of electrocution to people. What is that all about? It's actually a rescue mission for the displaced fish as a result of the flooding that happened the area earlier this summer. Check out this Global news video about it here.
Why didn't I take any pictures during our stop here? Dunno.
We stopped in Canmore for lunch and drove around the area to see the damage left from the devastating flood this summer. You couldn't even tell this town had been ravaged by flood waters and debris just 2 months ago, it was in perfect condition (by my eye anyway, I'm sure the locals could tell you many areas are still in need of repair.) We ate at Rocky Mountain Flatbread Co. and had their amazing pizza that is made with many organic, fresh and locally produced ingredients. They use a wood fire oven that is right in the open restaurant so you can actually watch them pull your pizza out. This pizza was AMAZING. Honestly, aside from our homemade pizza, which is the best pizza I have ever had in my life, this place was a close second.
It was an amazing trip and one I never get tired of taking. I loved visiting old, familiar places and discovering new ones as well. We have a few more days of vacation and come Tuesday morning, we all head back to work and school. Until next time, BC!
falafels,
falafels,
falafels,
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