Banff: Early Morning Shots

 So one morning while we were there, I got up a bit early and headed outside, because I wanted to get some night shots of the lake and the surrounding mountains.  

The hotel was serene and quiet as I made my way towards the outside.

It is quite a wonderful sensation to walk outside in the frigid cold.  You inhale that crisp, freezing air and simply feel alive.  And at peace.  Because snow mutes the sounds of the world, except for the crunching under your feet.  Solitude, peace, life.  And beauty all around me.  I loved my few minutes outside that day.

Would you believe that this was at 7:00am?  Yet it was completely dark outside.  Lucky for me, I went out to take some night shots on the shortest day of the year.

Boy, did I wish I had a tripod after I looked closely at these shots.

 I do love this one, though: a puff of powdery snow being blown off the mountain, high above me.

Banff: Frozen Lake Ice Skating

"WHAT am I about to do?"

So I thought to myself.  Because ice skating is not my sport.

This beautiful lake freezes every winter, and the hotel clears part of it for the ice skating.

And they build this enchanting ice castle on the ice.  You can skate in and around it.

So we went skating one afternoon.  Nathan was much more of a natural than I was.

 Of course, I didn't get a shot the moment he fell. ;)

But, in his defense, the lake ice is not entirely smooth.

Another Lake Louise adventure.

Banff: Dog Sledding

The last time I posted about our anniversary trip to Banff was way back in early January, and the trip actually took place in December, so I think it's safe to say that I'm a bit behind on this thread!  In an attempt to catch up on these long belated posts (will I ever get to Christmas?), here's the next installment on Banff: Dog Sledding!

When we went to Lake Louise for our honeymoon, we hiked canyons and around the lake, we watched ice climbers on a frozen waterfall, we rode on a gondola up a mountain, and more.  But dog sledding was the thing we thought was the most fun.  It's a unique experience for Texans.  Plus, the dogs are just so darn cool. 

Ten years later, dog sledding was just as cool.  Or, more accurately, it was frigid.  I think the temperature was around -5F that morning, but the air is so dry in Banff that it really is not uncomfortable if you wear enough layers.  Well, okay, my fingers and toes got pretty darn cold after a while, but they warmed back up nicely.  It was worth being a little cold to enjoy such a fun excursion.  Nathan and I picked up these mufflers before our trip, and we were really thankful for them on a couple of occasions--I have to tell you, when you get into that sled behind the dogs and start moving at 15mph on a day when it's -5F and there's snow being kicked up in your face, well, although you may not be terribly uncomfortable, you do start to be grateful that the only part of your face that's exposed is your eyes.

The dogs are wonderfully sweet and full of personality.  Some of them are shy, some are wild and goofy, and all of them are eager to get on their way.

Definitely, part of the pleasure of dog sledding is getting to hang out with the dogs a little.

The dogs that run the sleds are bred and trained for it, and it is their life's love.  While they're waiting, they yip and pull and cry, and when they're being harnessed, the din escalates with their excitement.

Even though they can't go anywhere, they pull and strain, yip and holler.

And then, when the brake is loosed:

silence.

It's so interesting to see them run.  They dip their mouths and take bitefuls of snow to stay hydrated and cool off without missing a step.  Each member of the team has a clear job, based on their personalities, age & experience, etc.  They clearly love to run and are good at it.  They're the elite athletes of the dog world, bred for their sport rather than for looks.  This particular team of dogs runs long Alaskan races in winter when they're not tugging little tourists back and forth across the Continental Divide. 

Speaking of which...

We got out at the Great Divide and wandered a bit, taking some photos.  My face looks so cold in this one!  Like it was a strain to smile!  Ha!

On the way back, we were each allowed to drive alongside the owner for a while.  We'd stand on one runner while she stood on the other, agreeing to stomp on the brake if she fell off, and she'd do the same for us.  :) 

Check out the eyes on that puppy.

It was super fun, y'all, and Nathan and I would recommend it if you ever get the chance!

Banff and the Chateau Lake Louise

Well, folks, it's about time I give a recap of our tenth anniversary trip!  Most of you readers are probably people I know in real life, so you all likely already know that we went to Banff in December, which is also where we spent our honeymoon.  Since that first trip ten years ago, Nathan's had the opportunity to return and teach geology courses several times during the summers.  And, each time, I'd teasingly say, "Are you sure I can't go?  I'll carry your luggage!" Which is a tremendous joke, since, between him and me, if someone ends up carrying extra luggage, it's not me.  So every time he came home, he'd say, "I owe you a trip!" And, finally, it came: our return to Lake Louise.

This trip is the special reason I rented that fancy lens I mentioned a few posts ago, and I had a marvelous time using it.  I'm going to break up the story of our trip across a few posts so I don't overwhelm you with pictures.  And I took a lot--more than 400--so count your lucky stars I'm not going to post all of them!  

Seriously, though, the scenery is so unlike what I live in every day that its novelty adds to its beauty.  To me, not living in a cold climate currently or for most of my life, I am still surprised by how snow moves and collects and sounds and shines.  And because I'm still surprised by its beauty, its magical quality has not worn off for me.

We flew into Calgary, rented a car, and commenced our drive to Lake Louise.  Because the air is quite dry on this side of the Rockies, and because it is so cold and is not melting (getting wet) anytime soon, the snow is very powdery and does not stick.  One stretch along the highway was so interesting because the wind was blowing the snow across it in patterns I've only seen in sand, not snow.  It was wave-like and swirling and looked like dust.  Quite a sight to see.  This picture doesn't really convey it, because we'd already crossed the majority of the area where it happened.  But you can see a bit of what I'm saying from the patterns on the ground.

Along the way, Nathan was pointing out the geological structures around us.  There are lots of thrust faults and folds that are very visible in this area because the mountains are not necessarily covered in trees.  This is an example of a very clear fold.

This particular mountain was unusually jagged, I thought.  Like bad teeth. :)

After a four hour flight and a two hour drive, we were finally almost there!  Woo hoo!  One kilometer!

The first view of the hotel: The Chateau Lake Louise.

When we arrived, the valet who took our car had our names and sent us straight up to the seventh floor, which is where we were staying, promising our luggage in a few minutes.  The seventh floor has its own lounge, concierge, and so on, and it is wonderful.  It's a very relaxing and cozy place to spend some time.  There are several tables and comfy chairs, lots of antique books, a fireplace, and a great view of the lake.  And there's always food--really yummy food.  For example, when we arrived, these afternoon pastries were laid out.

There were pastries every day, and they were never the same.  They also served a marvelous breakfast and some impressive canapes before dinner.  And you can always go in and grab some hot tea, soda, coffee, water, and so on.  Everything is set out immaculately, from the pastries to the cream and sugar.  The convenience and comfort of the seventh floor lounge really is part of the Chateau that made our experience great both times we've been there.

Nathan is definitely a pastry lover.

And we both love our tea.

Such a nice place to wait for our room to be ready!

The whole hotel is decorated in such a way as to be very nice but not so fine that you're not comfortable.  It was wonderful.

Later, when we arrived in our room, we found a complimentary bottle of champagne and lots of chocolate for our anniversary, which was a very nice touch.  In fact, they made us feel very spoiled during our stay.  One night, at one of the hotel's restaurants, the waitress brought us another bottle of champagne and a small portion of duck confit, because the chef saw in our file that it was our anniversary.  Later, the chef came to our table to check in on us and listen to us compliment her on her food. :)

And the food at the Chateau is fabulous.  We ate really well while we were there.  They do a really nice job of reflecting their location and heritage, because there were many menu items in every restaurant that reflect either Canada (like the juniper crusted venison loin that Nathan had) or the Swiss alpine connection in the area's history (such as the Black Forest dessert we had at the Swiss fondue restaurant).

For example, pictured here is an antipasto plate which included smoked duck, wild boar pate, venison salami, and air-dried bison.

 We also ate guinea hen (I'll never look at the guinea hens that roam our neighborhood the same way again), bison loin, and an amazing elk dish, among many other interesting things.

And then we had a few fun cocktails, like this egg nog cocktail of Nathan's:

A view from one of our lunch spots.  I loved how the beautiful, huge windows all throughout the hotel frame the stunning outdoors in such a memorable way.

The Chateau had lots of other nice touches, too.

Such as this mail drop, which extends upwards through every floor.

And then there are the fun things they do outside, like clearing the snow on part of the lake so people can ice skate.  They even set out a raised fire pit so you can take a break and warm your hands without ever even leaving the ice.

And they even build an ice castle every year!  Yes, that's a life-sized ice castle.  You can walk or skate around and through it.  I took this picture with my zoom lens from our room one night.

Although nothing really beats the view during the daytime.

Such a beautiful place to spend an anniversary and go have an adventure together.

More on our adventurous activities in the next post....

Our Resident World Traveler

This year, Nathan has traveled something like 70,000 miles. He's had dinner in Edinburgh Castle, hiked through parts of Utah and Colorado, spent a week in Nigeria, bought a batik shirt in Jakarta, saw the Batu Caves in Kuala Lumpur, watched the sun rise over Afghanistan from the plane, and considered from above the formation of the mountains in Greenland. Traveling the world is very cool, but we are also glad he is home for the rest of the year!

Home for the rest of the year with the exception of taking a 10th anniversary trip with me to Banff, of course!  (Yippee!)

One of these days, I'll get him to upload a few pictures from his travels!

Atlanta

One of the idiosyncrasies of having gone to universities like Rice and Harvard, which attract students from all over the country and the world, is that after you and your friends graduate, you tend to spread all over the globe.  The obvious downside is that the community you've built for four, five, or six years is suddenly gone.  The fun upside, though, is that you have people you can visit all over the world.  Currently, we have friends in Seattle; San Francisco; Salt Lake City; Tucson; Boston; Connecticut; New York; New Jersey; Atlanta; Adelaide, Australia; Delft, The Netherlands, and so on.  Over time, we would love to visit them all, refreshing old friendships and satisfying Lauren's constant itch to travel in the process. :)  Obvious restraints keep us from doing this kind of frequent and extensive travel, but one can dream.

There are lots of people we love in Atlanta.  For a few years, we've been saying we need to take a trip out there so we can visit them all, and this summer, we packed up the kids and finally did it!

Everyone asks, so I'll answer this question first: "Did you drive or fly?"  We drove.  Yes, we drove.  We stayed in three different homes, so we needed to be able to drive around town, and we had a lot of baby gear to bring with us.  Yes, it was a long drive.  A very long drive.  We left at 4:30am and arrived at 9pm the first day.  It's only actually about 13 hours of actual driving, but we have a bunch of little legs that need to get out and move, so we tend to make one long stop (usually to have a meal at one of the 100 or so Cracker Barrels we pass on the way) and a bunch of quicker stops.  However, it does take us all day long.  The kids are actually really good little travelers; it's me who gets the most antsy towards the end.  On the way home, we actually split the trip in half.  More on that later. 

Of the three sets of people we went to see, two were actually family: my brother and one of Nathan's brothers.  And we also got to spend some time with one of Nathan's college roommates and his wife.

First, we spent a couple of days with my brother, Ken, his wife, Meredith, and their baby, Luke.

Noah and Jane took to Aunt Meredith right away.

One of the reasons this trip was nice was that we just hung out with people and didn't put any pressure on ourselves to go and see and do. This allowed us to chat and eat Meredith's awesome cooking (I might post the recipe for her awesome chicken pot pie turnovers--stay tuned). However, we did get to get out and do a few things with Ken and Meredith.  For example, I snapped this picture on the way in to a huge flea market, where we all found something, ranging from a brownie to some nice 1940's and 1950's Christmas magazines (lots of potentially frameable pages) to a loveseat.

We also made a trip out to Stone Mountain (my geologist husband was horrified at the relief of Confederate generals on the side of it: "That was a perfectly nice granite outcropping!!"), and along with many other attractions, it has a great little playground that Noah and Jane really enjoyed.

As for myself, I enjoyed taking their pictures.

Hang on, Jane!

Playing hide and seek: "One, two, three..."

We also stopped by a farmer's market in Decatur, which was filled with lots of lovely gourmet items.  The peach BBQ sauce on Nathan's hot dog was a bit spicy for Noah!

There was someone selling local honey and these beautiful beeswax candles.  They actually smelled like honey.  I bought one.  Five points if you know me well enough to guess which one I chose.

Nathan perched Janey in a tree.

Is she not the cutest?

May I introduce my nephew?  His name is Luke.  He is five weeks younger than Clara, but he is much bigger than she is.  Clara weighs 17 lbs., and Luke weighs 25.  You wouldn't doubt it if you could get a good view of those thighs.

We also had a picnic at a lovely little neighborhood lake.  And we couldn't very well part ways without getting pictures of all four cousins, could we?

Janey, always demure.

Cute cousins :)

A nice family picture of Ken, Meredith, and Luke.

Daddy and littlest daughter.

My Noah T.

Thick as thieves.

Sadly, all good things come to an end, and after spending a couple of days with Ken and Meredith, we headed a few miles down the road to Mark and Kim's house to commence the next good thing.  We knew these guys from our days at Rice--Mark was Nathan's roommate from Day 1 through when we got married.  Mark and Nathan were even groomsmen in each other's weddings.  Unfortunately, I didn't get to know Kim very well until we had already moved away, so it wasn't until it was too late that we discovered what an easy friendship we have--similar interests, personalities, etc.  When we finally moved back to Houston, they promptly moved on to one marvelous professional opportunity after another, so we haven't lived in the same city since college days.  Kim and I often say we wish we lived closer.  

Also, it's a special thing when you find people who take a sincere and kind interest in your kids; who think that they are funny and smart and worth talking to and playing with.  I really appreciate that Mark and Kim can have a real, lively, interesting adult conversation one minute and change gears the next minute to interact with Noah, who is explaining his scientific theories.

This is the same Mark and Kim from She Cooks, He Bakes, and boy does he bake.  He had just flown in from Europe the night before, but that didn't stop him from baking fresh bread for us and brioche cinnamon rolls from scratch, which were AMAZING.  (Kim's perfectly fried eggs and wonderful home grown tomatoes were pretty awesome, too.)  Here's Noah having a turn at icing the rolls:

 

 The funny thing about this picture is that he is mainly icing only one roll: the one he claimed as his (naturally, since it was the tallest and biggest).

We had to get Jane in there to spread that icing out and make sure the rest of us got some. ;)

When Mark and Kim bought their house, it came with a large play castle in the backyard.  It is awesome.  I took lots of pictures of the inside with hopes that Nathan and my dad could recreate it in our yard.  For a little girl who puts on a princess dress literally every day and a little boy who spends half his play time outside in mock battle, I'm not sure there could be any better play structure than a castle.

I love those gothic arches.  So fun!

I think Mark and Clara liked each other. :)

We were sad to leave Mark and Kim's house, but we headed on our merry way with enthusiasm for seeing Nathan's brother, and his wife, Meghan.

Aunt Meghan had very kindly put together a craft project to do with Noah and Jane: making stuffed owls!  She cut all the pieces ahead of time, then she let them choose the color they wanted for the body, big wings, little wings, eyes, etc., then she sewed them all up, and I stuffed them.  I thought it was very sweet of her to think up a craft they could all do together.

Meghan is a quilter, and she and I also pulled out some blocks she has completed and chatted about the ways to put them together, and so on.  It was a crafty day.

Our visit with Meghan and Daniel ended with a trip to a local pizza place, where we got one last picture before leaving Atlanta:

Because we left at midday rather than 4am, and because Clara wasn't feeling well, we decided at the last minute to split our trip in half and stop in Gulfport, MS for the night.  So we called ahead and found a hotel right on the beach that had only one room available.  Perfect!  We snapped it up!  So when we arrived, Nathan took Noah and Jane to the pool for a while before bed, and we all headed to the beach bright and early the next morning to get an hour of play in before breakfast.

My Janey Beth, building a sand cake.

I know I'm her mother, but I think she is quite beautiful.

Noah is demonstrating his Crazy Dance for you here.

 

Running boy!

Returning from a walk along the beach.

I love this photo.

And with that, we headed home.

Thanks, Atlanta!  We had a lovely time!