On my very first day in Alberta, Canada I saw 8 bears at Waterton National Park.  But I wasn’t afraid, as a matter of fact, I just ignored them like they aren’t even there.  We had a resident black bear at the fabulous Crandell Mountain campground turning over rotten logs looking for grubs.  I love to grub around the fire pits myself, we’re dining buddies!

© 2011 Richard Broadwell

My humans got all nervous and whipped out their bear mace when they saw 2 black bears on a hike to a nearby lake, but not me.  I’m just like la di da… no big deal. You just have to be careful if they have cubs, like this big mama bear pictured below.  Luckily we saw her from a boat, not on a hike.

© 2011 Richard Broadwell

© 2011 Richard Broadwell - Prince of Wales Hotel at Waterton NP

After Waterton we headed north to Lake Louise.  Talk about great swimming, I LOVED the glacial lakes.  The colder the better became my motto!

© 2011 Richard Broadwell

I even went on a long uphill hike to the Lake Agnes Teahouse just so I could swim in the coldest water possible.  Even though my humans think I’m cray cray to swim in ice water don’t knock it till you try it.  Totally invigorating!

© 2011 Richard Broadwell - Lake Louise

I thought Moraine Lake was as beautiful if not more so than Lake Louise.  Here I am just hanging out, getting some sun!

© 2011 Richard Broadwell

Just in case you want to see what it looks like without my mug in the way.

© 2011 Richard Broadwell - Moraine Lake

We were off to Banff next and were lucky enough to snag a campsite at the Two Jack Lake Campground at the bottom of Lake Minnewanka.  There are only 74 campsites with no hookups, and 23 are for walk-in tenting so it’s not easy to get a spot but worth waiting in line for any of the all first-come first-served sites.  It’s the best place to camp in Banff National Park.

While there I met the nicest couple from the Netherlands, Katrien and Tim.  We all had a great time hanging out and they gave me all the loving I wanted (and deserved) and I vowed to somehow visit them in Amsterdam.  I’ve heard it’s a really happening place.

© 2011 Richard Broadwell - Lake Minnewanka

After Banff we hit the Icefields Parkway heading towards the Great White North and just when I thought the landscape couldn’t get more beautiful, BOOM!  I was skeptical when I heard it was one of the most scenic roads in the world but now I’m a believer!

© 2011 Richard Broadwell - Bow Lake

© 2011 Richard Broadwell - Bow Lake

Here we are, just hanging out at the Wabasso Campground outside of Jasper.  It was the only campground we could get into on a Saturday.  All the other 1000 plus campsites nearby were full!  The Canadians really take advantage of their summers and who can blame them?  Luckily we got some good pictures on the way up because the weather turned and we even had some snow… in August!

Brrrr!  Cold cold cold!

© 2011 Richard Broadwell - Maligne Lake

While waiting out the storm in Jasper we met some wonderful Canadians!  A big shout out to Tezz (and his Dad) for helping me with ideas to get more viewers for the blog.  I don’t know if I mentioned it before (ahem) but I’m hoping to go viral, eh!

Well that’s enough about me for today, it’s really all about the pictures anyway (wink wink).

Next up:  British Columbia (BC) = Bring Cash