Lake Louise and Moraine Lake, Banff National Park

We woke to our second day in the Canadian Rockies with super sore throats and a sluggish feeling. We were sick while traveling. Ugh! Despite feeling icky we decided to at least spend the day sitting in a pretty place.

Lake Louise seemed the perfect option. It was crowded, but for good reason. Steep mountains covered in glaciers rose 4000 feet above the turquoise water. We found a nice spot to sit and take it all in. People in red canoes paddled about the lake.

Birds like this Clark’s nutcracker hopped along the shore.

When we got cold, we went inside the Fairmont Chateau hotel and ate a late lunch overlooking the lake.

Driving back to the campground, our curiosity got the better of us, even though we were low on energy and sneezing. We decided to take a detour and check out Moraine Lake. We were glad we did. It was much less crowded, and just as magnificent.

We had fun with our binoculars and cameras, zooming in to look closely at rock formations and glaciers.

After a warm dinner back at Two Jack Lakeside campground, we fell asleep early.

The next morning we still felt a bit sick but definitely improved. We ate breakfast on the shore of Two Jack Lake, and enjoyed the first sunshine of the Canadian portion of the trip.

As we ate, a bald eagle swooped low over the lake, then perched in a distant tree. So cool!

Watching all those people paddle around Lake Louise yesterday had piqued our interest. We opted to go back and experience the lake from a boat ourselves. Blue skies and bright sun really brought out the water’s deep turquoise color. We had such fun paddling around in our bright red canoe! The water was so vivid and the color so dense, it looked like we were paddling through paint.

We were still recovering from our sickness, so we planned to take it easy. But we just had to see what was at the other end of the lake. After a good paddle we reached the far side and found a small inlet. We stopped to scan the mountainsides for animals with our binoculars. We didn’t see any large animals, but did hear the familiar “eeep!” sounds of pika emanating from talus piles nearby. We enjoyed seeing a different perspective on this iconic location.