A Rocky Honeymoon

          I suppose now would be as good a time as any to elaborate on our honeymoon. And I think it would be nice to share some highlights from it.
          We decided to go to the Rockies because we love outdoor adventures (I also really wanted Brandon to see a grizzly bear in the wild- from a moving car- with the doors locked- and the windows rolled up). Leaving for the honeymoon immediately after the wedding, we stopped in Kamloops for the night. We decided to go with the always superb Super 8 motel.
           That next morning we drove all of the way to Radium Hotsprings. On our way we made some pretty amazing stops; The scenery in BC is great.
                                                        The Enchanted Forest 
           Just outside of Revelstoke on our trip in, we stopped at a place called Enchanted Forest. I wasn't sure what to expect; the sign looked pretty neat and there was a castle visible from the road.  We discovered that it is actually a really interesting place... and a little bit creepy. The story is that way back in the 1950's an artist and her husband moved out into the forest to build fairytale figurines out of cement.  Pretty soon the roadway in front of their home went from being occupied by few cars a day, to the busy highway that we know today. The artist and her husband were full of creative ideas, some a little unusual, but still fun to look at. Brandon and I definitely recommend this location as a stop for anyone to take.
                                                House of a Thousand Faces
             Once we got to Radium Hotsprings we felt at home. There were many fun things to do in town, and just outside of town. One of the places we thoroughly enjoyed was the House Of a Thousand Corpses... woops I mean "faces".  Started by a man who used to be involved in the foresting industry, who now carves faces into scraps of wood, stumps, entire logs, pretty much anything. He then displays it around his super duper fun home and lets people walk around. He has a water system set up in his outdoor area and a bunch of doorknobs everywhere. When a lucky individual walks up to turn these seemingly harmless objects either they could get a squirt of water in the face, or someone walking far away gets unexpectedly struck by a blast of water. Fun, but we learned to hide the camera away during this part.
                                             Radium Hotsprings Outdoor Pool 
                Just a two minute drive from the motel we were staying in, was the outdoor hotspring pools. We visited once during the day, and then once at sundown. Even when it is busy there is still plenty of space to do some lengths in their bigger cool pool, or stretch out and relax in the hot pool.
                                                       Lussier Hotsprings 
                About 45 minutes south of Radium Hotsprings we had the opportunity to trek up Whiteswan Lake road. It is a little intimidating as it is narrow and quite a steep drop off. To add to the fear factor, sections of this road crumble every year. The hotsprings, and the lakes to follow further down the road were beautiful. The hotsprings are snuggled against the icy cold river separated by only a few rocks.  Further up the road the lakes were clear and blue. To sit staring into the lake we forgot for moments that we were in British Columbia and not a tropical place.
                                                                  Playland
                 Just between Invermere and Radium Hotsprings, Brandon and I stumbled across a place called "Playland". Playland, as we discovered, is a place where families could go and carpet slide, mini golf, play on bumper boats, ride on go karts and more. There was a concession stand where people could get things like burgers, hot dogs and candy as well as a playground, a petting zoo and a zip line. But what made this park really unique through our visit was the fact that it was closed down... years ago.  The strange part, for us, (and a very fun part) was the fact that the previous owners had left everything from golf clubs, carpets, bumper boats and go karts (including helmets) on the property. Brandon and I had a very fun time exploring... and playing a round of minigolf (free!).
                                                                     Banff
                   Banff is always a nice day trip. From stores with many toys to western shops and the Cow store, there is no shortage of things to look at.  One of the best ice cream cones I have had in my life was bought at the Cow store. Brandon also made me an even happier wife and purchased a cowboy hat (something that he promised would never happen when we were dating- I knew he would give in!).
                   Something that I would like to say though, (this is Brandon typing for a quick second) is that the so called "Banff Falls" are nothing more than big rapids and in no way have earned themselves the name of "falls". They definitely need to have their name changed to "Banff really big rapids" or "Banff's pretend waterfall" or if Banff wouldn't like their name attached to the title, I would suggest the more appropriate name, "A big letdown after a lot of hype and a long walk". It was still enjoyable though, because I was with my wonderful wife, and that made me forget all about the fact that I was misled by that fun little city.
                   Although (this is Katie again) the day trip to Banff was a great one, Brandon and I both found it sad to see the destruction that the pine beetles have inflicted on a temperate forests. Entire mountainsides are now being consumed and devoured by these bugs. When we got out of the area we were very happy to see needles once again.
                   Something we found ourselves marveling at were the beautiful bright blue rivers. They almost seem to be from out of a child's painting, where everything is bright and unrealistic.
                                                            Lake Louise
                   We went up to Lake Louise for a day and had fun on the gondola ride on the ski mountain. We met a couple who wanted to hot box the gondola with us. After politely passing up the offer we had an interesting conversation. There was a beautiful view from the top, and a lodge with many interesting facts about animals in the area. It was on the way home from this that we stumbled upon Takkakaw Falls. It was actually quite a strange coincidence (another word for "divine intervention") in the circumstances surrounding our discovery of the falls. We were about to turn around because we had passed the "Spiral Tunnels", and we wanted to learn what they were. So we turned down a road and saw a small sign that said "Takkakaw Falls" so we decided to venture the 13 km up the road to see what it was all about. In the meantime, on the highway we turned off of there was a major accident that we only learned of from the motel manager when we got back to Radium.  Either we may have been in the accident, or in the traffic surrounding it. We were thanking Heavenly Father that night for the intervention.
                     It was the most beautiful and big water fall cascading down a sheer cliff and ending in a small creek at the bottom. This fall is a 254 meter drop and one of the biggest in Canada and the water fall and the drive to it, made this one of our most breath taking experiences.  
                                             Christina Lake
                      Next portion of our honeymoon was the camping trip. We had a campsite at Christina Lake booked (Park Lane) and with the camp site we were very impressed; Very accommodating and friendly service. Also, very nice facilities to use. 
                      What we were less impressed with was the lake itself. Aside from a few small crowded beaches the entire rest of the lake was privatized and inaccessible. The closest grocery store was in a nearby town which we did not feel good vibes from. It was in this particular town that we found one good thing. This beam of light was a Russian cuisine where we had delicious borscht and coconut cream pie.
                        The lake area had potential to get me a bit down, and had I not been with my bestest friend in the entire world I may have  been. We simply decided to leave the area a bit sooner than planned. Adventures were awaiting in different places....