By Way of the Letter "S"

Today comes by way of the letter "S"!

I knew I made the right decision to venture to Lake Louise today as soon as I hit the main highway at 7:15am and I had to merge into a long string of traffic heading in the same direction as me. We couldn't all be wrong picking today to head west! It's Saturday and it's sunny!

My original plan was to hike with Adventure Designer and a cast of characters but I just had this need to be deeper into the mountains and I really wanted to skate on Lake Louise and see the ice sculptures. This meant I would be going solo.

Lucky for me all the other folks along the highway were veering off to ski hills along the way and when I arrived at the Lake Louise parking lot at 9:15, it was near empty. The first thing was to get photos of the ice sculptures before they were surrounded by people. They are only two weeks old but looked not over a day.

I noticed about five people skating and it looked so inviting I couldn't wait any longer. I laced up my skates, tuned into my IPod tunes and put 5.5km on my blades over 33 minutes. I took snapshots while I skated and also a couple of videos. I can't imagine any place more beautiful to skate. After a half hour it got busy, I had my fill and felt fulfilled so moved on to the next item on my agenda.

I changed gear and set off to snowshoe up to the Lake Agnes Teahouse. I started with my stabilicers strapped to my boots. The snow seemed hard packed. It was a quick trip up, going solo, no one to talk to, in the trees so no reason to take snapshots. My timing was right on with everything today. I originally hoped the snowshoe trail would be busy, seeing as this was the first time I snowshoed alone but as I was going, I was glad it was quiet. I met one fellow and that was it until the return trip. Once I got into the open the scenery was amazing. This is Lake Agnes.

I had a view of the Chateau down below. The Teahouse is closed but the veranda is open for business. I sat up there to dine. The Big Beehive looks even bigger when it's covered in snow. I spent about 30 minutes at the Teahouse before heading back. I took a quick little detour towards the Little Beehive following a trail others had made.

Once back by the Chateau and the Lake, I took one last trip around to view the sculptures. I was travelling solo but did find someone to hold my hand. I'm not so sure he was into me, I felt he was giving me the cold shoulder.

It's nice to have a mate to share special times with and to keep you warm on cold winter days.

Even though I travelled solo, it was still a great sunny Saturday. I enjoyed skating and snowshoeing (although I wore my stabilicers mostly), and viewing the sculptures. The scenery was spectacular and was prime for taking snapshots. Yes! Today was brought to you by the letter "S"!