Prettiest Drive in Canada?

  There are lots of places that claim to have the prettiest drive in Canada, including the Niagara Parkway!  I won't make a definitive choice since we haven't driven enough roads around this country, but we did take over 200 photos in one day driving from Banff to Jasper.   First stop was a refreshing hike over the catwalks in Johnston's Canyon to the lower falls where we ducked through a short tunnel to feel the mist.

Picnic lunch of leftover pizza at Moraine Lake, the boys (all 3 of them!) were most interested in climbing over the rocks . . .

 Mandatory stop at Lake Louise for a photo op, there were lots of other people around, not sure how we managed to not get them in the photo . . . and yes, the boys checked out the temperature of the water with their hands - icy!

 Pretty sure this is Bow Lake, but by this point, they all start to look the same!

 We made it to the Columbia Ice Field Centre around 4pm, just in time to climb on one of the last bus tours for the day.  It was a brilliantly sunny day out on the ice, we collected some glacier water to drink and as you can see, this was the only day the boys wore their long pants.  (Jackson had pitched a fit at home for almost half an hour when I was packing because I required him to try on his pants so I could see which ones would be suitable.  He said that he would never wear them even if I packed them . . . )

 The funniest moment of the day was after almost 15 minutes walking around on the glacier, Xavier picked up a piece of ice and  exclaimed "Ice, I found ice!"  Some days I swear he is the "blondest" boy on the planet.  Eventually we had to put them back in the bus as they made it their mission to try to poke holes in the ice and were starting to get wet feet!

 Athabasca Falls

 Most surprising moment of the day came as we entered the town of Jasper and spotted 3 elk, two females and this male on the side of the road.  I shouted for the boys to look up from playing their DS's to make sure they caught a glimpse.  Xavier assured me that he had seen them already and didn't know what all the fuss was about!  *Spoilt kids*  Jackson was much more compliant with giving comments like "Wow - cool mountain" whenever I asked them to look up and see the spectacular sights.  The oldest child knows it's best to keep mommy happy!
 

PS  We topped off the evening with bacon & cheese elk burgers for dinner - YUM!