President, Darke County Senior Scribes
Louise at Lake Louise
By Delbert Blickenstaff, M.D. 

Lake Louise in Banff National Park has always been fascinating to Louise and she finally got to stick her toes in its ice cold water on September 21st. 1997. 

Banff was only one of many colorful stops on our Canadian trip with son Jeff and his wife, Debbie. She enjoyed the meadows full of blossoms and the distant wildlife. What she didn’t like was the curved mountain roads and sheer cliffs. Debbie closed her eyes. 

On the way we stopped at the Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota. The Sioux Indians called this area “mako sica,” or badlands. Teddy Roosevelt loved the ruggedness of this area, which he visited first in 1883. The National Park was established in 1947. 

Traveling north and west we stopped for lunch at the spectacular Prince of Wales Hotel in Waterton national Park in Alberta, Canada. We drove through Logan Pass which is 6,646 feet elevation and had four inches of snow, in September. 

On our way to Lake Louise we stopped in Calgary where we attended Mass at the St. Mary’s Catholic Church and later ate at the Bow River Barley Mill and Eatery. 

On September 21st. we finally got to Lake Louise, along with several thousand other visitors. Louise was pleased to find that it looked just like the pictures she had seen. A few teenagers were jumping in and out of the cold water, but Louise just got her toes wet. 

On the next day we drove to the Columbia Icefield in Jasper National Park where Jeff, Louise and I went out on the Athabasca Glacier. Debbie stayed in the lodge. We were told that 5,000 people visit the glacier every day. 

Then we went to Banff which is a colorful city. We saw a herd of about 20 elk in the middle of a small park. The bull elk was herding his harem and ran off a young male which was trying to sneak in. The bull ignored us humans who were taking pictures. In Banff we ate at the Magpie and Stump Restaurant. 

On the 24th we drove 500 miles across Saskatchewan to Regina. The land is flat and almost devoid of trees. 

On the 26th we took Highway 58 going south out of Winnipeg to Detroit Lakes, MN, which is near Perham where Jeff and Debbie live. 

Jeff had done most of the driving so I had time to read five books by five completely different authors. Louise knitted a baby afghan on the trip. 

I’m sure that the highlight of the trip for Louise was getting to see her beautiful lake, even though it was not named after her. My favorite memory is of the elk herd in the middle of Banff. 

Delbert Blickenstaff, M. D.