2015 Summer Roadtrip: Day 37—Monday—7/20: Lake Louise: Fairmont Hotel, hike Lake Louise Trail 2+ miles R/T), horseback ride 3 hrs to Lake Agnes and Lake Agnes Tea House (highest tea house in the world over 7,000 ft and the oldest tea house in Canada)

Lake Louise lives up to its hype. It is the most photographed lake in Canada—for obvious reasons: The Fairmont Hotel on the shores of the beautiful blue-green lake in a narrow valley with huge walls. At the far end of the lake towering high overhead is a glacier. We did the 2.5 mile roundtrip Lake Louise shore hike and it was spectacular. The color of the lake changes with the sun and clouds and the angle at which you’re looking. We watched small trout swim to the surface and eat flies and enjoyed seeing the red canoes contrast with the lake’s light blue-green color, white glacier and green forested mountains. The Fairmont hotel is luxurious—this is how the other half live. We were told by our horse riding guide that the cheapest basic room overlooking the parking lot (not the lake) is $800 per night now in the summer high season. The view from the restaurant is spectacular overlooking the lake and glacier. After the short hike, we went horseback riding for 3 hours up 1300 feet elevation gain to beautiful Lake Agnes. All 5 of us loved the horses and the vistas and we also enjoyed tea, lemonade, and scones at the Lake Agnes Tea house—the highest in the world (over 7,000 feet) and the oldest in Canada. Back in camp, we rode bikes on the fun bike path alongside the river and then crossed over the pedestrian bridge to the tent campground (we’re in the “hardside only” RV campground) that is surrounded by an electric fence to keep grizzly bears out. We really want to see bears. We had fun riding up to the electrified gate and nervously pushing on the plastic handled door to get in to the campground. While inside the electric fenced campground, we rode our bikes all around the perimeter looking outside the fence for bears. NONE! After the fun bike ride back to the RV, a thunder and lightening storm rolled in and it poured rain for about 10-20 minutes. We sat outside under the awning enjoying watching the rain and listening to it pound down on top of our awning and motorhome.