What a fabulous trip this was! The breathtaking vistas of valleys filled with pine trees, the turquoise lakes shimmering under the sun, and the snow-capped mountains that have been standing for millions of years made Banff, Alberta, Canada such a magical place to visit. My name is Tony and I have been an escort for Croswell since 2017, leading dozens and dozens of trips to places across the US. I am also an experienced world-traveler, being in over 30 countries across North and South America, Europe, and Asia. I say that to say this, the Canadian Rockies are one of the most beautiful areas I have ever visited! Let me tell you about my last tour there.

Day one was pretty much a travel day – on a long-distance trip, you’ll have that. I guess the highlights for the day were the crossing into the central time zone and our lunch stop at Portillo’s Chicago-Style Hot Dogs in Champaign, Illinois. If you get the chance to stop there, it is a fun chain of restaurants that have great quick-service food. After lunch, we hopped aboard our trusty steed and headed north. We landed for the night in Madison, Wisconsin.

The second day had us trekking to Duluth, Minnesota – don ’cha know? The day started off with beautiful sailing weather, and we were on our way. We stopped for lunch in a small town named Spooner, Wisconsin and patronized several of the local mom-and-pop restaurants. Of course, the food was fantastic at the Riverside Family Restaurant. I had their Mushroom and Swiss Burger, and it put so many other burger places to shame. After lunch, we continued our trip to Duluth, however the weather didn’t seem to want to cooperate. We did run into some liquid sunshine, but it didn’t interfere with our plans. We were on the way to enjoy a harbor cruise to see the iconic lift-bridge, barges, and other local landmarks. We then headed off to dinner at the Canal Park Brewing Company and had an amazing dinner with awesome views of Lake Superior. If you ever find yourself here, I recommend the fish and chips!

The following day was our big international border crossing day. We left Duluth and headed toward Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. We stopped in a cute, little town called Baudette, Minnesota for lunch. Naturally, the food was delicious at the little bistros we invaded. It’s hard to go wrong in small town restaurants like that. We also had to see the Willie the Walley statue while were there, of course. Then, after an event-free border crossing, we were on our way to Winnipeg.

Day four took us from Winnipeg to Regina, Saskatchewan where we visited the Royal Canadian Mounted Police headquarters. This was also July 1st, which is Canada Day and the place was packed with folks all showing their Canadian Pride with shirts, hats, and flags. We strolled through the exhibits that took us from the beginnings to current day of the Mounted Police.

The following day we set our sights on Calgary, Alberta, Canada. After a day traveling among the vast prairies between Regina and Calgary, we finally arrived and settled in for a restful evening. On day six, we started the day taking a tour of Calgary. But, to no fault of Croswell, our tour guide left much to be desired. (It became a running joke on the bus to talk with a lot of “um, um, um’s.”) But we didn’t let our step-on guide stop us from having a great time. We did see the site of the 1988 Olympics and much of the beautiful city. Then, after a bit of touring, we went to the revolving restaurant at the top of the Calgary Needle and had a magnificent lunch with our first sweeping views of the Canadian Rockies – the reason we have come so far!

Once we finished lunch, we headed off to Banff, Alberta, Canada. It was only a few hours away, but the anticipation was growing. From the flat plains rose the Rockies, reaching for the sky. I could hear the whispered “Wows” from the passengers as we would go around each curve and new peaks showed themselves to us. We had to make a quick stop for everyone to just get off the bus and take it all in – the chilled mountain air, the sparkling lake water, and the snow crusted peaks. After being invigorated by our surroundings, we continued our journey to the Banff Gondola. We climbed to the peak of Sulfur Mountain at an altitude of 8041 feet above sea level in our four-seat-gondolas. From there we could see the quaint town of Banff, the tree-filled valleys, and the range of regal mountains from high above. The breathtaking views reached out as far as the eye could see. After making our way back down the mountain, we headed into Banff for dinner and then off to our hotel.

Day seven promised to be another amazing day – except there was the threat of a little liquid sunshine. This was the day that we headed up to the Columbia Ice Field. The trip was about two hours, but it was worth it. We did stop at a cool trading post that sold Native Canadian crafts and goods. When we got to the visitors’ center, we were able to grab lunch and then begin our trip over to the Athabasca Glacier. To get out onto the glacier, we had to take a huge people mover that had tires that were twice as tall as I am. We had to climb some steep steps to get up into this thing! Then, with a maximum speed of 7 miles per hour, we were off to the glacier. And, wouldn’t you know it, as we got out of the monster bus out on glacier, it started to rain. But that’s just part of the story! We all still had a great time walking around on the ancient ice flow, taking pictures, and making memories. We then hopped back on board the monster bus and took it to where we transferred onto a “normal” motorcoach and traveled about 10 minutes to the skywalk. The Skywalk is a U-shaped observation deck that has a glass floor and sides. It reaches out over a valley that is several hundred feet below. Let me tell you, I have a bit of a fear of heights and walking out onto a glass bridge does not play well with it. I did it and the views were spectacular, but it was not someplace I wanted to hang out. Once we all got together back at the visitors’ center, we headed off to an awesome included dinner buffet and then went back to the hotel to unwind from the excitement of the day.

Our eighth day out took us to the sites we had been looking forward to seeing since we left the Cincinnati area. We headed out into the mountains to start our day full of amazing natural wonders. Our first stop was at Lake Moraine. The first thing we noticed was that the water was a hypnotizing turquoise blue that seemed to change shades as you looked at it from different angles. The mountains surrounding the lake were reaching up to the sky and were topped with bright white snow. We spent about an hour just walking around the lake and taking in its beauty. From Lake Moraine, we headed off to the crown jewel of the Canadian Rockies, Lake Louise. The lake was also a majestic turquoise blue color and perfectly nestled into a valley surrounded by glaciers and jagged mountain peaks. You could hear the gasps of amazement as people first approached Lake Louise and were able to take in their surrounds. Words cannot fully describe the stunning beauty of the lakes and mountains. The color of the lake can be explained, however. The hue is created by what is known as rock flour. When glaciers move, they grind the rocks under them into a very fine powder known as rock flour. As the ice melts, the water carries the rock flour down the slopes and into the lake. When sunlight hits the water containing rock flour, the light is scattered in such a way that the gorgeous blue colors are produced.

We had lunch at the hotel overlooking Lake Louise, which was phenomenal! Then after lunch we headed off to see a few other popular sites that included waterfalls and a hotel that looked like a castle out of a fairy tale. To conclude our day, we spent some time in the little town of Banff for dinner and a little light shopping.

The next few days were spent journeying our way back home. We stayed overnight in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, Canada, where we had time to visit the casino. Then we were off to Minneapolis, Minnesota where we were able to take the hotel shuttle over to the Mall of America. Let me tell you, the Mall of America is certainly something to see! There was an entire amusement park in the center of the mall! After spending the night in Minneapolis, we headed off to Janesville, Wisconsin. There is a dinner theater there called the Fireside. We were treated to an amazing buffet complete with roast beef, turkey, shrimp, fish, and all the sides. Dinner was followed by a performance of the musical the Million-Dollar Quartet. What a way to spend the last night on the trip!

From the Escort Seat of,

Tony Gettler

Canadian Rockies `