Banff, Alberta, in late fall
In November 2021, AAA Washington member Jennifer Maines stood in front of the green-blue water of Lake Louise in Banff, Alberta. With a wood-framed cabin on her left and snow-capped Canadian Rockies across the water, Maines pointed her Samsung S10 phone camera where the mountain range splits. On that afternoon gray, low-hanging clouds partially filled the V-shaped gap between peaks.
“It was a pretty calm day, so the water was clear and had a beautiful color to it. The mountains in the background were so striking,” Maines says.
Maines, a nonprofit professional and resident of the greater Seattle area, says that a visit to Banff had been on her list. She booked a trip with her mother and stepmother over a long weekend to correspond with her 40th birthday. As the date approached, it wasn’t clear if they would be able to go because of the pandemic.
“The Canadian border opened up two weeks before we left,” she says. Luckily, they had booked their tickets.
They flew to Calgary, Alberta, and rented a car for the 90-minute drive west to the alpine town. On the day she took the photo, the three women had “high tea” at Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise. Maines then walked over to a viewpoint on the south end of the lake. It was around midday and chilly, and the pines had been dusted by snow over breakfast.
“That viewpoint felt so magical,” she says. “All you are seeing is this beautiful lake and these huge, gorgeous mountains. Banff National Park and Lake Louise live up to the hype. I’d go back in a heartbeat.”
—Victor Whitman
—This article appears in the 2002 Fall Edition of AAA Washington’s member magazine, Journey.
