#19 Banff, Jasper and beyond

As we continue north into Alberta we find the city of Lethbridge. A old cowboy town that is still surrounded by ranches and open ranges. we visit Nikka Yuko Japanese garden, it was build to remember that Japanese -Canadians were interned here during WW2. A Japanese garden is about order, peace, serenity and tranquility, a place to relax and reflect. We did just that as we considered our trip so far. Lethbridge is also home to the worlds longest and highest tressel type bridge, built in 1909 it is 314 ft (96m) high, and 5327 ft (1623m) long and took 12,436 tonnes of steel when built and takes 7600 gallons of paint every few years to protect it.
we later stopped at a World Heritage site named "Head Smashed-in buffalo Jump" For centuries the natives would run the buffalo over the cliff to kill them and then would harvest the hide, meat bones and other parts for survival.
Later in the day we toured parts of Calgary and marvelled at the amount of new construction of roads, bridges, buildings and housing.
In the morning we aimed the RV for Canada's largest national parks, Banff National Park and Jasper National Park, together they run 560 miles (900km) through the rocky mountains and cover 2564 square miles. Here the road runs through the valley so we do not have the up and down excesses of the other parks we have visited. The Canadian Rockies tend to be more rugged and jagged than the U.S. Rockies and generally are higher as they go north towards Alaska (we will see the highest mountain in North America, Mt Denali in a couple of weeks)
We had visited here some years ago and decided to skip the touristy place we saw then and visit some of the harder to get to (read more hiking) but just as beautiful places.
Unfortunately it was an overcast day and not the best for picture taking. Moraine Lake is in the valley of ten peaks, the lake water is glacier melt water and is a incredible aqua blue, As the name implies the valley is surrounded by lofty mountain peaks, we hiked up to a picture perfect lookout for a incredibleview of the peaks and lake. If you have a 1969-2003 Canadian $20 bill the picture on the back was taken from this spot.
A bit further up the valley is Athabasca Falls, where the force of the water has cut a channel over 100 feet deep in the rock. Another pretty out of the way place is Bow Lake, at over 7000 feet it snows here even in July and August, but again the view of the peaks and the lake is spectacular.
Along the way we see mountains goats standing and walking on seemingly thin air along the cliffs.
Next day we stop in Edmonton attend church and again meet people we know (good old army)
after lunch we visit West Edmonton Mall. The mall has hockey rink, swimming pools, amusement parks wave pool, hundreds of stores and about a gillion people there, sure was glad to leave there.
Back on the road we stopped at Mayerthorpe at the memorial to fallen peace officers. at this place in 2005 four RCMP officers were shot and killed and the towns folk Built the memorial to honour all peace officers who have given their lives in the line of duty.