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The
Icefields Parkway runs the 147 miles between Jasper and Lake Louise
in Alberta. It is a parkway - not a transportation corridor and
large trucks are banned. It is nicely paved with a leisurely speed
limit of 55 mph and offers many pull-offs to admire the view and
take pictures. This is a place to take your time and take in the
scenery and should not be rushed along. There are so many attractions
along the way, I believe it would take weeks to stop and see them
all.
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Look
at the headlights on the car coming toward us - then wonder at the
size of these mountains!
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named this road the Icefields Parkway because there are glaciers and
icefields of all sizes, shapes and types topping off, hanging from
and spilling out onto gigantic imposing mountains around every bend
of this wonderful winding road. While that name is very appropriate
in that sense, it also sounds a little cold and distant to me and
doesn't convey the magnitude of the beauty that completely engulfs
you on this journey, so I think its subtitle should be Paradise Parkway.
We certainly felt like heaven could not be any lovelier or scenic
than what our eyes feasted on today. |
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I
certainly wouldn't have missed Alaska for anything, but I do believe
if this road and the Canadian Rockies were all I would have seen,
I still would have been extremely happy and content. I couldn't
agree more with a comment I read from the Park Commissioner from
1911-36, J.B. Harkin:
"People
sometimes accuse me of being a mystic about the influences of the
mountains. Perhaps I am. I devoutly believe that there are emanations
from them, intangible but very real, which elevate the mind and
purify the spirit."
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It
was about at this point that I stopped complaining about the $75
(Canadian) charge to drive this road. Honestly the best $75 I've
ever spent!
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house and I were both in heaven! |
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