When I was about 10, I saw a picture of a hotel by a lake in
a magazine and I was instantly enamored. From that day forward, I dreamed that one day I would stay
at that hotel.
Many years later, that dream has come true and I can now say
that I've stayed at Château Lake Louise!
How it finally happened is because of hockey. As you know,
we visited all 30 NHL arenas between 2008-2010. Then new arenas were built, one
team moved, and another team was added to the league. So we had six cities to
revisit and see a game in their new arenas!
Over the past few years, we've gone to see games in new arenas (click on any team to read about the trip):
The only one we had left was Edmonton. And if you know where Edmonton is, you probably know why it was last, especially given
that hockey is a winter sport. The first time we went to Edmonton to the old arena, back in 2010, we went in October and the
weather was absolutely awful (as was the arena, to be honest). So we weren't
particularly excited to go. When it was the last one on the list, we started
thinking about how we could make this trip happen.
That's when Lake
Louise became part of the conversation.
We had looked into staying at the Fairmont Château Lake Louise a few times, but we'd always looked at
going in the summer, and since that is their peak season, the rooms are very
pricey. So a summer trip there never happened.
However, Lake Louise is only a few hours from Edmonton, so we decided that if we were
going all the way to Edmonton, we should go to Lake Louise as well! Since we love winter, the season made sense
and obviously the rooms would be less expensive than in summer! I'd been to Jasper National Park with my dad and
brother many years ago, but I'd never gone to Banff National Park or to Lake
Louise, so it's safe to say I was very much looking forward to this trip!
Saturday, January 19
We got up around 3:00 am to head to the airport for our 6:00
am flight because we weren't sure how long it would take to get through
security given the government shutdown. It did take much longer than usual, but
we still made it to the gate with plenty of time to spare. We try to only take
nonstop flights, but that was not an option between home and Calgary, so we had a connection through
Dallas. The flight to Dallas was fine, although we ended up
sitting in two different rows…we'd been keeping an eye on the middle seat
situation, and since there was someone sitting between us, C went up to the
gate agent and switched to an empty aisle seat in the exit row. Our thinking
was that the person beside me could move to the aisle seat and then both C and
I would have empty seats beside us. Well, that plan did not pan out whatsoever
and we ended up both having people sitting beside us. Not a huge deal, since I
slept for almost the entire flight, but it is always nice to not have people practically
sitting on top of you!
After a quick layover in Dallas, our second flight to Calgary
was on a commuter jet with 2x2 seats, which is beyond ideal. It was a great
flight and we were happy to finally make it there after a pretty long day!
We picked up our rental car – which was a Jeep, in
preparation for any unfavorable weather – and spent the night at a Hampton Inn.
The only noteworthy thing was that the hotel was overrun with teenage girls on
some sports team trip and their behavior was atrocious. That is all I'll say
about it!
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| you know you're in Canada when the snow brush is given priority seating in the rental |
Sunday, January 20 /
Monday, January 21 / Tuesday, January 22
We got up fairly early and drove from Calgary to Banff National
Park and spent a few hours in Banff,
which is a beautiful little town. It seems like what a non-Canadian would think
a Canadian town would look life – snow, mountains, outdoor skating rink with
people playing hockey…pretty idyllic!
From there we drove to Lake
Louise. Just the drive itself is spectacular. I literally took hundreds of
photos. Sometimes when we are driving somewhere, I use the time in the car to
read or write or catch up on emails, but not on this drive. Everywhere I
looked, indescribable beauty!
We arrived at the Fairmont
Château Lake Louise around 1:30 pm. When we pulled up, an employee was at
the gate area and after we gave her our name, she told us, "We have you
registered for Fairmont Gold; pull up to the front of the hotel and the bellman
will help you with luggage." We had no idea what that even meant, but we
pulled ahead as directed. The valet opened our doors and addressed us by name
and everything was already feeling very fancy. He told us that check in for "Fairmont
Gold" was on the 7th floor and directed us to the elevator. We
continued to be slightly confused, but again followed directions.
When we got to the 7th floor, we checked in with
a very nice lady (we later learned she was the manager). We chatted about where
we were visiting from and about despite being Canadian, our having never been
to Lake Louise before. She
apologetically told us that the hotel staff had made an error and that we were
not registered for "Fairmont Gold" and I finally told her we didn't
even know what that meant! Turns out that it means you have 24-hour access to
the lounge (snacks and drinks) as well as breakfast. We told her that was more
than fine and that we were just excited about having a lake view room! Our room
wasn't ready, so she kindly held on to our luggage and told us we would get a
text when we could go to the check-in desk to pick up our room keys and she
would see to it that our luggage was delivered to our room.
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| of course we found a Dachshund in the hotel |
We wandered around the hotel a little bit and grabbed a bite
to eat, but it really wasn't too long until we received a text stating our room
was ready. We went over to the regular check-in desk in the lobby and told the
employee we were there to pick up our room keys because we'd received a text
that the room was ready. After checking the computer, she told us, "Oh,
we've upgraded you to one of our signature suites! It's two stories!" and
handed us the room keys. We were completely shocked and frankly, a little
confused. We took the elevator up to the room and I can't even describe how in
awe we were as we looked around. What an amazing space with a brilliant view of
the lake and a private balcony. We kept waiting for someone to tell us there'd
been a mistake! A few minutes after we got to the room, the phone rang and it
was the concierge staff asking if it was a good time to deliver our luggage,
and when they arrived, the same manager we'd dealt with a little earlier was
with them. She apologized profusely for the mix-up and said that the room we
booked was not ready and so she decided to upgrade because she'd already met
us. WHAT?!? When I say she kept apologizing, I'm not kidding – she apologized
for the delay, for sending us away without room keys, for telling us we weren't
"Fairmont Gold" because now we were, for the inconvenience…I could go
on and on. The fact is, no apology was necessary! Are you kidding me? There we
were, standing in one of the best rooms in possibly the best hotel we've ever
been to, and she was apologizing to us?!? For the duration of our stay, she was
amazing. We figured it was due to the fact that we were staying for only two
nights and we were checking in on a Sunday and out on a Tuesday in January that
we were gifted such an incredible upgrade. The suite had two bathrooms and a spiral staircase in it!
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| two rinks one for hockey one for skating |
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| a surprise welcome treat from our godkids! |
We had the most wonderful 48 hours there. The staff could
not have been more attentive and polite, the hotel itself is gorgeous, and the
concierge lounge with drinks and snacks and breakfast was perfect. We also spent
a lot of time outside enjoying winter. What you see below in the photos is my
idea of heaven. We were able to observe the lunar eclipse on Sunday night and
on Monday night, we went skating on the lake. Let me say this…C is a very
skilled skater, but I am not. Skating and bowling are two things I really enjoy
doing even thought I am not very good at either. The difference this time was
that when we usually go skating, it's obviously at a rink with boards. So I
typically spend two or three laps staying very close to the boards until I get
my sea legs. Well, this is a frozen lake! There are no boards! And I've got to
admit that I freaked out a little and was afraid to skate (more accurately, I
was afraid of stumbling and tripping!). I was only able to overcome this
irrational fear because 1) C held my hand the whole time to keep me from
falling while I got back into the swing of things; and 2) there was no way I
was going to miss the opportunity to skate under the stars on Lake Louise with C just because there
weren't any boards to hold onto!
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| blood moon |
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| frozen hair and eyelashes |
There is only one thing I regret – not getting a photo of
the "hotel ambassador" who is a yellow Labrador named Marcus! We ran
into him in the hall on Monday, and were able to pet him and chat with him, but
it wasn't until later that it dawned on me that I should have taken a photo of
him! When I inquired about him on Tuesday morning, I learned he wasn't coming
to the hotel that day because the employee he lives with had the day off. But
despite the lack of photo evidence, I am all for hotels having dog ambassadors
that interact with the guests! Marcus was adorable!
We will definitely be returning to Château Lake Louise sometime…it is such a spectacular place that we
know we'd love to spend an entire week or longer. We are fortunate to travel a
lot, and as a result, I have a bank of great memories to revisit any time, but
these two days are unquestionably near the top of the list of favorite travel
experiences ever! I was worried that I would be disappointed because I'd
dreamed of this place for so long, but it exceeded every expectation!
Happy Tails to you!
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