The chairlift at Lake Louise Resort was one of the parts of our time in the Rockies that stayed with me most. Edlyn, our daughter and I rode up towards the bistro, with wildlife below us and the mountain landscape opening out around the lift. I enjoyed the ride itself. There was so much to look at before we reached the top that it felt like an experience in its own right.
By then, we'd spent about six months in the Canadian Rockies, using a house in Canmore as our base. Brisbane was still home, but Canada had become the place we were living this chapter of our lives. That longer stay changed how we explored. We could head out from somewhere familiar, make a short trip of it when we wanted to and come back without having to move everything again.
Moraine Lake and Lake Louise were part of that chapter. We used the Parks Canada shuttle for the lakes, rode the resort lift as a family and learned that even a long stay in a region didn't mean we could leave every booking until later. We booked everything on 6 October, close enough to the end of the season for the timing to become a lesson we'd remember.
This started with a Christmas conversation
The decision to take a break had begun with family in Kelowna at Christmas. Someone asked whether we should take some time out together and look at Canada's International Experience Canada program. It was the sort of suggestion that could have remained a conversation over the holidays. For us, it kept growing into something more practical.
We were tired of the nine-to-five and needed a break. By February 2026, the idea had become a sabbatical. We hadn't suddenly discovered that we liked travelling. We'd been doing that for years. What had changed was wanting more time for it as a family, rather than fitting another trip into the edges of our usual routine.
Our first trip had been Japan in 2013. Dubai and France followed in 2015, and we returned to Japan several times during 2016–2019, particularly around Tokyo and Osaka. Those weren’t our last visits either; we kept returning through 2026. Later came Fiji and Thailand, then a larger European adventure across 2023 and 2024, including Austria. Canada was another part of that history. This website would eventually hold those earlier trips too, alongside the places we were exploring now.
The difference this time was the space we'd allowed ourselves. Six months around the Rockies gave us a base for ordinary family life as well as sightseeing. We didn't have to treat every outing as our only chance to see the area. We still needed to plan, but we could choose a pace that worked for the three of us.
We used to travel with two backpacks
When we were younger, we travelled with two backpacks and moved regularly. We wanted to see as much as we could. Changing places often felt like a good use of the time we had, and it suited how we travelled then.
After our daughter was born, we started choosing a central place and sightseeing from there. It meant researching the area more carefully before booking. We needed somewhere that suited a child as well as the places we wanted to visit. A good base became part of the trip, rather than just somewhere to sleep between the main events.
Canmore worked as that base during our time in the Rockies. We also made shorter trips away to explore particular areas. Fernie was one example, where we stayed for three nights in a large RV. It gave us a different place to settle into for a little while without making the whole season one continuous move.
That approach was useful for the lakes too. We could think about what the day actually involved for our daughter, including the transport and the breaks around the sightseeing. We were learning to take each day as it came. There was less value in a long list of places if getting through it meant no one enjoyed being there.
Moraine Lake still deserved the anticipation
The colour at Moraine Lake was the part our photographs captured most clearly. From the higher viewpoint, the mountains rose behind that deep blue water, with the trees giving the scene a scale that was hard to take in all at once. Down by the shore, the clear shallows and reflections gave us something different to look at.
I liked having both views. The wider outlook made sense of the lake in the mountains, while the shore brought the detail closer. It was easy to understand why people travelled such a long way to stand there. We had seen plenty of photographs before our own visit, but being there as the three of us gave it its own place in our memories.
Using the Parks Canada shuttle was part of how we reached the lakes. That was worth remembering alongside the scenery, because a future visitor needed more than a saved photograph to make the same outing happen. The transport had to be arranged. Getting that detail right gave us the chance to spend our attention on the place once we arrived.
We weren't trying to turn the visit into an ambitious hike. Travelling with our daughter had made us more conscious of what was enough for a day. The lake itself was a worthwhile experience. We could appreciate the water and the mountains without needing another activity to prove we'd made good use of the stop.
Lake Louise, and a lunch bill worth remembering
Lake Louise had a different feel in our photographs. The water was brighter, with the mountain sides drawing the view towards the snow in the distance. Small canoes made the scale easier to appreciate. After Moraine Lake, it still felt like somewhere with its own character rather than a second version of the same view.
We bought sandwiches and coffee at the Fairmont Lake Louise, and lunch came to about C$60. That was one of the practical details I wanted to keep in the story. It wasn't an elaborate meal, and it was a useful reminder of how much a fairly simple food stop could add to a family outing.
That amount stayed in my mind because it gave us a useful benchmark for another outing. We'd allow for a food stop like that deliberately next time, or bring more of our own food and decide where we wanted to spend the difference. The meal was a small part of the day, but it was part of the cost all the same.
Food was one of those small decisions that became more important when travelling with a child. We'd learned to think about the area before going, including what would be easy to access and what would make the day run more comfortably. The scenery didn't remove the need to think about a meal. It just gave us a very good setting in which to have one.
The ride above the valley
The resort chairlift gave us another view of the area. All three of us rode up towards the bistro, and I particularly remembered seeing wildlife during the ride. The flora was amazing too. There was interest close to the lift as well as in the much wider mountain view.
I enjoyed that combination. At the lakes, the water drew our attention forward. On the lift, there were reasons to keep looking around as we moved. The ride had its own pace, and the view kept changing with it. Sharing that with Edlyn and our daughter was one of the clearest memories I had from the outing.
The photographs from above the resort brought back the contrast between the golden plants, the dark trees and the distant mountains. I liked that this was another way to appreciate the same region we'd been living in for months. We could spend time in one part of the world and still find a very different perspective on it.
We saw wildlife on our ride, but that was our experience rather than something another family could count on seeing. The mountain view and the ride were the things to plan for. A sighting was a welcome extra. I wouldn't want someone booking on the assumption that the animals would appear on cue.
Next time, the bookings would come earlier
We secured our bookings on 6 October. The regular Parks Canada lake-shuttle season ended on 12 October 2026, and the resort's summer-lift season ended on 11 October. We were close to the end of both. The lesson for us was to plan the ticket side much earlier, especially for Moraine Lake.
For another trip, I'd aim to start organising the important bookings about four months ahead and reserve when the relevant release opened. That was our planning preference, not a rule that shuttle seats were always available exactly four months before a visit. What mattered was knowing the release system before we were relying on it.
The lakes and the lift were absolutely worth the effort of organising. I'd simply prefer to enjoy the lead-up without leaving those arrangements so late. Having a long stay in Canmore had made us flexible about exploring, but seasonal experiences still had an end date.
Our booking and cost guide sets out the practical side, including a family budget example. The two-day itinerary is how we'd organise a similar visit at a manageable pace. The memories in this journal were ours; the plan was there to help someone else make room for their own.
