I've heard it all before, and I can take care of myself
Here's how our mini roadtrip wrapped up. After feasting on hotcakes from McD's and re-fueling with coffee from Tim's, we left Fernie around 9:30. It seemed like most regions of the Rockies had been dusted with a few centimetres of snow overnight, so we were a little apprehensive about road conditions, but we just took our time and didn't run into any problems. I should note that Devin actually did all the driving Sunday, and he did an excellent job on the snowy Rocky Mountain roads.
(click for bigger image)We headed South out of Fernie, looped back up by Cranbrook, then straight North to the Fairmont Hot Springs, Windermere, Invermere, and on to Radium. We weren't looking to do a lot of stopping and sight-seeing, since we had limited time, but it was a gorgeous drive. And we finally saw a mountain goat...!
There were a couple cool sections through Kootenay National Park with tunnels through the mountains and stuff. We stopped for another "extreme picnic" at a little spot called Dog Lake. At this time of the year the park is incredibly silent and serene, so it's almost eerie. We were fortunate enough to find a sheltered picnic table (okay, not so extreme), so we were at least out of any wind that might chill our sandwich-making fingers.
I didn't even
think to bring a bathing suit with me on the trip, so it was disappointing to not be able to stop and bathe in the hot springs at Radium. I could see people enjoying the pool from the highway as we drove past and it looked like a cool thing to try.