Part II of My Week in the Canadian Rockies: Lake Louise
Guest Post and Photo by Amy Perry Basseches
In Lake Louise, I would strongly suggest staying at The Post Hotel. Known originally as the Lake Louise Ski Lodge, the Post first opened in 1942. It has 100 luxurious guest rooms and suites, and an award-winning dining room (see more below); it’s part of the Relais & Chateaux brand, which means it must excel in the areas of comfort, cuisine, service and special character. Josh and I have neighbors in Toronto who go to the Post Hotel every year for their anniversary, it’s that special.
Before your Lake Louise hikes, go to Bill Peyto’s Cafe for breakfast, inside the Lake Louise hostel. We ate there twice and can surely recommend their simple fare, done well. After your hikes, splurge and eat at the Post Hotel. For ambiance (though mediocre cuisine), we liked the Lake Louise Station (inside the original train station). If you want to see the classic Chateau Lake Louise, you could try a drink in one of their restaurants like the Lakeview Lounge after your hike.
To see Lake Louise itself, you need to arrive in the parking lot before 9 am or after 5:30 pm; it’s kind of a "must-do" in this area, and there is a walking trail halfway around the lake which you can take (1 hour round-trip). We did this at around 8 am one morning, with mist rising off the lake. Beautiful! Moraine Lake was even more magical. We arrived about 7 pm and lucked out finding a parking spot. We strolled on the lake trail (45 minutes round-trip), and the light was amazing. During main daytime hours, you can take a canoe out on the lake as well.
For hikes, I can easily recommend the one we did. Stanley Glacier Trail (3.5 hours round-trip) was actually in Kootenay National Park (British Columbia), but directly between Banff and Lake Louise (in the Castle Junction area of the Lake Louise Trail map). Away from the large crowds, this hike rewarded us with a spectacular view of both the glacier and cascading waterfalls, as well as the area’s mountains and valleys. Scrambling up the rocks at the end of the hike, as we drew closer to the glacier, was challenging and fun.
After hearing about the 
To get my mind off the cold in Boston and another snowstorm headed our way on Wednesday, I’m going to discuss my favorite places to scuba dive this week. I first dove off Taveuni, Fiji, on the way to the Great Barrier Reef after recently being certified in the Cook Islands. It would end up being far more memorable than any of my dives on the Great Barrier Reef. It’s not just the multi-colored coral they dub the Rainbow Reef or the myriad of neon-colored fish that provide divers with a kaleidoscopic view of the sea. No, it’s the big boys like white-tip sharks, sea turtles, and manta rays that make you feel like Jacques Cousteau. No wonder Jacques’ son, Jean-Michel, has his own resort in nearby Savusavu. He’s no fool. 
In a May 2nd travel story in the