Banff, Alberta

Today was an adventure away from Calgary to the largest town in Banff National Park; Banff! But first; let me recap our adventures in Calgary from yesterday. Dave and I awoke to a beautiful sunny day. We had no idea it had actually rained early in the am but when we began our day the sun was shining and it was a gorgeous Canadian day. We started our day but going to the Calgary tower. The tower opened in 1968 and is the city's most famous and identifiable physical landmark. The tower offers a "step out" plexiglass ledge; nearly 600 feet above the ground! I felt my breakfast rising in my throat just slightly but I did it nonetheless and snapped a photo to boot! As things are a little slower over here I will post photos when we return.

After the tower we walked over to the Olympic Plaza. The plaza was built for medal presentations during the 1988 Winter Olympics. It has this huge water fountain feature and it was filled with water about up to an adult's lower calf area and children were splashing and playing and enjoying the sunshine. After walking through the plaza we toured the original city hall building and then walked over to the newest city hall building which is connected to it. As it was so beautiful we decided to have lunch on the plaza and stopped at a sausage cart. We had the spicy buffalo dog. It was pretty tasty.

As it was such a great weather day we decided to pass on the museum and take the train over to the Calgary Zoo. It's actually referred to as the Calgary Zoo, Botanical Garden and Prehistoric Park. It's a great zoo and if you're an aficionado we definitely recommend you taking it in.

After the zoo we were parched so we stopped at this Irish Pub called James Joyce Authentic Irish Pub. This pub sits on Stephen's Street (see previous posting) and is great people watching. We were sat next to this couple who later on moved their table next to ours to make room for a larger group and we discovered they were from Chicago in town attending a wedding. Her name was the same as mine only spelled Ami. What was really coincidental is that she has the same middle name as me; spelled the EXACT same way, Lynne. Wild! We sat with them for hours enjoying the late afternoon sun and bar snacks and drinks. They were really interested in a meal in a nice restaurant and we were really interested in taking in some gaming at a local casino so they joined us for a bit and then went their own way.

This morning we rented a car and drove to Banff. It was about an hour and a half away from Calgary and while it started off just slightly cool this morning; by the time we arrived it was sunny and starting to warm. Our main goal of the day was to ride the gondola. This gondola ride took us to the very top of Sulphur Mountain and proceeded to provide us a view of six mountain ranges; it was incredible! In 8 minutes we ascended 7,486 feet above sea level in a 4 passenger cabin. At the top of the summit there's a restaurant and observation deck but as adventurous as Dave and I are; we decided to climb the boardwalk; a 1 km long elevated boardwalk that took us to the Cosmic Ray Station National Historic Site of Canada as well as Sanson's Peak Meteorological Station. What an incredible walk! It took us along the Sulphur Mountain summit ridge and everywhere you turned it was a breathtaking view of a mountain range; valley or lake. Before going to the gondola we drove through the town and passed the Fairmont Banff Springs. It looked like a castle; absolutely stunning. When we were at the top of the mountain we could look clear down at that hotel and it looked like a toy; amazing!

After our gondola ride and viewing of mountain ranges we then walked through the city of Banff and had lunch at a tiny Japanese restaurant; Chaya. After lunch we window shopped and enjoyed an ice cream from Cows; totally a Canadian ice cream shop! We bought a few pieces of art for the home then worked our way back to town to return the rental car.

Tonight is dinner; location TBD and tomorrow a very early morning start as we are busing our way across Canada to Vancouver. Estimated arrival time; 9:30 pm. While Sunday will consist of golf for Dave and I; the trip to Vancouver is business related so there really won't be much free time to enjoy much but we will try! Until then.... Pin It Now!