Day 5 - Banff

Day 5, code name Awesome!

Day 5 started with one of my favorite things - sleeping in! We got an extra hour to sleep this morning and started at 9am instead of the usual 8am. We had breakfast at Tony Romas and boarded the coach for a tour of Banff and a raft ride down the Bow River.

We quickly passed over Lake Minnewauka (not sure about the spelling), and just checked it out from the coach on our way to Two Jack Lake. We saw some young elk just sprouting their antlers and some mountain goats with the big horns curling around. We stopped for a picture opportunity at Two Jack Lake and I climbed down the hill to base of the lake for a few shots. Uncle Lenox climbed down on the ground and layed out for some pictures and Zeke caught some nice shots of him laying in the grass on his stomach.

On our way to our raft float ride, we stopped to learn about the Hoodoos - deposits from the glacier movements that are essentially concrete. They leave funny little shapes like when you hold really wet sand at the beach and drip it back onto the beach. They First Nations believed these statue like columns had spiritual basis and were to blame when things went wrong - the Hoodoos are messing everything up! We also made a quick stop at the Celestial Gardens that stand at the end of Banff Avenue that look down to the whole town. They are just starting to plant the flowers, but there were a few blooms that I was able to take a few photos.

After Two Jack Lake we headed to Bow River Falls and the Bow River for a raft right down the glacier water. Our whole group managed to all get into one boat with a few extra passengers and enjoyed the 8-mile journey down the river, searching for animals, taking in the sights and learning the history of how this river has carved a mountain into two. Our tour guide showed us where trees along the river are falling in as the river continues to cut and push east. The river is fed by the Bow Glacier and the water is just slightly above freezing - I checked. We had a nice relaxing trip down the river, that is only a few feet deep in places and crystal clear. Since it's formed from a glacier it has a nice aqua-green sheen.

We continued our tour of Banff by riding back around past the Banff Springs Hotel - the first hotel built in Banff as a result of the Canadian-Pacific railway. This is a huge facility with rather pricey rooms. We didn't stop, but we got to take a peek at what they call the Castle in the Rockies.

When we got back into Banff, we had the afternoon to ourselves, so we all split up. Uncle Lenox and I had by far the best time (even though I'm sure Aunt Dottie will say she had a better time collecting her bargins) - but then again I'm partial. We stopped in Brunos for a nice $5 burger and some sodas and had a great lunch before we took off on our excursion. We rented bikes and rode out of town and along a nice freshly paved path to Vermillion Lake #1, 2 & 3. We had a few short hills (one that worse than others that I am remembering in my legs as I type), but it was otherwise flat. The perfect vacation ride. We figured it out to be about 11 kilometers. Nice bit of sun too, so the weather couldn't have been better for a nice ride.

After our ride, we popped into a few shops. My big bargain for the day is a hat and glove set - wool, lined with fleece for $8. I'm not set for next winter, for sure! Aunt Dottie did a little better, but come on, she's a professional for goodness sake :) We also grabbed some ice cream from Cows on our way back to our hotel. All (most) of the flavors have cow related names. I had Moople Walnut and Uncle Lenox had Wowie Cowie - so basically I had maple walnut and he had a toffee/pecan/chocolate type thing. I also scored some nice hockey pucks with some vintage logos - only in Canada! I also popped in a grocery store to buy maple syrup (big surprise) and i saw where all their tabloids were the same mostly - all Jon & Kate! I found that very interesting - there is a lot of American entertainment in Canada. Although, we did get You Can't Do That On Television from Canada, so I guess it can go either way.

We grabbed dinner at you guessed it, Brunos - my new favorite little place. I think all the employees know me know. I just met the manager, Gary - who place music and I have a new sticker to add to my water bottle from him. Everyone has been super nice and the food is great. I think my family enjoyed their dinners too. They have trivia cards on each table so we had a good time asking qustions and then before leaving my family jumped on the band set up by the door and we have some great shots of them playing various instruments. Uncle Lenox and I split the wings and they were amazing, much better than last night's wings. It seems I'm having my own little wing-off taste testing the wings of Banff. Brunos gets my vote.