Banff, Alberta, Canada - part 1

 

In the winter in Buffalo, back when we were working, we complained that you left for work in the dark and came home in the dark. June in Canada is just the opposite. The sunrises before 6 am and sets after 10 pm, so there is plenty of daylight hours to get all our sightseeing in. The only disadvantage is star gazing. You need to be up in the middle of the night, and we are too pooped from all our adventures to notice.

Banff is a cute town that definitely caters to tourists. There are numerous hotels, restaurants, café’s, stores, you name it they have it. It is pretty easy to get around using their transit system and very inexpensive. Us seniors are only $1 one way and lots of times you can walk from one point of interest to another. They have signs all over that it’s easier to take their transit and from the crowds we’ve seen we have to agree. It's common knowledge that there is simply not enough parking for all of the people. The big slogan is "See more park and less parking lot" We can’t imagine the crowds during their busy months!

The #1 attraction is a gondola ride up to the summit of Sulphur Mountain, 7486’ elevation. Mark asked if I thought I could do it and I was like, sure, I use to snow ski and this is like a chair lift. Well, I never skied a mountain like this, but I am happy to say I made it to the top and back down again. Mark just made sure I was facing the mountain and was looking up, not down. Funny thing was we ended up on the gondola with another women who was afraid of heights. Her friend she was traveling with father was born in Buffalo. She has all kinds of relatives in WNY, so the conversation helped me keep my mind off the heights. There are also campers here at Banff National Park, Tunnel Mountain Trailer Court that only live 30 minutes from us. Small world! The only downside to our campsite is the internet is pretty much nonexistent.

We also did something a little different for the Canadian portion of our trip. We purchased a guide-along app that plays along as you drive and tells you the best places to stop. It has come in very handy and I’m sure will work out great for the rest of our Canadian Rockies trip.

We stopped to have lunch at the continental divide.

This is one of the wildlife crossings that they are 

building in Radium Hot Springs that I posted about. The forest is fenced

off so the wildlife can't get on the road, the fence then

directs them to these crossings which are filled with

trees and the animals cross there. The first one built (the one shown here) cost

$1 million about 20 years ago, but within a couple weeks of completion, motion

 detection cameras showed the animals were using the crossings. Hooray, it worked!

and accidents began to decrease. 

Lots of rental campers at the campground.

Banff's architecture can best be described as alpine looking.

This was interesting, when you cross the roads all

of the signals are red and only pedestrians cross. You 

can cross normally or diagonally. 

Banff is surrounded by mountains.

The line that looks like it's going up the mountain,

are the gondolas.

Here we are on top of the world!

The sheep were up there too. They are molting - losing

their winter coats, so they look a little mangy.

This is Lake Minnewanka in the distance.

After taking the gondola up, Mark walked up to Sulphur

Mtn Cosmic Ray Station. It's a national historic site, it's the

remains of a high-altitude geophysical laboratory built in 

1957. The 360-degree views were magnificent.

This castle-like structure is the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel.

This building is where the gondola lets you off,

then you walk along the boardwalk to get to the old cosmic ray station.

Mark is waving as he made his way back down from the 

station. I only went 1/2 way up. I felt I already was

high enough!

We are on the outside level of the gondola

building, looking back at the station Mark walked to.

A gondola arriving at the top.

On our way back down, as you can see, I'm white

knuckling it.

Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel

There was a wedding taking place while we had a 

cocktail and walked around.

The 15th hole at the Springs Golf Course.

We walked back into town stopping at Bow Falls

along the way.