This morning I woke up in what was once the staff quarters of the Banff Springs Hotel but is now a very fine newly renovated guest wing of the Fairmont Banff Springs with a FANTASTIC view of the Rockies outside my window. (They apparently built the hotel backward, giving the staff the best views.)
After a very fortifying trip to the breakfast buffet, I took a three-hour tour (a three-hour tour, "Gilligan's Island" fans) of Banff National Park, on which I saw an elk and several bighorn sheep and learned that, in the early days of the railroad resort that Banff was in its early days, they put up bleachers around the town dump and let folks come and watch the bears rummage through the trash. Also saw some beautiful lakes, one of which was dammed and flooded a little town you can now visit with scuba gear.
Had an outrageously good lunch at Bison Bistro and Deli (bacon and cheddar sandwich to die for -- real bacon, not that limp Canadian stuff) and then went on an hourlong horseback ride. For the first time since I can remember, I got a horse that was actually of an appropriate size for my short stature. I always felt like the outfitters would take one look at me and give me the most enormous horse in the stable, preferably one with deep-seated psychological problems. My horse was a little stubborn (I tried to steer now and then, then gave up), but he was of a manageable size and well-behaved. And the scenery -- it almost makes it more gorgeous and romantic to bob through it atop a horse. I even liked going back to the hotel smelling of horse and leather.
Couldn't resist a trip up the Banff Gondola, which takes 8 minutes to haul you up (closed car) to the top of a mountain from which you can see EVERYTHING and Banff looks like a tiny miniature Christmas village. Mountains, mountains everywhere, a double ribbon of highway, a blue milky lake, a snaking river (the Bow), and a thin atmosphere that made climbing the steps to the cosmic ray monitoring tower (I kid you not -- it's no longer in service) one of the colder exercises in heavy breathing anyone's ever likely to encounter. Did I mention it's cold? Did I mention the gondola took me far enough up to be on the same level with snow?
Anyway, if you look back a few posts now you'll see I'm beginning to be able to add in remedial pictures, thanks to some tech support back in Pittsburgh. Thank you, David. I'll be dropping in more of those as I can get them sized and get time to add them. All will soon be shipshape and Bristol fashion.
Did I mention there are a lot of Brits here?
After a very fortifying trip to the breakfast buffet, I took a three-hour tour (a three-hour tour, "Gilligan's Island" fans) of Banff National Park, on which I saw an elk and several bighorn sheep and learned that, in the early days of the railroad resort that Banff was in its early days, they put up bleachers around the town dump and let folks come and watch the bears rummage through the trash. Also saw some beautiful lakes, one of which was dammed and flooded a little town you can now visit with scuba gear.
Had an outrageously good lunch at Bison Bistro and Deli (bacon and cheddar sandwich to die for -- real bacon, not that limp Canadian stuff) and then went on an hourlong horseback ride. For the first time since I can remember, I got a horse that was actually of an appropriate size for my short stature. I always felt like the outfitters would take one look at me and give me the most enormous horse in the stable, preferably one with deep-seated psychological problems. My horse was a little stubborn (I tried to steer now and then, then gave up), but he was of a manageable size and well-behaved. And the scenery -- it almost makes it more gorgeous and romantic to bob through it atop a horse. I even liked going back to the hotel smelling of horse and leather.
Couldn't resist a trip up the Banff Gondola, which takes 8 minutes to haul you up (closed car) to the top of a mountain from which you can see EVERYTHING and Banff looks like a tiny miniature Christmas village. Mountains, mountains everywhere, a double ribbon of highway, a blue milky lake, a snaking river (the Bow), and a thin atmosphere that made climbing the steps to the cosmic ray monitoring tower (I kid you not -- it's no longer in service) one of the colder exercises in heavy breathing anyone's ever likely to encounter. Did I mention it's cold? Did I mention the gondola took me far enough up to be on the same level with snow?
Anyway, if you look back a few posts now you'll see I'm beginning to be able to add in remedial pictures, thanks to some tech support back in Pittsburgh. Thank you, David. I'll be dropping in more of those as I can get them sized and get time to add them. All will soon be shipshape and Bristol fashion.
Did I mention there are a lot of Brits here?
2 comments:
Sam, just an FYI while traveling through the western provinces, some towns actually have a law about criticizing Canadian Back Bacon.
I think it's a couple of days in jail or you have to do a spot on Corner Gas. Go for the latter, it's a great show.
Great writing to describe a great journey. I was hoping that the zipline would have been a bit more thrilling. Maybe you can try one from the CN Tower.
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