We woke up later than usual today. Thank goodness! We took our time getting around and then realized if we actually wanted to eat breakfast we needed to move a little faster. We went across the street to a mediocre breakfast buffet. We came back to our room and realized we should make reservations for our meals at Lake Louise and Jasper. We assumed that since we are hotel guests we would have first priority. Not true. We will not eat in the nicest restaurants with the best views. Those reservations are all taken. It won't matter. We will have great views all around us.
Gayle needs to rest her back today. I did some laundry and poked around Banff a bit. It is a tourist town with lots of gift shops that sell t-shirts and postcards next to high-end art galleries. Every place you look there are the most beautiful flowers. It is a very well-maintained little town with everything you need from a pharmacy to a grocery store to an Asian market to an urgent care to a ski rental to a liquor store to a realtor to a wedding planner to a cannabis dispensary -- all neatly packed in a two block radius. I went into every bakery to see if Brett would approve. None of them appeared to bake their own pastries....so he wouldn't approve.
I can tell that Banff is surrounded by mountains but I can't really take them in because of all the hotels and restaurants with rooftop bars. Perhaps if we were on a higher floor we might have a view. So while Gayle took a nap I decided to walk the Bow River Trail near our hotel and on the way back get some stamps to mail letters back to the US. I thought I might get a better view of the surrounding mountains. I also got an incredible view of the Bow River.
So I decided to go a little further....
and a little further...
Then I saw a sign pointing ahead to the Bow Falls Viewpoint. Just this morning I had told Gayle I thought a rest day was a good idea. "After all," I said, "I've already seen a lot of waterfalls on this trip." As I stood there debating whether to turn back to our hotel room or go forward, I thought about a woman I knew who went to Alaska. When she returned I asked her about her trip. She said, "It wasn't that great." I was surprised. "Why not?" I asked. "There were just too many trees," she said. I don't want to be that woman. So I thought, "Oh hell, why not?" As I got close enough to the falls to hear the roaring, the mosquitos started eating me alive and I realized that however far I went ahead I would have to travel coming back. I trudged on, even though I heard Bryan's voice in my head. Whenever I bit off more than my body could handle, he would chastise me with his best Desi Arnaz impersonation: "Luuucccy!" The falls were beautiful and you really can't see too many waterfalls.
I also got to see the top of Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel that opened in 1888. A room with a view of Mount Rundle in this hotel costs around $1500 a night when you add taxes and parking.
I headed back but I thought if I didn't go next to the river there would be less mosquitos. So I took off down a trail next to the road. There was no one on it and I started thinking about how Gayle and I saw a grizzly bear run past a crowd of tourists at the St. Mary's Lake boat dock in Glacier. I decided I needed to be bear aware and let the bear (if there was one) know I was there. So I just started singing, "Hello, bear" over and over again as I walked. I felt silly but I preferred feeling silly over the fate of death by bear.
I finally made it back to the pedestrian bridge that crosses the river. My feet were aching and I had not thought to bring water when I headed out for what I intended to be a brief jaunt.
I stopped at the first convenience store I found and bought two bottles of water. I downed the first one in the store and drank the other one as I limped home past the most beautiful flowers. I arrived back at the hotel with sore feet, an aching knee and a beet red face.
We made a reservation for 5 p.m. for a sushi restaurant because of how many tourists are crammed into a few blocks. We got there a few minutes early and found out they had certain rolls half price until 5 p.m. We ordered quickly to get one of them half price. I think it was the best sushi of my limited experience. (I always said I hated sushi until I tried it for the first time at the age of 58.) We paid full price for a roll they called Hello Lobster. It was amazing. If I am ever in Banff again I want to remember to go to Hello Sunshine Sushi.
We had made reservations to go up to the top of Sulphur Mountain via the Banff Gondola. We took public transportation, which is free if you have a gondola reservation. It takes eight minutes to go from the lower terminal to the upper terminal. We got a car to ourselves.
We wanted to see the sunset from Sulphur Mountain so we took our time exploring.
The first level has a large outdoor deck that allows you a beautiful panorama of the surrounding mountains and to look down towards the town of Banff.
There were Bighorn Sheep walking all around, as if they were posing for us.
The second level has a great film that makes you feel like you are flying over Banff National Park. There are all kinds of educational displays. The third level holds two restaurants with incredible views. The fourth floor is the top so that you can sit outside, drink a glass of wine and be surrounded in the beauty. The park warden was providing live music, playing his guitar and singing. He was excellent.
Just before the sun went down he finished his set and we all moved to the edge and snapped photos.
I had a hard time leaving. I always think if I wait one more minute it will get even more beautiful.
There was a long line to get a gondola car back down the mountain. The mosquitos came out in full force and it looked like we were all dancing as people tried desperately to beat them off. Gayle took the most hilarious video. Once again we got a gondola car to ourselves and took the 8 minute ride to the bottom, in search of pubic transportation back to Banff. We waited about 40 minutes as the mosquitos feasted on our flesh. We got back to our room around 11:30 p.m.
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