Banff is all tourist town. Tons of shops and restaurants.
One thing I find neat is that all employee's have name tags with their home town and country displayed. I have yet to see a local employee...... Australia is a big one....interestingly so is Ontario.
On Sunday we took a trip to the Banff Gondola.....So for someone who is afraid of heights standing at the bottom of a mountain....basically looking straight up some 6,000 feet, I had second thoughts. I figured I would take a chance and give it a go....
what was I thinking.
The cars carry four persons.....they are all glass.... What was I thinking. Leah, Karlee and I jumped in the first gondola...Nana, Papa and Ty jumped in the next one.
So this is how it goes...out the building at about 40 km per hour...along for about 150 feet and then straight up. An eight minute ride. Other than my heart being up my throat it was quiet an incredible experience.
At the top some 7,400 feet was an observation platform.
From there one could walk a boardwalk to an observation hut used in the early 1940's to monitor the valley's.
The 300 step rise to the hut afforded an absolutely spectacular 360 degree view of the phenomenal mountain ridges and valleys of the area.
Looking back at the observation platform from the peak....
I took some 200 pictures of some spectacular scenery.
One thing I found interesting since we have been here is the way the mountains change each time the sun shifts. Each time giving a different look to these behemoth peaks.
We spent several hours on Sulphur Mountain in Banff National Park....
Relaxing before the ride down...
I was thrilled we all got to experience the day together.
The ride down was not as bad as the way up...
We had an enjoyable lunch in Town and then returned to relax at the camp site.
After dinner we went for a bike ride....later in the evening Leah and Karlee decided to go for a walk. The walk did not last too long. As they made their way on a narrow foot patch which lingered along the Bow River beside Tunnel Mt they were approached by a couple warning them....Don't keep going in this direction....there is a bear right over there.
Leah told me the next day that she was not interested in finding out what kind of bear it was. Great choice.
We woke Monday morning to a continuous downpour. This morning was not so good as my navigators, Nana and Papa were leaving. They grabbed a shuttle bus to Calgary and a quick flight to Vancouver to visit with Jay Ann, Liam and Alexa.
They were not gone for a half hour when the weather broke. We decided to go into town and do some shopping. But not before we watched 9 Elk grazing about 50 feet from our camp sight.
The Elk did not seem bothered as we got a little closer to take some photos.
Tomorrows plan.....Lake Louise.
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