Monday – 2 July, 2007 – Banff, Margaret’s Birthday!

W. In case you didn’t know, Banff, Alberta, is one of the most beautiful spots in the world! There, I’ve said it; now I have to defend this statement.

To begin, Banff, is set in a valley with the Bow River winding through it, surrounded by mountains on all sides. Town is roughly 5,000 feet above sea level with the mountains over 9,000 feet –with snow remaining. although there’s not as much snow as we anticipated.

Yesterday was Canada’s anniversary. I mistakenly referred to it as their Independence Day because of it’s similarly to our July 4th. But of course they never rebelled against England. July 1st is simply the day that they became a country. They are still part of the UK Commonwealth. But watching TV last night, the Canadians are very proud of their country and of being Canadians. Margaret and I talked about it this morning. Canada and the Canadians are where the USA and Americans were 50 years ago when we were growing up. Not being a “superpower” enables Canada to remain somewhat objective and removed from the day-to-day problems of the world. They talk, they laugh, they enjoy life everyday.

Last night we over-ate at one of the local Japanese restaurants – I suffered, but it was my fault. The food was good and there was a lot of it. Shabu-shabu was one of our favorite dishes while living in Japan and we haven’t had it in over 20 years – so we “pigged out”! Our electric cooking burner heated the already hot room, which reminded us quickly that Shabu-shabu was a cold-weather dish. The cold beer helped. Also, the portions were American-sized.

Tonight we agreed to go easy on dinner – and ate at the Café Soleil. Our waiter was French and grew up in Turkey! (His mother was Turkish and his father was French.) His “home” is Leone, France. He has been here for almost 1 year. I asked how he liked the winter in Banff. Last year, the first snow occurred on September 14th. Although the ski season was great for business, he had a hard time adapting to 7 months of winter! He and his wife are investigating immigrating to Australia where the weather is warmer! He wants to learn to surf. The food was great and we plan to return at least once before we leave.

Today we hiked partway down the mountain. Our campsite (photo above) is located on the ridge of Tunnel Mountain, just above downtown Banff. It is quite convenient – less than 10 minutes into down-town. Really, within walking distance and there is a bus line as well. There are mountains in every direction when we step out of the motor-home – spectacular. On our hike the neighborhood rodent population kept tract of our progress. We called it the gopher-gram. They called ahead and had sentinels posted all along the path. The rodents had a military bearing, their posture “at-attention,” spine straight with front paws folded over their stomachs.

Later we drove around Lake Minnewanka. The color of the water was topaz. The photo above is one of the scuba divers coming out of the lake. They hold classes here. When I asked why, it turns out that when the dam was built, it flooded an old mining town. So the divers go down to explore the town. I asked one of them how cold it was – 45 degrees Fahrenheit. Brrr! But he had the equipment to do it. There is an above-water boat, which we plan to take later – not sunny enough today.

Saw several groups of shabby-looking mountain sheep. They are shedding their winter wear. Blowing through the air there are puffs of pollen and, we think, sheep wool. The youngsters are adorable, their parents are pretty scruffy. There are signs not to feed the sheep, but they didn’t seem to expect it. The males were quite royal looking, above it all. The females tended to the young.

Our cat made acquaintance with one of the local ground squirrels. (I call them ground squirrels – the look like prairie dogs or gophers or some kind of burrowing rodent.) Fortunately for both Suki and the ground squirrel they never made “contact”.

Weather has been great. Lots of sunshine during the day – a little cool in the evening. Today we had clouds which kept the temperatures in the low 70’s.

We also drove up to the top of Mount Norquay – just north of town. It is the local ski-run site. Nice views of down-town Banff with the Banff Springs hotel on the south side of town.

Tomorrow, we are going north to Lake Louise to spend on night at the hotel Le Chateau. We visited there last year with Connie and Harold (our friends from Olympia, WA – Fernandina Beach) and decided we wanted to return if possible. We don’t have reservations, but the local tourist bureau says we won’t have a problem.

Almost everyone has returned to their homes and regular work schedules. Now there are plenty of camping sites! More importantly, the crowds on the streets of Banff have thinned – you can actually stroll through town without getting bumped. Banff is a melting pot of ethnicity – in a few minutes you hear almost every language you can identify – plus several you can’t! Lots of Japanese tour groups with their little flags following their leader. Chinese, Indians, French, Scandinavian, plus…..