9 July – Monday
Departed a cold and wet Calgary after finally getting our hire car. Alamo seemed much more relaxed than Europcar – the man couldn’t understand why I wanted every scratch, chip, dent and mark recorded! First time in a left hand car for driver Les, who handled the change well and only strayed a couple of times. Calgary was much bigger than first impressions, with many new subdivisions to the west. The road crossed the prairie (so wide and open) before reaching the foothills of the Rockies, such immense mountains still with snow in places. I spotted a white tail deer as we drove into town. We found our accommodation in Banff without any dramas, left the car and walked to downtown. This town exists for tourism, both in summer in winter. It is
such a beautiful town, so different to the dirtiness of Calgary, completely surrounded by mountains and with a snow fed river running through the town.
The afternoon’s first trip was to the Bow Falls just out of town, overlooked by the Fairmont Hotel (what a hotel!!!). Again, magnificent views of mountains and water. Then it was a gondola ride to the top of Sulphur Mountain for even more spectacular views (be prepared for photos!) Big horn sheep and golden ground squirrels provided photo opportunities for the tourists. To recuperate from the overload of mountain scenery, we spent some time languishing in the hot thermal pool on the mountain, while we enjoyed even more mountain scenery! As we were leaving, we spotted another deer sitting on the edge of the forest, only a short distance from where we were standing. Evidently we have to be careful of bears (grizzly and black), moose, elk, cougars, wolverines, mountain goats, big horn sheep and deer. Bushwalking is completely different in this country – possums wouldn’t be considered a worry at all.
Departed a cold and wet Calgary after finally getting our hire car. Alamo seemed much more relaxed than Europcar – the man couldn’t understand why I wanted every scratch, chip, dent and mark recorded! First time in a left hand car for driver Les, who handled the change well and only strayed a couple of times. Calgary was much bigger than first impressions, with many new subdivisions to the west. The road crossed the prairie (so wide and open) before reaching the foothills of the Rockies, such immense mountains still with snow in places. I spotted a white tail deer as we drove into town. We found our accommodation in Banff without any dramas, left the car and walked to downtown. This town exists for tourism, both in summer in winter. It is
such a beautiful town, so different to the dirtiness of Calgary, completely surrounded by mountains and with a snow fed river running through the town.The afternoon’s first trip was to the Bow Falls just out of town, overlooked by the Fairmont Hotel (what a hotel!!!). Again, magnificent views of mountains and water. Then it was a gondola ride to the top of Sulphur Mountain for even more spectacular views (be prepared for photos!) Big horn sheep and golden ground squirrels provided photo opportunities for the tourists. To recuperate from the overload of mountain scenery, we spent some time languishing in the hot thermal pool on the mountain, while we enjoyed even more mountain scenery! As we were leaving, we spotted another deer sitting on the edge of the forest, only a short distance from where we were standing. Evidently we have to be careful of bears (grizzly and black), moose, elk, cougars, wolverines, mountain goats, big horn sheep and deer. Bushwalking is completely different in this country – possums wouldn’t be considered a worry at all.
1 comment:
What a pretty Mounties uniform! You guys are certainly clocking up a few miles now. We're still having fun in Brisbane, and Jack says hello. He's going through a bit of a clingy phase at the moment, especially with Dad (which is nice, but can have its downsides!). Luckily if I'm not around he's very happy to be cuddled by LoLo.
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