After breakfast we packed up and set off for Banff. It was a beautiful sunny day, better than they (the weather people in Banff) had predicted :) We wound our way through the town of Banff up to Sulpher Mountain. It was absolutely packed! Once we had our tickets, we waited in line for about 20 minutes and then hopped on the gondola that would take us up the mountain.Tinsley and Chloé rode up together. When we got to the top they were crying because they were so scared! (just kidding, they didn't cry, but they didn't enjoy the ride). There were crowds of people when we got off the gondola. Clearly Sulpher Mountain is a very popular tourist attraction! The view though was spectacular! As we hiked up we took tons of pictures of the mountains, the back of our heads, (insert stupid picture here), and of the Banff Springs Hotel at the bottom that no one can afford to stay in :)
At the top, we looked at the weather station from the early 1900's. This was really interesting with the little building left just as it had been from long ago. We could look in the windows and see all the things there.
Next, we hiked down the mountain to the gondolas where Tinsley and Chloe threw hissy fits because they didn't want to go down ( just kidding that didn't happen :) ). After a quick look in the gift shop we drove to a beautiful mountain stream for lunch. The water was icy cold and extremely clear and blue. Once we had all re-fueled, we drove to Johnson Canyon via the Bow Valley Parkway, ( not sure what was so great about it, just a highway... :).
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| Elk # 1 |
While we were driving we saw a giant elk with HUGE antlers! It posed for everyone - obviously that elk needs to go into the modeling industry!
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| View upstream towards Upper Falls |
The hike at Johnson Canyon was VERY long. We walked to both the Lower and Upper falls at which we got wet from the mist coming off the waterfalls.
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| C, T, M and C getting soaked at the Lower Falls. |
One our way upto the upper falls, we came across a little, mini, very small water fall where we cupped our hands and tried to drink the water. As I am quite the water critic, I gave this water a 10/10. :) Mum says the hike took only two hours but it felt like five hours!
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| Johnson Canyon, Lower Falls |
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| Johnson Canyon, Upper Falls |
At the end of the hike, we all piled in to the van and drove to downtown Banff.
We did a bit of shopping but not before we all re-fueled at Starbucks - YUM! As we walked along the street, Tinsley pointed a shop called Beaver Tails. She got very excited so we went in and bought two beaver tails - one for Mairin and I to share, and one for Tinsley and Chloé to share. Mairin and I had chocolate and banana slices on one end of the tail and cinnamon with lemon and sugar on the other end.
Tinsley got the standard cinnamon on one end and Chloé got chocolate with peanut butter and reeses pieces on her end. After we ate our "beava" tails and I stepped in a lovely piece of banana that Mairin had dropped on the ground :p we went to the Cows ice cream store, which is always good fun!
Everyone was pretty much dead after a day of basically all walking, so we headed back to Canmore, picked up some groceries and then went back to the condo for dinner.
During dinner we had some "serious" conversations about the lovely language that is French! Dad asked all the questions such as, "Why are objects in French masculine and feminine?" or, "Why do some words have the letter E on the end?" Answer to the first: no one really knows...Answer to the second: that would mean that they are a girl, dad.... :)
After a quick dip in the hot tub, everyone had a shower and are now getting ready for bed.
Goodnight my fair blog readers. I wish you all splendid dreams full of unicorns, rainbows, and fluffy bunnies.
- Carling, (aka Jane - my Starbucks name) :)
P.S. Carling forgot to mention we came back from Banff via Tunnel Mountain Road and came across a young Elk. This one was sporting a white identification collar around it's neck.
P.P.S. Click on any image to see the full-size gallery of these pictures.,
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| Elk #2 |
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| Johnson Canyon, Looking down stream |
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| Cosmic Ray Station - from Gondola station |
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| Looking North from Gondola Station |
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| Good Friends! |
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| Team Douglas 2012 |
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| Cosmic Ray Station, Sulpher Mountain, built 1903 |
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| Chipmunk trying to earn some food |
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| Top of Gondola Station |
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| View of Town of Banff from Sulpher Mountain |
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| Panormamic shot from top of Sulpher Mountain |
Hah! Even before I got to the end of today's blog, i KNEW it was written by Carling, or should I say 'Jane'. Good job, Car! Sounds like a fun day, thanks to all your vivid descriptions!
ReplyDelete~ Auntie Care
Hello everybody,
ReplyDeleteKnowing Tinsley and Chloé very well, I can imagine them on the gondola, cursing the travel up and down the mountain.
I like your picture where we can see the back of your heads, because it is as if the girls were so captivated by the beauty of the mountains that they did not take care of the photographer.I can see and imagine a superb landscape during a nice sunny day...
Congratulations to the giant elk who hold the pose and to the photographer for its dexterity in taking the elk among the trees.
What a pity to have missed a bear by two seconds, because I am among those who has never seen a real bear in Canada before.
I read that Glen was very interested in French language. French is a very difficult language, much more difficult than English, with sometimes some words which are very difficult to write and impossible to pronounce (ask Tinsley for the word "machiavélique" for example).
To try to answer Glen about his first question " why are objects in French masculine and feminine", I would say that researchers are still studying the question...
To finish, just a little advice to Glen: Glen you must not continue to ask so interesting questions about French, because the language is so amazing, that you will quickly catch a terrible headhache. :)
Have another good day.
Yves et Fabienne