DAY TRIP TO BANFF ROCKY MOUNTAINS

(click on first picture to get a full sized slide show without the commentary)

We decided to get out of town for the day and Banff is so close that it was our getaway choice. Some of these pictures are a bit blurred as I was taking them through the windshield of a moving car.

This structure is a pass over the highway to protect animals when they want to move to the other side. All along the highways there are tall chain link fences to prevent them from coming out onto the roads and risk being hit by vehicles. There are also underpasses through huge culverts. Unfortunately animals are still able to get onto the train tracks and that is a major cause of death for bears in particular as they scrounge for  spilled grain.

This is Castle Mountain, a favorite for tourists to stop and photograph. We didn't stop, it's a picture on the fly.

The day of our trip there was a Chinook and this is the first time I've ever been directly
under one. It's quite impressive, full of angry looking swirls and colors but we love those clouds as they bring warm weather to our city. Temperatures can go from 20 below to 20 above within an hour once these warm winds get blowing.

We decided to skip walking around the town and shoppes as we've done that numerous times and instead take the gondola to the top of Sulphur Mountain. Last time we did that was forty years ago, but not much has changed. It's still beautiful but quite expensive so you only really do it every forty years or so lol. There are a lot of healthy, fit people that save their money and walk all the way up and down. More power to them but that would probably kill us. 

 It was so windy up on top of the mountain with the Chinook blowing full force that it was hard to get pictures that weren't blurred but manged to get a few. This is looking down on the east side with the town of Banff  below and Lake Minnewanka way in the background. You can just make out the Banff Springs hotel at the bottom of the picture.

This is the view looking west towards British Columbia.

This is another view to the east showing the Banff Springs Hotel. I posted some interior shots of it on an earlier blog. 

I zoomed in here for a better shot of it. You can see the falls in the background. The hotel apparently has two ghosts (friendly). One is a bellhop from the early days and the other is of a bride who fell from the top of the staircase and tragically died. 

This is the lookout tower from the top of Sulphur mountain. Some early brave soul lived up here  year round. It has all the "comforts" of home inside but you would certainly have to be comfortable with isolation to stay there.

This bright eyed and very noisy bird is a Whiskey Jack. I'm sure there's a more authentic name but that's what I've always known them by. They are very brave and excellent beggars.

A partial view of  downtown  Banff. I couldn't get a better shot from where I was without getting run over  but it gives an idea of the setting of the famous town. In the summer it is wall to wall people and they dress it up with amazing flower baskets.

This momma was giving me the stink eye as she was crossing the street to let me know that I should stay away from her babies. Deer and elk can be quite a problem in the town as they'll attack everyone without warning and love to stomp on dogs. There are no predators in town  so they have no fear. A few years ago they got some dogs in to help chase them away and that has helped some but eventually they wander back into town.

 We had lots of time after we came down Sulphur mountain so decided to go further up the highway to Lake Louise. This is the lake with the glacier at the end.

A zoomed in shot of the glacier shows how rotten the ice is. I think the first time I saw it the ice came right down to the water so like all glaciers world wide it is rapidly disappearing. 

An even closer zoom.

At the hotel at Lake Louise, the hanging flower  baskets were amazing! They were over six feet tall and so well done.

The ball room inside the hotel.

The view from the dining room.

A true "picture" window. Every window had an amazing view.

The Lake Louise hotel isn't as nice as the Banff Springs but has some interesting decor. These chandeliers baffled us but I guess it is a bit of a Bavarian theme. Each one  is different.

Here is the largest chandelier with a grouping of maidens. 














That's the end of our day trip as it was back to Banff for a soak in the hot springs pool, then a light dinner and then home. Hope you enjoyed the pictures.