Banff

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Lots of pictures in this post, so be patient.

As our tour guide said, Banff is a lovely small city, as long as you remember what it stands for: Be Aware, Nothing For Free.

We stopped at a number of lakes on the way from Jasper to Banff. Peyto Lake astounded us with a turquoise-blue color that seems to be from a fairy tale.
Peyto Lake
 Brewster Tours included the Ice Explorer Glacier Tour as part of the trip. Blinding white sunlight reflecting off the ice and snow does not allow you to take good pictures, but Darling managed anyway.

Darling says she needed her sunglasses and so did her camera. Make sure you bring both if you visit the Athabasca Glacier (that's the official name).

The all-terrain Ice Explorers they use for touring the glacier are huge, costing a million and a half dollars apiece. The tires are taller than I am. Twenty-three of these monsters exist in the world, twenty-two of them at the glacier - one at McMurdo Base in Antarctica. 


We also stopped at the Glacier Skywalk where Darling managed to get some photos of a mountain goat. You have to wonder - do they feel the thousand pair of eyes watching them from above?

Canada built fences along the highway to force the animals to cross the road at specially built crossing areas. I have to admire a country that works so tirelessly to protect its natural resources.
I think that's the right picture. Maybe not...

The resort at Lake Louise offers a panoramic view of mountains with a reflection of their splendor in the waters of the lake. The water is cold. We were only there for a half hour, but that was long enough for me to get my bare feet into the lake.

The chipmunks at Lake Louise live a nice lifestyle as long as vacationers visit and give them tidbits. I imagine life is a little tougher for them in the winter.


Our tour guide and bus driver with Brewster Tours and the Glacier tour all exhibited the highest level of professionalism and courtesy. They transformed a beautiful drive into an experience that remains a jewel among my memories.


Rimrock Hotel
Our stay at the Rimrock Resort Hotel in Banff included the second loveliest dinner with Darling that I can recall. The first was an evening in Cabo, as the sun set over the ocean...

Sorry, got lost in memories for a moment.

Our dinner in Banff allowed us to eat our meal and listen to the piano player as she played many of my favorite songs.

That's what travel is all about - the memories.

Enjoy the music. That's what we did.

Thanks for reading.

The final part of this trip here, skipping my interim discussion of Dental Tourism in Costa Rica, coming up next.

Here are a few more pictures...
Location: Banff, AB, Canada

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