second time around

Yesterday was just a magical day! We awoke early and there was not a cloud in the sky. The deep blue Albertan sky brought out the edges of the mountains in a special way. We headed down the Icefields Parkway to Banff. What a spectacular drive, it may just be the prettiest road in the world. We went up the Banff Gondola and had an absolutely amazing view 360 degrees of grandeur. From above the sight of the Fairmont Springs Hotel was impressive, quite the place. We tried for the Cave and Basin hot springs, but it was closed, doing some construction. So we went to the Natural History Museum. Built in 1903 it was incredible. The building was wood, with exquisite workmanship, repaired and just amazing. The collection of birds and animals inside were equally impressive. They were mostly 100 years old. We spent a couple of hours marveling at all the exhibits. Checked out the differences between ravens and crows, caribou and elk, and wolverines and badgers. I noted that they had many Mule deer, but no white tailed deer.

Late in the afternoon we drove on down to Calgary, arriving in mid rush-hour traffic. I dropped Poe at the hotel, and fought my way down McLeod Trail to return the rental car. Some angst as the time got very close to closing, and I overshot the Hertz place, got gas and did some U-turns in traffic to get back in time. Dropped the car and caught the subway/train back to town. After a bite of dinner, we relaxed and got some sleep, but not too much, as the alarm was 04:30 for catching the Rocky Mountaineer train. The train is just entering the mountains now, and it is a gorgeous day, wonderful sights and I am thinking it will be nice to relax for the next two days.

The train ride was incredible, again perfect weather and spectacular sights, the remarkable Rockies, and spiral tunnels cut into the rock. We had quite a long day though, as the boarding was 05:30 and we got into Kamloops at 7;30 PM with an hour time change to boot. Then we had a dinner show booked, which was somewhat cheesy, but fun none the less. Five actors playing all the roles, some great old time music and good voices. Up the next day for the ride down through the Frazier River Valley to Vancouver. There were lots of Osprey and Eagles, but not too many animals. We had a wonderful stay with cousin Donna and David, and spent the next day visiting and touring with them and my “new favorite cousin” Sheila and David. We skipped the touristy Capilano suspension bridge and they took us instead to the Provincial park, Lynn Canyon and the suspension bridge there was not crowded and just as impressive. Then they took us to the Granville Island Market, a lot like Ghirardelli square in San Francisco. I got to taste Salmon candy. It is smoked salmon marinated in Maple honey. It was interesting, OK but not all that. Now we are on the ferry from Tsawassen to Victoria, a pretty ride and on to a great city.

Tags: Travel

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 14th, 2011 at 8:49 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.