Around Banff

Monday turned out to be a much nicer day than was forecast.  We just stayed in town. Several of these pictures are of the Bow River, It starts in a glacier to the north and was one of the rivers responible for the inundation of Calgary a few weeks ago. The second photo is the Banff Springs Hotel, established well over a century ago by the Canadian Pacific Railroad. It's an historic place where you can quickly empty your bank account for a small room. The last three pictures were taken after dinner just outside our hotel room.

Long drive today up to the Columbia Glacier. You can take a special vehicle out on the ice and actually have a walk around. The weather should be perfect.                        

In The Canadian Rockies

Looks like Ansel Adams wannabe time. We're up in the town of Banff in the spectacular Canadian Rockies. Mrs. C thinks that is Mt. Cascade in the top photo (but how would I know?). I'm sure the bottom one is Mt. Rundle, taken from behind our hotel room at The Juniper Hotel just outside of town.

The middle picture is Lake Louise, one of the main local photo ops. The skies have been rather dull, not ideal for photography, but this shot will do. It's pretty, but unless you are a serious hiker there's nothing to do but exclaim "How beautiful!' and take some snaps. And the place is bloody overrun with tourists. 15 or 20 minutes circling the parking lots.

Some observations about Canada:

The people are simply delightful. I have to add the Canadians to my list of the sweetest people on earth, up there with the Irish, Nepalese and Costa Ricans.

The average body mass index of people at the Calgary Stampede is a fraction of those at Fair St. Louis.

There are far fewer people with tattoos than the US. Not none, but not many.

The speed limits on Canadian highways are way slow compared to the US and Europe. Safety first, eh?

It's supposed to rain off and on today. Don't know what we will do.