Fri 5th Aug - Banff

Nancy came round to pick us up first thing and we started the day's adventures with a "grande non fat no foam tazo chai" (sounds weird but was very tasty), then stopped by tom and roxanne's for their national park annual pass, then headed off for banff which is about an hour away.




Once we were there we walked alongside the bow river falls which were clear and mouthwash blue in the sunshine, and admired the reflections of trees and mountains in the places where the water was still. I went in for a VERY quick paddle in the ice cold water but wimped out pretty quickly.













We decided to indulge ourselves with lunch at the banff springs hotel (very posh and famous hotel which is also where our great aunts stayed when they came over to canada for a visit back in the day, in 1940 something). We got a table on the terrace overlooking the mountains and the river, pretty special. We had amazing pomegranate and lime juices and shared 3 dinners (winning one was definitely the charcuterie plate including waffer thin slices of delicious dried who knows what meat...bison / elk / gopher / coyote /mountain lion etc. Then it started raining so we escaped indoors while it passed.

On the way back we came across a pod of very tame gophers and a lady gave us some seeds and raisins to feed them. They were very appreciative and much easier to photograph then the ones in rocky.






We had a wander round banff after that and mooched around some of the shops. I bought a print of a painting of some whales with 1st nations images hidden in the picture, and Nancy bought some super tasty chocolates for pat and some extra sneaky ones for us. I also very much enjoyed the christmas shop and was tempted by the coca cola (see pic) and the irish leprechaun ranges. (don't worry, I restrained myself)



On the way home we called in at the log barn for pies...blueberry and strawberry + rhubarb. We wanted cherry (earl's favourite) but they had sold out. We were taking them round to beth and stuart's for a bbq but called in at Nancy's on the way to feed Nova, and while we were there the heavens opened in an incredible hail storm that went on for ages and had water running down the road and over the pavement like a river. Eventually it stopped and we ventured out - and we still had the bbq but we stayed indoors and let stuart brave the elements. I made some videos for andy of tom and roxanne because we won't see them again, and of the dog including his begging for dinner trick. We played cards again but this time mum didn't win.