Skip to main content

Visiting Calgary and Banff National Park, Days 1 and 2

 We recently got home from a trip to Banff National Park in Canada. We picked one of the busiest weekends in the summer to visit thanks to Canada Day on Tuesday and resulting 4 day weekend--but those were the dates that worked the best for us. So you work with what you've got. Here's what we did and how we liked it.

Friday, Day 1:  Morning flight to Calgary, picked up rental car, then hiked around Nose Hill Park--about 15 minutes from the airport. Stopped at the ubiquitous Tim Horton's for a donut, then a grocery store for some food for the trip. We checked into our hotel, Days Inn near University of Calgary, then went to the Church of Jesus Christ Calgary Temple. Afterwards we had dinner at a Japanese "Fusion" restaurant which reminded us of Southern food cooked by Japanese people.

Lots of wild roses which Alberta puts on their license plates, "Wild Rose Country"

Calgary skyline




We noticed Calgary seems to get windy frequently in the evenings.
I ate with chopsticks for the first time ever--I wasn't sure the restaurant even had forks because everyone was using chopsticks.

Saturday, Day 2: after breakfast at the hotel (unfortunately we were very close to the highway and it was not quiet), we left for Banff National Park at about 7:30am. The first place we went to was Lake Minnewanka and we saw our first bear in the wild on the way there! Fortunately I had my phone handy but it's not a great picture. Admission to the park is free this summer. Parking at 8:30am was pretty easy. The main thing at this lake are boat tours which we weren't really interested in, so we took a short hike down a path to Stewart's Bridge. It was pretty short. There were quite a few people who looked like they had big plans in the backcountry, maybe rock climbing.  In all honesty, it wasn't an incredibly interesting lake but we did see the bear!



We decided to head for Yoho National Park which is about an hour from Banff and checked out Emerald Lake. Parking was a little difficult with the parking lot pretty small and very full--we had to park on the road and walk a little ways. You can rent canoes there for about 100 Canadian dollars an hour (which is about 75 USD currently.) We hiked all the way around the lake which isn't so big--3.2 miles. Half of the trail was very muddy but fortunately the second half was much better. The lake is very pretty and--big surprise--an emerald color. We enjoyed talking as we walked. After hiking around the lake we went on a shorter hike to Hamilton Falls, up the mountain that was supposed to have "minimal altitude gain". It felt a little steeper than that and we (okay I was the main one) were feeling a little tired so we turned around shortly before the top.




I should have worn my hiking boots which stayed in my suitcase for the entire trip but instead I got my running shoes very muddy.


As we headed to Canmore where we were staying, we stopped by Kicking Horse River which has formed a natural bridge, thanks to the dramatic force of the water working on the rock. That was pretty cool and very easy to access.



We drove the rest of the way to Canmore (a little more than an hour or so) and then checked into our condo we rented for 3 nights. We had to get a few more groceries for dinner and I was starving by the time dinner happened.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Visiting Susquehanna: The Priesthood Restoration Site

On our way home from Palmyra, we decided to go a couple of hours out of our way to visit the recently opened Priesthood Restoration Site along the Susquehanna River.  This is where we believe that Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery received the keys of the Aaronic Priesthood from John the Baptist which gave them the authority to baptize.  This site also has the restored Isaac and Elizabeth Hale home where Joseph and Emma lived for a year as well as the home where Joseph and Emma lived on their own. We spent a couple of hours there and I wouldn't have minded a few more minutes but we had a long way to go that night.  It's a beautiful setting, very much in rural Pennsylvania.  However, on the day we were there, cars at a racetrack nearby were detracting from the peace and quiet.  I'm guessing that's not as big of a problem on weekdays. The Hale Family was quite well-off for their day so their home was probably nicely decorated with wallpaper and carpet. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Book Review: Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper

This is a juvenile fiction book about a young girl named Melody with severe cerebral palsy.  Her body doesn't allow her to feed herself, speak, or do much at all.  She's very intelligent with a photographic memory but she can't really communicate.  Finally, in 5th grade, she gets a "Medi-Talker" which is a computer that speaks what she types in.  Finally she has a voice. This book explores what it is like to be severely physically disabled but not mentally disabled. It seems like one of the most frustrating of all scenarios.  She is completely aware of all the cruelty (subtle and otherwise) that her classmates inflict on her because they don't really want to include her in their activities.  One of the saddest moments in the book comes when she realizes that every one of her special ed classmates is kind, where the "normal" ones are not.  Who really has the worse disability? The book was a quick read and fairly enjoyable.  Wha...
Post a Comment
Read more

Hansen Family Plot in the Provo Cemetery

On Memorial Day this year, our family went to the Provo Cemetery, as we do almost every year. We spent some time at the Hansen Family plot which contains the grave of my 2nd great-grandparents, Peter and Mary Hansen. They both emigrated from Denmark with their spouses to Utah. My grandfather lost his first wife Ane to cholera on the plains outside of St. Joseph, Missouri, along with three of his little boys within a very short time--about one month. It's a sad story but it's also one of admirable resilience. He brought his one surviving son, Jorgen, to Utah. He married his second wife Maren (Anglicized to Mary) some 9 years later in Utah  She had been married before but lost her first husband at an unknown date. I wish I knew more about her but she left very few records, although I could do more research! Peter and Maren had 6 more children together. The youngest two were twins, Enoch and Ephraim. Ephraim is my great-grandfather and is buried in California. He is the father of ...
Post a Comment
Read more