We got back to the motorhome a bit after 12:30, and we were both asleep before 1:00 am. The problem was we had a bus trip Thursday morning to Banff at 8:00 am! After 5 hours sleep, we got up, drank our coffee, groggily took showers, and generally got ready for the day. I was still feeling quite poorly, and my Achilles’ tendon was killing me! I took all my meds, and tried to bluff my way through, but I wasn’t very successful. We will have to come back when we are on our own.
First impressions of Banff is that it is really, really crowded in the middle of July! We did a classic bus tour with “stop at major tourist place, snap a few pictures, get back on the bus, and go to the next picture spot” type of trip. Not my normal style, but Banff was truly amazingly gorgeous.
We started with another fabulous buffet lunch at the Gondola ride. They were having issues with their credit card reader, so I am really glad we picked up some Canadian cash to buy post cards. Based on the lines and distances involved plus my issue with heights, we didn’t do the gondola ride itself.
Our next stop was Lake Louise. What more can be said about this incredible place?
Then it was on to Lake Moraine.
The bus then dropped us off downtown Banff. I was feeling even worse by now, and my foot was killing me. I just found a shady spot and just sat for the 3 hours we had in town. Banff is just a huge, upscale tourist town. It reminded me of Aspen more than anything else. Lots and lots of people, tshirt shops, upscale tourist clothing shops, and lots of candy shops. One of the classic Banff foods is a Beavertail – a piece of fry bread drizzled with some chocolate. I love fry bread, but the line was almost a block long! Kevin did buy some chocolate truffles that were fabulous and a sack of frozen peas for me to use as an ice pack! Finally we were on our way back to the campground, and we got home around 7:30.
The next day we traveled to Rocky Mountain House. More on that later.