Day 10 – Calgary (ish) to Banff, AB
A couple of errands pushed a little bit of a late start for our group, but the short drive was nice and pretty. And, we got the first RV Bingo at the “petrol” station.
The line to get into our campground was long, but that’s in part because there are over 600 camp spots in this one campground. (The other one on this side of the park has over 500). There are a few more big campgrounds, too.
Getting into our spots was a tight fit. It is so pretty nestled in all the trees. Sadly, we still needed leveling blocks, both sets, even! However, we expected that here. These aren’t “leveled” pads like at an RV Campground.
After a quick lunch, three of us jumped on our scooters and headed to the town of Banff. American ski towns and National Park villages have got a thing or ten to learn here. This town was bumpin’ even during the week! The free bike storage, courtesy of the tourism bureau was amazing. Every busy/tourist town should have this!
We had some snacks, did a little window shopping, and then called our fourth to come get us. Riding down the hill was fine, but none of us thought our scooters would make it back up the hill. During our scooting around, we saw three more Leisure Travel Vans!
A nice wood fire perfectly rounded out our evening.
Day 11 – Banff National Park and area
One of our friends headed to town while we headed out for some sight seeing. We stopped at Surprise Overlook for a great view. A couple there was visiting the part for the second time. Their first was 30 years ago. They were trying to recreate a photo from back then and asked me for help. It was a fun tiny good deed.
After Surprise, we met up with our friend and headed to the local cave with a mineral-rich hot spring. The historical grounds were also unique and full of stories.
After the cave, we found a massive (volume wise) waterfall in town. It was also the put-in for a local rafting company.
By that time, we grabbed our other friend and headed for lunch. We stumbled into a place that has brunch every day until 4pm.
Lake Louise
After our feast, we drove to the ridiculously popular Lake Louise. The parking there is a terrible setup. It’s under construction, so they might be working on a fix. The walk isn’t exactly easy, either. Even quite late in the day, the crowd was awful. There was also a shuttle to Lake Moraine that is accessible only by bus, but you need tickets months in advance (another bad design since we didn’t even know about the other lake until we saw the shuttles.)
After all the kerfuffle around these lakes, we were ready for another fire.
Day 12 – Banff National Park and area
We grabbed our lunches and headed to a picnic spot by a lake. It was pretty popular, but the stars of the show were the “prom kids”. They were decked out in gowns and suits. some had flowers. They piled out of a limo bus. Immediately, four of the girls ran into the woods. They found a low spot and had themselves a squat. The entire gaggle–high heels and all–trekked down to the dock for a couple of pics and then climbed back up the hill. They chased down their limo bus (over by the wash rooms) and headed off to their next adventure. (I overheard a parent tell his little girls, ‘that will be you someday for your graduation.’ So, they apparently have a bigger deal for graduation weekend. I’m guessing they don’t have prom in Canada.)
For most of the afternoon, we stayed inside and away from the rain.
Later, we picked up our friends headed back to the town of Banff and back to our new favorite restaurant for some dinner. Our evening ended with checking on the HOPPIN’ bakery who just that day got their liquor license. It was quite the site to see all the “kids” at a “rave” dancing in a bakery. We stopped for beer at the worlds tiniest liquor store (it holds 2 people!) and headed back to camp.