Friday, August 25, 2006
Ah yes, Banff... There must be some law that determines that travel time to mountains seems shorter than it actually is, since I've been told that it takes approximately 90 minutes to get to Banff from Calgary. That the time seemed much shorter can only be explained by the fact that mountains stick up, thereby creating the illusion that one has arrived at said mountains when, in fact, they have not. In any case, my child side has wonderful capacity to anticipate grandeur on such a scale and I didn't mind a bit the opportunity to savour from afar. Once we finally arrived, we quickly stowed our gear in the local hotel and hit the street, err...avenue, as in Banff Avenue. The leisurely stroll was appropriately interrupted by several zigs and zags that lead us through some of the finer stores that Banff has to offer. Dessert before dinner seemed in order, so ice cream at Cows became the mission. Such is the abandon that one must take to an expedition at altitude. Dinner did eventually follow. The setting was a logged affair from the 19th century, probably left over from the rummagings of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Dinner was adequate, with only a few revisions (Ginnu knows what I mean. I'd steak my life on it.) The night cap of the evening entailed the traditional trip to the Banff Hot Springs. Wrinkled and drousy, we crawled in around 10:30 - sleep was immediate.
