It's funny that we had spent 3 days within relative spitting range of Banff, but we had not yet managed to spend any time in the township.
1/2 a day was devoted to checking this place out. Above all else, this town has the most amazing main street backdrop...ever! Banff Avenue is your typical small country town main street, loaded with touristy souvenir shops, cafes and restaurants, but at the Northern end of the street lies the stupendously imposing Cascade Mountain, sitting virtually right on top of the town. Clocking in at 2998metres high, the formidable looking mountain has a presence like no other.
At the other end of town is the 2285metre high Suplhur Mountain, which you can pay an extortionate $22.50 to ride a 13-minute long gondola journey to the top, where a 360-degree observation deck gives a pretty darn spectacular all-round view of the Mountains.
Banff Gondola to Sulphur Mountain
The gondola-fare doesn't seem nearly so extortionate once you get up there tho lemme tell you! I was loving it up there, even when the clouds did swiftly come in and obscure the views, and dump a brisk 20minute show shower on us all. Not every one was enjoying it so smuch, especially the vertigo-suffering Paul, altho full credit to him for facing his fears in the past few days, riding gondolas up to Sunshine and here, even when we tried to stir him up by rocking the carriage back and forth! "Don't....i'll f-ing hit ya, either that or i'll throw up on ya!" I think we were more put back in our place by the thought of vomit than threats of violence, so we contained ourselves.
Cascade Mountain and the Rockies overlooking Banff Township
Calgary is barely a 90minute drive from Banff. It didn't make sense not to visit it, even for a few hours. Aside from that, a good buddy of mine from my bar-tending in Edinburgh days, Tricia, lived there. I'd been trying to get in touch with her ever since I'd arrived in Vancouver, and was lucky enough to finally reconnect with her just the week before we headed out on the road. We finally met her that afternoon, and she played tour guide for us for the duration. By her own admission, there isn't a whole lot to do in Calgary, and was struggling to think of places for us to see and things to do. Admittedly she was restricted somewhat by the fact that we were now very poor and very tired, and we only had a few hours. Calgary Tower, 190metres tall (762 steps if you don't take the lift - our leg-weary bodies insisted we take the lift), and another vertigo inducing height for Paul, gave us an overview of the oil-rich skyscrapers of the city, the Saddledome hockey stadium, Calgary Stampede venue, and the sprawling, sprawling, sprawling suburbs. Downtown Calgary is a cluster of modern architecture - mirrored glass and polished granite facades and are a self-evident monument to oil money - everything is sleek and brand new, and as far as cities go, relatively easy on the eye.
Downtown Calgary
A short walk around the gardens of the oasis-in-the-city, Prince's Island, with very pretty ground-level views of the city skyline, and then it was "lets hit the pub for a drink and meal". A couple of pints and darn-good pub grub at The Ship and Anchor, a down-to-earth, dimly lit bar, and then we were off. And that was it, that was Calgary.
Downtown Calgary from Prince's Island
Calgary's Saddledome and Stampede site
While in the pub tho, Tricia told us about one of the bizarre vagaries of Calgary City is the by-law forbidding smoking in beer gardens! True! There were people inside the bar smoking, but none in the beer garden. Apparently in the peak of summer, when the beer garden is chock full of people, smokers either step inside for a smoke, or climb over the fence to the footpath outside for their fags. Quite strange, especially considering most places in the world, particularly in Ireland, are forcing smokers outside, banning it indoors for health reasons.
It was great to catch up with Trish again (thank you Trish!!!), altho it was hardly long enough - just enough time for a quick chat really. I love it when i get together with folk that i'd met earlier in my travelling life, in a completely different part of the world, especially if its in their home town. So here's an open invitation to all of you - if yer ever in Melbourne when I'm there, feel free to look me up, and i'll set you up on my lounge or spare room.
Back in Canmore, even tho it was our last night on the road before the long drive back to Vancouver, I stayed in and called it an early night. The lads tho, once again fuelled by a bottle of Jameson's even before leaving the motel, hit the town again. I could simply never keep up, and besides, that's at least $100 (or more) still in my pocket.
Elk grazing by the Bow River Parkway
Day 6. Our final day. Its a long drive, better get an early start. Aye right! As if. It was almost 9am Alberta time by the time we left, and 14 hours later we were finally, finally, finally, back in Vancouver. We opted to take the scenic, alternative route back, rather than retrace out steps on the Trans-Canada Highway #1, and turned left at Salmon Arm to head south thru the Okanagan Valley, via Kelowna and Penticton.
What a change in scenery from the Rockies! From soaring majestic mountains to semi-arid desert, prime fruit-growing orchard territory in the space of a cuppla hundred kilometres. If time and money permitted, we would have stopped loads of times long the way. As it was, petrol, lunch and toilet breaks were the only stops, and these were at some of the most peculiar small towns such as Enderby, where the local mini-mart reeked rather badly of Dr. Pepper cherry cola.
Kelowna and Penticton are famed for being nearby more-than-decent ski-fields and hiking territory, but we saw none of that, but the towns themselves seemes rather less-than-inspiring. Or maybe it was just that we were pretty tired and slightly grumpy, and in the mood for bagging everything in sight. If I'd had the chance, I'd revisit later this year for a new, fresh perspective.
Mount Baker in Washington State, USA. View from Langley, BC.
By 6pm, and with still some 300Km to go, we were going stir-crazy in the car. Manning Provincial Park provided some scenic respite, having left the stark Okanagan Valley, and back into the hills, this time the Coast Mountains that end in Canada with Vancouver's backdrop of Grouse, Seymour and Cypress Mountains, then continue down into Washington State in the US.
When I was finally dropped off home at 10pm, I was more than happy to be out of the car. It was a great road trip, amazing scenery and amazing memories, but the last 1/2 a day was a killer.
Okay, that's it.
Talk soon,
Tony
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