We woke up to rain so I thought it was going to be a soggy, cold day of sightseeing. Surprisingly, by the time we had breakfast and puttered around getting our essentials together, the sun had come out. We took advantage and did a short little hike by the campground to see the fantastic scenery and some hoodoos (rock formations).
The little town of Banff is similar to Vail and other ski towns and just as busy! Actually, it is less busy as it will be soon because Canadian schools are still in session. We walked all over town and out to the famous Banff hotel, The Fairmount. It is in the same spot as the original hotel built in the 1800's and the outside looks like a castle. Although fancy, they still welcomed Maggie to come inside and snoop around with us. We then followed the trail along the Bow river with its beautiful turquoise water and powerful Bow Falls, back to town.
After lunch we visited the Cave and Basin which is the site of the first hot springs discovery that resulted in the creation of the Banff - the first National Park in Canada. You can't swim there now because they are protecting the little snails that live there and that are essential to the ecosystem.
Since the weather was cooperating and it wasn't raining, we decided to take the Gondola up the mountain to take in the views. Maggie got to go but she was not quite sure if she liked it. She really didn't like what happened next. No sooner did we exit the Gondola, but a storm came over the mountain and it poured rain and small hail! There was no shelter because the observation building is under construction so Don, Maggie, and I huddled under a small roof overhang with 10 of our new BFF's from China! It was miserable. We waited it out and when the mass Gondola exodus died down we boarded to go back down. The weather was fine at the bottom but it looked like they did get some rain.
After all of this we needed some healing waters so we visited the Upper Hot Springs and enjoyed a delightful soak to unwind from the day.
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