Blogs from Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada, North America - page 7

The Banff Centre serves a great buffet breakfast, which we shared with other conference attendees. Then Wayne went off to his sessions, and I walked to town for some window shopping. I also went to the Cascade Gardens, but only pansies were planted yet. It's hard to remember how late the spring comes here. At noon I took advantage of an aerobics class, "Anything Goes," with weights, bands, and the Bosu (half ball). It was good to work other parts of the body after so much leg work with all of our hiking. The class was really fun and well taught. Unfortunately, there are no classes on the weekend, so this will be my only one. After a strange lunch thrown together from various bits we have accumulated, I walked out to the view of the ... read more

On our drive down to Waterton park we saw lots of wildlife including a family of four grizzly bears, mother and 3 cubs and a lone black bear. We also saw a distant Elk, Sheep and several deer...... read more

After hiking just about every yard of every trail in the vicinity of Lake Louise during my first three days in the Rocky Mountains, it was time to hop on my bicycle and venture down the Bow Valley Parkway (the older, slower, and far more peaceful alternative to the Trans-Canada Highway) to Banff, 55kms away to the south-east. Paralleling the Trans-Canada Highway, but on the opposite side of the valley, the Bow Valley Parkway is the perfect road for cyclists - there is far less traffic, the speed limit is lower, there are numerous viewpoints and interpretive displays along the way, and the resident wildlife is free to roam throughout the area. In fact, for four months every year during the springtime, the eastern half of the road is voluntarily closed to motorists from dusk to ... read more

This land just won't quit. I know these stretches of mountains, lakes and forests are finite but it doesn't seem that way. A harsh critic or two claim it's a bit same same. That's one perspective. Mine is it's a same same that's sublime sublime. Show me a person who considers the Canadian Rockies as same same and I'll show you a person of the glass half empty variety. We hit the Rockies in Jasper up north and this was the point where we rotated the WHOW 180 degrees, south now being the direction of choice back towards home base. This also coincided with roughly the half time interval and we clicked over half our allotted mileage allowance. Don't you just love it when all the pieces of the puzzle come together. Plenty of drives around ... read more

It has been quite a journey so far. We traveled from Texas, our state is so large, you can travel forever and still be in Texas. We made it to Dumas, Tx. and spent the night. Got up early and drove all the way to Cheyenne, Wyoming on Monday, Rick and Dale left McKinney on Monday as well and drove all the way to Denver (Jim said "We should have just driven straight thru and taken the route that Rick & Dale took which was different than ours. Oh, well.....it is what it is. We spent the night in Cheyenne, Wy. If anyone stays there for what ever reason.......you must go have dinner at "Poor Richards".....wonderful meal, wonderful salads, soups, and DESSERT! We woke early and headed out to Custer, South Dakota. Not a very scenic ... read more