Dear friends, Yesterday Cissi & I decided to check out Banff in the evening. WOW!! We walked the streets in amazement at the spectacle of wealthy tourists, kitschy tourist traps, Japanese tourist groups, high end fashion boutiques (who needs black leather stilettos??, is a new purse a new mountain accessory?... does it make you hike better?), Louis Vuitton, Yuppie yoga wear, an all Christmas store...., basically anything that takes you away from the outdoors that surrounds this lit up mountain Vegas. Bought liquor for the cold evenings.... it's actually been quite warm in the days and moderate in the nights. A chinook has been in the area for the past couple days... hope it stays around for the whole trip everywhere we go (wishful thinking , I know!). Today, we woke up after sleeping with howling
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