Banff to Calgary

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I think we're getting good at tearing down camp. It was well below freezing again last night and we didn't want to get out of bed this morning. Greg has been in full mummy-sack mode with long underwear and sometimes a cap. I have a warmer bag and can stay comfortable in PJs. Today we visited Lake Louise, Johnson canyon, Banff, and then headed to Calgary.
Lake Louise is one of the most picturesque lakes in the rockies and it's home to the Fairmont hotel which is very fancy. We wandered around the hotel for a bit and then headed over to Johnson canyon. We hiked up to the upper falls (1.5mi each way). I was surprised that a paved path existed to the upper and lower falls. They had steel grate walkways bolted into the sides of the canyon for a good portion of the route. Greg spotted some old piton / eye bolts in the rock from one of the previous bridges that had been removed (the canyon has been a tourist destination since the early 1900s). An interesting feature of the falls were all the tiny birds that lived in the spray as well as the lichen that produced limstone (kind of like coral). The growth create travertine limestone which was used to build most of Rome, Italy (and those structures are still around). In a few 100k years this area will be a good source for that marble / limestone.
Banff NP was kind of a bust after experiencing Jasper NP. The best part of Banff is the icefield parkway up near Jasper... the rest is very commercial. I can see why people like Banff until they hit Jasper (most people visit from the south). The town of Banff was pretty and we had to stop in to get a Canadian money order (to pay the speeding ticket from last week). Postage in Canada is very expensive! It cost us $9 to mail 5 postcards and 1 letter.
On the drive to Calgary on CAN road #1 we saw a few large animal bridges (100ft wide or so) that allowed animals to cross the highway fences to the other side. Alberta drivers are horrible. People have passed on the right and left median strips and pass when cars are coming in the other direction (missing the other cars by about 1/2 a second). Once we left the Rockies and hit the high dessert we saw these hills where people spell out messages with stones. We saw everything from 'hello' to a penis to "you ruined my life". I guess people get bored out there? As we entered Calgary we saw the ski jumps for the 88 Olympics.

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Photos

Lake Louise
It takes 20 seconds for the sound of the icefall to reach our side of the lake.

Upper falls in Johnson Canyon
You can see some of the limestone deposits on the right side of the picture.

Laundry!
We finally found a coin laundry in the hotel and washed everything.