From the circus that is Banff....

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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 coyotes in the night ( they were across the river... we think!). The campsite is beautifully situated by a river with a view of the mountains, but is a bit "rustic" (no hot water, no sinks, no clean water - boil only, pit toilets). All for $20 a night. JUST a scenic parking spot. We climbed at Heart Lake and Grassi Lakes crags. We started climbing at 10:30 a.m. and put in a full day. We then cooked a curry dinner in a parkette in Canmore. It had the best view of the mountains and the river. Slightly more economical than eating out. We even had a guy sitting on the rivers edge playing the tabla drum. Awesome!

Tomorrow we plan to head out for Lake Louise (one hour north) to do some climbing at back of the Lake crag. Cissi is thrilled because there are tons of fun and easy climbs she can lead without peeling off of. We'll be there for two nights. We're also planning on finding a campsite with showers / comfort stations and drinkable water... we'll be gross by tomorrow!

And after that, we're onto Jasper.

Keeping you travel fans updated,

Cissi & Charles

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