Hi there again.

It is now Wednesday (September 16) – a golf day. We are off early to the Fairmont Banff Springs Golf Course for our ‘splurge‘ day of golf on this trip. This course is touted as one of the ten best golf courses in the world, cradled in a valley between Mount Rundle, Sulphur Mountain and Tunnel Mountain with each hole located along the Bow River and at the foot of the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel. Again, all the views are awesome – which makes it hard to concentrate on the golf.

We played with two locals – one an 80 year old man who walked the course (and does so 3 times a week) and shoots VERY close to his age and the other a Greek who owns a local Pizza restaurant on Banff’s Main Street! Their shared knowledge of the course must have helped as Gary and I both had a decent round – couldn’t beat the 80 year old, though!

All the golf made us very hungry – so we were off to investigate the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel for lunch. The hotel is the one you see in all the pictures of Banff – and it is just as stunning in person. Although, the views of the hotel from the outside – and the farther away the better – are better than the wanderings inside the building, it is just too much. The views from the patio are stunning (and you can see the golf course) –

Again, this is a hotel built by the RR (Canadian this time) and is named for the hot sulfur springs still used today. The springs were ‘stumbled upon’ by three railway workers in 1883. Their discovery led to the creation of the first national park in Canada – Banff National Park, which today is also a World Heritage Site. It is interesting that the town of Banff sits inside the National Park and has enough private homes to house a population of approximately 8,000 people (about the same size as Park City – no wonder we love it). The primary East-West Canadian Highway (most of the time a two lane road!!) also goes through the park – so to continue any drive on Canada Highway 1 you must go through the park and pay the park fee of $10.

After our photo opportunities, full stomachs and a little shopping – we were on our way to the gondola ride – another awesome experience and incredible views! This was another amazing construction feat – created in the early 1900’s this gondola carried visitors to the top of the mountain to ‘tea’! It enabled the casual visitor to see the views that only the sturdy who hiked up the mountain had see before.

From the top of the gondola you can see Banff and all the surrounding area – the small rounded mountain in the middle of the picture is Tunnel Mountain – to the left of Tunnel Mt. is the town of Banff – to the right of the Mt. is the golf course and at the foot of the course is the Banff Springs Hotel. If you could see just around the right corner of Tunnel Mt., above the course, you would see Magic perched on the hill in our campground!

Something I learned while visiting Banff and Lake Louise – neither of the wonderful Hotels/Chateaus that you see in all the great winter scenes have a ski area that comes down to the hotel! The Lake Louise ski area is about a mile from the Lake Louise Chateau. Banff has three ski areas around the valley – all about 2-3 miles from the Banff Springs Hotel. So – there is no ski in – ski out here!

After the fabulous overview of Banff from the gondola, we went back into town for a last good bye. It was then time to return to Magic, clean the bus, cook dinner and begin the packing process as Thursday we were on our way to Kamloops.

It rained almost the whole drive to Kamloops – so it was a good day to be in the bus. The drive was fairly uneventful except for one little ‘hitch in our get-along’ – when the windshield wipers quit working in the pouring rain!! And, of course, I (Elizabeth) was driving. It is a good thing Gary is so handy at figuring things out – he had the wipers fixed in about 30 minutes and we were on our way again. There is good news and bad news with our new campground – there is no wonderful view, which we have become accustomed to, BUT, there is internet, satellite and a laundry room!! So – we are set up again, have the laundry done, dinner dishes are done and we are getting this posted to the blog from the comfort of Magic without being kicked off the internet even one time!! AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

Tomorrow is a golf day – report on that soon.

Much Love to All – Gary and Elizabeth

Thought maybe you would enjoy following us through a non-travel day to see what FUN we have! It will give you the opportunity to see a little of Magic and our views along the way.

Today – Tuesday, September 15 – we have set up the following ‘rough’ schedule:

8:00 Leave Magic for Lake Louise

9:00 Board the tram at Lake Louise to see grizzlies

10:00 Brunch at Lake Louise

11:30 Arrive at Lake Johnson to hike and eat lunch along the way

3:00 Arrive at Banff gondola

5:00 Return from gondola ride and investigate Banff Hotel – decide from here what to do about dinner – eat at Hotel or return to Magic??

So – this is how the day went:

Camp Counselor Gary got up at 5:30, as it takes him a little longer than camper Elizabeth to get going! I get my ‘chai latte wake up cup’ in bed at 7. By 7:15 the bed is made –

and by 7:30 we are showered (using that LARGE shower that Gary had to have) and eating breakfast. Since the day calls for lunch on the trail, PB&J sandwiches are made and the ‘lunch box’ packed.

This morning we get a little delayed, as we remember that Gary needs to get a few more things done with the pictures for the blog posting of the last couple of days that we hope to get done later today – so he spends a few minutes at the computer in our office/living room.

It is about 8:30 by the time we actually get out the door. But, that is OK – we are only a little off schedule – can make up 30 minutes easily throughout the day. Just as we pull out of the campgrounds we have our first sighting of the day – a beautiful, BIG elk buck is ‘posing’ by the side of the road for us as he eats his breakfast!! A GREAT start to the day.

Well – it is now about 10 and we are finally ready to board the gondola at Lake Louise. So, off to the top of Mt. Whitehorn over grizzly country, to the Wildlife Interpretive Centre and beautiful views of Lake Louise, Victoria Glacier and the Lake Louise Fairmont Chateau. And what views they were –

History lesson – Lake Louise is a glacial lake fed from the Victoria Glacier, which is named for Queen Victoria. Lake Louise is named for Princess Louise Caroline Alberta, daughter of Queen Victoria, and is 5,680 feet above sea level. The lake is a striking turquoise color, which is created from the melting glacier silt. All very fascinating and beautiful!

With all there was to take in atop the mountain, it was 11:30 before we returned to the bottom (by the way – NO grizzly sightings!). After seeing the Lake and Chateau from the top of the mountain, we decided we needed to investigate a little closer up – and maybe have lunch there. In case you are looking at our schedule for the day and wondering how we were going to get back on track – forget about it! We have done as we do many of these days – modify, modify, modify – because we can! So – off to the Chateau for lunch, a walk around the hotel and the lake and a few more pictures.

Oh yes – one other thing happened at the Chateau during lunch. We discovered that Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Centre Orchestra were performing tonight at the Banff Centre (their performing arts center) and thought we would try for tickets – even though we were at the last minute. I put on my most friendly face once again and begged the concierge at the hotel to call for us (remember no cell service/no internet!) – she did and got us second row!! We were soooooo excited – BUT, now we had a real schedule to keep. Had to be back to Magic to eat and clean up for the performance by 6. So – on our way.

We were back in the car around 1 and decided that we needed to drive to another lake we heard about at the Interpretive Centre – Moraine Lake. This lake is in the Valley of the Ten Peaks, surrounded by ten mountains, which house the Wenkchemna Glacier and also include Mount Temple, which is the third highest mountain in Banff National Park. Sorry – but no pictures from here as Gary did not think the lighting was right. We did however have $5 ice cream cones!!

It is now 2 and we were back in the car on our way to Lake Johnson. It is decision time – to hike or not to hike – as we would like to go through town to the Starbucks and get yesterday’s write-up posted on the blog before we have to be back to Magic to get ready for the show. We take the scenic drive back to Banff and wave at Lake Johnson as we drive by. That hike will have to be saved for perhaps next year on our way to Alaska. (For those who have not heard – we are already planning our trip for next summer/fall which will be to Alaska through Canada.)

We cruised into the Starbucks around 3 and spent about an hour and a half getting the posting done. This might seem like a long time for a techie like Gary – but this is how this process goes on the road: I have already written the narrative at home and just have to copy and paste onto the blog and Gary has the pictures all ready to transfer. We have finally learned this second time around that it is easier for Gary to move the pictures first. If we are lucky he only gets ‘kicked off’ the internet once or twice in the process. Then I move the narrative – a section at a time (around the pictures) – if I am lucky only getting ‘kicked off’ the internet after each paste!! Then when we have both looked at it one more time – all complete – we hit the “POST” button. At this point we receive the last notice – ‘can’t post as not on internet’! I throw up my hands, bang on the table and Gary gets back on the internet ONE MORE TIME! Finally it gets posted – we smile at our accomplishment and give the Starbucks back to the rest of the clientele.

At 5:30 we are hurrying back to camp to fix dinner, eat and change. With all of this accomplished, we are back in the car at 6:45 on our way back into town (all of 15 minutes) for a fantastic evening with Wynton Marsalis and his Jazz at Lincoln Centre Orchestra. They were awesome (as were our seats)!! There were 15 performers on the stage playing as one with incredible coordinated effort. Gary and I both tried to think of how to communicate to you their rapport with each other and could think of NO way to describe it other than we were mesmerized by them, their musical talent and their ability to communicate with each other via hand signs and head nods (there was no conductor and Wynton sat in the back with the other trumpet players – three trombone players in front of them – five woodwind players in the front – a bass, piano and drummer off to the side). Clearly they have all played together for so long they no exactly what each of them will do – even when they are doing their ‘jam’ portions. Just Awesome! They even kept Gary up past 11!!

SO – that is a day in our travel life. As you can see, impromptu and spontaneous are two words that are a definite part of our travels – even though we start with a plan.

In case you are wondering what happened to the Banff Gondola and Hotel – it was visited on Wednesday and you will get that report shortly –

Bye for now – Elizabeth and Gary

Well – Sunday was a lazy day, indeed – BUT, I learned a lot!!

After a late start out of ‘Magic’ (due to the blog update for FIVE days) – we headed to the Bayshore Inn – yet again! By now John, the bartender, knows what we want to drink and exactly how we like it – tea with ice no lemon, water no ice, etc. etc. Lunch was accompanied by the ‘Tiger blow-out’ at the BMW Championship as well as getting the blog update posted (OK we confess – one of the draws of the Bayshore Inn is an internet connection!). I know – you are thinking that we are in this beautiful country full of scenery and animals and all we do is sit in the bar, use the internet and watch TV. But – we have finally learned that we need to be ‘on the hunt’ either early morning or at dusk – and today was to be an ‘animal spotting day’.

So – we planned our day around a 4 – 6PM boat cruise of the Waterton Lakes hoping to see bear and moose around the lakes as promised by the cruise brochure. The weather was absolutely beautiful for this cruise! All the crew were talking about how lucky we were at this time of year for sunshine and warm breezes. And, we again lucked out with a very knowledgeable young man, who has lived in the park area all his life, as our guide.

About half way to the opposite end of the lake we passed the 49th parallel. Anyone know the significance of this? It is the border between the US and Canada. So – on this cruise we passed from Canada back into the US and back to Canada again on our return. This parallel is marked on both sides of the lake with an ‘International Boundary‘ marker at the lake level and again at the top of the surrounding mountain. The parallel line is ‘marked’ by cleared growth from the marker at the lake level to the marker at the top of the mountain. An international patrol actually goes out and clears this parallel every 12-15 years (as needed) to maintain the clearance.

Then we were off to investigate the townsite of Banff and visit the information center – always our first stop. This is another ‘cute’ town – kind of a cross between Park City and Vail. It has the charm of PC but bigger and newer – not as big as Vail but with some of the ‘Vail shopping’.

Our first view of Mount Rushmore

Even less to see at Crazy Horse

Well – perhaps a day in the car driving was in store for us today. Custer State Park and the Wildlife Loop was just what the Dr. ordered. We saw Bison/buffalo, pronghorn antelope, bighorn sheep, elk, wild mules (who wouldn’t let us by on the road. Talk about stubborn – they didn’t care that we were bigger than they were!), prairie dogs and regular old deer. By the end of the drive, skies were still cloudy but much better than in the morning. So – we began retracing our steps.

Long-Horn Sheep

Very stubborn

He is giving us the rasberries

Prong-horned Antelope

Back to Crazy Horse. All the rescheduling and disappointment of earlier were rewarded with being able to see a ‘blasting’! This was an awesome experience as we watched them blast 12,000 tons of granite away from the monument. This monument is soooooo LARGE that when the blasting of all that rock was done it barely looked like a dent in the rock! This is truly an amazing endeavor. To give a bit of perspective of how large it is – all of Mt. Rushmore would fit into the head of Crazy Horse!

Smoke from the blast, with paint outlining horse’s ears above the smoke

Now I was happy! But, there was still Mt. Rushmore – so on we go. As we turned the corner for the profile of Washington – there he was! Beautiful! Around the next corner were all four – Mt. Rushmore – just as promised and imagined! I was a happy camper – and so was Gary as he did not have to listen to my whining!!

Washington’s Profile in the background

The boys are back from the fog

All in all a VERY good day! Although we are in the fog much of the time – on occasion it DOES clear and all is beautiful.

On to Wyoming today – AND 6,000 miles! More later – E&G

Our spot next to the river in the Smokey Mountains