Saturday, Day 7 Last full day in Banff

We are all still tired from yesterdays exertions so we decided to go and check out the Cave and Basin. The facility there is amazing, not only showing what caused the founding of Banff but of the National Park Systems in Canada. The cave was dark and mysterious, easy to see why the Nakoda First Nations held it as a place to have their spiritual celebrations. Parks staff were out where the old pool was dressed as pioneers, fur traders and Metis and shared information about the various activities of the fur trade. After that, we headed back to the condo for grilled cheese sandwiches, a nap and decided that supper was going to be at Earl's tonight.

We actually found parking without too much trouble... for a change and were actually a bit early for our  dinner. Everything was lovely and after supper, we walked downtown picking up some of the lovely treats to take home with us. Hard to believe we are leaving here tomorrow heading for Calgary to see Dan, Susan and Megan then home. Can't wait to see the kitchen in it's semi finished glory. LOL!

Friday, Day 6 Funtimes, Johnson Lake adventures

The day started warm and sunny and we decided we would go to Johnson Lake for a hike as it was a 3 km easy one. We found our way via Lake Minnewanka as the shorter route was closed due to road closure / washout from the June floods. Today I remembered to bring my bottle of water and as we walked the trail on the north side of the lake, in mostly sun, I was thankful I did. At the head of the lake, about the halfway point, were a couple of benches so we had a bit of a rest there. We did find though that at the furthest point of the lake where the stream leaves the lake, the bridge had washed out during the floods and a temporary log bridge was there. It looked quite precarious but we shuffled over and no one fell in. We saw little minnows in the stream and lots of deadfall around for them to hide in. There was a loon on the lake popping underwater for a snack now and then. As we hiked along the southern side, the elevation gradually went up and we saw the cutline where the power supply from the hydro plant at Minnewanka came down to Banff. As we came to the final leg of our hike, we saw people paddleboarding on the lake and canoeing, others enjoying the beach. All in all it was a lovely hike.

Upon returning and having lunch at the condo, we were all pretty wiped from our hike so we chilled for the afternoon, I took a brief nap as did Norm. We had warmed over leftover lasagna for supper and went downtown to stock up on candy apples and other goodies to take home. We introduced mom and dad Filtz to the joys of Bubble Tea. Mango Coconut... sooo tasty! Back at the condo we watched "Snow White and the Huntsman". All in all, a great day.

Thursday, Day 5 Johnston Canyon Falls

The morning started overcast but mild, today we were going to hike Johnston Canyon and check out the falls. Parking was, once again, challenging but after a few laps of the parking lot, we found a spot. Today I was prepared with my trusty bottle of water, sneakers and leaving my purse at the condo. Away we went! The start of the trail was nicely paved but as you get deeper in to the canyon, the trail gets more uneven and narrow. Sometimes you are on a catwalk hanging over the rushing waters. It's about 1/2 mile in to the lower falls, mostly uphill. It is said to be an easy walk but mom and dad Filtz found it challenging (heck, I did too, my ankle was angry from me doing all those stairs the day previous in sandals) so the Lower Falls was it for me. Connor and Tim opted to go to the Upper Falls, another mile in so Mom, Dad and I slowly made our way back, resting on some of the benches provided to take in the view, waste some time and make our way back to the restaurant to wait for the boys to return from their hike. When we reached the restaurant/shop, we took a look around the shop and found some reasonably priced treasures. I found a multi-purpose knife/tool (like a Swiss Army knife) that had the name Connor engraved on it for $13. Norm chose to buy it for Connor. I found a gift for my neighbour that is watering my tomatoes while I am away. Once our purchases were made, we went to have coffee and wait for the boys.

We didn't have to wait long! Our first cup of coffee wasn't even drank yet when we saw them come by. Norm dashed after them and we had lunch. I tried the Bison and Brie Burger, Sophie had the hotdog which was split with bacon and cheese, Connor had chicken strips, Norm had a burger and Tim had a chicken burger. The food was fantastic and reasonably priced. Now that we were fed and watered, it was time to head back to Lake Louise so Norm could take a look around at the hotels for when he brings family here. Then we picked up a couple of groceries and boogied back to the condo to chillax and BBQ for supper. All in all, a great day!

Wednesday, Day 4 Sulfur Mountain Gondola!

Mom and Dad Filtz have company coming from Ontario in September so they wanted to prolong their trip up the Gondola until then so Tim, Connor and I made our way up the mountain to ride the Gondola. The parking lot was super busy but we got rock star parking which bode well. We purchased our tickets (Connor was free again, thanks Student Union Ticket Pack!) and got in line. There were lots of people in line as it appeared a number of tour busses had arrived at the same time... no matter! The Gondola is a 4 person one, so the 3 of us got a car to ourselves. On the way up the mountain, we spotted a tree with two pair of runners hanging from it like Christmas decorations. We took several pictures with Connor and his Orthodontist, Dr. Bowen Miles, for a contest they have "Travelling Miles". As I still cannot download photos in to this blog from my phone, I will show them a bit later. Once at the top, we opted to walk the 1 km, 300+ stairs over to the observatory. In my gladiator sandals, that was fun. NOT! It was really hot up there and hauling my purse was not fun... oh, woe is me! I made it 99% of the way, the upper platform was very crowded so I stayed one level down, not that interested in the observatory or crowds. Took all those stairs all the way back to the Gondola station, took a few more pictures, grabbed a drink (3 drinks was $12 OI!) and headed back down the mountain. After that hike, we were hungry and decided to try the Sushi Bistro for lunch. Alas, our parking Karma was all used up in the morning as there was a Farmers Market and parking was next to impossible. After 45 minutes of cruising around, we finally found a spot and made our way to Sushi Bistro. We were pleasantly surprised with the quality and value of the sushi. Then we went for a wander downtown, in search of dessert. We stopped and bought ridiculous nut logs, $7 each... basically fresh nougat on a stick, rolled in caramel, then nuts. Tim and Connor's were also dipped in Chocolate. So rich and delicious, probably the only one I will ever eat in my lifetime. A woman stopped us on the street asking "What is THAT?" and we told her it is not good for you but she thought it looked fantastic anyhow... oh the naughty things in Banff shops. We went back to the condo, had supper then back downtown for ice cream and another walk around. Bought myself a tiger eye bracelet and Connor bought himself a sweet piece of Bismuth crystal that looks like a pyramid. Doing our bit for the economy, yep, that's us Filtz's.

Tuesday, Day 3 2013 Vacation Funtimes

This morning we awoke a bit more refreshed after having set up our fan to circulate the air, our room was a bit more comfortable. No central air here but I'm sure we'll survive. After breakfast, we decided to go to Minnewanka Lake for a boat tour. It was fantastic. We saved Connor's entry from a coupon in the Student Union Ticket Pack and Norm and Sophie saved from their AMA membership. The boat is enclosed and Paul our guide, was entertaining and informative. We were not aware that during the heavy rains in June that Lake Minnewanka rose 15 ft and they had to open the spillway which carved new routes of the river that normally flowed from there. There is still lots of debris that had washed off the mountains. We also learned that "controlled burn" forest fires are no more, they are "prescribed burns" whereby a shopping list of criteria must be met such as weather patterns/forecasts, relative humidity, etc before a fire will be set. They learned from a 1 km controlled burn that got out of control at Minnewaka back in the 80's. It burned so hot it sterilized the soil and now it is finally recovering and growing vegetation again. After the boat tour, we returned to the condo for lunch then for a drive out to the Spiral Tunnels and Lake Louise. Didn't get to see any trains in the Spiral Tunnels, a bit disappointing but Tim ran in to a former co-worker and had a nice chat. We returned for supper and Tim, Connor and I went downtown for more treats while mom and dad chillaxed at the Condo. Busy day but now we feel like we are on vacation!

Monday, day 2 of this trip to Banff

Oh dreary Monday... overcast and cool, our room was really hot last night. The resort provided fans but we thought it would cool down at night but it did not! Nobody slept particularly well. After a slow start,  we decided to brave the weather and go for a hike on the Fenland Trail. Of course when we started out, it started to rain, so we drove past the Vermillion Lakes for a bit, then, since it was only sprinkling, decided to hit the Fenland Trail regardless.

The Fenland Trail is a 2 km trail that meanders through a fen than runs along one of the streams in Banff. It is a fairly easy hike except that with the flooding in June, the trail was silty and somewhat uneven. It was interesting to see how high the water had gotten up the trees and how quickly the ecosystem has recovered with vegetation. Many trees were uprooted and parks had cut some up, most likely for safety reasons. The mosquitos were voracious which made for great motivation to move quickly through this hike. Parks suggests 1/2 hour for this hike, I think we did it in 20 minutes... LOL! Connor was goofing around with Grandpas umbrella but no catastrophes befell us. Of course about an hour after we finished our hike, the sun came out and the rest of the day was lovely. We went downtown to get a few supplies, had supper and then watched some of "The Hobbit" before bed. I crashed early as I was exhausted. Still doesn't feel like vacation but maybe tomorrow will be better.

2013 Vacation is here!! FINALLY!!

After 2 weeks of "camping" in our own home as we proceed with our kitchen renovation, working furiously at work and then the final push to get laundry done and packing, Sunday, August 11th could not come fast enough. Tim's folks put their timeshare on the exchange for a 2 bedroom condo in Banff for the week so all 5 Filtz's were heading to the mountains!!!

Mom and Dad Filtz showed up at 10 a.m., Tim and I were finishing packing and getting dressed but a few minutes later, we were dragging our suitcases downstairs and while Tim loaded everyone's stuff in to the truck, I loaded our foodstuffs in to our cooler. When I went outside finally confident that we hadn't forgotten anything, I found that the box of the truck was almost full!!! Lots of stuff for a week of vacation!

By 11 a.m. we were on the road to take our puppies to Country Kennels Bed & Biscuit. They were excited that something was up, they like their truck trips!

After dropping the pups off, we were finally on our way!

At 12:30 we had a quick pit stop at Costco in Red Deer for lunch (MMMM-- Montreal Smoked Meat Sandwich on ciabatta... ) and didn't stop again until Airdrie for a final fuel up before we made it in to Banff. I grabbed Tim and I some delicious Starbucks coffees (Cinnamon Dolce Latte and Carmel Macchiatto... yum!) We changed up our seating arrangements as Norm took a tumble on a travel bus tour and hurt his arm, broke his elbow and having the seatbelt over that shoulder was irritating.

Back on the road for the final push... we arrived in Banff and unloaded our truck bed worth of stuff. What met us at the Banff Rocky Mountain Resort was a very charming, rustically decorated 2 storey 2 bedroom condo unit. Lots of wolves, from photo prints to wolf door pulls in the kitchen. Knotty pine  and slate accents throughout. The bedrooms have tree bedding and one bedroom has a king bed with 5 pillows!! Really quite lovely I think.

After we loaded all our stuff in and put it away it was suppertime so we headed to Downtown Banff to find a place to eat. Tony Roma's was our choice. It filled that hunger gap and we of course had to stop for Candy after. Coconut Brittle is a favourite! We watched "Bedtime Stories" before bed... very fitting don't ya think?