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.