Banff and Canmore

Sunday, June 6.  Today we toured the ski resort/tourist towns of Banff and Canmore, still within the Banff National Park.  Our first excitement was black "gray wolf" walking down on the other lane of the highway.  I didn't get a very good picture, so you have to look for it.

We stopped at the Castle Mountain lookout, which was awesome. 

Then we saw a bighorn sheep close-up.  He was very cooperative, just kept eating right beside the road, with one eye on us.  Joe finally decided those horns looked pretty menacing, so we took off.


In Banff, the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel is really spectacular.  Built in the 1800s during the railroad heyday, it is still an awesome sight.  We walked around inside, looked at some of the shops and artwork, and Dave and Mazie and Marilyn and Collins checked out the winery.  As we were walking on the street beside it, there was a lambrogheni (sp?) parked at the curb.  But 3 cars back was a "smart car," so I guess everyone is welcome.  We walked the streets of Banff, had lunch, went into some gift shops (all I bought was a piece of fudge, though), and then headed to Canmore, the site of part of the 1988 Winter Olympics.  It is still a training center for triathelons and some of the winter olympics. Here are a couple pix of the Olympics event.

We saw 3 deer as we headed back to town.  Worn out again, but a good day of sightseeing.