Dickuidiot ,Banff, Alberta, Canada (2of2)

We left early today, mostly because Dick has a lot of uncertain feelings about driving up into unknown mountains to a popular tourist town with a 36 ft  5th wheel behind us. In spite of his feelings, we did head out for Banff. ( I don't know if the fact that June was driving had anything to do with that decision or not). June drove an uneventful 150 miles. We stopped in a Truck stop for diesel and lunch after we had passed through Calgary. Today was the hottest day of the year at 33.3 degrees Celcius (about 93 degrees F) The radiator on the truck knew the difference, it

Banff,Ave

stayed right up there near the top. Coming into Banff we missed our turn. It said to turn off  TCH-1 on to Banff Ave.We could not find any such turn. We should have turned into Banff, which becomes Banff Ave. We had to turn around several miles up TCH-1 in a construction area, and come back to town. We took the wrong entrance into town (there are only two, so that  figures)  and ended up driving right straight up the center of the Banff tourist area towing a 36ft RV, to the campground. We got in line for about 20 minutes, or so, and  then we got checked in. No full hook-up sites left for rigs our size. They gave us a beautiful site with 30 Amp only for tonight and told us to ask for a full hook-up site tomorrow after 8:00 am when people start leaving.

This is us on the right parking over-night

                                                       Downtown Banff--(Where I first drove into town).


(8/7/97)I was the only  one in line at 8:30 am , the next morning. We got a beautiful full hook-up site under the trees(remember the heat wave) with a , not so great view, of the mountains. There are Elk roaming all over this campground & feeding everywhere. The Elk have the right of way on the golf course. It is fun watching the golfers encouraging the Elk to move over out of the way with their golf carts and waving their arms. The Elk  also roam around the RVs under the trees and they are not afraid of you. The Elk have food and safety in the town and, of course the Wolves will not come into town after the Elk.

Elk on the golf course

Elk from our window

There is a Bus stop here at the campground that will take you to town. In town parking is very tight. After the first time of driving into town to have lunch and to pick-up all the area information that we could find, we decided that the Bus was a better choice. $1.00 each way. Banff is certainly a very popular tourist town. Tourist are everywhere. We checked in at the Visitors center, which we try to do at most of our stops where we plan to spend a couple of days. We watched a couple of videos on Banff and the surrounding area. There is a very plain warning that they give to all tourist that stop there. It  is;" DO NOT GET NEAR OR TOUCH THE ANIMALS"! They do look so cute and friendly...but they are "WILD", and therefore,"DANGEROUS "! "IT IS  AGAINST THE LAW TO FEED THEM. THEY WILL ATTACK YOU IF THEY FEEL THREATEN". I guess there are a lot of people who either do not go the Visitors Center, or just can not believe that these friendly Elk are dangerous or maybe THEY ARE JUST PLAIN STUPID.  We watched a lot of  silly people walk down in among the Elk that were  grazing or laying down, to have their picture taken petting an Elk. One guy tried putting his arm around an Elks neck, but the Elk wouldn't have any part of that idea. The darn fool could have easily been gored by the Elk. "REMEMBER, IDIOT-THEY ARE WILD!" After we got back to our RV (home), I took a picture out through our  window of an Elk grazing.

(8/9/97) Today is "Banff Day". Our first stop was at Joe Btifsplick's for breakfast. We found that the public parking lots are only half full in the mornings. We set out for the "cave & basin", which is the original hot springs from which Banff became a town. We joined a guided tour and learned how two brothers and a friend found the "Hot Spring Basin", then "The Hot Spring Cave", from a hole in the ground.The two springs are not connected.

After that tour, we drove to Sulphur Mountain where we took the Gondola up to the top. It is so popular that we had to wait about 20 minutes in line just to get on the Gondola. The Gondola goes up 7,500 feet to the top. Once at the top, there is a large enclosed building  glassed in all around for comfortable warm viewing all around. There is a snack bar and a  restaurant and bathroom facilities. The view from up here is fantastic. I got some great pictures of the mountains and of Banff, way, way, way down there. just a tiny little spot . We stayed up there for an hour or so , and then came down to the "Banff Springs Hotel", which is a very impressive building. On the lawn were about 20 Elk. We finally located Bow River Falls. The Falls is so popular that I had to let June out so she could video tape it, then I picked her back up. We had a very full day, and we really enjoyed it. We will be ready to leave tomorrow just to rest. If you ever get the chance to visit Banff....do it, you will be glad that you did. I am "almost sorry" that I put so many photos on this blog, but it was just so beautiful that I couldn't help myself. Thank you June, my love, I am glad that you steered me in this direction! It was certainly well worth while.

Lake Moraine-Top Photo      Lake Louise-Bottom Photo

Banff Springs Hotel 

>>>>Gondola to Sulphur Mountain


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Eight inches of snow?
This one had most of the state of Michigan laughing for two days,and a very embarrassed female news anchor who will, in the future, likely think before she speaks.What happens when you predict snow, but don't get any? We had a female news anchor who, the day after it was suppose to have snowed and didn't, turned to the weatherman and asked: " So Bob,where's that 8 inches you promised me last night? Not only did he have to leave  the set, but half the crew did too, they were laughing so hard !

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