Lori and I spent this past weekend in Banff enjoying a gift the kids got us for Christmas and of course enjoying Banff and all that it offers. We stayed at the Caribou as we usually do when we’re in Banff and we get what we expect. It’s a nice hotel and a great location. And there’s an amazing hot pool on the main floor.
The week prior it had been quite warm and I was concerned that the warm temperatures might put a damper on activity but the concern wasn’t required. We had a nice seasonal temperature of minus 15 with some fresh snow. It was a beautiful picturesque weekend in the mountains.
We got to Banff Friday at about 4PM and had a walk through the shops on main street. We spent about 2 hours searching through the shops and checking everything out. There’s a few unique hike/climb/ski stores in Banff that you wont find elsewhere or if you do find it somewhere else, like the Patagonia store, the store is bigger in Banff with a much greater selection.
We went out for supper at The Keg and then back to the room to chill for the night.
Saturday afternoon we had a guided hike in Johnston Canyon which took a total of about 4 hours and in great company, with some people from San Diego, NYC, Massachusetts and a couple of paramedics from Australia. The canyon was beautiful with all the fresh snow and so much snow off the trail. Water seeps from the rocks in the canyon in the summer but in the winter it’s frozen and presents itself as a magnificent turquoise mass of ice. There’s still lots of fast flowing open water and so clear right now because it doesn’t carry all the silt it might in summer. This is a great short hike and I recommend it for all and it’s quite doable by most people I know.
At the Upper Falls enjoying some hot chocolate
The mountain air had created quite an appetite but before going out for supper we hit the hot pool in our hotel first. It felt amazing after the hike, the mountain air and the cool temperatures of minus 15. We cleaned up and went to Pacini’s for supper and I also highly recommend this restaurant. It is neither high end or low end, but really good food, large portions and the restaurant was large, roomy and modern.
Sunday was a sleep in, grab a Starbucks and drive the hour back home. Just another great weekend with my best friend!
Don’t forget that all National Park Passes are free this year in celebration of Canada’s 150th birthday
Speaking of hockey, the Calgary Flames made it 5 wins in a row last night beating the LA Kings in OT ! I don’t want to get too excited , well actually I do. If the Flames can move past Anaheim and the sun and the moon and the stars align, we could see and Edmonton/Calgary first round playoff season! The trade deadline was today at 1 PM MST and about 30 minutes to deadline the Flames picked up Forward, Curtis Lazar from Ottawa ,along with Defenseman Mike Kostka in return for a second round pick in 2017 and Defenseman Jyrki Jokippaka. Ive already read that the 22 year old Lazar is looking to turn his game around in Calgary and Calgary gave up very little for him. Good trade by the Flames.
The song this week is from Linda Ortega. Ortega is a Canadian born country singer from Toronto who now resides in Nashville. This song is off her latest album, Faded Gloryville, and the song is titled I Aint The Girl. Check Ortega out on iTunes,Amazon or YouTube. She’s definitely country so if you like country you’re gonna like Ortega.
The quote this week is from Evan Esar.
“You can’t do anything about the length of your life but you can do something about it’s width and depth”
Thanks for dropping by and I hope you’ll do the same next week………..
Disappearing From View 