Friday, September 18
With sun shining on the mountains surrounding Banff, we awoke to see brilliant white mountain tops, trees changing gold to red and the flower basket outside our window brimming with bright petunias - what a lovely waking sight.
We decided to go to the Visitor Centre to work out what our best plan of action for the day would be. We decided to take the gondola to the top of Sulphur Mountain then drive out to Lake Minnewanka - on the recommendation of Heather and Dave. After the Visitor Centre we went for our morning coffee and obligatory Facebook catch up but sadly the wifi connection was too weak. This was probably a good thing as we didn't linger as long as usual.
The top Gondola Station
Views of Banff and beyond
We drove to the gondola station still uncertain as to whether we would walk one way and catch the gondola the other. Once in the car park the decision was made as we stared at the steep incline. We bought our tickets and joined the queue (sorry, line) to wait for our gondola cabin to come around. Wow! What fabulous views of Banff, the surrounding mountains and distant lakes. We were really pleased with our choice of activity and even more so when we saw a deer on the way up. When we got to the top we found there was a boardwalk to climb right to the summit. As we hadn't walked up the mountain, we felt we should at least do this walk/climb. Again, it was a great choice as the views were sensational but the climb was steep and covered in ice and snow - thank goodness for our Goretex shoes. After taking heaps of photos, we headed back to the gondola for our descent and more great views.
It was then time for lunch and we went to Tony Roma's. Service was slow so we were there way longer than planned but our meal was worth it. We then drove to Lake Minnewanka and were pleased to see a deer on the way. The lake was lovely but with the now clouded-over sky, was no match for yesterday's lakes.
Enjoying a rest on the climb to the summit
Tony & Angie in the Gondola
We took some more pics and headed home. More excitement with two large caribou grazing on the side of the road. In all our time in Alaska we had not seen as many animals as in Canada. More pics then back to the Red Carpet Inn in time for Happy Hour. Travelling is such hard work!
Lake Minnewanka
Grazing Caribou
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