The day starts with a good breakfast, some "Matte Muffins".
The dishwashers at work.
Before we start with the day, I have to tell you that every time we
decide to visit something, it always turns out to be the best decision.
Forecast, rain! So we start the day with a visit to the Cave
& Basin.
The Cave & Basin is the birthplace of the hot springs and the first
National Park in Canada, Banff National Park in 1885.
This photo was taken inside the cave where the employees of the
railroad found the source of the hot spring in 1875.
The hole you see above is where the railroad men came down to the hot
spring the first time.
The next two photos are of the first commercial hot spring bath in
Banff (1887 - 1902). Today this place is a protected area because
of a snail that lives in the hot water. It is the only place it
lives in the world.
Here is the second commercial hot spring bath. It was closed in
1977. If I remember right, I used this bath when my
parents and I came this way in 1976. It is a historical site now.
A nice photo of Robert with the bath and the mountains as a background.
The gang!
I forgot, today we picked up our Gypsy. A palm pilot / GPS all in
one. It is like a private tour guide. We use it to visit
Banff. Our next stop is "Surprise
Corner" with a beautiful view of the Banff Spring Hotel.
I could not decide which photos to use, so I included all the very nice
ones.
Off to visit the Banff Spring Hotel. As we got there, the rain is
somewhat heavy. We use the closest door to get in. It turns
out we have more to visit than we expected.
Maryline really loves geodes. She is spoiled to see some many big
ones.
Continuing the visit of the hotel.
After visiting the hotel, we head to the Bow River Falls. The
rain is coming down pretty hard now.
Shortly after, the rain stopped. We follow the trail to get
closer to the falls.
The weather is really clearing up. Our next stop is the Hoodoos
Viewpoint.
Ah! Such pretty scenery, with such pretty people. hihihihi.
After the Hoodoos, Lake Minnewanka is our next destination. Now
that the clouds are lifting up, it makes really nice photos.
Sorry, no photos of Minnewanka lake!
But we have one of Johnson lake!
Right next to Lake Minnewanka, some mountain goats are on the
road. You can also see the Gypsy on the window of the car.
Some elks we've seen on our way back to the motorhome.
We treat ourselves with a pizza for tonight, with some good wine.
Estelle really loves the
wine. We laughed a lot. Wait, let me tell you the
story. It was a Pajama dinner because the last few days were not
very warm and it was raining a lot. So Estelle did not want to
have a shower because it would have been cold. So she took one
early and said, "Why not a PJ dinner party"?
It was accepted by all!
Another little story, Estelle
really, really loved the wine. On top of that, she is really
tired. Later on, we played a game and when asked what does 2 + 2
does she answered "5". I think she was drunk, but she had a lot of
fun.
