Monday morning we met with Damo at Bruno’s for breakfast. Alex had left early that morning so there was just the three of us now. Bruno’s was more for the locals, great breakfast at half the price. Damo had the brekky Poutine.
After brekky it was time to do some clothes shopping. It was Damo’s belated Xmas and birthday present and he was in need of pretty much everything. Mum kitted him out from top to bottom.
Around midday we headed up to the Banff Gondola, Damo style. There is a bus that takes you up, but he decided that we would enjoy the hike up more. It was roughly 2km up the mountain, through pretty bushland to the start of the Gondola. It was a nice trail.
The Gondola ride was really steep, it set off my heights alarm a bit, running up the side of the mountain and giving spectacular views of Banff and the valley below.
Once up top we had beautiful 360 views over the entire region.
We checked out the displays in the parks centre and then did the board walk along the ridge line to a series of lookouts across the mountain. About a km each way with more great views and lots of squirrels.
Once back at the centre we grabbed a late lunch and then headed back down the Gondola. They give you a scheduled descent time on the Gondola which turned out to be just the right amount of time. Once down we caught the bus back into town.
By then it was 4.30 and we were a bit tired and sore from the rafting the previous day so decided to skip a hike Damo had planned and head back to our rooms to freshen up for dinner. We met later at the Rose and Crown rooftop bar (Bel and I used to have work drinks together at the Rose and Crown in Parramatta). Another nice spot.
For dinner Damo took us to the Brewery so we could try the Harvest Poutine, which is a roast chicken Poutine (Poutine is the staple dish of Canadians – chips and gravy with a bit of curd). Unfortunately it was no longer on the menu! So we went the Elk and Oarsman and had dinner there – wings and ribs. The ribs were really spicy and not the BBQ sauce we were expecting, we think they may have mixed their sauces up.
Tuesday morning Damo didn’t start until 12 so we met up for breakfast at Tooloulous. Another line up. This time I tried the berry waffles. I had been going a bit crazy on the berries as they were in season and so fresh and sweet. Blackberries, raspberries, strawberries and banana on a waffle with cream. Yum. Felt like a bear that needed to hibernate afterwards. Couldn’t eat it all and my berry fetish was over.
Once Damo went to work we did a bit more souvenir shopping and then jumped in the car to tour some more sites around Banff. First stop was Lake Minnewanke, it is actually a man made lake used for recreation. Not as pretty as others we had seen but still lovely.
We walked a couple Kms around the lake to a small canyon and river running into the lake. There were lots of warnings of bear activity but we didn’t see any. Lots of squirrels again though.
From here we drove by a couple more lakes and the cascade ponds, a nice picnic area, and then headed up to Tunnel mountain. The story goes that the mountain was going to have a tunnel through it. The idea was abandoned but the name stuck. There were some pretty views ands lots of bike trails.
Back in town we had a very late lunch/dinner and then went down to see Damo and go for a canoe on our own. We were keen to try and see more wildlife especially a beaver. We saw a musk rat our first time out but no beavers again this time. On our way back down the creek the Rocky Mountaineer passed over us! It’s one of the worlds great train rides.
After canoes we were back at the hotel and into bed early. We were both really tired.
Wednesday morning Grace arrived back from a trip to New York with her Dad and sister. We all met at Bruno’s for brekky, it was great to see her. It was a pity that our timing had overlapped, but we did have a couple of days while she was home. While there Bel had the Brekky Poutine – she had been on a Poutine safari while in Canada. She said it was great!
Damo and Grace both had to head to work. So we went and checked out the farmers market – great fresh veg, fruit and lots of berries! They also had fresh maple syrup straight from the farm so we grabbed a couple of tins.
It was our last night in town so we spent the kids inheritance and booked a night in the Fairmont! We received notification our room was ready at around 11, we jumped in the car and headed straight over.
Such a beautiful hotel. Everything about it felt decadent. Our room was on the top floor and the view from our (small) window was stunning.
We explored the hotel (it’s so big you need a map) and grounds, made a dinner reservation and then stopped in the Lookout Cafe, overlooking the river and mountains, for lunch. The sun was shining, about 26 degrees, beautiful.
We could have stayed there all day but we had plans to do some arts and crafts. Grace works at a place where you can paint your own clay cups, mugs, etc and then they glaze and fire them for you. We spent the afternoon there, it was great fun and a nice way to make a momento of the trip. I tried to paint Banff on a coffee sipper cup, while Bel did a bear theme.
That evening we headed back to the hotel and the Lookout for pre dinner drinks and then enjoyed a beautiful dinner with Damo and Grace in the main hotel restaurant. It was our last night and was so nice to spend it with them in style.
Thursday morning we packed our bags before grabbing two of the hotels complimentary BMW bicycles to go for a ride. We went down to the river near the hotel to Bow Falls. We had seen them the other day in the car, they were a bit of a surprise as we didn’t realise how big they were and they are just down river from canoeing! Lucky we went the right way!
Next stop was in town for a coffee at Graces second place of work. Then we rode down to the river to say hi to Damo and grab a few photos of him at work. He’s got a great job and really enjoys it, he loves being outside.
From there we followed the river to Vermillion Lakes on the constant lookout for bears and beavers. Still no luck but it was great to be out on the bikes.
Checkout time was 12, so we arrived back at the hotel 30min before to get the bags, car and checkout. We parked the car in town and picked up our glazed masterpieces – we had to show Grace of course!
We arranged to meet Damo for lunch at 2pm, and took some sandwiches down to the river and just sat and chatted. It was really nice but also very sad as we were saying our goodbyes. Lots of tears and hugs and then we walked back into town to say farewell to Grace. More tears. We are really going to miss them both but are comforted by the fact that they are both doing very well.
We flew out of Calgary, 150km from Banff, that evening. The drive was easy and the flights uneventful. We were even able to get seats together (our seat allocations were separate and it was a full flight)!
What a fantastic holiday. So many great memories.