Banff, Biking, and Golf

Drove to Banff today and spent the morning exploring the city. It’s easy to see why it’s such a popular destination. Again, you have a beautiful downtown surrounded by the Canadian Rockies……but having been both places now, we prefer Canmore. It has the same feel as Banff but it’s a little more quaint and not as crowded.

The first thing we did was walk to the Banff Springs Hotel and check it out. Wow, it’s really a classic, old grand hotel with some very unique architecture. Nancy’s parents came here 66 years ago this month on their honeymoon. I’m sure it was just as spectacular, yet much different back then. (If you read this Dick, just know that we were thinking about you today.) The hotel offers every kind of activity you can imagine right on the premises including a spectacular and very famous golf course, a bowling alley, spa, horseback riding, and hiking on some incredibly beautiful trails. Bow River Falls is also on the property. There are service workers everywhere to attend to their guests needs. As the pics show, there were lots of fresh flowers everywhere and the views from the rear decks and restaurants were absolutely spectacular. I plan to play their golf course early next week (I will post some pics).

One thing we have noticed in Jasper, Canmore and Banff is that most of the restaurant workers, store clerks and hotel service workers are from Australia and Europe. The young folks we have talked to really seem to live an adventurous life. We ate lunch at the Magpie & Stump and the guy who served us was from Australia ………he’s going to Japan to work the ski season later this year. The bartenders at Silvertip were also from Australia. There are also quite a lot of workers that come from Ontario. I really admire their sense of adventure and their belief that they can find a job to make ends meet virtually anywhere. They may not be able too buy a lot of extra stuff but they seem to be content with their lifestyle. I have a lot of respect for their adventurous spirit.

I wanted to play nine holes of golf at the Silvertip golf resort, so we brought Nancy’s bike with us to Banff so she could stay and explore a few more shops and enjoy the bike path back to Canmore while I played golf. The course was amazing. I plan to play the full 18 holes course before we leave. We both got back to the RV about 5pm and had some leftovers for dinner. We also got fresh blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries at the Banff farmers market and mixed them with cool whip for a refreshing and more healthy desert.