Day 32Thurs- Mountain Magic!

Finally a good sleep..Up to pack again then get brekky…John had to sort out my phone plan which turned out to be a bit complicated… he finally got it sorted in the long run… the rains were coming and fortunately John managed to get the car packed before it came down…
Then off out of Calgary we headed…Even got to see the The Olympic village with the Ramps above as we drove out!! I said to John about Eddie The Eagle he thought I had lost the plot had no idea what I was in about!! It was a bit funny 😆!!
It was the weirdest trip landscape wise… it started out rolling plains again as we left the city behind, then over hilly mounds 1-2-3 by the 3rd one like being in the dessert coming over a hill and the scene dramatically changes…
Then Wow ohh wow how amazing is Your World Ohh My Lord and Saviour…I have wanted to see beauty in nature this whole trip and I was finally experiencing it… Massive mountains peaking out of the huge angry clouds…Then seeing pockets of snow dripping down their craggy crevices…Yes finally raw rugged beauty…. The Hwy was straight ahead for so so long like a straight dire…..then we started winding between the massive mountain ranges… All my senses were being over joyed…I think the angry clouds made it seem even more dramatic to wittiness this scene.., Pictures can never ever capture what the naked eye beholds but I did my best…even using my big camera at times to zoom in on snow pockets draped down the sides of the mountains… We only managed to pull up one time by a lake to grab some shots not through the front screen, or window shut but standing before these massive mountains….or with me trying to get better shots out of the window which really isn’t that safe for me to do but I do anyway… much easier with my old DSLR you can hold it better..the poor iPhone gets knocked around with the wind…. I am always scared the wind will blow the phone out of my hands so I hang in like grim death…😳😂!

We made it to Banff it only took an 1 1/2 to get there…ohh my glory cars and people everywhere…we drove around getting a little lost eventually we found a spot to park.. and as it was way past morning tea time we went looking for somewhere to eat for lunch....fortunately we did find a Hotel that had a pub restaurant attached another finer dining spot but we didn’t care…the weather had turned bitterly cold, windy and trying to rain…so finding this place which was warm and cosy..offering soup for me perfect… Plus our lovely waitress Sophie was from Carindale in Brisbane …she was as happy to serve Aussies as we were to have her serve us…even took a selfie with her…she is working here for the last 2 months and will be until December when she comes home for Christmas…

Tim and Jess arrived and joined us…then we went for a wander around the Main Street of Banff…what a view from all aspects of township with the mountains surrounding this village…but over run and is a total tourist hotspot…

After the look around we all headed to see the Cave and Basin…..Info as follows…

(The first recorded reference to hot springs here is by James Hector of the Palliser Expedition in 1859, followed by Joe Healey in 1874 who found the Cave and Basin site in 1875. But it was Canadian Pacific Railway workers William McCardell and Frank McCabe who brought national attention to the Cave and Basin. In 1883 they descended through the skylight entrance into the cave using a felled tree, and the following year constructed a small cabin nearby with the intention of commercializing the Cave and Basin site. Conflicting claims by other parties prompted intervention by the Canadian government headed by John A. Macdonald, and in 1885 an order-in-council reserved 10 square miles (26 km2) around the Cave and Basin, the Banff Hot Springs Reserve. This was the genesis of Canada's national parks system. In 1886 the Canadian government held an inquiry into the various private claims to settle on compensation.
In 1886 an artificial tunnel was driven into the Cave and Basin to aid visitation. In 1912 bottled water from the Cave and Basin site was sold for its alleged curative powers. In 1914 a naturally heated swimming pool was opened to the public and continued to operate until 1994.
The Cave and Basin was formally declared a national historic site in 1981. The built facilities include an artificial tunnel to natural grotto, a replica of the original 1887 bathhouse, the restored 1916 swimming pool and structure, interpretive displays, hiking and snowshoe trails. The 1887 bathhouse, the first structure on the site, proved inadequate by 1902, and a new pool was built in 1904. The stone bathhouse was completed in 1914, designed by architect Walter S. Painter. The pools were closed in 1975, restored in 1985, then closed again in 1992. An interpretive center now uses the structures. The Banff Upper Hot Springs is a separate facility some 5 km (3 mi) southeast of the Cave and Basin.)

So we wandered around seeing the amazing mountains views from every aspect…the smell of Sulphur wafting up our nostrils… the flow of the hot springs looked a bit depleted…still interesting to see the different levels up the walkways up the mountain…

Honestly I was just blown away with the mountain views they were worth being here more than the Cave…and well the cave was a total disappointing exercise to see indeed…nothing at all like their advertisement… making it look so amazing with their Arctic blue water in a grotto…..well the so called grotto was very small low and hardly any lighting to see the actual pool which was feed from a spring outside…..not pretty attic blue…. Will see how my pics turn out! While standing looking at an outside pool I heard an older lady talking about when she was younger had spent her youth swimming in the heated spring feed pool…this is now all cemented and doesn’t exist… I wonder how disappointed she would have been seeing like it is now! We had, had our time here so headed back to Canmore where we are staying for the next 2 nights…..we had bypassed it on our way to Banff! Again the views of the mountains following rivers , running along side of side road… even trains running along the Hwy as we made our way back… Snow dripped huge mountain peaks everywhere we looked was a magical sight!

John and I stopped at Blondes Coffee shop for a cuppa and an ice cream… Great coffee very impressed with it mellow flavour…

Then off to find our accommodation for the next 2 nights… took a bit but we finally found it then the lovely lady behind the counter explained what seemed like a 100 different codes to get into all the places we needed to access our unit…Codes for underground car park, codes for front doors, codes for our room, codes to the heated pool etc… crazy, crazy, crazy my mind was in over drive….
Once we accessed our unit after last 2 nights this was well set up..very nice…

John and I rested while Tim and Jess caught up with an old friend… then he and I headed to have dinner at the George Inn next to our unit, a great old English pub feel…lots of character… a very friendly young Canadian guy who had spent time working in Australia was our waiter so we had a great conversation with him…

Views out our unit window are mind blowing with the Sheer huge mountains over shadowing us…looks awesome…What a day, what views…I am happy …Read more