Canada O Canada!
A few weeks ago we ventured north to the beautiful town of Banff to explore an area on both of our bucket lists! We made the decision to drive the car and rent a hotel as opposed to hauling the fifth wheel with us. It was difficult to find RV sites and we were unsure of diesel prices in Canada. We found a reasonable hotel in Canmore, a city about 20 minutes away from Banff and stayed at the Ramada Inn in Canmore.
We dropped Cooper of at a local boarding facility in Helena then hit the road for Banff! Banff is about a 7 and a half our drive north of Helena and we made it to Canmore right around dinner time. After we checked in and dropped our bags off we snagged some area brochures and picked a dinner restaurant. Jon decided we should use the picture method to choose a restaurant so after rating the restaurant pictures in the brochure we headed to the restaurant whose picture one for dinner!
We asked to be seated outside on the patio so we could soak in the picturesque view of the surrounding mountains. As we were sitting down we noticed some deer across the street just walking through the town, {so cool!}. I had a yummy salmon and veggie dish and Jon had a white sauced pasta dish.
After dinner went back to the hotel and changed into our swimsuits. I really wanted to check out on of the local hot springs in Banff. The Banff Upper Hot Springs was the closest to us and only about a 10 minute drive into the mountains outside of the town of Banff. It cost us $7.50 Canadian dollars each to enjoy the springs. We actually were allowed to pay in US dollars but received Canadian change (two loonies and a toonie to be exact, I kid you not, I with I could have taped Jon’s interaction with the lady behind the counter while she explained this to us!)
We spent about an hour enjoying the hot springs and the surrounding scenery. I was surprised because the water wasn’t as warm as I expected at only 104 degrees it felt lukewarm to me.The Upper Springs is a mineral springs so it did have a slight sulfur smell, but we still managed to enjoy! It was pretty crowded when we went at about 8 in the evening, so it felt kind of weird sitting in a large bathtub with a bunch of strangers. I could only take about an hour in the warm water before I started to feel hot and uncomfortable so I suggested we leave and go get a sweet treat!
We headed back into the town of Banff and headed to Cow’s creamery. After the tormentors decision on a single ice cream flavor, we both ended up with the exact same flavor! Vanilla ice cream with cow (chocolate covered peanut butter) pieces and a caramel ribbon. Delicious! We enjoyed our ice cream while exploring the town of Banff a bit for a nice ending to our first day (or really evening) in Banff!
Stay tuned for Banff day 2- Lake Louise!
TheNomadicNurse 