Friday June 10, 2022

We had a much-needed sleep-in this morning.  This is the darkest hotel room we have stayed in by far, which really helped.

We ate a delicious breakfast in the hotel dining room.  As we were leaving our waitress asked if I would like a tea to go with a fresh tea bag, which I accepted.  It made me absurdly happy for some reason – maybe all I need in life is an unexpected free tea every once in a while!

We headed out on our hike around the lake, me with tea in hand (which, along with the 3 cups I had with breakfast, meant 3 bladder stops on the hike).  We found the trail was closed part way around, as it is elk calving season, and the cows defend their calves very aggressively.  They calve on an island in the middle of the Athabasca River, then cross back with the babies and live between the lake and the river, too close to the trail for all involved.

We walked back around to our cabin then continued in the other direction around the lake as far as we could until we reached the place where it was closed at the other end, almost 5 kms in total.

Then we gathered up our laundry and headed to town.  We filled up the gas tank, and wandered around a bit while waiting for the laundry to be done.  We may also have stopped at Tim’s.  We drove past my old apartment, which looks almost the same as it did 35 years ago when I lived there, just a bit more colourful.

We stopped at the grocery store on our way home to pick up a couple of things for dinner to go with our leftover pizza from last night.  As we were driving back to the resort, we noticed an RV stopped ahead of us.  Narrow road, no shoulder – there must be an animal somewhere.  The car in front of us stopped and the occupant’s got out.  There were cars coming in the opposite direction so we couldn’t pass.  When we finally got the opportunity to pass, we saw that there were several cars stopped ahead of the RV too.  This is one of my biggest pet peeves about Banff and Jasper, so I rolled down my window and yelled at everyone for stopping in the middle of the road as we went by.  I don’t know if they heard me and even if they did, I’m sure they didn’t care, but it made ME feel better anyway!  And I managed to get two pictures of the grizzly – without blocking traffic!

I should mention that the weather has been pretty good since we left home a week ago.  Overall, mostly overcast with some sun for anywhere from a few minutes to half a day, and occasional showers nearly every day.

I had a little panic when we were packing for the train.  We must have 3 days’ worth of clothes in our carry-ons, as we won’t have access to our checked luggage while on the train.  I couldn't find one of my shirts, so called the Banff Springs hotel, and sure enough, I left it in the room yesterday morning.  I had washed it out and hung it in the bathroom to dry.  After much discussion, Olivier is UPSing it to the Fairmont Chateau Frontenac at no charge to myself, so it will be waiting for me in Quebec City when we arrive in 8 days.  Amazing service!

We spent the rest of the afternoon in the cabin, and I managed to get another 2 days posted to my blog.  I took this photo at 10:45 at night.