Calgary Trip: Banff

On the first weekend, I went to Banff. Athenea is a consultant at work. She didn't go home to Mexico City for the weekend so she came with me. It was a really fun day. Athenea is much better at taking people pictures than I am so I actually have a number of photos of both her and of me. Some of the photos are Athenea's and some are mine. One of the first places you can stop on the highway to admire the view is Lac des Arcs. The next stop was to go up the gondola in Banff to Sulphur Mountain. I forgot to pack my hat so I used the scarf from my all weather coat. It was windy at the top. There is a walk out to a solar ray station. Its 1 km. Down lots of steps. Across a flat area and then back up lots of steps. The building where the gondola arrives has a large compass on the top level with distance and pointers to different places.

Athenea making a snowball	tiny snow man found at the top	he was showing off the view
		They hadn't cleared all the snow on the paths yet
Pointing to Toronto	Pointing to Karen in London	Pointing to Mexico City

Next stop was the Cave and Basin National Historic Site. Its the first national park. We saw the sulfur hot springs. Just a little smelly. The top pool looked like it was boiling. They asked you not to put your hand in the water. There is rare snail that lives in the water and they don't want it harmed. We realized then what time it was (late afternoon) so went for a late lunch/early dinner. Before heading back to Calgary, we drove up to see the Banff Springs hotel. Wandered inside to see the lobby. One of the shops was give away samples of chocolate and gave us a piece. When we were leaving the hotel we saw a sign for Banff Springs Falls so we made a short detour before heading out.