We were up relatively early again, which will basically be a theme of the holiday - I felt my sleep pattern never fully adjusted to the time difference!
Continental breakfast is included in our room rate - it’s not too exciting but there’s a selection of cereals, yogurt, fruit, pastries, and they have waffle machines too.
We decided to head to the Banff gondola first, up to the top of Sulphur Mountain. This ultimately was a good decision as we got the best two hours weather of the day while up there! It was beautiful to see the snow capped mountains all around us.
After walking to the highest point on the mountain (via a wooden walkway) and back, snapping pics and enjoying the relative quiet, we grabbed a gondola back down the mountain and decided to have a Starbucks while contemplating where to go next! I had a chai tea latte, which is something I’ve just started drinking thanks to Dishoom. DH had a black tea.
As the beautiful blue sky of earlier was starting to disappear, we decided to head over to the Historic Cave and Basin to see the hot springs. I would note here this attraction is correctly priced quite low, but it was good to see some tiny endangered snails that can only be found in 7 pools here and nowhere else in the world!
There is a loop trail around the marsh here that we walked when we visited c10 years ago, but we decided against that this time given the grey skies.
Instead - after a quick stop in the car park to snap pics of all of the deer wandering around - we got back in the car and headed to Surprise lookout, before driving down to see Bow Falls from the other side.
It was starting to get quite chilly now so we decided to park the car back at the hotel and explore the Main Street of Banff on foot. This didn't take too long but it was a nice walk. We made time for a Beavertail pastry each - mine was apple and cinnamon while DH went for the maple version.
I also popped into the local distillery to buy a bottle of their gin! I took this pic when we headed back to the hotel for a rest pre evening meal.
For dinner I’d booked Chucks Steakhouse after reading about it in a UK newspaper article shortly before our trip. It was a short walk away on the Main Street, and we had a brilliant time there. I would definitely recommend for a special meal.
For starters we shared the prime Alberta dumplings (beef and shrimp) and crispy ginger beef.
And for main we shared the following (copies from menu), both cooked medium rare:
BENCHMARK FARMS' 'NATURAL' ANGUS - RIBEYE - 16oz aged 28 days, and
PINE HAVEN GRASS FED - TENDERLOIN 8oz, aged 28 days.
The tenderloin was my favourite, so tender! We also had two sides - the roasted broccoli was fine but the corn creme brûlée was immediately declared by both of us to be possibly the greatest side dish ever (knocking 2014’s corn side from Bavette in Chicago off the top spot!). It was so moreish, we loved it.
We were too stuffed for dessert after all that so finished our wine - a very nice Canadian merlot - and walked slowly back to the hotel for bed!