Vancouver and the Rockies July/August 2018 - Day 16 - Banff to Calgary

[jocat]

Index is here.

Day 16 - Tuesday 7th August 2018 - Banff to Calgary

We woke at about 8am and took a little while to come round. I’m sure the bottle of wine last night had nothing to do with it!

We eventually got moving and ready for the day and laid all of the cases on the bed. Everything clean was in 2 packing cubes each. We had definitely overpacked our evening going out clothes - hardly anyone seems to dress up to go out to eat and we obviously hadn’t been out every night. All of the dirty clothes were put in one case, and then breakfast called, so off we went.

We both had cereals and Martin had bacon, egg and hash browns. They hadn’t got my favourite whole wheat bread this morning, so I toasted a couple of slices of white bread and made a bacon toastie.

We went back to the room and put the last minute bits into the case. I decanted our larger bottles of shampoo and shower gel into small travel-sized ones and ditched the big bottles now, rather than in a couple of days. I was now wishing we’d booked an extra night in Banff and just one night in Calgary, as we haven’t really planned much for there. It will perhaps just be a couple of days of relaxing.

We loaded the car up, then handed in our keys, checking out at about 10:45 am. As we left, we took a drive down past Vermillion Lakes on the outskirts of town. It was very peaceful here. There are much nicer lakes in the area, but it has great views of Mount Rundle. Unfortunately it was very hazy again this morning, so we never did get a decent photo of it will we were in Banff.

Reluctantly, we got back in the car and began our journey properly. We soon drove out of Banff National Park and spotted signs to Canmore. We had a quick diversion off the road to have a look round and found a decent town with everything you’d need to stay there. It had a far more residential feel about it, but I often prefer that. For a short stay, then I’d probably stick to Banff, but for a longer more relaxed stay, then I can see the appeal of staying somewhere like Canmore.

We continued our journey eastwards and soon saw the landscape changing. It looked more like Britain with its flatter fields and occasional hill on the horizon rather than the Rocky Mountains.

We had planned a stop at a little town called Cochrane, so the satnav took us off the highway and on to the Bow Valley Trail. We made a brief stop for photos at Ghost Reservoir.

We continued on to Cochrane to have a quick look, and there seemed a lovely quaint Main Street through the town, although the building of lots of new houses on the outskirts doesn’t seem in keeping with it. We tried to park up, hoping to call into Mackay's for an ice cream, but we couldn’t get anywhere near it. We went round some of the surrounding streets too.

We decided to continue on to Calgary, but we were due to get there just after 1pm and knew it would be too early to check in. We made a brief stop at the Olympic Park for a few photos, and then drove on to Downtown Calgary.

We could see the Calgary Tower as we drove, which helped guide us as our hotel was opposite. We parked outside at just after 2 pm and the bell hop, Francis, unpacked our car and took care of our luggage, while his colleague valet parked the car. We were able to check in straight away and were allocated a room on the 19th floor with a view of the tower opposite. Francis showed us the way to the room was and we soon unpacked.

The room was a lovely size, with a huge bed and a small corner sofa. Our rate also included access to the M Club lounge, so we went down there to have a soft drink and a snack. We picked at a few crisps and pretzels and then I found some wine gums too.

We grabbed another drink to take back to the room with us for later, then ventured out to explore the city. The Olympic Plaza Park was just around the corner, so that was our first stop. As we approached the park, we found a monument depicting the ladies who fought to have recognition for women as ‘persons’. This was presented to the city in 1999 to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the case and the achievements of the Famous 5 (not the Enid Blyton ones! )

The park was a lovely area, with people relaxing all around it and several enjoying the water as it was such a hot day. I also loved the planting around the edge. We then wandered over to the Municipal Building opposite. There was a tribute there to all of the officers from the police and fire departments who had died whilst carrying out their duties. City Hall was next door, but that was in the process of being refurbished, so its exterior was covered in what looked like a massive sheet with an image of City Hall on it.

We walked back through the park towards Stephen Avenue, which is like a pedestrianised area of the city. The bit we saw seemed lovely, and we stopped and had a drink in Milestones, which turned out to be just around the corner from our hotel.

Calgary seems much cheaper than everywhere else we’ve stayed on this trip. It happened to be Happy Hour, so Martin had a couple of beers at $5 each and I had a glass of Prosecco. It seemed huge, so we wondered what the cost would be, but the total bill only came to $18. We’d only got a $50 note, so asked for change and would leave a tip afterwards. The waitress gave us our change but there seemed far too many coins. We tried to find her again afterwards, but she’d disappeared, so we left all the extra change as a tip. We didn’t want her getting into trouble, as when we looked we’d got about $41 in change from our $50.

We went back to the hotel and called back at the lounge for a drink. They were now serving alcoholic drinks as it was after 5pm, although they do charge for alcohol in the lounge. Martin ordered an IPA and I just had a Diet Coke to begin with, but then also ordered a small glass of wine. They also do hot hors d’oeuvres in the evenings, so Martin had a couple of small chicken cannellonis. I ordered a second glass of wine to take back to our room for later - Martin already had a couple of cans of beer left from earlier in the holiday.

We’d made sandwiches before we left Banff this morning, with the leftover ham and cheese in our fridge. They’d stayed cool in our cool bag with some frozen water, so we had those to eat - a combination of lunch and dinner. It was so hot here in Calgary, that I didn’t fancy any hot food. The temperature showed 31 degrees while we were out and about earlier. The next two days are supposed to be hotter too!

We had a relaxing evening, trying to plan what we’d do tomorrow, before showering and watching a bit of TV.

[parisdisneyfan]

Sounds a nice day. I was surprised I liked Calgary as not a city person. Hotels were a lot cheaper in Calgary but just a bit too far to travel for sightseeing.

[Melbatb]

Here is the painting we have on our wall of Mount Rundle (we honeymooned on Banff):

Your day in Calgary seems to have been quite relaxing! I gave only ever flown into there - never visited it!

[WileyCoyote]

Calgary looks good , love your pics. You’ve bagged some brilliant hotels , great rooms and top locations !

[MarionG]

We stopped for a break in Canmore on our journey from Calgary to Banff. It seemed a very friendly town, I agree more residential. I got a lovely print of the three sisters mountain range while I was there.

[Gunna]

It was really warm whilst we where in Calgary. We liked the place, just wandered and chilled but found a few things we’d of done had we stayed longer.