Trains and Grizzly Bears, A Canadian Roadtrip - Rocky Mountaineer Day 4

Thursday, September 5 - Banff Day 2

Thankfully, today was a free day in Banff and we took advantage of it by sleeping in.  It felt great not to have to get up early and do something.  Unfortunately, as it seems to be my habit when I’m on a trip, I definitely have a cold.  Hopefully it won’t be a bad one and doesn’t interfere with our trip.

We had decided to just stay around the hotel today as there is plenty to do here.  We finally were up by mid-morning and decided to look around the grounds.  We walked around a bit and found a trail that leads down to Bow Falls where we were yesterday morning on our tour.  It was a pretty easy walk down, but pretty steep coming up, and coupled with the 5000+ foot altitude we were pretty tired by the time we got back up to the hotel; too much sitting on trains and buses I guess, it can’t be that we’re just getting old.

A couple of pictures of the hotel lobby area.

 

The view from one of the back terraces of the hotel.  That is the Bow River where we were yesterday on our tour.

 

Some of the hotel outbuildings holding shops and meeting rooms.  They may also hold some guest rooms, but I don't know for sure.

One of the hotel entrances.

This is one of the wings of the hotel, but it is separated from the main building.

The trail down to the Bow River and falls.

We couldn't resist taking more pictures of the river and falls.

By the time we got back, we were getting hungry so we made our way to the Mexican restaurant we found yesterday and had lunch.  It was another warm and sunny day and we had a great lunch sitting out on the deck with a great view of the Bow River and mountains.  Unfortunately, the food was mediocre, but who cares when you can have such a great view and warm weather.

Getting ready to order lunch on beautiful day in Banff.

We had a great view as we ate our lunch.

After lunch it was back to the room where I rested a bit as the effects of the cold were catching up with me.  Later in the afternoon, Val decided to go and look at the shops and since I had fallen behind on the blog, I caught up on that.  When Val returned she said she had found great spot on the deck and spent the afternoon sitting in the sun, having a drink and enjoying herself.  She had texted me to join her, but I didn’t see it so I missed out; very disappointing for me.

After checking out the shops in the hotel, Val got herself a drink and enjoyed a nice afternoon on the terrace.

And what a great view she had.

I finished up the blog and Val and I decided to go out and walk around.  It was still warm so we wandered around the various decks and she showed me where she had spent the afternoon.  The sun was behind the building so it was shady and starting to be a little cool, but there were comfortable chairs and a fire pit with a fire burning so we settled in and just sat there for a while enjoying the view and each other’s company.

Val showed me the spot she had spent her afternoon, and it was such a nice spot we decided to spend our evening there.  It cooled off a bit, but the fire kept us warm enough.

We finally decided it was getting a little too cool and headed back to our room, but first we needed something to eat.  Neither one of us was very hungry as we had another late lunch so we opted for just a dessert.  Hey, don’t judge us, it’s a vacation after all!  😉

Tomorrow we’ll be moving on to Lake Louise so we returned to the room and got our luggage ready for pickup tomorrow and spent the rest of the evening relaxing.