A rainstorm in Banff

It was a great ride from Lake Louise to Banff, along the Bow River Parkway. We hoped to see lots of wild animals, especially another bear. I told Dean, you look to the right, I'll look to the left.

Rocky mountain sheep were promised;


the earlier riders all showed off photos of them! But the sheep were all apparently napping when we rode by.




I spotted a deer on the left.















Dean was going too fast around a corner and didn't spot this elk on the right. But I did (obviously).

We hit the Banff Public Library when we got to town---it's always a treat to find a computer and check our email.


Our campground is up a big hill from town. After dinner, we caught a bus back to downtown with the Barbs.

We heard that last year, the bus was free, but this year we had to pay.

We ate monstrous ice cream sundaes.






Then, the B's were tired and decided to head back to camp. But we felt too gross from all that ice cream and needed to walk it off.




















We ran into Vince and Lynda at the bridge, and learned that Lynda was on a mission. She wanted to see the Banff Hotel. So we followed her, and walked and walked and the sky grew darker and darker.

At last, the hotel appeared!

We wandered through it,





since Lynda was sure there was a great view from the other side. Not so impressive.

It seemed that rain might fall any minute. We consulted a map and realized we did not need to walk all the way back to the village center, but could catch our bus in front of the hotel. Vince and Lynda let us share their free bus passes (compliments of their lodging!) So our ride home really was free.

The rain started while we were on the bus. At camp, we raced for our tent. We are now cozy inside, while the wind and rain are storming mightily outside.

View of the campground before we took the bus to town:


View of the campground just before the rain started. It is still daylight hours: