Exploring the Rockies

Tuesday started out with a quick breakfast in the hotel, then again, we bundled up, got in our car and drove the 10 minute drive to the Sulfur Mountain Gondola. This is something I have done many times with my mom over the years and I have always loved it, so I wanted to share it with my family.

We took the 15 minute ride to the top of the mountain. The ride itself is beautiful. You have an almost 360 view of all these snow capped, huge mountains, with the valley down below where we can see our hotel.

Because we are at a much higher altitude, it's even colder on top of the mountain, but we're all dressed properly, so we didn't notice. We don't think Josh enjoyed the cold too much however. There is an observation deck on top of the mountain and a very long wooden path that goes on for quite awhile. It was very snowy and icy and quite treacherous, so we had to be careful. We wandered on the path for awhile, but the cranker Josh got, the harder it was. So we wound up on the cafeteria for a little hot chocolate and then the ride back down.

We drove around for awhile, just taking in the beauty. We stopped at Lake Minnewanka, it's a huge lake that is totally frozen over with snow covering the entire surface, Rico and I had never seen anything like that before, very cool! We then drove along the Bow River to a spot that has a wonderful view of our hotel and took a few more pictures. We then parked our car and walked along the main street of downtown Banff, it's only about 3 blocks long, so we wandered, and shopped and tried to decide on where to have dinner. It's still very cold out, only about 32 degrees, but we're dressed properly and we seem to be adjusting, because we all seemed to be just fine.

We decided to go back to our hotel for dinner so we wouldn't be out too late. When we arrived back, there was a note waiting for us from my mom and my aunt (the birthday girl). They had dropped by to see if we were available for dinner and they left a number for their hotel. We called them and arranged for them to come back here. They have never stayed at this hotel, so they wanted to see our room. So they came to us about 6:00 and we all went for a very nice dinner in one of the hotel restaurants. We had a really nice time and the kids behaved well, again, bless them. After dinner, mom and auntie went back to their hotel and we watched a silly movie while the kids slept. Another nice day....tomorrow Lake Louise!