Two nights in Banff

The Moose Hotel was a glorious sight. From the huge wooden beams and roaring fire in the reception area to the amazing suites with a living room, kitchen, bedroom and bathroom, everything was just spectacular. It was Labour Day when we arrived, so we had booked a restaurant in advance, expecting that most places would be busy.

Banff is such a beautiful area, surrounded by mountain peaks and a town centre which has restaurants, shops, cafes and bars. It has a lovely friendly feel to it and although busy did not feel cramped.

We went to the Bear Street Tavern for our food and were glad we had booked as they were turning people away at the door. The food here is great. We ordered Pizzas and salad and were not disappointed. Our server was friendly and looked after us really well, ensuring we had everything we needed. After our food we had a stroll round the shops then back to the hotel for drinks and a game of cards.

The following morning we headed to Farm and Fire, which was virtually next door to our hotel. We had blueberry French toast, which was amazing, but very filling and sweet. We then got the local bus to the Banff Gondola. The bus was packed, with lots of people standing, but refusing to move further down the but to let others get on. We dealt with this in our usual Yorkshire fashion, to the amusement of many of the passengers.

Arriving at the Gondala we managed to book a spot without too much of a wait. The gondala is an amazing experience travelling 698m up Sulphur Mountain in only 8 minutes . At the top, there is a visitors centre, with 360 degree views of the mountains and towns below. We chose to walk along the boardwalk which is approximately 1km. We took our time, taking in the scenery and ejoying the spectacular views, ending at the Cosmic Ray Station and Weather Obsewrvatory. Once we had walked back down to the visitors centre, we only had a short wait for the return Gondola.

Heading back through town, we called in a few of the shops and grabbed a sandwich to take back to the hotel We had a couple of hours relaxing before our next scheduled activity, The Cowboy Cookout with Banff Trailriders.

For this event, me and Andrew chose to travel in the covered wagon, whilst Nick and Julie went on horseback. Julie had never ridden a horse before, but wanted to give it a go, but it wasn’t the most enjoyable hour travelling to the forest for her. For us though, the covered wagon was great, travelling along the small roads and tracks to the same location. We had a great commentary for most of the way from our two guides, who were interesting and amusing. We were taken to a covered seating area at 3 mile cabin, where we had barbeque, cowboy beans and hot and cold drinks (including cowboy cofffe). The guides all sat with different groups to socialise and this was the followed with lasso practice and horseshoes.

We then travelled back on the covered wagon, which was a great experience. The horseback riders arrived shortly afterwards, with Julie a little saddlesore, saying she was glad she had tried it, but she probably wouldn’t ever ride a horse again.

On our way back through the park, walking towards the hotel we had a most amazing experience which was even better for being totally unplanned. We could hear some drums playing in the park and realised that they were in the bandstand, so stopped to listen. Then we were suddenly being beckoned over and cajoled into joining the group. The session was being held by Rhythm by Nature who was trialling the park as a venue for drum circle. We joined in and for the next 45 minutes had the most entertaining and uplifting time. Andrew was in his element as he played the drums a lot when he was younger, so really entered into it and was asked a number of times to perform a solo. At the end of the session we all left with big smiles on our face and laughing all the way back to the hotel.

We then followed this with an evening in the rooftop pool and jacuzzi, relaxing and chatting about our amazing day, with such a variety of activities which had made us all feel so happy.

Our breakfast the next morning was at Tooloulous, which was a quirky restaurant which had great staff and served amazing food. The breakfasts were enormous!

We had booked a slot on the shuttle to Lake Louise, so after breakfast, we picked up the car and travelled the short distrance to the shuttle stop. I was amazed at how many cars were in the car park and although I knew that Lake Louise is iconic, I certainly did not realise what a busy spot this would be. We got onto the  shuttle bus and were taken to the parking area at Lake Louise. There is then a very short walk to the lakeside. It was a bit of a cloudy day, with a lot of cloud and mist hanging over the mountains, which meant that the lake did not look as blue as it sometimes does. It is a huge lake and we walked part of the trail around the lake, but it continued to be busy for most of the way. Although people will say that this is the lake to see, it wasn’t my most favourite spot.

We got back on the shuttle and headed for Moraine Lake, which wasn’t quite as busy and in my opinion was prettier than Lake Louise. We walked along the edge of the lake and sat on the driftwood to have our picnic. This brought the attention of lots of little chipmunks who were hoping for a little treat, or that we would drop something, but as advised everywhere, we did not feed them and were careful to leave nothing behind. We then walked up the rockpile for an elevated view of the lake, which was really worthwhile.