A Rocky Mountain Excursion

Wednesday morning we were up early and started heading towards Banff. It was going to be a one night getaway for us. We loaded up the truck, not forgetting my chips, candy, and pop, and headed on our way. We took the long way out, going through Rocky Mountain House and Lake Louise. We stopped at Lake Louise and had $9.00 soup and $10.00 poutine (never eat the poutine there, not good!). Super expensive! We kept heading toward Banff after that taking 1a instead of the 1. Lots of beautiful scenery to look at. A few hours later we were in Banff and saw a deer trying to get into a hotel. It was quite the scene. The deer was right up at the door surrounded by people.
                                                                                                                                                               

The wood burning fireplace in our room

We went and checked into our hotel after that, The Buffalo Mountain Lodge.

It had a fancy outdoor hot tub too, which we didn't end up using. After checking out our hotel we got back in the truck and decided to drive up to the lake and see if we could find some sheep. Who goes to Banff and doesn't go sheep hunting, really?! 

On our way up to the lake we saw two sheep. One was standing on the side of the road and one was a little deeper in the trees. I decided to name the one closest to me Henry. Because every sheep needs a name, right?! He was a pretty mangy looking sheep but I liked him. I discreetly threw him some jelly beans, careful not to let the wildlife cops see me. Turns out Henry doesn't like jelly beans. We drove back up to the lake and then turned around and started back. Henry was still there on the way back so we stopped to take a few more pictures of him. He cute, ain't he? 

This is Henry

By this time it was 4:30 and we decided to head to downtown Banff and get ready for supper. We made reservations at the Grizzly House. Super cool fondue restaurant in Banff. We cooked on hot rocks instead of using oil. I decided I was going to buy dinner, so what does Mike do....He orders the most expensive thing on the menu. First we started with a cheese fondue, that was delicious! Then we had our meat portion and that was followed by the chocolate and fruit. 

So, more about Mike's dinner. He ordered the exotic dinner, which included: alligator, shark, ostrich, kangaroo, venison, bison, and frog legs. It looked nasty. Apparently alligator is disgusting and should be left in the swamp. The kangaroo was the best according to him. I think I'll stick to my chicken and beef. Mike wants to go kangaroo hunting now though. Here are a few pictures of our dinner. 

That is Mike's gross frog leg cooking!

"MMMM...Kangaroo"

Mom and I eating normal food!

The final bill for dinner was $230.00. I must have been feeling rich...or just stupid! After dinner we headed back to the hotel and relaxed by the fire and watched the Flames game. We were lucky enough to only experience a brief coughing session in the middle of the night. 

Mike decided it was time to get up at 7:00 and light a fire and wake us all up. Some of us like sleep you know! Today was the day to hit every candy store in Banff. First we went for breakfast and then walked up and down the streets a few time. That's right people, I walked around Banff and didn't pass out or die! I got lots of candy, about $40.00 worth (don't tell my doc though)! Then we stopped at Wild Bill's and had a beer sitting in the little balcony overlooking the street. It was a beautiful day out. After that I made the block and a half walk back to the truck we headed to Bow Falls to check it out. We took a few pictures and then started making our way home.

We saw a lot more sheep on the way home, but they were too far away to get pictures. We saw a lot of deer throughout our little excursion too. I was sure I would get called for transplant while we were gone because we didn't have very good cell service and even had to call and let them know where we were just in case. I never got called though. 

We got home about 3:30 and Mike decided we needed to start a fire so he could try out his new flat rocks (he stopped and grabbed a couple flat rocks on the way home to apparently try to cook on). He got the rocks super hot and decided to try and cook some shrimp. Using garlic butter on the rock he did his best and I guess they were pretty good. I want to see him try and cook a steak on his "rock". That was the end of our excursion. We relaxed for the rest of the night.