Calgary

Thurs, June 4 - A short drive to our campground (135miles). It actually was in Cochrane a community 20miles NW of Calgary. Whether our group drove on Hwy 2 or Hwy 2A we all hit stop/go lights and traffic.  No easy bypass around Calgary. Cochrane is a suburb type town with new developing shopping area and less traffic.  We stayed at Bow Rivers Edge Campground. Narrower sites but long and nicely landscaped. They let us use their "Corral" building for meals and activities. A great dog walk area with a trail right along the Bow River, a major fast moving river throughout southern Alberta. Our activities included a cookout in "the corral", they even gave us use of their massive gas grill, tables, chairs, and propane heaters if it got cool (stayed in the 70's so we were good).

Fri, June 5 -Had arrangements for a Calgary city tour with Round the Block Tours. Because Calgary has the second highest parking fees in the world, second only to New York City, we parked for free at the Calgary Olympic Park or COP, as the natives call it.  Our tour bus/van picked us up and gave us a wonderful tour of Calgary and all the interesting stops like Heritage Center, Calgary Stampede, Zoo, China town, many others during our 4 hour tour. Our driver dropped us off at the Calgary Tower for our lunch reservation in the revolving Sky360 restaurant. 45 minutes lunch and one revolution.  Our server was a bit slow and our 45 minutes lunch took 1hr 15min.  So we had to scramble to find our tour bus and let her know. She returned for our last hour of tour and to drop us off at COP.

Sat, June 6 - We did a driving self tour to Banff.  IPad app Gypsy Guide has a free Calgary to Banff tour that works off GPS and the narrator gives commentary about history, locations, wildlife, etc on the way.  Made the 63 mile (100km) trip go fast.  We took the Lake Minnewanka Loop Drive which highlights the mountains, lake, and some wildlife.  We saw a mountain goat and an elk. Next we drove to the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel, or "the castle" as I call it.  We had reservations for lunch on the Lookout deck. Beautiful views and great food.  A bit windy when the sun was in the clouds but as soon as it came back out, no wind!?! Everyone was on their own after lunch and we went downtown Banff to walk the town.  Kind of like downtown Wisconsin Dells with the touristy shops and eateries everywhere.  Our stop was at BeaverTails - to get a Beaver tail (like an Elephant ear with toppings) had to stick with the Beaver theme for the rally.  It was delicious. We were coming back to Banff on our own for 4 days later so back to the campground in Cochrane.

Sun, June 7 - Breakfast with the group and options for church or free day.  We followed the leader (us) into the West side of Calgary for the Jubilations Dinner Theatre "Oh Boy, Buddy Holly".  3 hour show and dinner (soup, salad, meat/veggie, and dessert) Funny musical, comedy theatre.  Great show.