Day 4 May 27, 2006 Banff. City Tours
While Russ, Lorna, Ned and Terry went out to breakfast I slept in and enjoyed some quiet time at home. I managed to see a deer outside our window and watched the clouds lift from the mountain tops. As the weather looked like it would be clearing, we started off as tourist to a National Historic Site of Canada Cave and Basin. I learned a bit of Canadian History and toured fascinating hot springs. Seems that as Canada was becoming a nation, there was a desire by early leaders to add land to the west (British Columbia) but they would only join the Country if the government would build a railway to connect the east and west. Only the rich were able to afford leisure time for travel and the train fare. They required amenities so the Canadian Pacific Railroad built a series of beautiful Hotels. The Banff Springs Hotel pictured in an earlier post was such a hotel. A big attraction was the discovery of the Mineral hot springs. This area was developed as the first National Park in 1885. The maintenance of a springs with it?s high mineral content proved too much and folks began building regular swimming pools so they stopped coming to this site. It is now just a museum type building with a very interesting tour as we had a very knowledgeable guide. The upper part of the springs is still open to the public and includes a spa. After a brief shopping trip in town with no purchases, Lorna and I paid the fee for the Hot Mineral Bath and soaked in sulfur laden mineral water to cure our aches and pains and enjoy something warm. We then treated ourselves to one of the many massages offered by the spa. I feel like a noodle, very relaxed. It occurs to me that I have only one body and I should take care of it with massages more often.
Stastics: Rainfall 0.51 to date. Some pea size hail today.
Wild life sightings: 1 deer High of 44 degrees.
No Memorial Day Celebrations scheduled. Glad we have news to watch.