A Day Off the Road

11.11.11   Wow!

We have a very nice hotel in Banff, and the beds are wonderful.  As I nestled into the perfect mattress under the perfect down comforter last night, it felt like my bedroom at home and I wondered, why did I leave it?  I awoke this morning feeling a bit homesick and—for the first time—felt some sadness about letting go of our home.  It’s not there waiting for me anymore.  I questioned myself for a short time.  And then we headed out for a 800-foot hike up Tunnel Mountain, and the second guessing evaporated with the wind gusts. 

We can feel our 60s.  Before leaving, I did my excellent workout designed by Sandra Swami, but I still had to rest at the end of switchbacks, and my hips got pretty achy by the top.  Perhaps no amount of working out can help arthritis. But my quads are good. We were both tuckered afterwards, but Bob is sure our exhaustion was due to the altitude rather than age. Anyway, it was completely worth it. It’s a beautiful hike full of stunning views. And I earned my Greek salad (and maybe even a pizza tonight). 

We are here in low season, and the hotel was incredibly empty last night.  But tonight, Friday, it is suddenly full of energetic people.  I can hardly imagine what it must be like in the high season. The trees are lit and there is Christmas advertising about.  But it feels right, especially as the pines gathered snow in their arms today.  The town has quite an international feel to it, with lots of Australians (one of whom helped me pick out my favorite warm hat I’ve ever owned), Japanese, Chinese, and others whose languages I’m not adept enough to identify.  Lots of French spoken here too.  That I can’t understand, but I can identify it. 

We decided we had the energy to go to the mineral hot springs this afternoon.  Ah, so lovely.  The snow was drifting gently down as we soaked in the toasty water and looked up at the rugged peaks all around us.  The lifeguard watched over us wearing a long down parka. When I asked her if she could get that coat of quickly if need be, she said yes, but she has gone into the pool with it on. 

Looks like we’ll be in this area an extra day.  We’re moving on to Lake Louise tomorrow, but six inches of snow is forecast and poor driving conditions, so we’re leery of heading out across the Rockies.  That’s the charm of unstructured travel. Perhaps we’ll spend the afternoon just hanging out and reading.