On our first full day in Banff, we headed to the downtown area. As in all tourist towns, parking is at a premium here. Here is a picture of our rowdy group heading down the main street. Gary seems a bit reluctant to be in the picture.
However, Sandy finally manages to "coax" him out by using her gentle persuasion technique.
We headed for the center that could book us tour packages. The packages included a cruise on nearby Lake Minnewanka, a gondola ride in Banff and a what was advertised as The Columbia Icefield Glacier Adventure. We gave this agent one run for her money! She was trying to explain to 6 retired people all the ins and outs of the various tours. We were all pretty good at sitting still and listening without too many interruptions. That doesn't mean we all understood EVERYTHING she told us. Some of us had variations of her spiel. We had maps and brochures. Surely, between 6 minds we could remember the important parts and make it to the different places!
With that in mind, we headed straight for the cruise boat on Lake Minnewanka. I like to think this is where Willie Wonka should have had his chocolate factory so we could say we're going to see Willy Wonka on Lake Minnewanka! Anyway, back to the cruise story. The dock was all gussied up with Canadian flags, so we guessed we were at the right place.
Success! We arrived at the dock about 20 minutes before the next boat was to depart. The lake is a spectacular blue color and it's close proximity to Calgary means that this is one of the most popular areas in Banff National Park.
The tour guides were quite knowledgeable, providing us with native folklore and the history of this interesting area. One thing we found out was that you didn't want to go hiking around the lake by yourself. Because of bears in the area, you had to be in a group of 4 or more people. This is one place where you don't want to be considered by a bear as a main course!
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