Monday: On To Banff

It's Monday so it must be Banff! First, Google Maps misdirected us off the highway (there's more than one Banff exit), and we ended up on a rather steep mountain road.  Quite serendipitous, however, as we soon saw a female moose not 10 feet from the side of the road!

We turned back, and stopped at a turnout for something called The Hoodoos - didn't we just see Hoodoos yesterday?  A trail head sported a sign warning visitors of carnivorous animal activity in the area, specifically mountain lion.  The park officials were even helpful enough to highlight the area (in yellow hatching) where the mountain lion was likely to be found (!).  Well, the "intrepid" travelers continued on to the viewpoint and were treated to a spectacular view of the Bow River Valley and yes, more Hoodoos.

Staying at the Hi Alpine Center on Hidden Ridge Road - the views from the 3-minute drive out of downtown Banff on Tunnel Mountain Road are staggering!  As are the views off the back porch of the hostel, parking lot, and the window of our room.  The hostel accommodations reminded me of the dorms in undergrad school (SMU, now UMass Dartmouth):  double bunk beds in our private room, with communal his and her bathrooms.

Due to a lack of planning on my part, we arrived in Banff with little idea what to do.  We had lunch at Chili's (yes, the chain; sorry, Kink, we've opted for the familiar in culinary offerings so far, will do better in Jasper), then spent some time meandering around downtown Banff.  Interesting demographic:  besides the mixture of Canadian, American and European visitors, there were a lot of Asian peoples, and folks with a New Zealand/ Aussie accent (sorry, mates, can't tell the difference).  Nice walking path along the Bow River, could easily locate some SMART stations there; took photos just in case, Warren - upstream (see right), crosschannel, downstream.

Happily, we found a cinema and saw The Green Lantern - enjoyed the special effects.

FYI - it's still twilight-ish at midnight.