Anniversary Trip, Day 5

{Day 1 here}

{Day 2 here}
{Day 3 part 1 here}
{Day 3, Part 2 here}
{Day 4 here}

On our last day we woke up without a solid plan (again!!!).  We had tossed around a couple of ideas-- another hike (there were some around the Radium area by the Columbia River that we thought we might try), caving, or another trip to Banff town for shopping.  One of our Canadian friends from the hot tub the previous night had suggested Heritage Park in Calgary, since we were headed that direction to return our rental car and fly out later that evening.

As we woke up in the morning, had our coffee, and began packing up, we decided that caving sounded like something we would want to try, so M made the call to Canmore Cave Tours to see if they had any openings on any tours that day.  The answer was no.  So that helped us decide-- and in a way, the more I thought about it the more I was afraid there might be more fear-of-heights experiences on a cave tour, so it was probably for the best.

Since my blisters were still bothering me quite a bit we sort of ruled out another hike as well, and made the final decision to head to the town of Banff.  M did want to see the Columbia River but since it ran right behind our resort we were able to just walk over to the Springs Pro Shop next door and take in a gorgeous view for a little bit.

After just enjoying the peaceful scene for a while, we walked back to our resort next door, gathered the last of our things, and checked out (with some sadness).  Then we got on the road back to Banff.

One thing that I don't think I've mentioned yet is that Radium is in a National Park called Kootenay, and we drove through it every time we went from Radium back into the Banff area or vice versa.  Throughout Kootenay there was tons of forest fire damage.  According to the locals and guidebooks, lightning strikes that cause forest fires are quite common, although many told us that this year had been better because there had been lots of rain.  But it was kind of crazy to drive through this stretch and see miles worth of trees completely stripped of their leaves, like toothpicks along the mountains.  There was one section we drove through where you could still get a strong smoky smell.

We arrived in Banff around noon and ate some packed tuna sandwiches for lunch.  We browsed around the old train station there which is now an information center, simultaneously learning some of the history of Banff town and picking up some pamphlets and maps about stuff to do.  Since we were in sort of a cave frame of mind after our failed attempt at the Canmore Cave tour, we decided to walk through town to the Cave and Basin National Historic Site.

The walk through the town of Banff to get to the Historic Site was absolutely gorgeous!  We saw a whole new part of the town that we hadn't seen when we were in town after our big hike.

A bridge over the beautiful Bow River

The town has a bit of a European Alpine feel with some "old west" elements mixed in.  Just a super cool place.  I stopped by the post office on our way so I could buy some stamps and mail the postcards I had written to the girls.

We meandered our way down from the main road out onto a semi-woodsy foot path that was the pedestrian way to the museum.  We passed by some groups on horseback as we walked.  I think we walked about 3-4 kilometers total from our car to get to the museum entrance.

The Cave and Basin museum was so cool!  We learned a lot about this particular cave, the discovery of which eventually led to the foundation of the National Parks of Canada.

There used to be a public pool here, similar to the one we visited in Radium, but it has been closed since about the 1990's.  The museum exhibits you see pictured above are housed mostly in what was the original changing room next to the big pool, built in the early twentieth century.  The natural pools themselves are not open for swimming because of the endangered snails that live there, and apparently this is the only place in the world those snails live!

The "cave" part of "cave and basin" was gorgeous, but smelled very strongly of boiled egg.

...so we didn't stay there long.

We moved on to "The Basin":

Equally beautiful.  We saw some of the endangered snails in this pool, although they are so tiny that you can't see them in the video.  They were pretty hard to spot actually!

After wandering around and taking in the beauty of the pools, we decided to head back into town.  The short walk was enjoyable again, and we spent some time by the bridge over the Bow River just enjoying the scenery.

We had heard through the grapevine that Banff town was famous for its sweets, particularly these things called Beaver Tails.  After our walk a mid-afternoon sweet sounded like just the ticket.

Is that a gigantic slab of fried dough covered in Nutella and Reeses Pieces?  Why yes it is.  I give you the Beaver Tail.

The Beaver Tail Shop also sold something called a PouTail, about which we had quite the chuckle.  We're so mature and all.

M chose to have gelato over BeaverTail Bites.

After that we did some sweets shopping for the girls and Grandma & Grandpa.

We got them some "bear claws" which are chocolate-covered cashew and caramel truffles, with three whole cashews on top placed to look like the claw of a bear.  Luckily they had dark chocolate ones (no dairy) and cashews are the one kind of nut that C can have, so it was the perfect treat for her!

After shopping until we dropped we got back in the car.  It was about 4 PM and we had to return our rental car at 7, so we thought we would head into Calgary and check out at least the free section of Heritage Park.

Just west of Calgary we passed by all the old Olympic ski jumps and bobsled runs-- I don't know if they are still in use but I'm guessing they were probably the ones used in the 1988 games!

Unfortunately we ran into rush hour traffic coming into Calgary, and since Heritage Park was on the opposite side of town from where we needed to return our rental car, we decided not to chance getting there too late.  We turned around and headed to the rental car place, arriving around 6 PM.  We spent some time cleaning out our trash, re-packing our bags, and throwing away the last of the food we hadn't been able to eat during the day.  Then we returned the car and got on the shuttle to the airport.

It was about 7:30 and our flight wouldn't take off until 12:30 AM.  We were able to check in and print our boarding passes, but they wouldn't let us check our bags until four hours before our flight time, so we just parked it in a couple of chairs outside of security, hooked up to the airport WiFi, and watched ourselves a couple episodes of The Office on Netflix with shared earbuds to pass the time.  How romantic!!!

Just after 8:30 PM we checked our bags and made our way through security.  Security went quickly, but for some reason they had us go through customs before we got on our plane in Canada, and that took a while.  Every other international flight I've been on has had customs upon arrival in the US, so it was strange to have to do it in Canada, especially since at the time I thought we would have to do everything again when we landed in Boston.  It really was no problem, since we had plenty of time, but just not what we expected.

We found our gate at about 9:30.  We had purposely not eaten dinner because we figured a leisurely meal would be a great way to pass the time at the airport.  We had a bit of a confusing time figuring out the concourse maps however, and finding a sit-down restaurant that was still open and wasn't completely crowded with people.  So we ended up spending quite a bit of time walking before finally settling on a place called The Burger Federation.  There were only like five people there and every other restaurant was packed, so we worried that there was a reason for that, but it turned out to be an amazing meal and a really great choice!

We soaked up our last views of Calgary and the setting sun outside the windows while sipping cocktails.  I had a strawberry mojito that was out of this world!!

I figured while I was out west I had to try a bison burger, so... I did.  It was absolutely delish.

Oh and that sauce for the fries in the little white dish???  The bomb.  Some sort of chipotle mayo, I think.

M had a fish sandwich I think?  Don't remember for sure.

Our waiter was sporting a Millennium Falcon tattoo on his arm and so he and M chatted about it, which led to chats about the Solo movie and all things Star Wars, which led to other chats about the Marvel movies, etc. etc. etc.  Nerd Alert.  But it was fun ;-}

We reluctantly wrapped up our meal and began the walk to our gate, very full and happy.  Because we did end up doing a ton of walking around Banff as well as the airport, my poor blisters were burning by the end of the day and I was more than happy to get on a plane and sit down!

The idea was that we would sleep on the plane, but of course we didn't.  Who does, ever?  I'd like to shake the hand of that person that is able to do it.  Anyway, we landed in Toronto at 6:30 AM eastern time, and I had slept maybe an hour total, and M not a single wink.  I don't really remember much about finding our connecting flight, but we did somehow, and tried to stay awake in the uncomfortable chairs until we boarded.  We were home to Boston by about 9 AM (good news... we didn't have to go through customs a second time! just walked right off the plane), claimed our luggage, found our bus stop back to the Logan Express parking lot, and found our car, all without incident, which is pretty amazing considering our lack of sleep.  I bought myself a huge coffee and the Dunkin' at the bus station, and we made the 15-minute drive home.  We didn't have much time to crash before the girls arrived, home from their Vermont trip!  I'm pretty sure we ALL went to bed at about 6:30 PM the following evening.  LOL.

What an amazing, beautiful celebration of 15 years of marriage.  We are so fortunate to have had the means to make this trip, and the wonderful, wonderful family we have that was willing and happy to care for our girls.  What a blessing!

❤❤❤❤❤