May 8 - Sunday is a day of rest!

 May 8 - Banff, Alberta

 

Temperature when we woke up was -6°!   BRRRR!

 

We are enjoying the slow start today with nothing in particular on the agenda!  So today’s post will be a bit of a hodgepodge!

 

First of all we didn’t mention some wildlife sightings from our drive yesterday.  We saw a couple of white-tailed deer prancing off into the woods,

 

some big horn sheep posing for tourists at the edge of the woods,

 

and a mule deer ( clearly not his best side!!  LOL)

 

This message is for Barry!  We learned of a new dive location - Lake Minnewanka; apparently the temperature at the dive depth is 2° C year round, but the visibility is much better in the winter without silt being stirred up by boats and people.  A whole town was flooded when the dam was built and they are still finding remnants/ relics from that town!  Even yesterday the ice wasn’t completely melted on the lake!

 

This morning we decided to take a walk down ‘the Avenue’ (Banff Ave) and look for a cafe where we could have a quick breakfast.  Evelyn’s Coffee Shop turned out to be the perfect spot! After some sustenance, we continued walking almost to the north end of downtown Banff.  They have an interesting arrangement for crossing the Main Street here - our bus driver yesterday said it is called ‘scramble’!  The traffic signals allow vehicular traffic to go through, but then it cycles to another setting for pedestrians where pedestrians can cross in any direction on their signal - N/S, E/W and diagonally!!  Seems weird, but I guess it would really work!  Here are the ‘instructions’ …

 

You can just see the signal showing how many seconds you have left to cross (to the left of the sign and above the guy who is crossing’s head! )

 

And this is what the road looks like!

 

Strolling on The Avenue - mountains all around us!

 

Tonight is our Evening Wildlife Safari!   We had been watching the skies all day as they were forecasting rain in the afternoon and into the evening; however, the sun stayed with us with temps about 6°-8°. We had a great guide/driver who really knew the park and the animals; this enabled her to provide a lot of information in an interesting and entertaining way.  She took us to three different areas - Vermillion Lake, a wetland, a higher elevation over looking the town, and back to Lake Minnewanka.  We have still not spotted the elusive elk!  But the three predominant animals were the ones pictured above - white-tailed deer, mule deer, and bighorn sheep.  As we just got back, I haven’t had time to go through the photos, but maybe I’ll have a chance to include them later in the week.

 

It has been another enjoyable day in Banff.  On to Lake Louise tomorrow!

Keep watching for more!

 

Cheers,

The Nature Lovers!