Banff and Lake Louise, British Columbia: July 2016

Text and images (c) Robert Barry Francos, 2016
Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them

In July 2016, we took a short vacation out to Banff and Lake Louise, deep in the heart of the Canadian Rockies. It's a beautiful spot, there is no denying it. The town of Banff, proper, has become a tourist destination spot, especially for Japan. Many of the businesses have signs in both English and Japanese (and the occasional French).

While there, we took the Gondola Ride up to the top of Sulphur Mountain, took in the Hot Springs Pool, and went up to Lake Louise for High Tea at the infamous Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise Hotel.
 

What better way to start than to use $30 caps as title cards?

The view of Tunnel Mountain from the heart of Banff's main street, Banff Avenue.

The gondolas, from the base of Sulphur Mountain; tourists were aplenty.

View of the summit from where the gondolas drop you off;
yes, you have to climb those stairs down, then up.

An overview of Banff

The Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel

A look back at the building which houses the upper part of the gondola.
At this point we're about half way to the summit.

The summit used to be a fire station that they kept intact,
i.e., you can look through the windows and see the cabin's interior as it was.

Right near the cabin, a girl feeds a chipmonk who is very used to people.

The hot springs pool. The temp of the air was in the low 40sF,
and the water was in the high 90sF.

This creepy, space alien-looking telescope was just outside the hot springs.

The classic Lake Louise shot.

The huge Fairmont Lake Louise Hotel.

A river on the way to/out of the Lake Louise area; we stopped for some snaps.

The view from the cabin; it made me think of that old film, The Crawling Eye (1958).

A confusing/confused sign at a restaurant-bar at the Calgary Airport.