Howard Johnson Banff Canmore

... here is that it only takes an hour or two to get to Alpine then once up on the mtn you can walk almost anywhere across the flat tops.<br><br>August 11/09<br><br>Our good friends from Thompson MB., Tom and Sandra Crawford arrived near the end of July and we had a great visit with them. We did tourist thing around Whitehorse and took off down the Klondike highway to Skagway over to Haines on the ferry and on up to Haines Junction and back to Whitehorse. This is known as the Golden Circle ...

... and then headed out in to the cold, chatting all the way through the woods and into town, I get on great with Kell! After a quick look round town we returned to the hostel, had tea and chilled before I headed to bed. Another great day in the bag!! Not ready for bed, I headed into town with Chris, the Aussie, great guy, grabbed some BBQ Peanuts, Jam and baked beans and then I hit the Internet cafe, with the imac's for a while, a chilled end to a great day!

... Louise, which gets us there a day early. The drive finally brought us some trees to look at. We drove through Coeur D'Alene, Idaho this morning, and it is absolutely gorgeous. There is a huge hotel on the lake which was built hoping for Casino gambling (which never came), but it seems to be doing well, and the lake is beautiful. As we crossed the Canadian border, the mountains got higher, the trees got higher, and the scenery ...

Hiking in sandals is a silly idea, unless you are trying to smuggle the mountain out piece by piece. Yesterday, since my feet were soaked anyway, it seemed sensible at the time to walk through the creek bed to wash off my hikers. As much water could soak through on a hike, considerably more can pour in when given the height advantage. Consequently, today they were still pools. The point is, today I was restricted to hiking in sandals. Because I would not ...

I got the bus down to Banff and checked into the HI hostel, where I was to stay for five nights. James had taken the ridiculously early bus for some reason, but I bumped into him in the afternoon and we mooched around together - he was staying in the Samesun hostel and wasn't impressed. I immediately liked the look of Banff - some people had said that it was incredibly touristy, but I didn't find it to be that bad at all ...

... The weather was quite cool, with light snow falling, but the visibility wasn't too bad. On my second run I met up with a very nice chap called Garry on the chair who was also skiing by himself, who very nicely escorted me over the mountain, finding all sorts of great runs. He is also a teacher in Calgary and in his mid 50s, but of course far fitter and more skilful than me at skiing since he'd been skiing all season, but that was fine and I ...

... skied at Sun Peaks just past Kamloops on Tuesday. The snow was thigh deep powder. The girls have never seen anything like it and neither have I. Sun Peaks is an unbelievable mountain and with only one day there we did not do it justice. We could not ski the top part of the mountain due to limited visibility and temperatures around -15! Again another stressful drive with blizzard like conditions and AH at ...

... good games. There was a lot of laughter. I hope that Jonathan and Briana do not get an inflated view of themselves. Rick and Susan even took them to an NHL game (Oilers vs. Islanders). It was a sad/hard separation to watch though. Leaving is always hard. I hope I return there sometime soon. The Schroeder's, Parkland, Edmonton, it's a good place to be. Much love, Gandhi

... down stairs!! (We complained the next day on email, it turns out the hostelbookers had input the date incorrectly and we were charged $109 on our cc as a "no show" but they refunded now......good job Colin is a tenacious)The hostel did have great Happy Hours and food refills on the special....great for the budget. Lake Louise is breathtaking as we sat &amp; drank our morning coffee which cost a fortune (Colin walked out ...

... and I had both been reluctant to do our parts in the contest, but we consented because it was what Adam had most wanted for his birthday.) I followed this with a drawing of an ash-tray and cigarette butts. Lindsey drew a squiggly-mouthed idiot guy flicking a cigarette butt in the forest, a profound statement about the recent goings-on in smoky Canmore. As the game went on, the drawings became drunken**, and the cririquing arguments became loud**. Adam and Lindsey ...