Calgary and Banff

This morning I yet again slept in. I'm not getting to bed until nearly 2am. It doesn't get dark here Calgary until after 9:00 PM.

Once I got going, I needed to gas up the car for the treck south again. While I was at the gas station, the lady used a new word- chip.  Let's see if you can figure out the definition with the context? She told me to insert the chip, so I could pay.  Have you fugured out that it means credit card?

I seem to be hitting all of the weather. There's a warning for thunderstorms this afternoon, in all the areas  I'm at, Calgary and Red Deer. I've managed to figure out how to get driving directions, so I can get from one place to another. I use the hotel Internet and retrieve email directions on my iPad.Then I use the ipad to navigate. I've managed to figure out PDF files and cut/paged text, but not screen images. 

Once back to Calgary, I saw the Olympic Park where the winter games took place. You can see the runs here, but they are far from as beautiful as they were when covered in snow.

On the road to Banff, I came across the Bow River. It's beautiful as well, but man, the wind was blowing furiously! 

 Once I got into Banff National Park, and navigated through the many, many people in the little town, I headed away from the crowd, towards Lake Vermillion.

 I managed to ride 6 short miles there, around the 2nd Vermillion Lake. At various  spots there were people hanging their feet off the dock, into the lake; others were fishing, and one lady was asleep on the dock, her bike beside her. 






Because I'm still pretty out of shape, I sweat big time!! Sadly, then I'm a perfect target for those darn blood sucking mosquitoes. Ugh!!! Now I'm covered with bites and  benedryl. 

On my way back into town, I met deer #14, who was standing in the road watching me. Once I packed my bike, I headed back into town to stop at the Cascade Garden with breathtaking flowers! 

The weather was on its way, dark clouds coming in, so I headed out! I couldn't resist a couple of pictures of these horses, empty saddles, but being guided into the center of town and Mt. Rundle with 3 levels of rock formations.

Looks like the perfect job for the horse lover. It's beautiful up here and life seems calm, too. 

This is in the Cascade Garden. It was too funny- when I was leaving the garden gates, a man asked me if I managed to get in the last picture? I didn't get his question right away, but I figured out that he saw me trying to get that darn timer to work, and then he was probably laughing as I ran within 10 seconds to get to the spot. The picture doesn't look too bad, and I provided him with a laugh for the day. :-) 

                      Well, back at the hotel for the night. Ugh.. those darn mosquitoes bit up my legs and feet as I tried to get things out of the trunk. Tomorrow I'll pick up Barb and head over to her family's place in Goodsoil. I'm not sure about internet, so postings ,ight be fewer. I'll cross back into the states on Saturday, 7/23 and hope to be home mid-week to prepare for my trip to see my boys in Hawaii.