Banff Tree Huggers

For a chick who doesn't like the cold, I loooooooooooved my trip to Banff! Total relaxation with girlfriends and 100% stress free. Now, as official tree huggers, it's time to put the log in travelog! 

Day one: I arrived late so we just had time for some shopping in town. Did I mention that town looks like an alpine village? Yodel - Ay - EEE - Oooo

The mountains are everywhere! The next day, we went to yoga (ahhhhh, finally) where the mountains greeted us from the windows of the studio. Then we went for a two hour hike on the Fenland Trail along this stream . . .

 











. . . to the Vermilion Lakes. Did I mention that it was cold? And that we were gone for two hours? It was so amazing.

I'm getting my days mixed up but I'm pretty sure we went for cocktails (I had a pear martini with cranberries floating in it!) and dinner at the Banff Springs Hotel that night. Sher was priddy.

On Day 3, my girlfriend Margaroo and I drove to Lake Louise. We stopped on the way to avoid hitting an elk. (My first elk sighting! Ever!)

At Lake Louise, we stopped to take pictures of the lake and glacier. Please note the mountain on the left . . .

Why? Because we climbed it. We didn't mean to, it just happened when we began following a path that we assumed (incorrectly) wound around the lake. On the way, we were greeted by a friendly woodsman and his wife whose hair was covered in frost and frozen to her face. He warned us of grizzly bears, told us to make a lot of noise but shared that the climb would be worth it.

He was right. The searing pain in the lungs. The way-too-many-to-count stops to catch our breath. The stunning frost covered hair that I would also acquire. All worth it for this view.

As true women of the wild (also known as idiots), we decided to take the path less traveled on our descent. We went down the side of the mountain where we followed a thin, thin track made by possibly two other non-outdoorsy morons. We could have tumbled to our deaths at any moment. At times we slid on our butts to avoid catapulting off an embankment. Yep, sher was priddy.

For Day 4 we have no pictures because we spent the entire day, eight hours!, at the Banff Springs Hotel Spa. We went to yoga (again!), got massages, swam in the lap pool, swam in the outdoors heated pool, went in/out of hot tubs (there were four or five all heated at different temps), rested in the steam room, rested in the dry sauna, rested in the eucalyptus inhalation room, rested and ate lunch in the "relaxation room," and went for a dip in the indoor mineral pool. So indulgent.

On Day 5, my last day, we drove to Invermere, British Columbia. Here we went to the hot springs, of course, where the waters are hot on one side and simply warm on the other.This is the simply warm side.

Since we were at a lower elevation, there was less snow on the ground here but, yikes, there was indeed ice on the deck (as I clearly remember because I had to stand on it to take the above picture).

And, lo and behold, the lifeguards were wearing sweatpants! Yes, sweatpants! Clearly not the best location for a scantily clad David Hasselhoff sighting.

On our way home, we stopped to enjoy the view. Wow, more mountains! Who knew? The only picture we did not take was of the "avalanche warning" sign.

Lastly, we paused briefly over the continental divide. I was in the back seat (i.e., west coast) and Margaret and Brian were in the front seat (i.e., east coast).

Alas, all good things must come to an end. For a brief moment in time, I had heaps of fun in the frigid air of Canada with my girlfriends from Australia and awesome Canadian hubby/kids!