ALBERTA NATIONAL T TOUR – Day 8

Cochrane to Banff and back, 121 miles roundtrip if you didn’t miss a turn. (we missed one crucial turn, no idea how many miles actually traveled.)   Day started out as a bummer for Glenn, he drove into our hotel parking lot just as his tire went flat and it’s a clincher, not an easy task to change.  We convinced him to abandon it for the day and take a modern to Banff so as not to miss the tour activities.    

And so we headed west across the prairie, heading for that rockpile in the distance.

Patti claimed there were smoke signals in the mountains, this being Indian country and all.

We parked on the lawn at the Banff Springs Hotel, the place is massive, reeks of money.  But they let us in anyway and we had a white table cloth and crystal lunch buffet.  Mighty fine dining.


Searched out an ice cream shop and Pat found a bear to hug.

David found a T shop,  drat, tea not T.

Stopped for gas, and this gentleman (elderly, almost as old as me) came up to Pat and said, “You seem to be a person who would be interested in stopping at a great quilt store.”   Struck her speechless. (yes it can happen.)   And then, “you are a quilter aren’t you?”  Well, yes. lead on.   And that is how Pat found border collie fabric in Canmore.

Incidentally, on the way back, a Rocky Mountain thunderstorm swept across our path, we got a little wet around the edges.  Bill and Pat Bratt got soaked (speedster) and even encountered hail.   Both of them got nailed on the forehead with hail.  Definitely smarts. Archers also got rained upon in their speedster. This evening we were walking next door to Tim Horton’s restaurant and another thunderstorm swept in suddenly.  Before we could cover the last 50 feet, it totally destroyed our Canada umbrella and hailed up a storm.  Man, gotta be ready for anything here.  That’s all right, still having fun.