It was strange celebrating the 4th of July in another country, but our group did a great job remembering our nation’s birthday on Sunday. Our bus driver Colin, a proud Canadian, helped us by placing American Flags in the seats of the bus! Thanks Colin.

Sunday was a busy day, filled with lots of fun, food, and fantastic views. We started with a tour of Calgary, Alberta, a city of one million people, the fifth largest in Canada. The people here are excited for their annual Calgary Stampede, a roughly week long celebration which brings another million people into town. I would love to see the Chuckwagon Races…sounds like a lot of fun. From there, it was off to the site of the 1988 Olympics in Calgary. It was the Olympics which made icons of Eddie “the Eagle” Edwards, and the Jamaican Bobsled team (remember the movie “Long Cool Running”). It was cool to see the ski jump platforms, and just reminds me why I am NOT an olympic skier!

We next headed to Lake Minnewanka in Banff National Park. We enjoyed an amazing boat tour on the lake, thanks to our captain and guide, Justin and Jake.
See the pictures at the bottom of the weather page under Rob’s Trips! You can also see the pics on my Facebook and Twitter pages as well.

We landed in Banff for a stroll around town, and what a beautiful town this is. I am a big sucker for a good ole Irish Pub, so after finding one, we had to stop in for one of my favorites, Fish and Chips! Thanks to Fred, Betty, John, Jeanette, Charlotte, Rae, and Eleanor for the company.

We are having a great time, but I have to wrap this up, or else I will miss the bus to the historic Banff Springs hotel!  More to come later!