On our last full day in Banff we were growing weary of the constant chill outside (and Sam was starting to get a cold) so we made a point to just visit local haunts. After visiting the Bow River parking lot we called it a day. Between those things, we visited the only Mexican restaurant in […]
Banff Vacation Day 8: Fire and Ice, Love and Loss.
Another townie day in Banff, we went on the brief (and very windy) tunnel mountain hike. After that, we went up to Banff Viewpoint on Mt. Norquay again. After dark we visited Surprise Corner. Taking photos of the Fairmont proved difficult with wind gusts blowing up from the Bow River. The only way to stabilize […]
Banff Vacation Day 7: Danger and Discovery.
Up early again I headed to the nearby lakes to attempt frozen sunrise shots. Our goal on day seven was to head northwest into Glacier National Park, but we never quite made it. Our drive to the first destination, Wapta Falls, took us on increasingly more snowbound roads until we arrived at the trailhead only […]
Banff Vacation Day 6: Inside and Outside.
Our drinking habits caught up with us on the sixth day. We decided to nurse our headaches by staying in town (and indoors). An ancillary driver of this decision was a snowstorm descending on Banff that would have made any hiking or sightseeing difficult. After a short visit to Cave and Basin we walked along […]
Banff Vacation Day 5: Walking on Water and Lakes high in the sky.
On day 5 we drove east toward Calgary for the first time, seeing the mountains we’d missed in the dark on our way in. Past Canmore the mountains start to slope down into hills, but just on this last spate of the Rockies the Canadians long ago decided to start carving away at the rock. […]
Banff Vacation Day 4: Snowfall and Samfall
Today Sam joined me for the sunrise. Yesterday I mentioned briefly how the food in Banff is underwhelming. This morning we ate breakfast at Coyotes Southwestern Grill. Sam liked the Huevos Rancheros, but I found a big blue wet string in my pancake butter (after already putting a knife to it). The waitress explained that […]
Banff Vacation Day 3: when the cold breaks
Sleeping early with vodka dreams woke me up earlier than normal. I snuck out to catch the sunrise on the lake with fresh batteries. I wasn’t the only amateur with a DSLR out there on the ice trying to catch the fleeting vermillion hue the lake is named for. When the sun came up proper […]
Banff Vacation Day 2
On our first full day in Banff, also Christmas Day, we had breakfast in the tiny town at the only open cafe before heading up to the Banff Gondola. After dinner in town, we drove to Lake Minnewanka via Tunnel Mountain. We never made it to the lake before sunset though because we stopped on […]
Banff Vacation Day 1
On the first day of our winter holiday holiday we flew to Calgary. It’s always strange visiting the cold again. In a few more years I’ll have spent half my life in California, and I still like to think I’ve got some of that midwestern ice in my blood. Then I visit a place with […]
Shaw’s Cove Labor Day Weekend 2016
On Sunday morning Sam and I drove to Laguna Beach. Contrary to what we expected, there was very little traffic on the way down. Even the backup on the one lane road leading into Laguna was gone. Weather reports had called for an overcast day with temperatures in the low 70s or high 60s. In […]