Hortons' Adventures: Aug. 18 - 20 - Banff and Cascade Gardens

Beautiful day! We visited Cascade Gardens in back of the Banff National Park Administration Building at the end of the main street through Banff. The gardens are gorgeous and free. The terraces of colorful flowers are abundant in their very short growing season here. I heard a worker there say they could not even work the soil until well into June. Phil and I were talking about how in a month, the flowers would be gone because the temps would be below freezing. It might have gotten that cold last night because it was 35 outside and 39 inside the camper this morning. It got up to 61 today. It will be a little warmer tomorrow and in the 70's this weekend. They get really excited up here when the temperature gets up to 30 degrees Celsius. Tomorrow we eat one last time at the Balkan. For $7.50 we get a delicious donair and Greek salad. The donair is a gyro in a pita wrap with lettuce, tomato, and a little creamy sauce. After lunch, we will go to Canmore just to check it out and see if they have a grocery store with an easier parking lot to get in and out of. The Safeway here is very difficult to get in and out. Tomorrow we will start getting things ready to go early Sunday morning. We will be going to Waterton Lakes National Park for a week before heading back into the U.S. Since we have not camped there, we do not know what to expect as far as getting any wifi. Here there are lots of coffee shops with wifi. Online, Phil found one place in Waterton with free wifi (with purchase of coffee, etc.). We also found a restaurant that sells time online.

Aug. 19 – Another beautiful day! We ate at the Balkan for lunch and then drove over to Canmore (about 15 miles away). The population is over 12,000. We found a Safeway with a large parking lot. It was wonderful! There are no spacious parking spaces here in Banff. The only prices on food that are comparable to what we pay in the U.S. are bread and some fruit, like blueberries and cherries. One of their specials for this week is an 8 oz. block of cream cheese 2 for $7.00. Cheese is very expensive here. I brought a bunch with us, so we would not have to purchase any here – meat, too. Skinless, boneless chicken breasts are on special this week for $4.99 a pound. It is funny that some of the things they advertize are in pounds and others are in metric weights. Gas in Banff is $1.14 a liter.