Chapter 166: Calgary/Banff: Words

Calgary/Banff

Calgary we have a welcome dinner and meet everybody.

I get to stand up and introduce myself.

I say: I come for the greatest city in the world. Ahh, um that would be Hobart.

Banff

The Rockies contains mountain scenery which surrounds and over powers us. Every view shows a peak bigger and better.

The staff in the hotel are all incredible young and fit looking. The rumor is most are Aussies. One comes up and takes a photo of us together. She is from Perth so maybe the rumor is true.

People come to the Rockies to be active. In winter it is skiing. In summer walking and cycling. Nobody has the attitude that it should be preserved as wilderness.

Mt Wellington is a pimple compared to these mountains. We went up the gondola. At the top was an interpretive centre, gift shop, café and lookout. It was making money and attracting people to the great outdoors.

Banff is a city of about 10,000 and in peak mid-winter can house 30,000 tourists. We saw the usual frustrating traffic issues common in big cities.

Breakfast. I ask the waitress: Is there sugar in these baked beans?

She is very pleased and proud to tell me that they have put maple syrup in the baked beans. Must be an acquired taste.

A Rueben sandwich for lunch which overflows with meat garnished with more meat. They are proud of their meat. The ranchers have a high status. They say they produce the best beef in the world and are eager to prove it.

Are also proud of their buffalo and moose burgers.

The coffee tastes like stewed mud. It can’t be that difficult to make decent coffee.

I ask a waitress for a drink at one shop.

Waitress: regular or large?

I choose regular. When it arrives it is large/enormous which makes me ponder on the size of a large drink.

A guide assumes we want to see a bear, a bison, an elk or a deer. Instead he shows us a snail. An endemic snail found only in 7 local hot springs. The hot springs are bubbling, steaming and smell of sulphur. Little lives in the pools apart from the snails. Swimming in the pools is now banned in order to protect the snail. 

In the bus the guide talks about bears and gazes wistfully at the dense forest.

The shooting of animals is a bit frightening. Recently the shooing of bears was legal. Now?

An incredibly attractive, young, female park ranger says it cost you $30,000 for the opportunity to shoot a horned sheep.

I am stunned by the type and number of animals shot. I know it was recently legal to shoot bears and other big animals outside national parks.

The attitude of the rangers seems to be: Of course you can’t shoot them in national parks.