Canmore and Banff National Park

We arrived in Canmore on Monday, July 31 after an uneventful trip through customs.   Canmore is a town about 15 miles from the gates to Banff Natinal Park and is a popular place to camp.   You are definitely unplugged - no wifi to speak of, no tv, and if you are American, likely no telephone or data without paying a good deal.

When we awoke on Tuesday morning, we found our truck and RV covered in ash from a forest fire in the Banff National Park.   The heavy night air likely dropped the particles so before we could drive, we had to clean the windows of the truck.   We had trouble exchanging our US currency for CDN, as banks are no longer interested in exchanging unless you are a member of the bank.   A banker advised using our charge cards to get cash from the ATM, so that is what we did.   After lunch we drove to the  town of Banff and did some shopping and stopped for a double dip of coffee ice cream.   It was cloudy, windy, and cold so we opted to eat our treat in the truck.  

Wednesday it was in the 40's when we got up and it was a beautiful day - the wind had driven the smoke in the other direction, so we had beautiful mountains to see.   WE drove to Lake Louise to revisit the lake.   This year they had added shuttle busses to ease the parking situation at the lake.   It was about a 15 minute ride to the lake, and this time there was still snow on the mountains.   Wow!   We took our turn taking our pictures, and Jack took pictures for several groups who asked.   WE ate lunch in the Fairmont Hotel Deli, perused the book store, and did some walking in the area before re boarding the shuttle bus for the parking lot and back to camp.   It was a wonderful day.