Road Trip Day 13 - Calgary to Banff and On

Today was our last day. We packed up our rooms and headed to Corrie's. She headed down South and I head West, to Banff. I used to work in Banff when I was 19 years old, and our children have heard stories for years of my life there. They have always wanted to see it, so I thought it was a good time to take them.

This is in Calgary. It is for the 2010 Olympics. Dane says they are ski jumps!

Beautiful Distant Rockie Mountains

The hotel has grown by about 125% at least, since I was there last. Where I used to live (the first time I worked there) was torn down and they then (in 1989ish) built new rooms for the hotel. This is joined onto the hotel and from the inside it is hard to tell where the old building leaves off and the addition connects! I do know that it was very easy to get disoriented while in there! I had to find the old part of the hotel to know which end was up.

The buildings up ahead used to be where the old staff accommodation was. They ripped them down and rebuilt them to look very similar to the old staff accomm. Now they are guest rooms.

Dane told me the hotel was way beyond what he was expecting to see. It truly is a remarkable hotel. When I worked there I felt very privileged as people paid big bucks to be in that hotel, and I got to live there!

I used to clean this man's house in Banff town. He is the General Manager of the Banff Springs. This was one of my many jobs at the hotel. I worked in a gift shop, was a chambermaid for the hotel, cleaned staff rooms, worked at Harvey's restaurant, babysat guest children, and cleaned for the GM. That is how I got to Europe that year.

This was one of the main areas I cleaned. From this upper galley hallway I could see down to the left. In the lower hall they would have real medieval feasts and such. I could sit on the hall chairs late at night when I was working and observe the guests festivities. Being a public areas maid was so much more fun than being a chambermaid! The uniforms were even cuter.


This is the staircase that leads down to the main floor where the feasts took place.

This is a piece of period furniture in the Medieval Hall.

This is the staff accommodation that was built in time for my second year of working for Banff. We had little rooms that we shared with one roommate. The other staff accommodation could have as much as four people in a room. For those that were partiers that was probably great. For me, as a girl with a goal, I was happy to have a private room. That way I could focus on my money making endeavors and sleep when I could get it.

This is a view from the 9th floor. I used to clean the rooms up here sometimes. The rooms are tiny and the ceilings sloped and I had to lug the cleaning supplies up the stairs to the last few rooms way up in the points of the hotel.

Right ahead and to the right are the new staff accommodations. Actually, they are no longer new. About 23 years old now! Time flies.

After we left the hotel we headed up to the Banff Cave and Basin. It is where the first hot springs were discovered in BC. It was the beginning of the Rocky Mountain National Park. The boys weren't impressed with the smell of sulpher. The water comes down over Sulpher Mountain and seeps into the earth and then heats up by the inner core, and then bubbles up into the Hot Springs.

We took the trails up to the mountain to the look out point.

Leaving Banff

The beautiful waters on the way through the Rockies. The waters were a bright turquoise blue.

The Distant Mountains

After leaving Banff we headed to Cranbrook for a visit with our friends. We have been here now for 2 days and the kids get along so well. They tease and joke, do chores together, play together and get along so well. It has been such a pleasure to get to know Corrie's family. Dane is already making sure we have their address for when we go home.