Sunday, June 8, 2008
It rained quite a bit during the night and was still drizzling in the morning when we got up. We had scrambled eggs and pancakes for breakfast. Tim is quite the breakfast chef cooking with cast iron skillets over the camp stove.
We went to church at a Presbyterian church in Banff. It was a small church; probably 50 people attending but they were very nice and welcoming to us. It is good to be visitors to think about what new people coming to our church would need to know and what would make them feel welcome. The service at this church was what Tim called “high church.” The pastor wore a black robe and did some responsive reading where the pastor would read something in the bulletin and then the congregation would read in unison a response. We sang hymns (some we knew and some we didn’t) accompanied by a pianist. We missed getting to go to our church but we got to have communion with them. It was neat to know that even though we are far from home our church family was also worshipping our Savior. When the church service was over, we weren’t sure what to do so we looked for a place to have pizza. We had to look a long time to find a pizza place and it wasn’t Gambino’s but it was delicious pizza.
After lunch we got online and updated our blogspot and email Grandma and Grandpa to wish them a well as 50 years ago today they got married. We got an email from Doug and Becky saying they would be in Banff around 5 or 6 this evening. They left their house yesterday morning and were driving two long days to meet up with us in Banff. We will travel to Alaska with them and then stay with them until we get tired of each other or until it is time for us to head home. They are staying a few weeks longer than we are. We were so excited that they were actually going to be joining us today that we decided we should go hiking or something so the time would go faster.
We spent some time shopping and walking around the town of Banff. Then we stopped at the grocery store to get a little more ice and food.
We went hiking at Cirque at Upper Bankhead near Lake Minnewanka. It was only a mile round trip but we got to get up high and look out over Lake Minnewanka and the mountains. It looked like it could rain so we took our rain gear with us and it was a good thing because it did rain on us. The hike was a pretty good uphill climb. Sarah told us she likes to hike but she wanted it to be flatter which was rather funny since she has wanted to climb a steep waterfall. We walked to some old coalmines and then to the area overlooking the lake. It was beautiful. Aleesha wanted to take a picture of the clouds/fog coming into the valley but the camera battery went dead. We are thankful that God gave us a memory so that we can remember the sight even though we won’t see it again in the photographs of the trip.
We are hearing many different languages spoken around us everywhere we go. Most street signs and information signs have words in both English and French. It would make learning two languages a little easier to see both languages written on everything you see. So far every shop/restaurant worker has spoke to us in English but English sounds different up here. We haven’t heard anyone with an accent that sounded like they were from home.
While waiting for our family to arrive, we made a good fire, had supper of leftovers heated on the campfire. We also had leftover cherry turnovers and hot cocoa. After eating too much, Tim and Deaune took a walk around the lake. The skies cleared and it was beautiful to see the mountains reflecting in the lake. We got to see 2 elk that walked close to the water’s edge. They were apparently getting too close to a loon’s nest because the adult loon started squawking and throwing itself into the water to splash the elk. It was amazing to see this little waterfowl take on the big elk.
We drove into town to see check our cell phone for a message from Doug and Becky and on the way into town, we got to see many elk. Apparently the best time for viewing elk was after 10pm. It was so wonderful to see the elk.
It took Doug and Becky longer to get to Banff than they expected but they arrived safely at 11:00 pm. They had estimated their arrival time to be how long it would take to get to the Canadian border instead of to Banff, which is why the time was different. It was still a little light when Doug and Becky arrived. We helped them set up their camp, sat for a little while around the campfire and then went to bed. The sky was clear so the temperature seemed to drop and it was really cold this evening. We went to be about 12:30 and we were ready to snuggle down into the blankets and get some sleep.
Mileage for the day: 0
Temperature high: 50’s after the snow
Camping fee: $36.20
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