The first draft of this post started with the the following sentence: “Yesterday, was a day of mishaps and beauty and trying to get rest.” I was still a bit sore from the hike/icewalk, and I probably should have iced my knee. Mysterious bruises were on my body that I had not realized were there before, but I was still excited about going to Banff, despite my body and my brain wanting more rest.

However, once I finished the post, I realize that really wasn’t the case. I made one blunder, but the rest of the day was pretty relaxing. Oh, to forever be on vacation!

In the morning, I got everything done in a timely fashion. I had to redo all my clothes and sort and repack, trying to group dirty items together and looking at weather to figure out how to make sure I have the appropriate clothing for the outings for the next two days. I have scheduled (and budgeted) a laundry day on Saturday, and I have planned well so far with layers for different temps.

I worked on the blog post for January 11 and ate breakfast while I reviewed it. Did I have pizza for breakfast? Yes, I did. And it was good.

I got to the lobby early for my bus pick-up, worried that it would take me a long time to find the lobby again through the labryinth of hallways in The Crimson. Frankly, it’s easier just to exit and enter the exit closest to your room than finding the lobby, but I wanted to take the elevator down since I was taking all of my stuff and a little bit concerned about my knee.

I was so proud of myself for being early and having some time to relax in the lobby that I read webtoons while I waited.But they do say that pride comes before a fall because it wasn’t until we were about an hour away on the bus that I realized that I had forgotten something: my extra cash in the safe.

When I travel, I usually take some cash with me. I don’t like using ATMs when I’m traveling because I’m never sure how much I’m going to be charged. I also do what people say not to do, which is exchange my money at the airport when I arrive. I have been told that exchange rates at airports are not the best; however, I also like the fact that they are in public places where I feel I can actually count my money, and I have some cash I can use right away.

I don’t exchange all my cash at the airport when I travel to South Korea anymore because I know of several safe places where you can exchange money, same with London. But the airport is to me still the safest bet and reduces my anxiety when going to some place new.

I had not exchanged all my money. I usually try to leave some US money, so there was combination of US dollars and CAD in the safe. I put it in the safe because I also don’t like to carry all the cash I have just in case I lose my wallet or it gets stolen. I don’t like the idea of being stuck with absolutely no money.

I was mad at myself about leaving the money behind, but to be honest I was more concerned about how much they might charge me to break open the safe. Leaving my money meant that I had left the safe locked. I know we charge our students money when they lose their room keys because that means that we have to change the locks. I can’t imagine how much a lock on a safe would cost.

I was also concerned about the amount of cash I had. I wanted to be able to tip some of the guides. I have a credit cards I use for travel, but I’ve never even signed up for a PIN to get cash.

Note: I have two credit cards I reserve for travel because they don’t have foreign exchange fees. If you are going abroad for the first time or if you think you may in future, make sure you check before you travel because some companies charge a LOT. I found out the hard way the first time I traveled to South Korea.

After I did a bit of a mind freak out, I resolved to call The Crimson as soon as I arrived in Banff, minimally to tell them the combination, so I wouldn’t be charged. I also thought that if I needed more cash, I would just call one of the credit card companies to establish a PIN to get cash at an ATM.

That idea settled . . . I promptly fell asleep. Seriously, that concern was the only thing keeping me awake. Remember me in moving vehicles? I wanted to stay awake because I was told that the ride from Jasper to Lake Louise (there were some people getting off there) is one of the prettiest stretches of highway in the world. I didn’t want to miss any of the Icefields Parkway.

Actually, it didn’t matter much in the beginning. It was still pretty dark and cold (which made the widows fog), so the view from the bus looked like this for much of the beginning.

I didn’t wake up until we stopped for a bathroom break. I didn’t feel like I had to go, but I always try when there is a chance. You never know how long it will be before the chance comes again.

We stopped at the Saskatchewan River Crossing rest area, and it was cold. Yes, that is ice around the bottom of the toilet. I can imagine it smells pretty bad in the summer, but everything down there is frozen now. I wonder at what temperature germs freeze. No matter, I was just relieved that it wasn’t completely on the ground. There are lots of bathrooms in hiking areas in South Korea where you have to squat on the gound.

I also carry sanitary wipes for a reason.

The location was beautiful, so I took the chance while I was awake to take some pictures.

And someone on the bus volunteered to take a picture of me.

When the sun came up, and it warmed up a bit, there were better views of the Parkway from the bus. And as you can see from the map, we were over halfway to Lake Louise at the crossing.

It’s just a vista of mountains making it impossible to forget that you are traveling parallel to the continent divide.

One of the couples was heading straight to the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise where I will be staying for one night on Sunday, so I was excited to get a peak at a corner of it on the way to Banff.

It wasn’t very much farther to get to Banff. Once again, I was the last one to get dropped off. I didn’t mind because I got to see different hotels and a little bit of Banff. As it was, my hotel check in time wasn’t until 4 PM anyway, so I dropped off my things there and decided to explore a little of Banff.

But first, I sat in the lobby and called The Crimson. It was actually a little difficult because I kept getting generic reservation lines first until I got the front desk. I was glad to be able to have a side place in the lobby of the Elk + Ave (where I am staying) because the conversation took more explaining than I thought.

The person at The Crimson sounded surprised at my concern. She was more concerned that I was worried about the money. She sounded really relieved when I said I was coming back next week. She asked me how much money I had left, asked me the combination, and told me that she’d leave the money at the front desk for me when I checked in again.

Now I was ready to walk arounf Banff. I wasn’t planning on walking very far because I was tired, and my body was rebelling from the hike from the day before. However, my hotel is on Banff Avenue, Banff’s main street, so there are all sorts of shops and places to eat within walking distance.

And guess what? Right around the corner from my hotel is an IGA! Candace at Fresh Tracks Canada set me up well again, putting me near a grocery store.

I ended up getting Chicken Shawarma at Banff Shawarma located in the food court of the Cascade Shops basically because it was easy, and there was plenty of seating. I went in there looking for cheap ear warmers and found some on sale. I thought I had left mine at The Crimson. Turns out they were in the one pocket I didn’t check.

For those of you who are wary of eating out alone, go to a food court. Lots of people in food courts are eating alone, so you’re not going to feel judged.

The shawarma was delicious despite the fact that I forgot to tell her that I didn’t want black olives. It’s definitely a place I will go back to if any of the days I’m too tired to try something new.

Also, the bathroom in the mall was a blessing compared to the cold one on the highway.

I continued south on Banff Avenue past the Banff Historical Museum and onto the Bow Bridge.

The Historical Museum is only open on Saturdays and Sundays in the winter, which is unfortunate because I really wanted to see the design details on the inside. Apparently, they wanted one of the Swiss architects to build it like they did so many of the original buildings downtown, but the only person available was the same guy who designed all the train stations, so it looks sort of like a large train station.

The Bow Bridge crosses the Bow River, which is near frozen at this location.

On the other side of the bridge is Cascades of Time Gardens. Even though the peak season for the gardens is in spring and summer when the flowers are in bloom, it is still pretty now. Lots of people were walking through or walking their dogs.

I didn’t do much walking because by this time I was pretty beat. I took some pictures and sat on the bench facing the park’s adminstrative offices.

It wasn’t until I had sat on the bench on the other side of this sign for about fifteen minutes that I stood up to get a picture of the sign, which actually is also a bench. It’s also the best place to get the iconic picture of Banff: Banff Avenue with Cascade Mountain at the end of it.

I actually did the touristy thing and went and stood in one of the dividers on Banff Avenue to get pictures.

By that time, as cheerful as I look in that selfie, I really wanted to go back. So I walked back through town, stopping at the grocery store to pick up some things for breakfast and went to check in at the hotel.

Even though it wasn’t 4 yet, it was close enough. They let me check in. Halelluah!

Here is what my room looks like. I’ll be here for two more nights.

My room faces the street, which made me wonder if it would be loud, but I can hardly hear anything. And nothing is as loud as the train that goes by apartment, so . . .

Here are the views from my room. You can see the high school, which is across the street and also Mount Rundle.

I apologize for posting this blog late. I spent most of yesterday evening trying to transfer photos. Transferring all of the Banff photos took over an hour because the internet was really slow. It didn’t make sense that it was so slow when I had all four bars.

I was pretty disheartened because I was also so tired, and I knew I had another early day today.

However, I figured out today that I was using the wrong hotel wifi. Once I updated my internet connection to the new hotel wifi, it was fine.

Thanks to everyone who is following and leaving comments. I’m really having a great time.

Also, thanks to everyone who responded to my text poll today: Bison Burger vs. Elk Burger. Read tomorrow’s post to find out what I picked.