Canada Hols - Banff - Monday

Our first wet day of the trip was Monday. We had to shift rooms at the “Y” so packed up everything. Darryl washed the clothes while I headed to the local library to get internet access (as there was still none at the Hotel). After lunch the rain had eased and we visited Cascade Gardens, (which was just across the road from the “Y”). It had been built during the Depression, as work relief, and was quite pretty, with pansies, geraniums, and begonias in rock gardens cascading down a slope. The paths were punctuated with various pergolas. A few kms out of town were some lakes that we wanted to visit, and with lighter rain we went that way. The shorter road to Johnstone Lake was closed so we went around the longer way, first stopping at Lower Bankhead, the site of an old coal-mining town. There is pretty much nothing left there and it started raining again, so we drove to the parking for Lake Minnewanka. Darryl spotted two young stags, just getting their antlers, at the back, and we got a photo before they headed off into the forest. The circuit took us over the spillway, and there were some nice views of the mountains shrouded in clouds. Further around we got through to Johnson Lake, and the rain eased enough for us to walk to the end and back. A pretty lake which is used often in summer for swimming by the locals. Back in town we went to dinner again with Donna and Patrizia at Wild Bill's, having prawns wrapped in bacon – yum! By this time the rain had cleared completely and there was sunshine and blue skies.