Monday June 1st

10:00pm

As we had the weather forecast telling us it was going to be raining and cold, we thought we would do the museums and the shopping (yey!) today. It didn’t rain at all, but it was VERY cold this morning and it was very cloudy, especially on some of the mountains, so it was a good idea to leave the museums and shopping until today.

We started out by going to the Cave and Basin Museum where three guys discovered a hot spring and decided it would be a great idea to exploit it and make some money. Which they did of course! This was the story of the birth of Banff National Park. Now the spring is still very hot but incredibly smelly. It is home to rare water snails and other aquatic species. There was a nature trail too, and we saw a Garter Snake slithering away from us. They are tiny, rare and shy creatures which only live here because they love the warmth of the hot spring.

Next was the Luxton Museum, or now the Buffalo Nations Museum which was quite old fashioned and was about the Siksika mainly, which I think are a branch of the Blackfoot tribe. It was a nice Museum and a very nice shop too! I bought myself a bear calendar for 2010, and a book on native Canadian myths and folklore. Next door was the “Trading Post” gift shop which was dangerous. Lots and lots of nice things. Although I resisted the beads, I spent around $70, but some things were souvenirs!!

We went back to the B&B to leave the car there and go into town to eat some lunch. We haven’t been eating a great deal at lunchtimes, often just half a sandwich and a drink. My feet were killing me but I went on......we went to the Whyte Museum where I discovered the artwork of Robert Bateman and Erica Neumann which I both liked very much indeed. In the shop there were expensive bear pictures which I decided NOT to buy, but I chose a book by Charlie Russell on his living with Grizzlies in Kamchatka in Russia instead. It looks good; I have seen programmes and have read a book about his work before, so I look forward to reading this one. I haven’t seen it before. Feet still killing me, we went into the Banff Park Museum, a small old fashioned museum of mostly stuffed animals, birds eggs etc. Quaint and cute!

So, feet still hurting....we went shopping!! We went into almost every shop and I ended up buying more souvenirs and things for myself, and Mathew even split from me for a short while so he could buy something and save it for my Birthday or Christmas (Bear things, most likely!).
I bought myself a thermal mug with a bear on it (one of my must-haves on the list!) and I FINALLY bought a t-shirt....but it wasn’t a ladies cut. It was a “Youth 14/16”, where the numbers mean the age not the size. I looked at it, and it looked kind of small...small enough for me. I tried it on and it fit! I looked at the other t-shirts, but this had the nicest pattern with a moose, a bear and maple leaves. Now, THAT is a Canadian t-shirt. And it was only $8.99. Bargain!

As for the moose t-shirt I saw yesterday, I tried on large and x-large and they just got longer and longer!! How bizarre is that? Mind you, that’s happened to me before with jeans....anyway, I finally had a t-shirt with a bear on it. And this is just the beginning of the second week in Canada...I have bought SO much! I may not buy much over the next few days . . . but my credit card seems to be working just fine. Usually the bank have something to say about it, but this time I made sure I told them I was in Canada between May 24th – June 25th. Everything seems to be working just fine.

So we ate a burger at Wild Bill’s and padded home on tired, aching feet. I thought my feet had died but I did buy a new pair of crocs today and they work like magic shoes...hopefully tomorrow won’t be quite so painful. My feet definitely need a good long rest.

Kootenay Park tomorrow, via the Bow Valley Parkway. Perhaps we’ll see a bear or two...?