Day two of two in Banff
We woke up and took our time getting packed up to move over to the Moose hotel, a hotel with two hot rooftop pools and a sauna(!). After moving our luggage over, we walked over to Bluebird for a delicious breakfast. The restaurant was very cute, with lots of nicely designed touches throughout. I got a basic breakfast, and we got one souffle pancake for the table.
After breakfast, we walked around downtown Banff, did some souvenir shopping, and rented a canoe for an hour. It took us some time to get our rhythm down (canoeing is hard with three people!) but we giggled our way through it, enjoyed the views, and even saw an elk. Our favorite store was Jolene’s tea house, where we all drank delicious tea and got plenty to take home.
We returned to the hotel for much needed hot tub time. I managed to get a load of laundry in, and we ordered some pizza and salad to the room before catching the bus up to the Banff gondola. We were all very excited to take the gondola (Ariel had timed it perfectly so we would get to see the sun set!) but we didn’t realize how scary it was going to be. The ride climbs almost 2300 feet in 8 minutes and was frankly terrifying! But we made it to the top, walked along the decks to the peak, talked, danced, and laughed. Despite thinking I might throw up on the way to the top, it was absolutely worth it and so, so special.
By the time we took the gondola back down, it was much darker. The dusk light made it feel like we were traveling under water - absolute magic. After getting back to the hotel, I spent about 20 minutes in the sauna, grabbed a shower, and passed the heck out.