Raj and I arrived in Banff late this afternoon after a long journey from New York. We started at 5:30 am, got into Calgary at 2 pm, stopped at an electronics store to get me a digital camera (!!!!), and then drove to Banff, a cute mountain town similar to Park City, Utah.
By far the smartest thing Raj and I have done so far on this trip was to reserve our rental car through travelocity prior to arriving in Calgary. It saved us almost half the cost! Pretty awesome.
The least smart thing Raj and I have done - so far - is to have completely got our seasons off when packing and planning this trip. We had been envisioning a late-summer, early-fall hiking, white-water rafting, and climbing trip with lots of sunshine, warm temperatures during the day, and cool nights. Yesterday, when we checked the temperature in Alberta and B.C. for the first time, we were a bit thrown off at discovering that the high was in the 40s-50s. We chose to assume that that must mean the nighttime temperature, thus allowing ourselves to continue the delusion of a warm-weather vacation.
You can imagine our surprise that all of the mountains and much of the ground around these parts is covered with snow. Yes, I said snow. The freezing, cold white stuff that necessitates the covering of human bodies with scarves, caps, gloves, boots, long-sleeved layers, long underwear, and thick down jackets - precisely all of the items that Raj and I neglected to pack in our suitcases. Thank god we both brought our fleeces - we would have frozen our butts off without them. The seven tank-tops I packed are beyond useless. Aesthetic layering is not going to cut it for the next week.
It's going to be ok though because Banff has a ton of stores, and I'm not adverse to shopping. There may be a few changes in planned activities, as I'm not that excited about the idea of white-water rafting in wet suits - can we say hell on earth? I think a suitable replacement would be a soak in the hot springs and a massage at a spa. Now that would be a vacation.
Sunday, September 17, 2006
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4 comments:
OMG, you are going to have SUCH a good time...so a digital camera, eh?
(Note to Buttercup: master the "eh"...it'll give you instant street cred with us quirky Canadians).
Will we get to finally see a picture of the cute vacationning couple?
Buying fleece, hot springs and massages....not a bad start to a vacation!
White-water rafting in a wet suit doesn't sound like my idea of fun either.
But hey, a new digital camera, an early start on winter shopping, and a soak in the hot springs sounds just about...hmmm...what's the word?...oh, yeah...PERFECT!
Oh, I bet it's glorious, though. Have fun!
I think that sounds perfectly fabulous!
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