We landed late into Calgary and had to wait a bit for the shuttle van to the hotel but the welcome sign was cheerful!

Woke up early to meet our friends Jay & Anne who drove us to our rental car place. After picking up our car we continued to downtown Calgary for breakfast at Cosmic Cantina, a quirky little place with mismatched mugs and greasy breakfast offerings. It would probably fit in well in Asheville.

We discussed a few hiking options over our meal and decided on the Sunshine Village gondola.  When we arrived to a not-full parking lot it became clear why… all of the upper trails were closed. At least we saw some big horn sheep.

Instead of paying for a gondola ride for just one viewpoint we deferred to Sundance Canyon instead. It was a mostly flat 5 mile RT hike and after the waterfall we took a break for a fantastic picnic of meats, cheeses and fresh fruit that Anne had prepared.

After a quick stop to wander around the gorgeous Fairmont Banff Springs, we headed back to Canmore and put our name in for a table at the busy Grizzly Bear Brewing Co. While we were waiting we took a stroll along Spring Creek Boardwalk which looked rather moody in the building haze of smoke.

Hiking was fun, but it was even better to have spent the day with friends we hadn’t seen in two (!) years – we were glad they could come down to see us for the day.