August 24, 2019
Upon waking up, it was Saturday morning. The first order of business was to eat breakfast at the hotel and then go for a walk to the rental car agency. The breakfast was the standard fare. It was good and the place was really clean. The walk I took to the rental agency was through a business park area. It took about 10 minutes to do. I was a bit early but they were ok with that. We got a nice car and were then set for the day.
The first item of business was to go to the temple and do a session there. We chose the noon session so we could be out and on the road to Banff National Park by 2 PM. It was about a 1.5 hour ride to the town of Banff. Anyway, the temple was on our way to Banff. So that worked out great. It was easy to find. We thought it was the ‘pioneer’ temple. We were wrong. That temple is in Cardston, Canada. This temple in Calgary was only about 10 years old. It reminded me of the temple in Sacramento. A lady there immediately grabbed on to us and made sure we could get clothes and anything we needed. The session was peaceful and nice.
The temple is located by a Stake Center which we hoped would be open so we could change into our tourist clothes. But it was locked. So, we used the area where the air conditioners were which had a chest high vinyl fence around it. It was kind of funny as we had to bend down low to change so people did not think that we were weirdos out there changing clothes. It all worked out.
The drive to Banff was a really good one. One thing we was in Calgary as we left was part of the Olympic park where they did ski jumping and the various sled runs. It would have been fun t tour that. But our time was limited as we were excited to meet up with Roman Morozevych and his great family. We arrived in Banff around 3:45 to find crazy amounts of people there. Parking was not to be found so we just drove through the town and followed signs to the Bow River Waterfall area. There it was busy too. But we found some parking and got out and toured the area as we waited for Roman and family to arrive in the area.
The drive through Banff National Park was spectacular! So darn beautiful. The mountains are amazing there. Huge, shear granite cliffs, with green valleys with the Bow River flowing through it. We were amazed at it all.
Around 5:30 PM...I heard ‘Hey Tim’ on the trail by the Bow River Falls. There was my good friend Roman who I had not seen for many years. He was with Irena (his wife), Katherine (15 year old daughter) and Mark (his delightful son). They were in the middle of a huge trip from Vancouver and back. This was the primary reason we made the trip.
After visiting for a few moments, finding a ‘washroom’ was needed. But there were no restrooms at this waterfall site. So we jumped in our cars and headed back into town. There was a big washroom there. Denise and I were lucky enough to find a quick spot. The Morozevych’s found one, but it was a good distance away. Nonetheless, we reunited at the Washroom and did our business. From there we walked into town to find some food. We ended up at a Tony Roma’s (BBQ food). We remember the ‘loaf’ of onion rings that you could buy there. So Denise immediately ordered onion rings. However, upon their delivery, we were amazed how small they were. The loaf concept no longer exists. I think we visited and ate for about 2 hours. It was quite a while. I don’t think that we got back on the road to Calgary until about 8 pm. It was so good to see and visit with them. They seem to be doing well.
After our drive, we arrived back at our hotel around 9:30 PM. We were very tired. I quickly researched where the closest chapel was that had church services starting at 9 AM. We wanted to do Sacrament Meeting and then go back to the hotel, change and head back to the Banff area to meet up with Roman and Irena and kids to go see Lake Louise. I found the chapel and then went to bed.
Pictures:
Pictures:
Steps from temple. The view across the valley was really nice.
Still happy in the Forrest!
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