Slow Down, You Move Too Fast

Simon and Garfunkel reference? Yes. After two and a half days of straight-through driving, a half day of getting our bearings and a quick view of the city of Banff from Sulphur Mountain, we slowed down a bit today. We slept in until 8:00 a.m. and made our plans for the next couple of days. It started with grabbing a late breakfast at this place:

Le fournil Bakery in Canmore, Alberta, CA

Every bite we had here was delicious!  The croque monsieur started with a piece of French bread that held its own--crusty on the outside, tender/chewy on the inside. The ham and cheese were top quality, and the bechamel was velvety. It was served with fresh fruit that was beautiful in presentation as well as sweet and juicy.

We split the croque monsieur because we each got a pastry to save for later. We finally got some good coffee--lattes, actually.

 danoise aux framboises--raspberry and almond cream danish saved for later

          

You also can't beat the view:

After our late breakfast, we took in some mountain views. We left Canmore and took the Smith-Dorrien Spray Trail to Highyway 40 through Kananaskis Village. Each lake had a different shade of blue or green. Here are a couple of highlights:

 mountain mama and her baby

Bear!

We pulled into Banff around 3:30, got checked in to our hotel, and headed into town again. We strolled up and down Banff Ave, the main touristy drag in town. It's an easy few blocks and our hotel is only a few blocks from there. We decided on Greek for dinner. We both got lamb--both were good!

 rack of lamb

lamb shank

And no baklava for us. We had to try a local delicacy:

After dinner, we took a short drive around Tunnel Mountain and the Lake Minnewanka Loop. We saw this guy:

 We also saw the Canadian Rocky version of hoodoos--nothing like Bryce in Utah:

Tonight, we'll both be in bed by 11:30, which will be a first for the trip! See ya' tomorrow!