I am very thankful that despite the roller coaster ride that the COVID pandemic has been for all of us, Andrew and I have come to an agreement about the risk/return tradeoffs we are willing to make in terms of going about our life together as this strange “new normal” unfolds. We’ve chosen to be fully vaccinated and boosted based on scientific guidance, taken extra precautions for Andrew on advice from his cancer specialists (regular immunoglobulin infusions and preventative new medication available for severely compromised folks). We continue to limit our public interactions to dining outdoors, staying masked if we must go indoors for errands, and our home remains only for vaccinated friends and family, and we ask those we don’t know well to mask indoors or in close proximity outdoors.

We have started to travel again – a few trips in campervans, and now on planes with basic precautions in place. I fully recognize that other people are making their own decisions about how to proceed and I fully respect that.  We will continue to re-evaluate our own path as time goes on.  So far, neither of us has gotten sick and I hope that will continue to be the case!

We had the opportunity this month to do a home exchange with a lovely couple from Banff, Canada.  Andrew had been to Banff many years ago (before my time) and I’d never been but had always heard about how beautiful this part of Alberta is, so we decided to experience it together.  Banff is famous for both summer and winter outdoor activities – hiking, biking, canoeing, kayaking in summer…incredible skiing in the winter.  The town of Banff is a vibrant tourist magnet year round, chock full of nice restaurants, museums related to the indigenous peoples of the area and regional artists, pedestrian-friendly, and loads of things to see and do within walking and biking distance.  There’s some work to be done to coordinate the various transportation options to the most popular and stunning lake and mountain attractions…Banff is within a Canadian national park so the government runs some buses…there is another bus service (Roam) that also has routes to many of the same places…the problem is making heads-or-tails of which bus to take where and when.  We got it figured out but it took some doing.

We were blessed to have our daughter, Ruthie, join us for part of the time in Banff, as well as our dear friends, Shellie and Randy Oakley who drove from Seattle to stay the week.  It was fun to share this experience with all of them.  Here are some of the highlights of the trip…

Lake Louise:  There are many glacial lakes in the Banff area, but Lake Louise is internationally known for its unique beauty surrounded by high peaks with water an incredible shade of blue-green.  There is a famous hotel at one end of the lake (Fairmont Lake Louise) and the start of the round-the-lake path was packed with tourists.  Fortunately as we started around the lake the crowd thinned out and it was a lovely few hours of strolling among the trees, a stop at a waterfall, and gazing at the lake from different vantage points.  The tiny chipmunks (or small squirrels…who knows) that scavenge around the lake were incredibly bold.  One jumped up onto a guy’s shoulder to try to grab his sandwich…others would sneak up on us to try to steal a crumb or two from us.  Randy literally back-handed one little rascal who was aiming for his food.  The scamp landed unharmed but man – they were relentlessly cute!

Biking the local mountain lakes:  On a couple of the days we ventured out by e-bike with our friends to explore some of the other lakes in the area, also part of Banff National Park.  There are great designated biking paths all over so it felt very safe most of the time – I hate navigating in the street with shared roadways next to cars…I always know who will win the battle for space.

Buffalo Nations Luxton Museum:  Andrew and I visited this small, locally developed and run museum and learned much about the indigenous people of the area.  Apparently this museum is woefully underfunded but I was glad we could at least contribute by visiting and getting a better understanding of the history of the area.

Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel: No doubt on every “must see’ list for Banff, this majestic old hotel is really worth a look – if not for the actual hotel accommodations (which we didn’t see) but for the incredible location perched high above the Banff town center and appearing to hang off a cliff in a wilderness area…at least that’s how it appears from afar.  We had a lovely dinner on one of the hotel patios overlooking the mountains, surrounded by manicured colorful flowers that appear to be a signature of this part of the world.  We were lucky during the whole trip to have great weather – temperate and just right for all the local flora to be in bloom.

Banff Sunshine Ski Resort/Meadows:  One of my very favorite excursions was taking a ski gondola at the Banff Sunshine Ski Resort up to the meadows of wildflowers and lakes at the top.  This was a special treat as the hiking was not too strenuous and vistas incredible.  You gotta take bear spray with you – easy to rent at the village…fortunately we didn’t need it!

In all, our time in Banff was delightful.  To be honest, I always love exploring in Canada.  I find the people friendly and accommodating, quite relaxed in general, and very tuned into respecting the natural beauty of their country.  They have my respect.