Gremlin's Tall Stories

Woke up before the alarm! Ok, so it was only set for 9am. Ken rang at 8.20am to confirm the late morning tour of the Banff Hotel and buffet lunch we were having today. How to meet, bring the dollars, yep, see you outside on the bikes. Rolled over and went back to bed until 9am

Finally got up, read Mark and Gerry’s blog (http://kiwisridefar.blogspot.com/) and generally wasted time until just after 10am, then getting ready and grabbing the necessary little things.

The Hotel was only a few kilometres away, so it was reached within minutes. Parked the bikes in the parking building, unable to find our assigned parking (17 odd bikes take up a bit of room). The hotel was seriously impressive. Like Lake Louise, it’s far bigger than you would imagine for a relatively remote area, but it’s so popular, the space is needed. It has 768 rooms, and today they were handling 3 weddings (long weekend may have had something to do with it) and they really couldn’t have picked a better day. There were a couple of clouds in the entire sky.

The historian and guest services manager gave us a slideshow presentation about the history, in a room filled with the history of the hotel. It was actually built twice, first in 1888 by the Canadian Pacific Railway’s President, William Cornelius Van Horne, who saw the potential of a hotel in the location, after completing the railway. The original was made out of wood and was overbooked in its third season. Planning to demolish one wing at a time, the second wing burnt down 4 months prior to the other wing being pulled down, so it was rebuilt in stone first, starting in 1911 (and delayed by WWI).

The history was quite amazing, the golf course alone cost a million dollars and is rated amongst the best in the world (with some spectacular views), and by the river. In 1968 the hotel finally opened year round, as previously, it had been a summer retreat, and often a home away from home (the rich paying for 2-3 months).

After the PowerPoint presentation, time for a tour, including sections being set up for the weddings (if they weren’t in actual use). The St Stephen’s room is famous, having been used in movies and a sought after venue for nuptials. I heard from some of the ladies that weddings there could run anywhere between $30,000 to $200,000 (and probably up if you tried). The ballroom was their smaller one, the larger one being five times the size

After the tour, a buffet lunch. Fine dining at its best, with a huge selection of meats, veges, salads and everything in between. First plate was vegetable soup with bread, second was breakfast (I skipped an early breakfast deliberately) of sausage, bacon, a muffin with salmon and potato cubes. I attempted to move onto mains, but got distracted by the entrees, pork dumplings, shrimp, and spring rolls. Finally moved onto the mains, first plate was just five selections of meat, beef, salmon, pork and fish. A second main veges, fruit and more meat (somehow missed the steak) including lamb, but a pork meat was tough. Finally moved onto dessert, but had eaten far too much, so only one dish, of two chocolate desserts and a fantastic cheesecake. Washed the whole lot down with several glasses of genuine orange juice.

One of the guys tried to help out the waitress by pouring the orange juice, but was told “No, No, No, it’s my job” and the jar was retrieved. Pity the photo came out blurred. I began to realise my grave mistake at the end of dessert… I don’t eat that much nowadays, and my stomach was paying me back for the thrashing I had just given it. Started feeling rather light headed and a bit ill. Realised my belt was too tight, so loosened it a notch. After a short time sitting, I felt much better, so waddled out to the veranda, but couldn’t see the rest of the group. Soaked up the view and snapped some pics, then Murray and I left and when we reached the bikes, realised we were last…

Went by the gondola on the way back to the Inn, but way too many people all over the place, and I hate crowds. A little tiki tour because of traffic had us passing a rugby match, and then the Inn beckoned. Spent half an hour in a semi-comatose state on the bed, stuffed and tired, wanting to sleep but not quite able to switch off. Wasted the rest of the afternoon watching TV and doing some writing for the blog.

The group was on the deck, enjoying some snacks, so joined them for a little while. Murray and I headed into town in search of large maps of Canada and US, failed (only province maps of Canada, not the whole) and had ice-creams for dinner. First time in a while I’ve skipped a proper meal, not being hungry. Unfortunately, the ice-cream came from a fudge shop, much like the one in Jasper, so I bought another block, this time, marble. It was even served by a girl from Christchurch, spending some time in Canada working. I mentioned I hated dealing with coins and wished I had EFTPOS again… she laughed.

Murray had found a café with containers of oats, yoghurt and fruit, so he bought one and I bought two, for breakfast. Back to the motel, more blogging and watching Mantracker on TV, which was a really good show with two guys trying to reach a finish while the tracker on a horse tracked them through the bush, not knowing the finish. He caught them both.

Chatted to Murray a bit, he’s a farmer and does some work for SAR, so spent some time thinking I should probably increase the amount of safety gear I carry, such as a tarp and survival blanket etc. If not to help me, possibly anyone I come across, as I do enough mileage to have that sort of thing happen on the balance of odds.

It was late, so to bed, as we had an early start in the morning, with a long day coming up.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/GbtmWTMy7ZhG8ooE8