Traveling Day
Traveling Day
This is a 12 day hiking trip in Banff and Yoho National Park in Canada. The 10 day weather forecast calls for a lot of rain in the region in the coming days, we just have to keep our fingers crossed.
We fly into Calgary, Canada, with one stop over in Denver. It is a great weather day for travel. Everything goes according to schedule. The afternoon thunderstorm cloud starts to form while we are in Denver, there are some distant lightnings over the horizon, but we get out just in time.
Denver Airport Eatery
Upon deplaning at Calgary, we are greeted by these friendly looking elderly ladies on their electric golf carts, offering us rides to the immigration area. Mind you we are still indoor, it just look odd to ride a golf cart, so we turn down the offer. But it turns out the walk is quite a long one, by the time we realize that, it’s too late to catch a ride. The good thing is unlike the notoriously slow Washington Dulles airport, both Calgary immigration and baggage claim are quite efficient, so we are done very quickly. One other thing worth noting, Calgary airport offers free luggage cart service and there are tons of carts around. There is no line, no shortage of things, people are courteous and friendly. Tax payer money at work, not bad.
We are staying at the Calgary Staybridge for one night before driving into Banff. The first time we stayed at a Staybridge was a year ago in Portland, Oregon. We like the place quite a bit. Staybridge is owned by Holiday Inn, it’s designed for medium term stay. The rooms are like mini suites with kitchenette, built with thick solid walls so it is very quiet. The price is quite reasonable also. Unfortunately, we arrive on a weekend of the Calgary Stampede, a very popular rodeo event when all the hotel room rates doubled during this time.
For dinner, we pick a Vietnamese restaurant within walking distance (we won’t have a rental car until the next morning). Quynh Vietnamese Cuisine has quite an extensive menu, we order some summer rolls, pork & shrimp vermicelli, and some sat-ay beef & shrimp vermicelli. The dishes are not the best, but quite good for a western town like Calgary. ««¶¶
The front desk at Staybridge gave us the wrong direction to the restaurant. We took the long way. What should have been a 12 minute short walk became a 20-30 minute walk. The good thing is since Calgary is so far north in latitude, it doesn’t get dark here until 10Am. That allows us ample time to explore the area a bit, including getting lost.
We notice there are quite a number of Chinese Cantonese immigrants in Calgary. We come across a number of them at the airport. It is not like there are big crowds, but certainly noticeable compare to midwest cities like Jackson Hole Wyoming or Bend Oregon.
By the way, when we arrive at Staybridge, we turn the TV on and the default channel is #4, a Chinese channel. There is a show about green initiative, telling the Chinese community to use reusable shopping bags. Quite odd.
Saturday, July 11, 2009