We were up early today - 7.15am departure! The gang had a 9.30am booking for white water rafting that was 90 minutes away. I was the only one not doing it, but Charles wasn't allowed to leave me alone in Banff so I had to take the journey to Golden with them.

Charles wasn't doing the rafting either, so after dropping the kids off, we checked out the info centre next door. Charles wanted to hike up the mountain, so I opted for the gondola ride with a stop at the bear sanctuary to see the famous "Boo the Bear".

So we parted ways around 11am and I had 2 options with my day pass - catch the chairlift to the bear sanctuary or the gondola to the top of the mountain. I planned to do both, but they said Boo was more active before midday, so I decided to do that first.

The chairlift up was a nice ride, only 10 minutes and it was a beautiful day and so peaceful up there! Alas, Boo was nowhere to be seen. The guide said he had not been sighted since his breakfast which was unusual. I stayed 45 mins before deciding to go check out the gondola to the top, and then come back later for Boo.

So chairlift back down, gondola up. It was about 15 minutes, and the views were pretty cool from up there.

Then back down the gondola and back up the chairlift. Up, down, up, down! Funny though, the gondola passed over the hiking track at only one point, and at that exact moment when my gondola passed over the track, Charles happened to be walking by! It was weird! He happened to look up and we waved.

So I was back at Boo's habitat 90 minutes after the first time and he still wasn't in sight. Mind you, the habitat was 20 acres of bush! I chatted to the lady working there since there was no one else around. I told her I had to go, as I was meeting Charles at 2.30pm and it was 10 mins down the chairlift. She kept chatting and was waving cow parsley in the air...apparently it's Boo's favourite treat and he can always smell it. I was just telling her how disappointed I was when behind her in the habitat I saw movement!! I shouted "THERE HE IS!!THERE HE IS!!". He was very far up the hill and you couldn't really see him with the naked eye, but they had binoculars and I saw him! He was HUGE!! I watched him for a few minutes, and he was making his way down to us, but he stopped at a small pond, got in, and flopped down & got comfy! Normally he comes right up to the fence about 5 metres from where we were standing! I just couldn't wait any longer and I was gutted to have to walk away!

The afternoon was pretty cruisy, we got home around 5 and got dolled up for a night on the tiles, which we haven't had a chance to do. We caught the bus to town around 7 and had a great dinner at a pub. Then we danced and drank the night away, getting back home around 2.30am!! It was an awesome night, I had a lot of fun!!