En Route to Banff National Park we first stopped off at the Athabasca Falls, but we were starting to agree that once you've seen one falls, you have kinda seen your fill for a while!
We drove up the icefield parkway where our next stop was the Columbia Icefield. Many glaciers on a field of snow and ice, it was pretty darn cold after snowing for 5 hours the day before, but it was beautiful, we headed up to the top in a speciality snow mobile, with 5 foot high tires at a cost of $60,000 per tire, with whole mobile costing $1.2m. There are only 26 in the world, with 25 in Banff National Park and the other one sold to the US government and is currently being used on expeditions in Antartica.
In Banff we checked into the hostel, got ourselves all refreshed and had a house call from a guy a couple of doors down the hall who offered us some beers with them in their room. They were pretty funy and we managed to get 3 beers out of them before we decided it was time to eat.
We headed to Tommy's bar recommended to us for their speciality meat burgers. I went for the buffalo, the girls were too buzzed by this time to each much so went for appertisers washed down with more free beer, this time from a toothless 'gentleman' in the bar! A few vodkas later and we headed back to the hostel bar to meet up with some of Kay's friends. I think by this point I had drank myself sober so I stopped drinking and just observed the night unfolding, or wrapping up as it mostly was.
The next morning we were intending to go to Lake Louise and Morraine Lake but the normally early risers (Kay and Krista, we know even without a hangover thats not me!!) we not up until 1pm. We called in a favour with another of Kay's friends and he hooked us up with free entry to the gondala, it was a lush day so the views of the Rockies were great, with some of them even being snow capped.
Saturday night in Banff so we decided it had to be another party night, I was in the mood to have a big one since I had missed out the night before, I got myself a bottle of wine in my system and then we hit the hostel bar. Ksay could not shake off her hangover so we did like 6 jagerbombs in an hour, I think it just sobered her up! We went out 'clubbing' it was pretty average, but I spent a fortune on shots, just went a bit crazy, think I wanted to have a 'Geordie Night Out' however I think maybe the drinks are watered down, and the deffo aren't as cheap!!
So I woke up, not feeling chipper, but not feeling as bad as should be expected for the amount of alcohol I had, yet again I wish I could be a cheap date!
Sunday morning, we woke up with the sun shining and the heads not banging too much so we decided to head to the Lakes. First we got to Lake Louise, but it being the holiday weekend the cars were backed up at least a kilometre from the Lake, I decided to stay in the car to avoid aggravating my ankle too much (and avoid bringing on the dehydration hangover that was threatening)
Morraine Lake was next onthe list and it was the same story there, the girls dropped my off at the lake and went to find a parking space on the road. The were gone what felt like nearly an hour so I knew that the walk back to the truck was going to be painfully long!
The lake had been recommended to me as much better than Lake Louise and it didn't disappoint. The colour was gorgeous and it was surrounded by snow capped mountains. We took about an hour to chillax, with Krista reading a chipmunk a bedtime story and Kay doing her best vogue pose, but then it got too chillay so we headed back into Banff.
For dinner that night Krista and I had elk burger from Tommy's bar, the food was amazing, totally shame about the service, it was appalling.
Kay decided on a liquid dinner, I just couldn't pull myself out of my rutt, feeling not hungover but more just tired. I had one vodka but realised it was just hitting a wall so I decided once again to be the observer, my plans were however put asunder by a very generous friend of a friend of Kay's who just kept on buying us shots. Agwa-bombs they are called. Made from redbull and Agwa, a liquor made from cocoa plant- their slogan is "melts in your mouth, not in your nose". After a few shots of that I was wired on the redbull enough to stay in the bar, although I did feel like I was going to have t ocall it a night when Kay's friend spat half of his shot on me! The red bull managed to make me stay out till 2am (can't say the same for the friend, in bed by 11pm I would imagine!!)