Beautiful Banff

Rimrock Resort Hotel, Banff, Alberta

After watching fireworks over the village of Banff last night in celebration of Canada Day, we had a sound night's sleep at the Rimrock Resort Hotel on the edge of Banff.  The Rimrock is nestled on the edge of the Canadian Rockies.  I'm sitting in the lobby of the Rimrock as I write this, looking out toward one of the peaks.  The lobby is on the seventh floor, with all the rooms stepping down the mountainside below me.

Just around the corner from the Rimrock Resort  (and next to some hot springs) is the Banff gondola, built between 1958 and 1959. It's still whisking tourists up to the top of Sulphur Mountain and Sanson Peak, where the air gets considerably thinner at 8,000 feet.  It's an ear popping experience.  Once you arrive, you can ascend to a rocky outpost with even better views and a weather station built in 1903.  Mr. Norman Sanson manned this weather station for nearly thirty years, surviving hail and lightning and lots of cold weather.  He was compensated with great views through the single window of his one room stone cabin.

Steps up to Sanson's weather observatory.