Banff National Park December 6, 2021

For about a month I have been keeping an eye on Banff's weather forecast and highway driving conditions.  My hope was for a stretch of a few ideal days to head west and settle in.  Finally a window opened and I jumped through it.  This is what I found on the other side, a magical winter wonderland.  Before the time was right for checking into my home away from home, I spent a few hours roaming around the downtown area and also at some of my favourite spots close by.  

It was bitterly cold with a wind!  As I have mentioned numerous times in the past, it's those conditions that I find offer a level of high end beauty. I bundled up in my warmest winter wear and hit the "hot" spots. I started with a stroll along the pathway by the Bow River. 

view of Mount Rundle with the pedestrian bridge that crosses the Bow River

along the river walk

Downtown was on the quiet side for mid afternoon.  I had a list of stores that I wanted to invest in.  I had success with that then it was time to head back to the train station parking lot and get on with checking off items on my to-do list.

It was a rough drive down the short road to Cascade Ponds.  It is a winter-wonderland in Banff and the road conditions were a tell tale sign of what had transpired over the past few weeks.  My plan was to cover a couple of kilometres walking at The Ponds, which I did yet at a quick pace to help stay warm.  There had been no fires nor picnics for quite some time in this location. 

view from the meadow area of Cascade Mountain and the dining shelter in the bottom middle 

There was one last spot to check out before heading to my home away from home.  It was late afternoon  when I arrived at Vermillion Lakes and the kite surfers were packing up their gear.  There were sections of open water close to the shore and it took a few tries to get the cloud reflection in the tiny opening. 

One of my purchases was this Christmas Tree ornament.  With birding playing a new interest in my life this past year, a bird on my tree seemed appropriate.  I would love to have had a Black-Caped Chickadee, which there were none off.   When I saw this Cardinal decked out in a scarf, I knew it needed to come home with me.   

It was soon time for the sun to set so off I went to check into my home away from home!