The Lane's next BIG trip: Day 10. Banff to Calgary to San Francisco. Sunday 29th December

We were up early to get on the road by sunrise to drive back to Calgary. We checked out as the snow was gently falling and the Elk who welcomed us also came by to bid us farewell. As we had no need for 3 pairs of the 'bargain' snow boots anymore (and they wouldn't fit in the luggage) we dropped them off to a church donation centre on the way out of town. We all loved Banff and were sad to be leaving but know that with 3 more weeks of the trip left, there will be many more wonderful experiences. The amazing sight driving along the highway was the thousands of cars going in the opposite direction. We can assume they are all heading to the ski fields as it is Sunday. On the outskirts of Calgary we saw the ski jump facility that was used for the 1988 Winter Olympics.
The check in at Calgary airport proved to be slightly stressful as United Airlines didn't have us all booked on the flight. First they couldn't find Jacob's booking but eventually found it, then they couldn't find the booking for Andrew or Christine. After more than half an hour and with Christine starting to get quite worried they managed to find us all a seat. Phew! Then we had to go through customs and security. Which took us at least another half an hour. There were a few sighs of relief when we were finally sitting on the plane. We landed in San Francisco to a scorching +16 degrees and somehow got ourselves into a movie that involved us in a taxi doing 80 miles per hour, weaving through traffic on the freeway and then screeching the ~~tyres~~ tires at the traffic lights in the city. We checked for, but couldn't see the movie cameras anywhere! Our hotel is in the downtown area of the city and after a quick unpack we had a meal across the road at Tommy's Joynt, after recommendations from friends in Perth. We decided to take a walk to Union Square, a main shopping district, for a quick look around and then headed back to the hotel for a good nights sleep.