The Lane's next BIG trip: Day 3. Calgary to Banff. Sunday 22nd December

Andrew and Christine woke up early, thanks to jetlag, at 1am after only a couple of hours sleep. Both spent some time reading, tossing and turning, reading some more and trying to get to sleep. Thankfully there was a 'domestic' going on right outside our room so that kept us entertained for a little while until we had to call security to come and sort it out. Christine managed to get back to sleep but Andrew struggled a bit. Luckily the hotels free wifi, gym, pool and spa kept him occupied until everyone else work up at 9am. The Calgary Tower was less than a 5 minute walk away so we decided to fit that in before we had to leave. It was built in 1968 and stands at 190 meters high with an observation deck, revolving restaurant and a continually burning gas torch that can be seen from 15kms away. Thankfully, a thick fog had cleared to a thin fog which helped make the view impressive. One part of the floor was glass that you could walk out on to and get a great view straight down. We headed back to the Hyatt, grabbed some breakfast ,checked out of the room and caught a taxi back to the airport to collect the hire car. Andrew watched the taxi driver like a hawk to try to get an understanding of driving on the 'wrong' side of the road. We are now the proud renters of a large 7 seat Dodge Caravan that has plenty of room for us and our 4 bags. The initial challenge was trying to work out how to open the boot. Turns out it was frozen shut as it was a rather chilly -18 degrees. Using a borrowed GPS, that directed us to take the shortest route - not the easiest, we drove along main arterial roads, through Calgary suburbs and finally onto the main highway heading to Banff. The driving advice Andrew had received from many well meaning friends and family was "keep the centre line on the left and be careful when turning at an intersection". The extra challenge of driving in Alberta in the winter is the 'kitty litter' all over the roads for grip and therefore the centre line isn't always visible. All passengers were great and kept very quiet until we hit the freeway when Andrew could relax slightly and even turn the radio on (more stressful that driving a fire truck to a fire). The scenery along the way was beautiful with endless fields of snow and huge snow covered mountains. We arrived in Banff early afternoon after the 130km drive and found a supermarket for supplies for the next few day. We are staying at the Hidden Ridge Resort, a couple of kms out of the town centre, in a self contained loft apartment/lodge with 3 queen beds and a fold out sofa bed. No children have to share a bed this time. Yay! We checked in and found our apartment and had a personal greeting at our front door by an elk. When we entered a Christmas tree was all lit up ready for us to decorate. We have a magnificent view from the balcony of the surrounding mountains. After unpacking our bags, the kids decorated the Christmas tree, we started the fire, had an early dinner, watched a bit of tv and were all in bed by 7:30.