Breakfast at 7:00 and we’re out of Waterton Lakes by 7:50. Daniel has information, stories and knowledge of the sites we’re seeing so the hours in the bus go by sort of quickly.
We arrive at the Bar-U Ranch at about 9:50 and are treated to some fresh brewed coffee or tea. Coralee, accompanied by the Percheron, Hawkeye, tells us the story of how cattle ranching began in Canada and how important it was to the economy as well as the ecology. Once the buffalo were hunted almost to extinction, they were no longer keeping the plains area of Alberta in check. In other words, the grass was growing out-of-hand! So a very enterprising gentleman took the Canadian government up on an offer for 158,000 acres for $10,000 and started the Bar-U Ranch. In 1882 George Lane brought in cattle by the thousands and to till the land, he brought Percheron stallions and mares from France. Eventually Patrick Burns replaced the horses with tractors and the Ranch flourished through the Depression and WWII. The famous artist Charles Marion Russell was asked to create a statue for the Ranch and he did! The Bar-U was designated a National Historic Site in 1989.
Back on the bus and on the road. On the road to Banff (pronounced Bamph) we were treated to some more incredible mountain views as well as a bit of wildlife. Admittedly, the bighorn sheep are looking a little ragged right now but it was still pretty neat seeing them up close. They also have free range cattle like we have free range chickens!!!
We arrive about 1:30 and are set free until 4:30. It really is a cute city with tons of shops, restaurants, hotels and a location you can’t really describe. Rach and the boys go one direction (eating sushi for lunch, shopping and Rachel gets a tattoo!) while I did some shopping and wandered to the Whyte Museum. The displays catalog events in the area with regard to the Northern Pacific Railroad, the introduction of the automobile to Alberta, Canada, the development of guided mountain hikes, the contributions and continuing study of First Nations Indian tribes in the area and Canada’s participation in the World Wars. Did you know that Canada, similar to America placing Japanese-Americans in internment camps, put their citizens of German Italian, Ukrainian in their own camps? They also had an actual POW camp in Alberta! I truly learned something new today! I found my way back to the meeting point and we took the bus back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. Of course, Daniel had a couple side trips before we landed at the hotel but they were worth it. The Banff Springs Hotel was built by Cornelius Van Horne whose famous line was “If we can’t export the scenery, we’ll import the tourists”. The Hotel, built in 1888 was the largest hotel in the world at the time. Today, it can accommodate 1900 guests and sits on Mount Rundle like the “castle” it is called by the natives. It was worth the stop!!
Daniel’s other little stop was Bow Falls. That same river we floated down on Sunday has this wonderful waterfall further upriver. This too was a glorious stop before dinner!
Dinner at 6:45 – Cajun Chicken or Shrimp Alfredo – not bad at all. Great conversation with fellow bus travelers and then a nice walk back to the hotel – stopped at an IGA to get groceries for tomorrow’s picnic at the glacier!! All-in-all a great day!!
That’s quite a hotel! Same scale and style as the Frontenac in Quebec, but what a setting!! Love the ranch history -we of the USA tend to forget that the Great Plains and cattle culture extend way beyond our border. All the photos create travel envy!