Getaway

A couple of weekends ago Penny and I were able to get out of town for a couple of nights in Banff at the Banff Springs. Neither of us had ever stayed there so it was a really unique experience. Without the kids around (thanks mum and dad for taking care of them!) we were able to have a relaxing time. We lingered in bed, visited the spa (had my first pedicure!), swam, went xc skiing, ate well and generally had a great time. Unfortunately the one thing that we didn't do well was sleep. Foreign bed + back pain from those annoying metastases on my spine = no sleep. Not having kids around or a particularly difficult schedule meant we could take things slowly and were able to adapt.

A particular highlight of the trip was the food. We indulged on both nights in some fine dining and our lunch selections provided a robust gastronomic experience as well. Actually, our evening meals fell quite at opposite ends of the spectrum. The first night we had italian on site in the hotel and we definitely overindulged. Multiple generous courses made the walk back to the room more of a challenge than it ought to have been. Learning from our lesson the second night, we ventured into town and split a fantastic burger at the Banff Avenue Brewing Company and indulged in a couple of 4$ pints (A far cry from the $12 Guinness I had at hotel earlier that day!). Our best find for lunch was root beer beef tenderloin bites and fresh flatbread at the bar in the hotel overlooking the mountains. Fantastic.

Despite our lack of sleep we made it out on the trails for an enjoyable morning of cross country skiing. The weather had been bitterly cold but we managed to thread the needle and on that morning it was a balmy -13 or so when we set out and a near-tropical -5 by the time we got back. Very reasonable weather for skiing compared to the -25 the day before. We did a simple trip up one side of the Spray River and back down the other. It had been so long since we'd been out skiing together and we really enjoyed that time on the snow.

I took my camera out (of course!) so here are some shots from the weekend.