![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Golf-Canada.jpeg\")
<\/a>I\u2019m writing this before we headed off on Saturday for a week in Banff, Alberta, Canada,<\/strong> so unless you read about a plane being high jacked or crashed in the Canadian Rockies, we\u2019re there now and probably enjoying ourselves. The \u2018we\u2019 is again our traveling companions, Jack & JJ Budd\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0John & Judy VanBoxmeer<\/strong>. John is a Canadian by birth, but now a U.S. citizen; it\u2019s always nice to have someone along who understands the language.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThis will be Linda\u2019s and my third visit to this area, all prepared by a company called Golf Canada\u2019s West.<\/strong> If you\u2019ve ever been to the Banff area, you will understand what I am about to say: this it is possibly the most picturesque place to play golf in the world. The courses we will be playing are either in, or surrounded by, the Canadian Rockies<\/strong> and are nothing short of breathtaking.<\/p>\n Banff Springs Hotel<\/p><\/div>\n Banff<\/strong> itself is a cute little town located in Banff National Park<\/strong> along the Trans-Canadian Highway<\/strong>, surrounded by magnificent mountains, populated by elk<\/strong> and grizzly bear<\/strong>. It got its name in 1884 from George Stephen, president, at the time, of the Canadian Pacific Railway<\/strong>, whose birthplace was Banff, Scotland<\/strong>. Early on in our first visit to Banff in 2004, I stumbled across an Irish pub, as I am apt to do in every corner of the earth I travel, St. James Gate<\/strong>; we’ll probably pop in for a pint or two.<\/p>\n Just up the road from the town of Banff you\u2019ll find the strikingly beautiful Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel<\/strong>. It was built in 1888 as one of Canada\u2019s grand railroad hotels and has since been updated from the original wooden structure to a magnificent building of cement and stone, standing tall in the surrounding forest. Adjacent to which is a beautiful golf course which we will have an opportunity to play during our visit.<\/p>\n Chateau Lake Louise<\/p><\/div>\n We will take a day off golf and visit the equally beautiful Fairmont Lake Louise Hotel<\/strong>, which is about a 40 minute drive northwest of Banff. Chateau Lake Louise,<\/strong> as it\u2019s now called, was also built around the turn of the 20th<\/sup> century by the Canadian Pacific Railway<\/strong> and is also part of the Fairmont chain. It sits on one end of Lake Louise and at the other end is a massive glacier. Well it used to be massive.\u00a0 On a quiet night, during our first trip here we stood by the lakeside next to the hotel and could hear the cracking of the ice in the glacier echo across the lake. Our subsequent trips have seen the glacier size decrease. We weren’t there in 1902, but take a look at the photos taken in that year compared to the photo taken in 2012. Sad to see.<\/p>\n Well, I\u2019ve got to get packing, although that brings in a whole other set of obstacles. We\u2019ve watched the weather there for the last two weeks and it\u2019s gone from raining every day to sunny and highs in the 90s and lows in the 40s. It\u2019s the mountains, so we can probably expect a little bit of everything. And if it\u2019s too bad, we do have St. James Gate<\/strong> as a backup to any of our plans. Eh!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Bob Sparrow I\u2019m writing this before we headed off on Saturday for a week in Banff, Alberta, Canada, so unless you read about a plane being high jacked or crashed in the Canadian Rockies, we\u2019re there now and probably … read more![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Banff_Spring_Hotel_Alberta_Kim_Payant_04.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Lake-Louise-300x150.jpeg\")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Glacier-1-300x225.jpg\")
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Glacier-2-300x225.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n