Last night on the way down to one of the many restaurants at the hotel, we saw a herd of elk grazing just beyond the door near the river. I guess they’re everywhere, not just on the lawn.

Today was for relaxing. I collected my Globe and Mail from the hotel room doorknob, checked my email and watched a little TV while Nellie slept in. We went out for some (rather unpleasant) breakfast and then drove to Lake Minnewanka. It was raining so we held off on any hikes, but coming around the lake we saw a whole herd (flock?) of big-horned sheep strolling casually along the road. Of course, loads of cars and a bus full of Japanese tourists had stopped to get pictures, as did we. We drew the line at leaving the car to chase them down the road, though, and continued on to Two Jack Lake. It was another very pretty lake, but nothing spectacular.

Then, on the road back into Banff, just a few metres from the Trans-Canada, we saw a coyote in a field. I should clarify that: Nellie saw something, and then had trouble articulating what she saw. I hadn’t actually seen anything yet; I just heard “Bird…bunny…thingy…COYOTE!!” Once I snapped a few pictures and took a quick video I broke up laughing at what she’d yelled.

We decided to zip up Tunnel Mountain and have a look at the few hoodoos just outside of town. There seemed to be a small wedding ceremony happening, but it was soon overrun by more busloads of tourists. We zipped down the other side of the mountain, drove around toward the hotel and took some more pictures of Bow Falls and the Spray River. By then it was raining again so we explored the hotel a little, grabbed some lunch and watched a movie (Clerks 2) to kill some time. Later in the afternoon it cleared up a bit and we drove into town to do some exploring, getting back just in time to catch Montreal’s first game of the season and then head downstairs for dinner and a drink or two.
[tags]banff, rockies, lake minnewanka, coyote[/tags]