Banff (Fri 11th) - Rainclouds, hotsprings & the spa

As I mentioned, the weather in Banff was not great on the Friday. We didn't see the tops of the mountains very much as it rained on and off all day. The picture of me & Laura on the bridge is during one of the brighter spots in the day - you can see the top of the mountain!
Sadly, we'd all been expecting better weather so I ended up wearing the same pair of jeans all weekend and Sarah had to buy gloves!
However, we happily spent the morning looking round the many giftshops in the townsite before walking up to the Cave & Basin which is the sight of the original hot springs in Banff. It was interesting to find out how tourism developed after the discovery of the hot springs and the building of the railway for tourists to get into the Rockies. I also like how a lot of effort is being made to ensure the National Parks are protected for everyone to continue enjoying them.
After visiting the original hot springs, we went to the new man-made ones. If you look closely you can spot me in the centre of the pool. By this time the weather had got worse again and it rained for half the time we were in there (note the lifeguard with red jumper, hiking boots and raincoat with hood up at the back of the picture). The rain was almost quite refreshing as the pool was 40c. After half an hour in there we went upstairs to the spa for massages and for a whole hour did not care what the weather (or even the scenery) was like at all!