Farewell, Canada, and billions of mosquitoes.

Packing up today to head back to the States.  We will stop at Fernie BC for one night and then cross the border on Friday.

Another whimsical photo for my collection:  saw this in a gas station in Canmore.

We spent yesterday in Banff having lunch at the luxurious Banff Springs Hotel.  There is a statue of William Cornelius Van Horn (see below) with a great quote:  "We can't export the scenery so we will have to import the tourists."  

This is a drop-dead spectacular hotel.  The grounds are manicured, planted, mowed, whatever you can imagine and it's all beautiful. Inside it is just as impressive.  

There is an open air area just outside one of the hotel's bars where you can order lunch and enjoy the scenery Van Horn admired.  Oddly enough, the food we ordered was excellent.  Usually when you have a view as good as this one, the food stinks. 

Out of curiosity, I checked the hotel's website to see what the going rate is:  the "cheapest" room is $569 Canadian and the suite is $3,500 Canadian PER DAY.   I wondered if I could book a maid's closet.

We stopped at a pull-out on the way back to Golden where there is a model and explanation of the wildlife overpasses.  

A few final thoughts on this part of British Columbia:  

• If you are considering a visit here during the summer, a word of advice:  DON'T.  As you can probably see in the photos, traffic and crowds are nearly unbearable.  We tried three times to go to Lake Louise and could never get a place to park.  Locals said the time to come is September, while the weather is still good and most of the crowds are gone.
• The local mosquitoes are large, voracious, and very numerous.  Bring DEET, a lot of DEET.
• We kept seeing signs by the highway/street for TEXAS GATE.  Finally figured out that a Texas Gate is what Texans call a cattle guard.  There are everywhere and very rough.  Serve to keep the deer/elk/moose populations out of the towns and off the roads.