May 21, Day 12, Exploring Banff on Foot, from One End to the Other

Today is another day of relaxation on our wonderful trip. We had decided last night that we would skip the gondola tour trip this afternoon, and instead we would spend our time just exploring the town more. So, we started with breakfast at a restaurant in the hotel next to us. The restaurant was named Farm and Fire. Patrise had the Bison Benny (nee Benedict), and I had the Canadian Benny. We sat next to a couple from East Texas. Their names were Josh and Victoria. They were newlyweds. We had a nice conversation with them. I think we convinced them to go to visit the Columbia Icefields tour and see the Athabasca Glacier, along with the Skywalk.

The moose mascot statue in front of our hotel, the restaurant where we had breakfast, first shot of Banff Ave. toward the downtown.

After breakfast, we walked downtown to look for a bakery, specifically the Wildflour Bakery (photo below). After a little bit of search, we found it; it was a marvelous bakery. We purchased a berry brioche and a cinnamon bun. From there, we walked through the square headed toward the Visitors Centre, but before reaching there, we stopped at a pharmacy, to look for another power cord for Patrise’s phone and for some melatonin. The cord was not the right type, and the lady behind the counter suggested we try the Best Buy in the nearby Cascade Shops Center. We went to there and Patrise found for her power cord at the Best Buy Express.

We left the shopping mall, continuing our exploration of downtown and headed to the Visitors’ Centre. At the centre, we picked up a map of the area, and from there we continued to the Bow River Bridge, off of Buffalo Street. We had been advised by a hotel desk clerk that the view from this bridge is a beautiful view of the (Bow River) valley. On the way to the bridge, we noted the office of the Banff-Canmore Community Foundation. At Patrise’s suggestion, we dropped in to say hello and bring greetings from the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, since I am the chairman of that board. At the Banff-Canmore Community Foundation, we met two women, Bobbie and Jody, who are two of the Foundation’s three full-time staff. We had a lively and enjoyable conversation with them, they showed us their office, and they told us a bit about their work. We picked up some of their reports to bring back and share with the CFGA staff in Atlanta.

Leaving the Foundation office, we continued down Banff Ave. to Buffalo Street and thence to the Bow Rover Bridge. The desk clerk was right; this vantage point did present some beautiful views. Here are some photos of our downtown walk, visit with the Community Foundation, and walk to and on the Bow River Bridge.

Upon leaving the bridge, we continued walking further out of town toward the Surprise Corner Viewpoint. It was up a hill and near, but not quite the distance to, the Fairmont Banff Hotel. The Surprise Corner has a view of the small water falls on the Bow River. We viewed the falls for a few minutes, then began making our way back to downtown. However, instead of backtracking our same path, we went down a series of steps that took us to a trail along the river as an alternate way back. Here are photos of the neighborhood near the bridge, the bridge, the Bow River and Valley, and the falls at Surprise Corner.

We returned to town and immediately stopped for lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant, the Pho House. The restaurant was located on the third floor of the building we entered, and there was no elevator, so up we trudged – trust me, by this time it was trudging, not walking – up the flights of stairs to the restaurant. We sat, ordered and were served a delicious bowl of pho with shrimp and crab. While we were there, we called the restaurant where we wanted to have dinner tonight, the Grizzly House. It is very popular, and Patrise suggested we make a reservation. We made one for 7:30pm tonight. After lunch, we left the restaurant headed back toward the hotel, but we stopped at a gift shop along the way. We purchased several souvenirs for family, then without delay finally made our way back to the Moose Hotel.

When we returned to the hotel, we laid down to rest and within minutes, we were taking a nice long nap – about two hours for each of us. The nap was refreshing and needed. Upon awaking, both of us tackled repacking our luggage, to get things back in a semblance of order and to put away some of the souvenir gifts. Patrise did an accounting of the souvenirs, and by doing so we realized that we had overlooked gifts that we need for some family members. We decided we would leave for dinner 45 minutes early, even though it was only a 10-15 casual walk, to allow time to stop at another gift shop and purchase the remaining gifts we wanted to get.

Leaving the Summit gift shop we arrived at the Grizzly House. The place was jumping, with lots of patrons and even more people waiting to be seated – up to 30-40 minutes. Due to our reservation, we were seated immediately. The Grizzly was founded in 1967, by a (then) young Swiss couple. It began as a place for disco and live music, because they wanted to start a place for live music in western Canada. When they started, their food was provided by a Chinese restaurant next door. However, not too long after opening, that restaurant closed for good. To comply with the law that required serving food if a restaurant was serving alcohol, they quickly adopted their native dish of fondue as the food for the place. In time, the disco faded away, but the fondue menu quickly became popular and expanded. The current menu has fourteen different meat items, including beef, bison, elk, rattlesnake, chicken, lobster, shark, along with the requisite bread, cheese, and chocolate.

The Grizzly House lived up to its reputation. We would recommend it to anyone visiting Banff but be sure to make reservations before you go – otherwise you will be waiting a long time to be seated or taking a chance you will not be seated at all. We returned to the hotel and got ready for tomorrow. We will meet our transportation at 7am, to be taken to the train station. Then the train, the Rocky Mountaineer, will leave at 8am as we make our way to Kamloops. And so we will bid farewell to Banff, Alberta, and continue our journey...

Sun setting on Banff, May 21, 2025.