Day 5-Banff Part 2

First thing on our agenda was to go to the gondola ride in Banff!  We arrived early, hoping to beat the crowds.  We didn't have a very long wait, just enough time to browse the gift shop, before heading up the mountain.  We were all excited, and maybe just a bit nervous.  We climbed into the gondola, not quite sure but looking forward to getting to the top, lol.  It was really high up!  But boy, what a view!  We all had butterflies in our tummies, especially going past the towers.  But 8 minutes passes quickly and before we knew it, we were to the top.  You could see for miles and miles, it was amazing to know we were standing up in the peaks of the Rockies when just days before it was just a picture in a magazine to us.  We were able to walk around a bit, and visit with the ground squirrels.  We didn't see any mountain goats, but we did hear the roar of thunder over our heads while up there!  Not intimidating at all ;P
We stayed up there for over an hour, just enjoying the view and the magnificence (is that a word?!) The skies were looking gloomy though so we decided to head back down the mountain.  The ride back down was even more of a rush than the one coming up! Kind of the same feeling as a roller coaster, just one that goes slower....it was one of the highlights of our holidays!

We spent a few hours afterwards, just exploring downtown and all the cool little shops.  Cows Ice Cream,  the Christmas shop, etc.  The kids went to the visitor centre to get their Xplorer prizes for Banff and we set out for the next leg of our journey.
We headed towards Calgary, we drove through but didn`t stop.  We saw some wicked lightning storms along the way, as well as the Olympic park and the tower.  We stayed the night in Strathmore, just a half hour outside the city.  The kids were excited to find out we were sleeping in the Sleepy Bear den....and they even got a teddy bear each to cuddle with that night.
It was a great day, but we headed to bed early, excited about our plans to visit the Calgary Zoo the next morning....