Driving up to Banff from Calgary late yesterday afternoon,  my original plan was to just go to the Upper Hot Springs for a swim and drive back. However the weather was sunny, dogs safely ensconced at my sister -in-laws farm, that I decided to take a mini vacation and play tourist for a day.

Booked in overnight at the Tunnel Mountain Youth Hostel and drove and hiked ( okay hobbled with crutches ) to some of my favorite spots: Bow Falls in the town of Banff, the Vermillion Lakes Drive where much evidence of early summer in the budding willows and nesting birds including  loons and red winged blackbirds, Lake Minnewanka for an ice cream and watching boat launching, a packed lunch stop at Two Jack Lake with many mountain sheep on the highway, all in coats in shedding mode, a cheeky Richardson's ground squirrel and two families of Canada geese and goslings.