We end the US part of our trip today as we depart Seattle for Calgary in Canada. The morning was a Hove of activity as we did our final packing and headed to the airport. The lines for check-in were quite long but we were there with enough time to still have time for lunch before we boarded.  We were on a brand new Boeing plane and after our tour yesterday, we were all picking up on design features that we had learnt yesterday.

At Calgary we were met by our driver to take us to our hotel in Banff, which is about a 90 minute drive. Calgary hosted the winter Olympics in 1988 which really helped the town grow and develop. A number of the amenities, like ski jumps and bob sled track are still in use today. If I was enamored by the views as we drove out of Calgary, nothing prepared me for the picturesque Banff. It reminded me of Zermatt in Switzerland and had a similar feel to it. Our hotel is the oldest in the region and looks like a castle. Given a 1 hour time difference between Seattle and Banff we just had dinner at an outdoor restaurant in the hotel, with great views of the adjoining mountains. On the way out of the restaurant, the boys discovered a hidden whiskey room as well.