Canada Day @ Banff

Canada Day is on the 1st of July and it landed on Wednesday this year. I'm grateful for the mid-week break and I hope it becomes common law that we get Wednesday off every week!! Anyway, my aunt and uncle had the day-off too so we drove out of town to Banff. Yes, I have been to Banff just six months ago but this time in the middle of Summer, Banff is very different. Winter Banff is majestic and Summer Banff is beautiful and full of energy. First of all, the drive was a lot more pleasant and the scenery was just stunnng! The snow covered mountains have now completely melted and Calgary (or maybe even Canada) is overloaded with pine-trees absolutely everywhere!! Last time we were in Banff was on chilly Christmas day and no one was around town. But this time round, you can't go to a place without less than 5 people in sight! We visited places, such as Cave-n-Basin and Hot pool, which were closed last time due to bad weather conditions (see Facebook for photos). We also shopped around on the main strip of shops, again packed with tourists. Haha - there was also a Louis Vuitton shop but I didn't dare to go in. I was also amazed a lot of the souvenir shops were owned by Japanese and Koreans, just like the Gold Coast!! Anyway, we were in and out of shops for awhile then I noticed a piece of paper outside a shop which stated they will be closed from 5pm for the parade at 5:30pm and reopen immediately after that. I looked at my watch, the parade is 30 mins away!! Haha, I guess that explained why people were gathering and sitting on either side of the roads! The parade was fantastic! It was the first parade I have seen. The showband and the uniform were very professional. Of course there were a lot of cowboys and cowgirls - Yee-Haw!! The parade lasted just under an hour and we drove back to Calgary for dinner. The stadium opposite to my apartment had a game on that night and around 11:30pm, I heard very loud noises outside. Fireworks!!! What a fantastic day!!