June 22nd -- Asha's

WE SAW OUR FIRST BEAR TODAY!!! She was by the side of the road as we were driving to Banff; she was grazing on the side of the road with her two baby bear cubs. They were absolutely adorable! Before all that though, we got up early and packed the car and started our drive to Banff. It was about a six hour drive, not including stops. We listened to our book tape, Lady Elizabeth almost the whole way there. It rained almost all day. We were going to have another picnic lunch but it was too rainy, so we just pulled into a park area and ate in the car. Mom and I shared a pastrami sandwich and grandma had a tuna sandwich. I slept some of the car ride and then woke up as we were about to go through customs. It was a little wait, but was very fast once it was our turn. They just asked us a few questions and then we were on our way into Canada! We stopped at a visitor center to get a National Parks pass and a Historical Sites pass. The people there were very friendly. It was too rainy to take the hike that mom wanted us to do, so we got back in the car and drove to our lodge. When we got to the lodge, I took a quick shower and then we got ready to go out to dinner. We walked there, since our lodge was right downtown. The downtown here is really nice; it has a lot of cute little shops and restaurants. We ate at a place called Fuze. I ordered Bangalore-style chili prawns, mom got an Alberta top sirloin burger and grandma got South Indian bbq pork ribs glazed with mango chutney. It was really yummy, and I ate off everyone’s food. Mom also got a pomegranate martini. She seemed to like it, because she ordered a second. After dinner, we walked around the town a little bit and then headed back to our room to watch the last episode of Friday Night Lights!