Calgary

We had always wanted to see the Canadian Rockies, Banff, and Lake Louise, but had never had the time. For the July 4th weekend, I checked to see whether flights from San Francisco to Calgary were available at a reasonable price (and they were). With Inna's help and ChatGPT's, we came up with a detailed plan to see as much as we could in 6-7 days.

I had ordered a Nikon P1100 SuperZoom (to prepare for wildlife encounters) and the GoPro Hero 13 Black for recording canoeing & kayaking. Since we were flying out of San Francisco International Airport, I had also pre-booked an UberX (booking two days in advance turned out to be cheaper) for a 06:00 pickup, as our United Airlines flight #2830 departed at 08:40 on a short 3-hour flight to Calgary aboard a Boeing 737.

Our UA #2830 departed on time, and we landed in Calgary at 12:15 (+1 hour time difference from San Francisco). We had to spend about 20-minutes to go through Canadian passport control, and then we decided to stop by for lunch at the airport, to avoid wasting time somewhere else.

We decided to eat at Yakima Social Kitchen & Bar in the Marriott Hotel, as it had many positive reviews.  After sitting down, we ordered the following from the lunch menu:

• Boris: Ahi Tuna Poke
• Inna: Ahi Tuna Poke
• Alex: BC Coho Salmon
• Drinks: Coffee

We ordered at around 13:00, and the coffee arrived promptly. However, it took 30-minutes for the BC Coho Salmon, and then an additional 5 more minutes for the Ahi Tuna Poke Bowls to arrive. I was hoping for faster service (since the Tuna Poke does not require cooking, and the Coho Salmon also cooks fast).  

While drinking coffee, we watched the FIFA World Cup, Spain playing Austria and winning (3-0).

After I paid for lunch (fortunately, one Canadian dollar buys $0.70 of a U.S. dollar, so the price was more affordable when looked at in USD), we walked to the nearby Alamo Car Rental to pick up my compact SUV rental (I reserved it through Costco Travel for the best price).

We drove out in a grey Hyundai Kona, License #0-GEO88. I have not driven the latest Hyundais recently and was impressed by the large Navigation screen and excellent integration with Apple CarPlay. The Kona drove ok, though the acceleration was somewhat sluggish and the brakes were mushy.

Our first stop was Wal-Mart, where we picked up the following supplies for our week of hiking:

• Self-Inflatable Twin Bed (for Alex)
• RXBAR Energy Bars
• Honey Cinnamon Peanut Butter
• Chocolate Sea Salt
• 8 Type C Batteries (for the Twin Bed)
• 24oz Thermos (for storing Hot Coffee)
• Portable Igloo Cooler (for storing sandwiches)
• Bug Repellant
• Baby wipes

We were hoping to also purchase Bear Spray, but Walmart seemed to be out of stock.

From Walmart, we started our 90-minute drive to Banff.

Links

• Yakima Social Kitchen & Bar