July 22, 2007
Banff Morning
We woke up early in the morning in the Tunnel Mountain campground in Banff, and quickly ate breakfast and broke camp. We had a few hours to kill before driving to Calgary, so we poked around the hoodoo trail, drove up the Mt. Norquay road, and explored the Cave and Basin historic site.
Morning view from the campground.
Hoodoo in front of mountains.
Hoodoos trail.
Another hoodoo trail view.
Banff from the Mt. Norquay road.
The Cave and Basin historic site -- the hot springs here provided the impetus for declaring the area a national park.
The famous pool, now closed to use.
Yumi carefully viewing endangered Banff Springs snails.
A trail from the Cave and Basin leads to a bird blind on the lake.
Trilingual English, French and Ukrainian signs commemorate the harsh internment of Canadians of Ukrainian descent during WWI -- the Cave and Basin was their winter camp. Such forced labourers built much of early Parks Canada facilities. They were considered to be enemy aliens because at that time Western Ukraine was under the rule of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. They were treated much like Canadians of Japanese descent were in WWII.
While none of my ancestors were interned, I am angry that such events happened in a supposed democracy. I feel it for both wars and ethnic groups for my wife Yumi is Japanese. Again, none of her family was affected for she was born and raised in Japan, but there's a connection...
Posted by Paul at July 22, 2007 08:24 PM