Banff: more cliffs, less air.

[da]

Here I am in Banff. I spent a few hours this morning walking around the conference centre shooting photos and getting dive-bombed with mosquitos. I flushed a bunch of groundhogs Columbian Ground Squirrels, two deer (who didn't seem to care about humans either way), and a worker smoking a joint. He didn't seem so concerned, either.

The view is tremendous- I'm afraid to look at the photos I just took, because they won't compare at all with the real thing. These cliffs are huge. I want to take a hot-air balloon flight from here, just to get some sense of the scale. I saw a gondola/ski-lift running on one of the peaks; I might try to track it down this afternoon (and go up it with d., if he's interested).

I walked a bit around the campus, went swimming, and now I'm going to head to lunch. I'm feeling a bit short of breath due to the altitude (just 4000 feet). I wasn't too worried about taking deeper breaths than usual this morning, but now seems like a good idea, as now that I'm sitting down quietly I've got all the signs of not quite enough oxygen. Ah well.

Comments

[poeticalpanther.livejournal.com]

Ahhh...I need to get out west again. I haven't been since university, and I loved the mountains. Just loved them long-time.

[melted-snowball.livejournal.com]

I've got some bug repellent with me.