Some of the destinations we visited included:
Park Distillery. A local maker of spirits, with a solid cocktail menu. Many of those were offered 50% off during a happy hour that ran every day from 3:00 to 5:00 pm -- easily doable on a "ski day" schedule, and thus a popular spot. They smoke one of their drinks by just charring a slab of wood and resting it on the glass: a low tech but effective technique. We stopped here enough that later, at the end of the trip, when we arrived early at the airport with little to do but stroll through the duty-free shop, I impulse-bought a bottle of their Maple Rye to take home. I'd never had a Park Distillery spirit straight, and it turns out they have their cocktails down to a science. The rye itself is syrupy in texture and sickly sweet. I'll need to experiment.
The Canadian Brewhouse. A sports bar, Canadian style. Which means dozens of TVs everywhere, nearly all of them showing hockey. We never actually watched our hometown Colorado Avalanche here, being too tired at the end of each ski day to wait around for the possibility. We did catch one Avs game in our hotel room, though. (Thanks to the greed of the team owners in TV licensing, it's generally easier to watch the team in Canada than in Denver.)
Tim Hortons. I'd heard about this donut-and-coffee chain but had never been to one. We ended up hitting the one in Banff a couple of times for something fast and easy when that's exactly what we needed most mornings. Not bad -- especially their classic "Honey Dip" style donut. Plus, they call their donut holes "Timbits," which is a bit funny/weird. Almost as funny/weird as a commercial we caught in which someone who gets out of physical therapy from a hospital going back to bring Timbits to their nurse in the strangest act of Yuletide cheer.
Three Bears Brewery. A decent restaurant and maker of craft beer. They have a big mural on the wall that we were seated right next to: a forest in which the three bears of their logo were hidden. I spent half the meal obsessed with finding the last "baby bear," and thankfully did at last, or it would have haunted me forever. Also, the place is a stop on....
Banff's Hot Chocolate Trail. For a month-and-a-half in November and December, something like 50 different places in town each offer their own custom hot chocolate concoction. Some are boozy, some are not. Some fit the theme of the restaurant or coffee shop, others don't. But you can pretty much pick at random and find a delicious hot chocolate anywhere you go. I wish I'd tried a few more while I was there, but there's kind of only so much sweet you can take, no matter how you appreciate the warming beverage.
Evelyn's Coffee Bar. There is a Starbucks in Banff... but I don't know why you'd ever choose their "tastes burnt" coffee when, just half a dozen doors down, you can support someplace local instead.
Banff Upper Hot Springs. We sort of tried visiting this place, expecting a natural spring you could soak in. Instead, water from the
spring had just been directed into a large swimming pool... which was
quite crowded. We took one look and decided "never mind"; if it had
seemed more "attuned to nature," or less crowded, we probably would have
stayed, but both seemed like a deal breaker.
The Maple Leaf. Our nicest dinner of the trip was at this place, that served us two tasty entrees: a delicious steak and a bison bolognese.
Zyka. An Indian restaurant we hit for dinner one night. Not as good as our local favorite Indian restaurant back home, but still very good.
Aside from walking in and out of more souvenir shops than I could count, that basically covers our time in the town of Banff. Which only leaves, for next time, the skiing...
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