We celebrated our first anniversary this weekend by heading out to Banff!
We stayed in a really fun hotel called The Fox Hotel and Suites. Basically, the reason it was really fun was that it had an awesome hot pool that is fashioned after the Cave and Basin, Banff’s original natural hotsprings. Although it would be difficult to build something like this without it being too cheesy, I think the hotel really pulled it off well!
We also went on a little hike out to Stewart Canyon by Lake Minnewanka . The weather was awesome despite it being pretty muddy and wet on the trails. Blaine even peed his pants when a mountain sheep came bounding over the hill right in front of him in the middle of the trail! Darn,the camera is never right there when you need it!
We walked around Banff for a while, and had a meal at Bruno’s Bar and Grill. We also used some of our time to chill in the room and watch cable (a luxury for us).
On Sunday evening we cracked open the yummy bottle of champagne the Smith’s gave us for a housewarming. Wow, it was the BEST champagne EVER! And Blaine was so sweet…he videotaped the ceremonial opening of the bottle and shooting the cap to the ceiling.
I’d say the highlight (other than being alone with my dearest hubby)was the dinner at The Grizzly House. For those who haven’t been there, it’s a cozy, romantic, fancy fondue place that everyone should experience at least once! It was amazing! We decided to be adventurous (cause we like to think we are) and chose the “Exotic fondue” along with a more standard but still wild “Alberta fondue”. The exotic consisted of pieces of snake, alligator, shark (Blaine’s fave), frog legs, ostrich (Ape’s fave), venison, and buffalo.
The alberta consisted of beef, elk, and venison (and something else I can’t remember).
The full dinner came with salad to start, cheese fondue (yum), and finished with an amazing Toblerone chocolate fondue with wafers, strawberries,and bananas! Luckily, my generous hubs does not like chocolate…oh darn…I’ll just have to choke it all down myself 
I would HIGHLY recommend the fondue place…but if you try the frog legs, better have a bottle of champagne to loosen up your palate first