July 1 through 4, 2022
We spent the past few days enjoying all aspects of the Renaissance Weekend conference (not to be confused with the Renaissance Faire, which is vastly different 😆). The week included fascinating talks by a wide variety of accomplished individuals from all walks of life. (If you're interested in knowing more about the conference, or perhaps snagging an invitation to one in the future, check out https://www.renaissanceweekend.org/) Art presented his Mathemagics show a few times and I spoke about public speaking and leadership (all participants are required to present talks throughout the conference). Besides learning about many different fields of research, we made quite a lot of new friends as well! Today was the final day of the conference and we bid fond farewells.
So far we've managed to stay safe and masked up (well, a few of us were masked anyway). Trying very hard to remain Covid-free so we can continue our travels in Canada and then outside North America. We were thrilled to attend this event against the beautiful backdrop of Banff National Park. See below for some photos that barely do justice to the natural beauty of the area, including Lake Louise and Moraine Lake.
We also got to experience Canada Day (July 1) and America's Independence Day (July 4) on Canadian soil. Canada Day was a popular long weekend for the locals and we got to taste some local cuisine and favorites (Nanaimo bars and BeaverTails among them). Independence Day was just another Monday around here 😐 and it did feel a bit strange not seeing or hearing a single firework.
Fun little story: As we were planning this trip, I mentioned to Art that I had some leftover foreign currency from previous travel that we could bring along to use, including some Canadian bills. So, on one of our outings in downtown Banff, we gave the bus driver two $2 bills for the fare. Well, we absolutely made his day (!) because apparently $2 bills have been out of circulation for over 20 years. He thanked us profusely and stashed them away for safekeeping. Did we just inadvertently hand over the keys to his early retirement? Who knows 😅
We're heading to Vancouver tomorrow for the Canadian Rockies train trip, as part of Johns Hopkins alumni travel. (I know we're going a bit backwards geographically but that's the way the tour dates fell 😉) We will try to update the blog if/when we have wifi access.
Happy 4th of July! 🎇
Deena and Art at Lake Louise
Lake Louise
Moraine Lake
View from downtown Banff
Deena at Rimrock Hotel
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