Banff!

People keep asking me what I thought of Banff, and the best description I can think of is that I felt like I was walking through the middle of a movie set while we were there.  Everything was just so darn pretty!  The buildings, the signs, the scenery, the store clerks....pretty, pretty, pretty.  

Just picture a whole bunch of tourists shopping at high-end outdoor stores and being served by seasonal, care-free, British and Australian 20-somethings in coffee shops and restaurants.  You get the vibe? It was definitely a fun place to visit.

While Brian was doing conference stuff, I occupied myself by putzing around downtown, sitting in a coffee shop reading my book, hiking, and working out at the gym where we stayed, the Banff Center (oops, I mean"Centre").

Brian actually let me sit in on his presentation, which was eye-opening for me.  He did a great job presenting and all the more established peeps in the room gave him good feedback in a nice way.  (Before the talk, Brian had warned me, "Anne, just be ready to watch me get destroyed."  I told him I was prepared to give dirty looks and punch noses if they got hard on him.)  Evidently the older, well-known economists can get sticks up their butts and get mean, but they didn't this time thankfully.  We ended up going out later with a couple guys who did grad school at Ohio State.  They were super nice and cool!  Anyway, after all the presentations were done and we were walking out of the room, I looked at Brian and said with enhanced sincerity and a smirk:  "We.  Are.  So.  Different."  HA!  I also didn't realize that by agreeing to watch him, I also was agreeing to watch three other presenters.  I was in awe and completely confused for a solid two hours :)

the streets of Banff

a view of Banff from the Tunnel Mountain hike I did while Brian was working

Every night in Banff, we ate at the same burger place, The Eddie.  Click on this link to their menu to see why we thought it was that good. 

Brian didn't let peanut butter and jelly on a burger scare him away.  He loved it!

The PB&J Burger:  beef, bacon, cheese, peanut butter & jelly, lettuce, tomato on a pretzel bun.  Say what?!?

After dinner, we'd walk along this river path through town.

Instead of birthday cake, we shared a post-burger turtle from the local candy shop.

Post-Presentation & Birthday Dinner.  We are two happy people right here :)