2001 Acura 3.2 CL

2001 Acura 3.2 CL

This was my first Acura, and it certainly made a favorable impression. The 3.2 CL was a well-designed vehicle, and this example was basically new and fully loaded. It became a favorite among my friends and family for its smooth and comfortable ride as well as its laundry list of gadgets and features. 

The neatest of those features was the interactive navigation system - the first time I had owned a car with NAV. Everything has NAV today, but it was somewhat rare back then and I thought it was just the coolest thing. By today's standards, this CD based satellite navigation system is like a road atlas, but I was fascinated by being able to say "Find the nearest Burger King" and my car telling me how to get my Whopper!

The engine was strong and responsive. I wouldn't call it fast, but it was certainly "peppy". The only option this car lacked was the 'Type S' package which included a few more horsepower, a wing, and larger wheels and tires. The Type S is my preference, but this one was no slouch. 

It was an automatic, but was equipped with the Sport-Shift option. This allowed you to manually control the shift points without a clutch if desired. In reality, it's a neat idea and technological achievement on cars, but not one that gets used often.

The interior was really comfortable. It had heated power memory seats, an in-dash disk changer, and lots of other cool gadgets for 2001. It also looked great! I thought the silver exterior and charcoal interior worked well together. This car also had the best headlights I had ever encountered at the time. 

I had this car for over a year, during much of which it was used by other people (I don't let people borrow my cars much anymore so don't get any ideas). I never had a problem with it and it was a favorite up till I got rid of it. It wasn't the flashiest ride in the garage, but its relaxing while energetic performance was greatly appreciated. I owned a couple S-Types later.

Banff

100 Places To See (and take a selfie) Before You Die:

Banff

Alberta, Canada

The more astute readers will recognize that this picture wasn't actually taken in Banff at all, but rather at the Athabasca Glacier just inside of Jasper National Park. When people refer to Banff they're usually referring to Banff National Park, and sometimes to the town of Banff. For this post I'm including the entire area that could be a part of your visit.

Most trips to Banff mean flying into Calgary and driving west to the town of Banff - so to all you weirdos that don't like driving, you WILL need to rent a car for this one. It's only about an hour and a half drive and the last half hour is gorgeous as you enter the park. The town of Banff is probably where most folks will stay and use as a jumping off point for visiting areas in the park. That's what I would recommend - the town is great! There is plenty of shopping and dining to keep you entertained at night and it's a gorgeous place to be. We visited a couple years ago in September and the weather couldn't have been nicer.

Branelle and I spent a week here and I thought that was perfect. We stayed in Banff and just took day trips out to what we wanted to see. It's probably one of the most visually stunning places I've ever been. If you like outdoor activities, especially hiking and photography, this is like Mecca. We're not really into those things, but still were in awe of the place and never found a shortage of activities to keep us busy. I'm just going to rattle off some of the things we did and learned.

Lodging: There are no wrong answers here as you aren't going to be hanging out in your hotel room all day. That said, if you aren't budget conscious I would highly recommend the Fairmont Banff Springs. If you look at the picture above showing the town of Banff below, the Fairmont is right next to Nel's shoulder. It's very expensive, but it's amazing. A lot of people willing to spend big want to stay at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise (and it's pretty nice as well) but I would argue that the Fairmont in Banff is a much better choice. They have tons of things to do from golf to horseback riding to whatever else you can think of, and when we visited Lake Louise - as everyone does that comes here - it was full of day tourists and wedding parties milling around the hotel. 

Dining: Look, there's no such thing as "Canadian Food". Also, since it's Canada, everything is expensive. Depending on where you're from (we live in Texas where the food is great) dinner is not going to be the highlight of your trip. With that in mind, just find fun places to eat. A can't miss in the town of Banff is the Grizzly House. It's been here since 1967 and kind of looks it. It's pricey, a little dirty, you're going to come out smelling like smoke, and you have to cook your own food, but it was a total blast! They have phones at every table - for some reason - that you can pick up to call other tables (someone asked me if I was wearing a thong - I wasn't by the way).

Grizzly House - The specialty is fondue. We (and most other people) chose the hot rock cooking method. They basically bring you a slab of granite that's like 600 degrees. Nel had Beef & Lobster. I went with the Alberta Platter which included Beef, Bison, Elk, and Venison. (To be honest it could have all been beef - I couldn't really tell the difference). The food was so-so, but the atmosphere was fun.

We took the Banff Gondola on the edge of town up to the top of Sulpher Mountain. They charge you quite a lot, but the views are amazing and it has some nice pathways constructed. I would especially recommend this if you aren't up for a lot of hiking but want to take in the sights. 

There are a lot of steps, but there's railing and it's smooth and safe. Again, if you're a hiking machine you can take it or leave it, but if you're perhaps a bit older or not up for walking all day, get up here and enjoy the sights. There's a restaurant as well.

We ate at different places every meal, but the best food we had was at the 1888 Chop House in the Fairmont Banff Springs. 

Most days we made trips out to various places in the park. One of the most memorable was to the Columbia Icefield. There's a great visitor center there where you can take buses to the Athabasca Glacier and to the Glacier Skywalk. 

You take a regular bus from the visitors center to the base of the glacier (about 5 minutes) and then you get on one of these purpose built Snow Coaches to the actual glacier. I was very excited about this - I love purpose-built vehicles. Also known as a Terra Bus, there are 22 of them in operation at the Columbia Icefield. It's the only place you can ride one, unless you visit McMurdo Station in Antarctica.

Seeing a bunch of ice doesn't sound that interesting, but it is. It's all about unique experiences. Nel is drinking glacier water in the picture above and she rode in a Snow Coach to do it. I'm sorry, but that's just cool.

The Glacier Skywalk is another short bus ride away from the Glacier Center (you buy tickets there and have to take the bus to the skywalk or the glacier itself). 

The Skywalk is kind of interesting but I could take it or leave it really. As an engineering feat it's kind of cool, and the views are great (but you can get great views all over Banff for free), but I don't think I'd call it a can't miss.

Another day trip that you should take (and everyone else will as well) is to the famous Fairmont Lake Louise. It's pretty, but it's really full of tourists and there's not much to do but walk around and look at how pretty everything is. That said, it's probably the most iconic image of Banff.

Branelle discovering that a glacial lake is, not surprisingly, pretty darn cold! 

This is a great place for some day hiking. You can go all the way around Lake Louise and hike to other lakes as well. For the less ambitious there is a paved trail around half the lake that is a very pleasant walk. We didn't see any bears while we were here but I wasn't worried - I'm faster than Nel.

It's gorgeous here at Lake Louise. Make a full day of it. Have lunch at one of the many restaurants here and hike to some of the nearby lakes. They rent boats and other things at the hotel as well if you wish.

It's not that far to British Columbia from Banff. We headed over one day just for the heck of it.  In the picture above, I am sitting in Alberta while Nel is located in BC. If we poured our water bottles out they would end up in different oceans. There are hot springs places all over the area. I'm not sure I would waste my time as most of them look like regular swimming pools to me. 

  
Branelle says to "come on out" and visit Banff. In the winter there is skiing and a whole lot of snow based activities and any season offers some of the most impressive scenery in the world. Another fun thing to do here, I assume, is to go horseback riding. I say I assume because we didn't get to do it. I booked us a ride at the Fairmont Banff Springs but when we walked up to the stables the guy looked at me and said "whoa". (He didn't actually say "whoa", but that would have been pretty funny.) What he did say was that they didn't have any fresh horses big enough for me to ride. Ouch!

I agree with Nel. Canada can be kind of expensive, eh, but it's well worth heading out to the Canadian Rockies for the sweeping vistas, glistening glaciers, and snow capped peaks that are all part of the allure of Banff. 

2000 Dodge Durango SLT 4X4

2000 Dodge Durango SLT 4X4

I'm going to make a real effort to rattle off some late posts in 2018 (I've been doing about one a month) and, as usual, when I need to jump start these I go with a Random Vehicle Blog. Sadly, my random selection program has pulled another somewhat boring example tonight but they've all got to come up eventually so here goes. 

This 2000 Dodge Durango was really more my buddy Barry's doing than mine. He used to go to auctions with me from time to time and this was a truck he thought was interesting. I liked the color and it was a 4X4 so I was cool with it and brought it home. I drove it very sparingly and sold it rather quickly (for me anyway), but all in all it was a decent truck.

In truth, I was pleasantly surprised with the way it drove. This one had the big 4.7-liter Magnum V-8, and it was very smooth. The truck was easy and pleasant to drive around town. It didn't rattle or float, and was pretty quiet and comfortable.

My main area of displeasure with this Durango was the interior. It was functional, but just felt cheap and plain. It had a 3rd row seat and rear air, but just didn't look good. The cloth didn't help, nor did the drab grey color. The biggest problem, however, was too much plastic.

It was a pretty good truck, but I never saw myself wanting one on a permanent basis (although I bought three over the years). I liked the external styling at the time, but wished the truck were a bit bigger to match the looks. Higher end versions with some accessories look much better.