Banff

We had the best time in Banff National Park.  Those beautiful mountains were so relaxing and rejuvenating.  We flew into Calgary—a quick 2.5 hr flight from Denver, and made our way to Banff.  We spent the evening walking around and exploring the town a bit.  We walked to …. Waterfall, but there wasn’t really a great viewpoint.  We couldn’t get over the beautiful blue skies and how different these Rockies are from our CO Rockies.  And we loved, loved, the Trans Canada Highway—leaps and bounds better than 1-70!  We had a delicious dinner at Anejo where we had a salsa tasting platter that was so fun. 

We were staying at the Otter Hotel, and the bed pillow might be my favorite I’ve ever slept on.  I’m determined to hunt one down for myself.  We started the series, “Off-Campus” and we devoured the entire season by the end of our trip.  

We woke up to rain so instead of heading straight to Lake Louise, Rusty ran out and got us a yummy yogurt bowl to enjoy in bed.  When it became clear that the rain wasn’t going away, we packed up and braved the weather.  The plan was to hike The Plain of 6 Glaciers.  And what a hike it was!  We first enjoyed some pretty views around the lake, and then started the 4ish miles across many, many wet, slippery snowfields.  I’m not sure we would have gone if we knew what we were in for, but in this case, ignorance was bliss.  Those snow mountain views were INCREDIBLE.  We learned that the Canada Rockies have more prominence than the CO Rockies. Prominence is how far you’d have to hike down one mountain before you can start hiking back up the next peak.  These mountains are so sheer and jagged!  It also helped that we saw no snow this winter, so hiking in the cold snow was a novelty.  Near the summit of the hike was a fun little ridge we got to traverse across.  We ate our turkey sandwiches on a rock, adding another, “sandwiches with a view” to our ever growing list. 

On the way down, we thought we figured out a shortcut.  And, it was a little shorter in distance, but it was so much harder.  We were precariously balancing along the top of a very steep ridge.  Rocks and scree awaited us on one side, and a giant wall of snow awaited us on the other side.  Every step had to be intentional. While we were eating lunch we had heard a ton of cracking noises that sounded like avalanches, but we couldn’t see anything. On the hike back we heard more cracking, turned around and were treated to some mega snowfall off the side of a cliff. We called it our snow waterfall.  And we were far enough away that it was really cool to see, but posed no danger to any humans.  We FINALLY we made it back to the bottom, cold and wet, but pretty exhilarated from the day.  

We planned on seeing Lake Moraine next before heading to our hotel for the night.  Or so I thought.  We got to the Moraine access road and Rusty told the attendant we were staying at the Moraine Lodge!  What a fun surprise.  One that kept getting better and better.  Because not only were we staying at the Lodge, but we were staying in the most adorable little cabin with a lakeside view.  And its own cozy little fireplace.  This place was seriously the cutest place we’ve ever stayed.  The good/bad is that it is a pretty remote place, and the lodge dining is the only thing available.  Rusty had booked some sort of promo where we got free dinner the first night.  And good thing, because it was soooooo expensive.  It easily would have run us $300.  And it was good, but not THAT good.  But free?  We enjoyed every bite.  Our favorite was dessert.  I had some sort of chocolate mousse and Rusty had a gelato trio—salted caramel, vanilla, and chocolate.  

It doesn’t get dark till after 10pm, so we enjoyed our views, took turns having a hot bath, and lit our fire before snuggling up in bed and watching a Serengeti nature show to help us get ready for our Africa Trip before we indulged in our college hockey romance.  

Breakfast the next morning at the lodge included delicious croissants, a yummy yogurt bowl with house made granola and mint, and some seriously decadent avocado toast.  

Today’s hike was Sentinel Pass. All the employees at the lodge said it was not hikable because of the snow, so we decided to go as far as we could and then turn around if things got too bad.  The first part of the hike is a million steep switchbacks. Once we gained a bunch of elevation, we hit the snow.  But, luckily the trail wasn’t nearly as steep.  We hiked through some beautiful forests and meadows and then came across the Tea House!  It is in the absolute middle of nowhere.  So unique.  We continued on to what should have been a lake, but it was iced and snowed over.  We did find this adorable snowman though. Looking at the Pass was a bit daunting, but a few others we’d passed on the trial said it was doable and totally worth it.  So, up we went!  And they were right.  Those views were completely stunning.  Vast, snowy, craggy peaks, deep valleys and cloudy skies. When we got to the top, an exhausted me said “I live here now.”

 I  I climbed to the top of some rocks, and we saw another little avalanche falling.  Even though it was quite far away, Rusty was not a fan—he wanted to me come down.  But I convinced him to come up by me and we made friends with a little chipmunk.  There were only 7 people (all women except for Rusty!) at the peak, and for safety, we all decided to hike back down together.  The first little bit was all dirt before we hit the snow.  So, I pulled to the side to put my micospikes on.  They fit pretty tight over my hiking boots, and I lost my grip on the back of one and it shot off my foot like a rubber band and tumbled down the mountain.  Ooops.  It was pretty funny.  Rusty, ever the gentlemen, let me have one of his and he hiked down with only one.  And it was pretty slippery!  Going down the face of the pass was every bit as hard as going up and we were all so glad when we hit flat ground again. We enjoyed that until the switchbacks, and by this time our legs were so fatigued.  Every step the quads got tighter and tighter.  It was such joy to see our little cabin appear at the bottom of the trailhead.  We did our bath switching routine again, and then decided to head out for 4:30 dinner.  We were starving!  On our drive back to the little town by Lake Louise we saw a black bear crossing the road!  We waited along the side to see if he’d pop back out, and a few min later he appeared in our rearview mirror!  And a few more minuets and he crossed in front of us again!  We loved seeing that cute guy.  We  at …….  I had some yummy chili, Rusty had a big burger and we got the poutine to share.  I’ve never been a mega poutine fan, but this was delicious.  We practically licked the platter clean.  

That evening we figured out how to hack into YouTube TV, so we could watch the NBA finals.  We’ve been rooting for the Spurs, but after seeing the Knicks make the greatest comeback in finals history (There were down by 29 in the 3rd quarter) we aren’t sure who to root for!  It was such a fun game.  More balcony views, more Serengeti, more hockey.  Lovely.  

We woke up and headed down to the dock to canoe before breakfast.  We had wanted to go the previous evening, but it was too windy.  We are glad we got up to go!  After breakfast it was too windy again.  The color of that water is magical.  And being out there in a cute little red canoe was just picture perfect.  

It was time to pack up and say goodbye to our cozy little cabin.  It was a hard goodbye.  We had a perfect couple of days.  

Next we made our way through Yoho National Park to Golden.  As a mega stroke of luck, the road to Takakkwa Falls had opened up THAT MORNING.  And I’m so glad.  I would have been sad to miss this impressive waterfall.  The color of the pools and river alone make it so unique.  With the June glacier runoff, it was so forceful and full.  

Rusty taking over here–We walked back down and had yummy lunch at the Truffle Pig in Field. Sitting next to a cool guy from Nashville who is ddriving from Nashville to Alaska and just capming along the way. Cool guy. From field we were going to stop at Wampta falls but it was on the other side of the road and we were TIRED!!! Drove into Golden and stopped at the Golden Suspension Bridge. Kind of a tourist trap but would be really fun with little kids and it was a fun 20 minute diversion to walk across the bridges.

In Golden we stayed at the ‘Prestige Inn’ which wasn’t fancy. Showered and felt better. Drove to dinner at Reposados which was okay – delicious chicken and pineapple tacos, just get that next time. Walked to the market. Then the pedestrian bridge. Then back to crash.

Friday was white water rafting day! We got up and got breakfast in town at Bachus cafe. Smoothies and bagels and Avacodo toast (so much avacodo toast!) while we talked to Josh which was just awesome.

Rafting was the whitewater express with Glacier rafting which was fun but it just takes so long. They tell you to be there 15 before 11 and then start at 1130. On the buses like 12PM and then on the water for just over an hour. Really fun – some different suroundings than the Arkansas River, but not super different. but really glad we did it. It was just fun and different.

Loaded up and ate our sandwiches in the car as we drove to Wampa Falls. It was more of a hike to this one than I thought. Just over a muddy mile. Good conversation on the way there and the way back. The falls were HUGE and the sun was out so it created this amazing rainbow effect from the spray of the falls. I hiked down and climbed up the debris pile. Had to take moy shoes off to hike around the cliff, then as soon as I stepped on the debris pile it was like freezing cold pouring rain just pelting me in the side of the face and everywhere. I couldn’t see much and was slipping and getting completely soaked so I turned around after almost making it to the top. Hiked back completely soaked but got to explore so it was worth it. Changed my clothes some and then we were off to Canmore and the Everwild spa.

This was my 2nd surprise / splurge. We got there right on time, like 615 (which was our check in = they were pretty strict about this for capacity reasons but when we were there we like had the place to ourselves). The spa was awesome. Just so luxurious. First was salt room, then the hot tubs and cold tubs. My favorite was a small private hot shallow hot tubs with water features that you could place on your neck. Tara’s favorite was the warm relaxation room where you just lounge on a comfy bean bag / louio lounger and smell the cedar burning in the fire. MMMM so much cedar. We ate a light dinner in our robes staring out at the 3 sister mountains all by ourselves. It was pretty surreal. The mint pea soup and the chaceuterie board were excellent. Then we hit the steam room (SO HOT!) and one more round in the baths. We closed the place down at 10PM and were all warm and cozy and soaked and lovely. Tara was cute and snuggly and gave me a kiss and said it was the perfect end to a perfect trip.

It really was a good trip. As mentioned I was expecting a lot of ups and downs, maybe some hard conversations etc, but it really just wasn’t. It was just ‘up’. I’m not sure exactly why but it was just wonderful.

We snuggled and watched the season finale and then crashed. This bed wasn’t as good. But our room was awesome with this curved wall in the bathroom holding this perfect massive stand alone tub. I had to try it in the morning.

We left a little early to try and see a bit of Calgary. We got to walk across this funky pedestrian bridge and then get ginger beef at Pearl Dragon and eat it at a park by the river.

We barely made our flight! Security was a nightmare and both our bags got flagged. Mine because my shoe fell out of the bin??? what the heck?? And here we are.

I just feel really lucky that i got to do this with Tara.